I urged my mom to go take care of herself. It wasn't as though I was going anywhere. She wouldn't hear of it though until the doctors came and checked me over.
She had broken down in front of me and I had comforted her as best as I could, but there was only so much that could be said and done considering the condition I was in. Although I was the one in the hospital bed, she looked as though she might fall over any moment.
Clearly she had been here a long time. I still don't know how long I've been here, but it must have been a decent enough period of time for the doctors to give up on me and any chance of recovery I may have had. Clearly the last few days - weeks, months, who knows - took their toll on my mom.
She was fragile and looking at her made me feel as though a breeze would knock her over. I could see the dark circles under her eyes. I wonder if she thought she'd lost me.
In a way, she had.
I'm no longer the Drake she knew even though I am him at the same time. I'm both who I was before I first opened my eyes, as well as who Drake was and could have been. Just thinking about it increases the magnitude of the headache that has been a sure constant since I first opened my eyes. Exacerbated by whatever happened while I had lost consciousness.
I heard footsteps, at least two pairs. People entered the room. My mom must have called for them the moment she calmed down enough to realise she needed to be vigilant with a patient like me.
It felt as though I'd just blinked, when all of a sudden a beam of light blinded me. I flinched.
My eyes eventually adjusted and I was present enough to realise he was asking me questions.
"Please follow the light with your eyes", the voice said.
I did.
The lights stopped and I had to blink to get the spots to stop appearing in front of me. I felt hands touch my face, my neck, a stethoscope being used on my chest. I could see in the periphery of my eyes that someone was changing the IV fluid bag and replacing it with a new one.
"Can you tell me what date it is" the voice asked me. Finally I saw the face of the voice I had heard when I first woke up, and the one that checked me over just now. Male, in his twenties or thirties probably, obviously a doctor because of the white coat he wore. A blank expression on his face.
I open my mouth to say... I'm not sure what.
I have no idea.
I can't even guess.
"I don't know" I decide to say, honest, while I cringe on the inside the type of conclusion they would take from that.
My mother's hand found mine again, and I could feel worry pouring off of her.