Miki-san and the nurse both gazed into my eyes with concern.
"Nodoka-chan, where did you go?" Miki-san asked me. "Did you visit outer space?"
"Outer space?" I repeated with confusion. "I don't think I left the bed. Did I?"
"Nodoka-chan, you're so cute," Miki-san shook her head at me again. She seemed to be shaking her head a lot. It seemed the pain killers had kicked in for her, because she looked a lot better.
"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked me. "Are you sleepy or tired?"
"I'm alright," I said. "What's wrong?"
"We lost you for a moment," the nurse explained. "Your eyes glazed over and you stopped responding for a bit."
"I don't know what happened," I shrugged and accepted the last mouthful of my sandwich from the nurse. "Thank you for the help," I smiled. "The nurse at dinner was rushing me and I choked and then I passed out. I'm sorry for being such a trouble to you all."
"It's not your fault," the nurse gave me a smile and patted my hand. "We'll try not to rush your meals from now on. Just take your time."
"It can't be easy when you can't feed yourself," Miki-san said, looking me over.
"Yes," I agreed with feeling, "but I think being unable to take myself to the toilet is the worst."
"Do you need the bedpan?" the nurse asked me and I nodded.
The nurse closed the curtain to help me, only to discover I had already wet the bed.
"The doctors say you've been slightly injured down there again," the nurse told me in a low voice so that my neighbour would hopefully not be able to hear. "You may need to work hard on getting those muscles working properly again."
I could only try to blink back my tears at that news. I didn't even feel it when it came out.
"Will I need surgery again?" I asked tearfully.
"I heard that the doctors are debating it. They aren't sure whether you'll survive the surgery if they put you under general anaesthetic," the nurse told me quietly, dabbing at my eyes and cheeks with a tissue. "They had to focus on the more life threatening issues earlier and didn't have time to deal with it. If your condition remains stable over the next week, they might consider it. Hope for the best," the nurse told me. "Give me a moment. I'll go find my colleague. We'll wipe you down and change the sheets for you. Ok? Don't cry. It's ok."
"Sorry for the trouble," I said and sniffed, wanting to raise an arm despite the pain.
"Don't move your arms," the nurse stopped me. "The surgeon said that while he fixed the joint, he is worried that the bones could easily come out of alignment. It doesn't help that your bones aren't very healthy and it looks like you've previously shattered the bones there. Try to put up with it. Please."
"Hurts," I tried not to sob.
"See, I told you not to move it," the nurse chided. "Be a good girl. There you are," she said, helping me reposition my arms. "I'll get you some pain killers at the same time."
It was hard not to cry. It was the same old problems and the same old injuries with injuries heaped upon the old healed ones. The feeling of returning back to the starting line and having to deal with the slow healing and all the complications again made me wonder when I would ever be free of hospitals. One day, when I was better, I was never returning to a hospital again.
After the nurses had been and left again with a "goodnight", I couldn't help sniffing as I tried to cry as silently as possible.
"I hate being injured and stuck in hospital too," Miki-san suddenly said into the dark. "I wasn't careful this time and the gangsters got me by surprise. I knew they were weapons smuggling but needed evidence," Miki-san sighed. "At least with all these bullets in me, I finally got the evidence we needed. Unfortunately I have to stay behind in the hospital and miss all the action, while the others all go to finish the job."
"I suppose the only good thing about being in hospital is the chance to write up the reports early and having the time to finish all the paperwork," I mused.
"Oh?" Miki-san sounded surprised. "You sound familiar with law enforcement?"
"Retired," I looked at the dim ceiling. "I wasn't much good to begin with anyway. I was just a barrel scraper. And then a lot of things happened. I can't decide whether I miss that life or not."
"What area were you in?" Miki-san asked.
"I ended up with desk work, doing transcribing and translations," I said. Although our city was gone, I was sure that our organisational structure was similar to other cities in my country. I couldn't divulge anything that could be considered a secret to anyone in a foreign country. That would make me a traitor. "What about you?" I tossed the question back to her.
"I'm a detective," she replied. "Homicide. Came across the weapons smuggling during a case and got to keep the case. My enemies have been hunting me, and so here I am under protection."
"I see," I nodded, my whispery voice faded toward the end. "My last big case on the field was capturing a homicidal maniac who felt he was a vigilante doing good work. It was complicated. I got kidnapped and everything went downhill from there."
Talking about it and remembering those events made my voice tremble. I had hoped that I would have gotten over it by now, but it still seemed relatively fresh in my memory. I struggled with my feelings and memories to keep it all under control.
Miki-san replied but I couldn't comprehend what she said for the moment. I didn't have the brain capacity to deal with her while I was fighting my memories.
The machines began bleeping and I closed my eyes.
*"Uki-chan?"* I heard Shigure's sleepy voice noticing something was wrong through our link. *"Breathe. It's ok. You're ok. Just keep breathing. I'm here. You're safe. You're safe."*
I listened to him to focus on my breathing. I closed all other sounds out and only somewhat registered the bustle of nurses coming in to check on me. They left again when the machines calmed down together with my vital signs.
Breathe in. Feel the lungs and rib cage expand. Feel and listen to that rush of air, try not to expand too far and make the broken ribs upset.
Breathe out. Feel the air move out and the rib cage contract. Avoid big movements to protect the broken ribs and guard against the pain.
That was it. Just slow the breathing down and relax.
When everything was done, I felt exhausted.
"Nodoka-chan? Are you ok?" asked Miki-san's voice of concern.
"I'm fine," I sighed but my voice was so small that I wasn't sure she could hear me. "Just tired."
"Sleep then," Miki-san said, having somehow heard me. Perhaps she had really sharp hearing. "I should sleep too. Good night."
"Good night," I replied and continued to concentrate on my breathing until I fell asleep.
A loud BANG of a door or something startled me. I jumped in the bed, which stirred up all the pain. Was it a door or was it a gunshot?
Miki-san was at my side, hugging her abdomen and chest, breathing hard. She was dripping with sweat.
Neither of us spoke. We just exchanged glances and stared at the door. Although we were supposed to be in a secure area, determined criminals could still possibly get in. Especially if they didn't care about getting caught or used violence to threaten the medical staff. It wouldn't be hard for them to steal a staff card in order to enter.
The door flew open and I sharpened my mind to concentrate and prepare to fight. Outside, more gunfire could be heard. I was sure it was gunfire now.
Why would they use gunfire in a hospital? Nobody in a hospital is armed with anything that could answer to any type of fire power without causing potential collateral damage. Medical staff are seldom trained in defence either. They'd be defenceless in front of a gunsman.
Miki-san crouched down beside my bed so that she would not be in line of sight of the door. Two pairs of scuffed dress shoes seen from below the curtain around my bed rushed into the room. Miki-san slipped under my bed. The owners of the two pairs of scuffed shoes flung my curtain back, glanced around my bed area and then hurried to the next bed - which of course, was empty. The curtain between beds was yanked back and the two men stared at me. Their hands were in their pockets but I could see the faint shape of the guns in there.
Miki-san had rolled under the bed and they saw her there when they bent down to check. The guns came out and my eyelids twitched.
They were going to try and kill her in here? Were they crazy? They'd already made so much noise breaking into this restricted area. They'd be easily caught on their way out and captured. Once they were persuaded to talk, it would be all the evidence law enforcement needed to rout their organisation. They must have an idiot in charge over there. Had their brains been kicked by a dinosaur?
One man kept a gun on me, while the other squatted down with a nasty smile to look at Miki-san.
I prepared myself to make mental strikes and my telekinesis ability in order to protect myself and my neighbour under my bed from these gangsters.
"Found you," the crouching man sing-songed.
Miki-san swore at him in reply, making him laugh.
"Miki-san," I whispered, believing Miki-san would be able to hear me, "do you have a way to protect yourself?"
The men didn't seem able to hear me.
"No," came Miki-san's reply. "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this."
"Then do you want them dead or alive?" I asked her.
"Alive, of course," Miki-san replied, "but do I have an option?"
"Who you talkin' to?" the crouching man asked. "You wearin' an earbud? Got someone on the line with you? Get out here and face me. You've got some nerve, acting the coward and hiding under some innocent person's bed after all them stunts you pulled in my building. You sure you wanna involve your neighbour in this?"
Miki-san slowly crawled out from beneath the bed and stood up.
"Take a step to your left," I whispered to her. "Give me clear lines of sight. Yes. Stay there. Don't go anywhere or I can't be sure of my aim."
Miki-san twitched, seeming to want to turn around and look at me but stopped herself. She shuffled over to the left as if to block me from the gunmen.
"Leave her alone. She's got nothing to do with this," Miki-san said bravely.
"Get on your knees," the crouching gunman stepped closer to Miki-san as if to intimidate her.
She grunted and got down onto her knees under threat of the gun.
"If you didn't want her involved, you should have died earlier and shouldn't have come over here to hide. You know how it is. We're going to have to kill her so she can't tell tales now."
"Nodoka-chan, I'm so sorry," Miki-san half turned her head and said in a soft voice.
"Say 'goodbye'," the gunman pointing his gun at me gave a nasty smile.
Using my telekinesis to get a good grip on the cup and jug of water on the table on the other side of my bed, I tapped into the heads of the two gunmen to see if I could read when they would pull the trigger. The gunman with his gun on Miki-san jerked his head up.
Being sensitive to mental abilities, he snarled and immediately fired. He managed to get two shots off, startling the other gunman who released two shots as well. Seeing the guns fire, I was able to knock the first two bullets off track with my telekinesis, grazed the third, missing the last one.
My cup and jug smashed into their hands, so that one dropped his gun and the other almost lost his gun but managed to keep a hold onto it. Meanwhile, I fumbled my mental attacks in surprise, letting loose half a second late. I managed to knock unconscious the gunman who had shot at me in one mental blow, but the other one had mental defences that had immediately gone up. I had likely given him a bad headache though. At least, I hoped so. I didn't like the look of him.
Immediately, I switched over to an illusion in order to distract him long enough for me to form a stronger mental attack that would knock him out.
Miki-san grabbed the dropped gun and tackled the last standing gunman, knocking him with the butt of the gun on the head in an attempt to knock him out. Instead, it helped him break free from the illusion, but by that time I was ready. In that moment of pain when he broke free of the illusion, his mental defences flickered and it was at that moment of weakness that I struck. To Miki-san, it would have looked like she had struck him unconscious.
There were nurses screaming outside in the corridor.
"Nodoka-chan, are you ok?" Miki-san grunted, removing the other gun with her foot, while keeping the gun she was holding trained on the two unconscious men. She roughly searched and disarmed them, taking their hidden knives and weapons away.
"Ok," I whispered, closing my eyes and trying to breathe. It was strangely difficult to breathe. I opened and closed them slowly. I felt so tired.
Security guards and police arrived late, clearing the room and taking the gun Miki-san was holding. Miki-san was helped back to her bed. Some of her wounds had obviously reopened from the red soaked dressings.
"Was anyone injured?" a policeman asked, but I couldn't reply anymore.
My eyes fell shut and I couldn't open them again for a while. I tried to account for all the four bullets. I knew Miki-san hadn't been hit. I was sure I had managed to knock those bullets aimed at her aside. I had heard thuds in the wall and ceiling. The bullets from the gun that had been trained on me, I wasn't so certain.
If I remembered correctly, I had only managed to make one glance off track. There was no sound as to where it had landed. I had lost track of the last bullet, not being fast or nimble enough with my abilities to have dealt with it. I had been too busy with the mental attacks at that time. I hadn't felt anything, so I shouldn't be injured. Right?
*"Uki-chan!"* I heard Shigure's lamenting shout. I didn't understand why he was shouting like that. Why did he sound so scared and worried? *"Uki-chan! Hold on!"*
I felt strangely tired. Extremely tired.
Then someone screamed.
"Blood! She's been hit!"
The machines monitoring my health began bleeping their alarms right at that point in time, while there was a long monotonous beep and people crowded around my bed. Distantly, I felt hands putting a lot of pressure on my chest. My broken ribs were there. It hurt. The pain was so sharp, I couldn't breathe. Tears poured down my cheeks but I couldn't move.
My bed was moving and people were shouting.
Someone started chest compressions, making it even harder for me to take breaths. A face mask was put over my face and air was pumped into my crying lungs. And then all of a sudden, everything cut out as if a plug had been pulled.