I was swimming in darkness. My eyes felt like they were glued shut. I couldn't help but feel like I couldn't wake up from a nightmare that had gone on for too long. With a deep, painful breath, I finally broke free the weight of slumber imposed on me.
Gasp—!
I sat up, catching my breath. I expected to find a continuation of the previous scene I was in—of blood everywhere, inside Alex's office. But to my surprise, I'd found myself sitting up in a velvet couch in a narrow, yet comfortable room.
Where am I?
Suddenly, I'd felt the warm touch of something else laying beside me.
S-Soho—!?
She was laying in the couch next to me, asleep, snoring faintly. The door to the room suddenly opened, and in walked Draz.
"K-Klyson! You're okay!" He expressed his happiness quietly as to not wake up Soho. He came over to me and gave me a slight pat on the shoulder. "We weren't sure how long it would be until you'd wake up."
"Draz…? Where am I?" I was unfamiliar with the place. But seeing both Soho and Draz here, I could make one assumption.
"The Waving Kitty." Draz looked around. "This is the private room Soho stays in."
Oh, so this is where Soho stays instead of the place Ian got her.
"Man, when Soho ran into the bar holding you by the shoulders, blood everywhere, holding your gut shut, I went into straight panic mode. I'd never encountered something like that before…"
I could see the worry written on his face. But I couldn't even remember anything past my encounter with Alex.
"How long have I been out for?" I asked Draz.
"Three days."
"Three days…?" I lifted the blanket from my body to check the wound that'd put me out of commission. To my surprise, the gash was gone and instead were marks of recent stitching.
"Soho said that after your accident, she'd grabbed the chunk of flesh missing from your body and stuck it back in place, gluing it there using Static. She even tried to weld the wound shut using your skin flaps and Static. It was a desperate attempt, and she may have not known exactly what she was doing, but doing that actually saved your life. Your blood loss would have been fatal had she not."
I could have died…?
I looked at Soho, who lay beside me sleeping soundly.
"Tonight's the first night she's fallen asleep ever since your accident, you know?"
"What do you mean?" I asked him.
"She's been stuck awake all worried for you. She couldn't sleep the last two nights when your life hadn't been guaranteed yet. I had to tap back into my medical school practices to properly stabilize you just so she could finally rest knowing you'd live."
I noticed the professional stitching on my wound. "You did this?"
Draz grinned. "Before pursuing my passion in bartending, I was actually on track to become a surgeon." He showed me a thin tube that he tugged on lightly before I noticed it was hooked-up to my arm. "I even had to drink a combination of nutritional fluids to formulate my own IV drip formula for you. We couldn't feed you while you were unconscious."
"You even made your own IV drip?" I was astonished.
He nodded. "My Fractal can be pretty well-rounded sometimes."
I didn't know what to say, other than express my gratitude. "Thank you so much, Draz."
"Never a problem, especially for a brother." He patted my shoulder again. "I hope your supervisors are okay letting you off for a few days until you're properly healed."
I sighed, nearly forgetting why I'd gotten into the mess in the first place.
Once I'm healed up, I have to get back straight into it. My next paycheck and target is probably waiting back at the storage unit.
"Yeah, hopefully," I said.
"Rest now," Draz told me. "It's still the middle of the night."
I nodded, thanking him once more before he left the room. Once again I was left in the serenity of the night, and soon the sensation of slumber would take over me. As unusual as it felt to have Soho sleeping by my side, I was too tired to think much of it.
Again, I shut my eyes, thinking only of what improvements I could make in my future missions to avoid an outcome like this again. As the quiet night cradled me harrowingly, I'd fallen asleep finally accepting what I'd become at this point in my life.
I was reborn as a new person.