Mateless and Luna Bound (Self Published)

Chapter 7: Stay

Authors Note: This chapter always makes me warm and fuzzy. Max was able to save Charlie, but where is he now? Thank you for reading! If you see any grammar mistakes please leave a comment and I'll make sure to fix it. Thanks for all the votes and comments!

-Saturn

Charlie woke up in a brightly lit room. His mind felt so foggy, he wasn't even sure what had happened. Was this a hospital? Everything was pure white, with sterling chairs and bed frame. The bed he was in was small but comfortable. It reminded him of the bed he had at home. It was about the same size, but this one was much easier on his back and neck. He had the most trouble with those two areas on his body. Them and his feet were the main parts that ached after a hard day's work. He was only 19 and he already started to feel like an old man sometimes.

The sheets of the bed where nice and white too. They were soft, much like the pillow that his head rested on. It was all so nice. Charlie rarely got to experience anything nice. He just worked to live and lived to work. It was a rough existence, but he knew it wouldn't last. He would figure something out eventually. That or he'd just find a better restaurant to work at. Chef Ryan always said that he wanted to start a bakery. It would be nice to work with him when he finally opened it.

As the bright light shined on his face, he started to wake up a little more. The more he woke up, the more he started to realize that this was some sort of hospital.

He didn't have the money for a hospital! He could barely make rent!

He tried to sit up, but groaned in pain and laid back down. His whole torso felt like he had been hit by a truck. His mouth had a nasty taste to it too. He must have thrown up last night. That would explain why his throat hurt so much too. He never really had that much in his stomach, so throwing up always meant stomach acid and water rather than actual food. And that felt horrible going up.

"Glad to see you're finally awake, son."

Charlie turned his head to see an older man walking into the room. He had a clean-cut beard and his hair was pure white. Other than that, though, he looked handsome for someone his age. He had this aura of professionalism to him that made Charlie a bit nervous about confronting him about how he got here.

As much as there was white and silver everywhere, this place didn't look like a hospital. There were a few hints of light blue that brightened up the room, especially on the curtains by the window and on the cabinets that were surrounding most of the walls. There were small paintings scattered here and there on the wall as well. It made this place look homely almost.

Charlie always wanted to have paintings on his walls. His apartment was small and somewhat plain, but there was a part of him that really saw some potential for it to look beautiful if he could ever find the time and money to decorate it.

It could have been a doctor's office, with how homely the room was. But doctor's offices normally didn't have I.V.'s hooked up to people.

Just having an I.V. in him would probably cost him a fortune.

"Who-?" he couldn't get the rest of the sentence out with his stomach in so much pain. It was even painful to breathe. Every breath he took in burned his throat as well as his stomach.

"Relax, son," the man said, putting some medicine in his hand. His hands were rough but gentle. Charlie felt a little bit safer with them. "Take this. It'll ease the pain."

He tried to push it away.

"Don't have money," he wished he could talk more eloquently, but his ribs burned with every word that came out of his mouth.