“Just fucking go!” I scream. The pressure and yelling are all too much. White flashes behind my eyes, and my vision dims as pain has me leaning over and throwing up. I vaguely hear Kruger yelling before I slip into sweet oblivion.
The next time I wake up, the room is dark. I can hear the rhythmic beeping of a machine, which I don’t recall hearing before. I focus on it, using the repetitiveness to help me stay in the here and now. My mouth feels dry, and my throat feels sore when I swallow. What I wouldn’t give for something cold to drink. My head does not feel as fuzzy, but it is heavy. I reach up with a shaky hand and gulp when I feel a bandage wrapped around my head and under my jaw.
I let my eyes drift closed as memories trickle back in. The grenade, taking it from Midas, knowing that I couldn’t let Hazel lose him. If I could protect her from even a fraction of that pain, I would. I didn’t have a plan in mind. I just needed to get it away from everyone. I needed a secluded spot, and that’s when I remembered mine and Lee’s place. I hadn’t been back there in years. Too many memories were attached to it. All of them were good, but all of them were tainted by the evil Lee hid from me.
It seemed somehow fitting to blow up the place where he proposed to me and inadvertently put me on a path that would blow apart my whole world. Why not go out with a bang? I was tired of fighting the inevitable.
When the door opens, I brace myself, but sigh in relief when I see it’s a doctor.
“Ah, you’re awake. Excellent. Do you know where you are?”
“The hospital?”
“That’s good. And your name?”
“Delphine Anders.” I go on to reel off my age and date of birth before I hesitate on my address. I don’t have one anymore, thanks to my apartment and building burning to the ground. I give him my parents’ address instead, as he examines me before giving me a rundown of my injuries. Broken arm, which I’d figured out from the purple cast, a litany of first degree burns on my arms and back, my hair had been singed too, though that seems to matter little since a chunk had been shaved away so they could perform brain surgery.
“I’m sorry, did you say brain surgery?”
“I did. And thankfully, it went about as perfectly as we can hope when poking around in someone’s head. You fractured your skull, Miss Anders, and had extensive swelling on the brain. We took a piece of the skull away to ease the pressure. Unfortunately, you had a small bleed, which caused you to black out not long after you last woke up, but we caught it in time, and everything looks good now. It goes without saying you need lots of rest and no stress.”
“I’m in a pretty serious relationship with stress.”
“Well, I believe it might be time for you to break up.” He smirks.
“Alright, burns, blisters, and brain surgery. Anything else for me to worry about?”
“Bruises. Your whole body is covered in bruises and contusions. With no way to put this delicately, you’re going to hurt like a motherfucker for a while.”
“Perfect. Though it seems manageable for now.”
“That’s because you’re on the good stuff. Give it a couple of days when we wean you onto something lighter.”
“Yippee, something to look forward to.”
“I’m glad you haven’t lost your sense of humor, Miss Anders, you’re gonna need it.”
“Your bedside manner needs a little work.”
“I try to be honest with my patients.”
“Yeah, don’t do that. I know if I look in a mirror right now, I’m going to look like Frankenstein’s monster’s uglier cousin. However, I expect you to tell me that I’m still pretty and the damage will all fade away so I can just go back to worrying about crow’s feet and wrinkles like most women my age.”
“You’re single, aren’t you?”
“What gave it away, the bitter edge in my tone or the lack of partner hovering beside me?”
“No, you needing a jackass like me with no bedside manner to tell you you’re pretty when we both know you’re way beyond fucking pretty.”
“Okay, that was good. I forgive you.”
“Much obliged. Now, I’m going to be keeping you in for a while yet. You know, on account of the whole you missing a piece of your skull thing.”
“Probably wise.” I sigh, not wanting to stay, but knowing I have no options. “I don’t want my brain to fall out, after all.”
“That would be a tragedy.”
I feel my lips twitch, and again marvel that, given everything he just told me, I’m not in more pain.
