Behind Yellow Eyes: Chapter 17
Chapter 17.
Marcus hears a sudden beeping sound and approaching footsteps. He hears a plastic squeak and a click, the beeping stops, and he opens his eyes to a spacious room. It's lit so brightly, he immediately has to shut them. There's movement next to him, he squints and makes out a yellow furred Rhenthar wearing a white vest and apron, a nurse. He? She? Is changing fluid bags on an IV pole to his right. His head is pounding with pain to the tune of his heartbeat, which begins to beat faster as he steals glances at the room he's in. White walls, one bed. Sliding curtain divider...
"Oh, you're awake." Female, by the tone of her voice. "I'll let the doctor know. How many fingers am I holding out?" The room is still blurry, but he thinks he can make out three.
"Three." His voice comes out as a croak, he swallows, and that hurt.
"Ok, good , can you tell me your name and what month it is?"
He coughs, which doesn't improve the pain in his throat any, and the pain in his head gets worse. He leans back against the pillow behind him and mumbles "Marcus Fielding, Jan," he has to swallow. "July."
The nurse smiles, covering her teeth with her lips. "Good. You've suffered a couple of serious injuries, a spiral fracture of your right tibia- that's in your leg, which we were able to fix easy enough. The real damage was to your head. Here's your doctor now, he can explain."
"Thank you, Trist," says an all-black Rhenthar with floppy ears, he squeezes her shoulder and she steps back. He's wearing a green vest, like a doctor in a hospital. Er, that means he's in a hospital...
"How's it going, buddy? I'm Doctor Vardeck, let's see how you're doing." he asks, rubbing the end of a stethoscope against his vest, and then hooking the prongs into his ears. He pulls back the blanket covering Marcus's torso and puts the end up against his chest, over his heart. "I put some heat in it cuz I know these things are cold to dudes with no fur..." he listens for a moment. "Your name is Marcus?" he says it perfectly, which for a Rhenthar is a first.
"Yeah."
"Gooood, sounds good," he says, hanging it back around his neck. He pulls a penlight from the pocket in his vest and shines it into Marcus's eyes. "Look up... down... follow this." He moves it slowly left and right. "Excellent." He turns and drags a chair over to the side of the bed and sits down on it backwards, resting his arms on the top.
"Marcus, you did something really dumb. Do you remember any of it?" There's humor in his voice but also a sense of seriousness to the tone.
"Yeah, I went inside my house, and fell. I don't remember anything past that point."
"I'm not sure I want to know what you were doing, wandering around in your demolished house, but it caved in on you and by the time we got there, your head wasn't round anymore." He pauses to let that sink in. "That was a real problem! A hundred years ago, you'd be pushing up petunias. Or is it daisies?" He glances at Trish.
"Daisies," she says, chuckling.
"Yes, well," he says, chagrined. "The point is, you're really lucky to be alive. We had to rebuild a major artery in your brain and repair the bones that make up your skull."
The pain in Marcus's head fades, and he smells something indescribably foul.
"Marcus, you did something really dumb. Do you remember any of it?" He senses humor, but also seriousness.
"Er. Didn't you just ask that? I... was in my house. I fell."
"I'm not sure I want to know what you were doing, wandering around in your demolished house, but it caved in on you and by the time we got there, your head wasn't round anymore." A pause. "That was a real problem! A hundred years ago, you'd be pushing up-"
"Daisies," Marcus blurts out.
"Er. Not petunias?" Vardeck glances at his nurse.
"He got it right," she says, giggling.
Marcus has a sinking feeling that something isn't right. "You just said all that... twice. Didn't you?"
"Um." He glances at Trish then back to Marcus. "No. Are you feeling losses of time, events seeming like they're repeating themselves, something like that?"
"Yeah, that's what just happened, I swear, it's like you asked me the same question twice." His head is hurting again.
"That's to be expected, think nothing of it. Let me know if it doesn't fade in the next month. Check this out, I'll show you what's happening."
Dr. Vardeck starts showing him x-rays before and after surgery, describing the procedure used to repair the vessels in his brain. The pain is becoming stronger in his head now, though, and it's making it hard to concentrate.
"Some pain in your thigh where the catheter entered the artery down there will be normal..." he waves a paw in front of Marcus's eyes. "You still with me?"
Marcus wants to shake his head but it'll hurt too much. "My head hurts, a lot."
"That's certainly to be expected, too. Lucky for you, I've got the good stuff," he says, glancing at his nurse. "Trish? Ten micrograms of ultramorph intravenous for our patient here, please." She walks off to retrieve the medication.
Vardeck begins gently touching Marcus's head at various places, each produces a unique pain, and for a moment, the room turns completely white.
"Ahhh!" Marcus shouts. "Everything went white!"
Vardeck seems unsurprised. "That's because your brain is swollen at the moment and is actually pushed up against some of the repaired area. Right now would be a bad idea to get into a boxing match," he laughs.
The nurse returns with a hypospray and presses it against his arm just ahead of the spot where his IV is hooked into. A small sting and a hiss, and she turns to watch his vitals displayed in a machine mounted to the pole his IV bags are hanging from.
Marcus feels the pain fade, and his eyes start to shut all on their own. It feels like gravity is falling away. He smells something sharp, it's familiar but he can't place it.
Vardeck starts gently touching Marcus's head at various spots, each has its own unique pain, but before he can reach the bad spot, Marcus flinches his head away.
"Right here hurts?" Vardeck says, curiously probing an area that in fact doesn't hurt at all.
"No," Marcus says. "I just didn't want you to touch the spot that will make the room go white." His head is hurting again, throbbing with his heartbeat.
"Well, your brain is swollen and is actually pushed up, right..." he touches that spot, and the room flashes white for a moment. "Here. Right now would be a bad idea to get into a boxing match," he laughs.
Marcus glances at the Nurse as she walks up to him with a hypospray. A sting and a hiss, she turns to watch his vitals.
"Something... wrong... things... repeating..." Marcus says, as sleep sucks him into its numb embrace.
"He'll sleep for a while, check on him every two hours. He can get another ten mcg's every four; call me if he complains about any strange sounds."
Marcus's world fades to black.