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It was raining again, I could hear it hitting the windows from outside the hospital room. I look in the direction of the curtain, only to find it closed, leaving me wondering how much it was raining.
"Hey, check the weather Doc.." I say, tapping the larger man's shoulder, not noticing that he had fallen asleep. Oh, shoot....I swear I wasn't out that long. Why'd the dang hospital taken my phone?
Doc stays sleeping soundly, snoring away in the surprisingly comfortable hospital chair. I mean, i wouldn't know, I've never been in the hospital just to sit in that chair....I'm usually the one people are visiting. Happens more often than you'd think.....
The door swings open, only for Ren to stop it immediately before it banged on the door stopper. He was carrying something, something in a bag. I didn't even know he was here!
"You know there's a reason they invented doorstoppers, right?" I say, looking at Ren. He sighs, closing the door with a click. He seemed....tired? Considering how Doc had fallen asleep I could only assume that it was either late at night, or Doc ran over here to check on me, both I would take.
"I know, I uh....forget sometimes....." he replies, scratching at the scruff on his face. His glasses slip slightly down his nose, exposing more of his eyes. Yup, he sure looked tired.
"What happened? Also, what's in the bag?" I ask curiously. I don't recall getting taken to the hospital, but I also kinda don't remember needing to go to the hospital anyways. The last thing I remember, was walking outside the labs.....why was I walking around the labs again?
"Well, Scar I've got good news and bad news, which do ya' wanna hear first my dude?" Ren asks, leaning against the pale walls of my hospital room.
"Bad news, better now than never...." I say. As a guy who is used to hearing bad news, nothing is as bad as the first time.
"Well....the bad news is our building caught on fire, and you just happened to be right outside the labs, which was where the fire actually was," Ren explains.
"Ah, that explains it....." I reply, the dots connecting. I must've inhaled the smoke coming from the inside of the rooms, either that or the air vents were already filled with it and I passed out. The smell of smoke I'll never forget.....ever.
Then it hit me, "Wait what!? Our building caught on fire?!?" I shout, finally realizing what Ren's words actually meant. "Ren, why did our building catch fire? Is everyone okay? What...what the heck!"
I hear groaning next to me and turn my head to see Doc rubbing his eyes and yawning on the chair, stretching, or at least trying to stretch out his probably sore muscles. "Man...can y'all be a little quieter....? M' so tired....." the beefed man says, leaning his head back, trying to fall asleep.
I point to the sleepy Doc and look to Ren, "What up with this guy?" I ask.
"He's been up since yesterday, he's stayed with you until about an hour ago, when he called me and asked to go get some food for you guys," Ren says, holding up the plastic bag.
"Ah...Ren?" I ask, looking at the glassed man, who was pushing up the thin glasses that were sitting on his face.
"Yeah, my dude?" He replied.
"Where's Grian?"
Rens silent, but not the oh-uh-hes-dead silent. "You don't know do you?" I ask. He nods his head, looking a little sad he wasn't able to answer my question.
"Hey l, don't be sad, cheer us up with some good news Ren," I say, hoping that it would uplift his saddened mood.
"Ah-" he says, holding up the bag, it making a plastic rustling sound as he shook it, "This was the good news....", takes out a blue and black can from the bag, and tosses it to me. I catch it, surprising even myself, when I hold up the tin, can in my hands.
"Heh....at least I have my reflexes working," I say, looking at the can. As I observed the paint on the cylinder object, I notice that it wasn't what I initially thought. Usually from convenience stores, I get low sugary drinks or some fruit-flavored water. What Ren had just tossed me, was none of that.
"Ren, why'd you get me a beer?" I ask, holding out the can from my body. I was never allowed to drink anything advertised to my kind of audience, like sodas or coffee, or slightly alcoholic beverages. Naturally, I grew a sour taste for those kinds of drinks but then ended up cutting them out of my life during my first surgery.
I was poisoned, a poison so strong it should've killed me. I was staying with my uncle during the summer before my senior year of high school, somewhere in the countryside. I thought it would be a nice change of scenery before I headed off to uni, into the big city.
My uncle wasn't a great guy. He left me home alone, taking the only transportation to go work long hours, which he never really worked. He only existed to make everyone's life at the worksite miserable, getting in people's way and making it impossible to know whether certain things were right or not.
And when he was home? Never made dinner, never said hello to me, just went to the large, somehow not broken, white refrigerator sitting in the small grimy kitchen. He would take a beer can or two out and then shut himself in the garage, working away on his truck. He never knew, but I always watched him out of spite through a hole he tore open through the wall a few years ago.
It wasn't all terrible, at least for my situation. He'd take me to the places I needed to go or just wanted to. He made sure that there was always something other than boxes of beer in the fridge so that I could eat. He left me alone, by choice, which was fine since I never really liked him anyways.
During the last week I was spending with him however, he was becoming overly friendly because he had met some girl who was coming over every day. She was fine, she only existed for two reasons; to have sex with my uncle and to make us dinner every night.
For dinner one night, she made salmon. We ate it, considering I don't think either me or my uncle had properly made meals that entire month, and didn't think anything of it.
I usually was watching my uncle work on his truck, so I wasn't really focused on what his girlfriend was cooking up. Looking back I should've paid attention to her a little more, then maybe I would've noticed her and my uncle fighting after their sessions.
Maybe I would've saved us both from getting poisoned...
Unfortunately, my uncle died before we even got to the hospital. I was unfortunate enough to survive, almost waking up mid-surgery multiple times and risking life or death.
When I woke up, I woke up with so many more scars and bruises than I remember having. There were the ones from my surgery, which made sense, but then I had burnt scars over my arms and chest.
Apparently, my uncle's girlfriend tried burning the house down after we both passed out from the poison. His body was halfway out the door while mine had caught on fire. With his remaining strength, he made it out with the both of us, putting my flames out.
My mom says that's the moment when the angels forgave his sins, and he's resting in heaven.
She explained that the poison almost killed me, but the doctors were able to get it out of my system before it reached my heart. The only thing I live with now if sleeping spells and a low tolerance to junk food.
And I get that Ren is tired, and probably frightened by the fire from the dorms, so maybe he got confused.
"You hold that one for Doc, I know you hate beer," Rem says. Ah, I guess he's not planning to stick around then. He tosses over a lemon drink, this time I am not so successful in catching that.
"Aww.... could've sworn I had it!" I cried, picking up the bottle and twisting the cap off, putting the bottle up to my lips, drinking down the slightly sour taste of the flavored drink. I had tasted this brand once or twice before, but it wasn't as good as my favorite fruit-flavored drinks.
Ren pops open his beer, quickly slurping up the foam that had overflowed from out the top of the can, taking a huge gulp before setting his drink down on his lap.
"Wanna hear something crazy Scar?" Ren asks, looking up at me. I set my own drink down in my lap, nodding and waiting for Ren to continue his story.
"So there's this dude, right? Someone from the mathematical pathway who lives on the same floor as we do...." he begins, his voice dragging on the last few words. Was Ren trying to get drunk? I think that's how that works....nah, maybe it's the lack of sleep tonight. "So he like, got caught in the fire, and there's a rumor going around he died!"
I shake my head, "What?! No! The fire wasn't that far up! He must've survived, he must've..." I say, muttering towards the end. No, there were so many people, how could one person get stuck? Were they heavy sleepers? So many questions, but Ren's tone was different seeming than his normal one.
I wasn't close enough, but perhaps if I caught a wif of his breath I could smell if he already had a beer tonight, and the one in his hand was not his first. Or maybe I'm tired, I could be speculating too much on his...
"Nah, my dude... it's real. I heard some people talk about how there was this guy, other than you of course...who just....died....I think..."
Ok, now he was really getting tired, his body was slowly slumping in the chair, and every sip of the beer made Ren lose a finger holding the can. By the final sip, Ren had finished the beer, evidently dropping the tin can on the floor as his arms and legs slumped from the hospital chair he was sitting in.
"Are you sleeping...Ren?" I ask, making sure to quiet my voice.
"Mmmh....yeh...." Ren says, weakly waving his limp hand around, "Tired....m' tired...d...dude...". And that was the last I heard from Ren all night, and from Doc as well.
I continue to sip on my flavored lemon drink until I finish the bottle, setting it down on the nightstand next to me. Holding Doc's unopened can of beer, I lay down in the hospital bed, resting my head on the thick pillows.
It was so late....so so late.....and someone was dead, probably. But what really happened to that poor unfortunate soul?