Cottage on the Hill (MxMxMxMxM)

Chapter Eighteen

9:56am, Tuesday October 27th

I tried to swallow but I can feel the ventilator tube still in my mouth. My lips cracked and ached, bruised and too dry. I tried to roll over, but someone put a hand on my shoulder to keep me still.

"Be still, Sweetheart," Casper murmured. He caressed his thumb across my shoulder, humming a soft song as I blinked my eyes open. I want to ask what happened, and why I got a nosebleed last night, and why I passed out. But I can't, and who knows when I'll be able to. Casper shifted beside me as I looked at him, blinking the gunk out of my eyes. I lifted a shaky hand to try and rub my eyes, but Casper wiped my eyes with a cloth instead.

"Good morning, Baby Boy," Hale murmured, kissing my knuckles. I hummed. Both of them glanced at each other, Hale's hand wrapped around mine. "You feeling any better?"

I grunted. No.

Neither said anything. "Can we get you anything?" Casper asked.

I grunted and shook my head slightly. No. Hale pressed his lips to my bony fingers and sighed. Will one of them tell me what's happened?

"You're very heavily sedated, so don't try and stay awake if you can't," Hale said. I hummed and closed my eyes. Sleep sounds so good right now.

The door to the room opened and I blinked, trying to focus on the nurse that came in. Hale made a noise of happiness and I winced, attempting to push myself up to see.

"You're working hard this week," Hale said to Nina as she looked at my chart.

"Tomorrow is my last shift before a day off, then I have a full week of night shifts," she said, but she kept smiling. "How are you feeling, Elliot?" She cocked her head.

I hummed lightly. Not better.

"His temperature is holding steady and the fever is low," Hale said. "The last nurse checked it fifteen minutes ago."

"Good, good. Have you spoken to him about what happened last night?" she asked, glancing at Casper.

"Not yet, we were hoping he'd sleep for a bit longer, actually," Casper admitted. I wish they wouldn't speak about me as if I wasn't here.

"Would you like me to tell him what happened?" she asked. Casper and Hale shrugged, but each reached for a hand. "Elliot, do you remember what happened last night? When you got a nosebleed?"

I grunted. Yes, sort of, but I black out.

"You got what's called a posterior nosebleed, which means that the blood came from the back of your nose, rather than inside the actual nose cavity. Because of the ventilator, your head was forced back and you choked on some of the blood because it ran down the back of your throat. We sedated you and took out the ventilator to clear your airways, but you still weren't breathing well so we had to put you back on the ventilator," she explained. "Does that make sense?"

I hummed. Bloody nose, choking, pass out. That's pretty much what always happens. Or at least, I always pass out. Hale gripped my hands even tighter.

"Casey sent some of your blood off to be tested a few hours ago, so those results should come back fairly quickly. I will let you know once they do." Nina wrote something on my chart. I'm too tired for this. Can I sleep?

"Thanks, Nina," Hale said softly.

"Are you warm enough?" she asked me after acknowledging Hale. I grunted. Why does it hurt to make noise? I scrunched up my face and whined, but even that hurt.

"Don't make noise if it hurts, Baby," Casper said.

"I was afraid this might happen. His throat is bruised from the tube. Hopefully we can take it out soon," Nina said softly, coming to my bedside and gently turning my head to look at the bruises around my lips and cheeks.