I awake from my slumber. My bones hurt and bruises ache. I don't want to move, moving hurts. But I have to move, and so I do.
It takes me a minute to sit up fully. In that time, I notice that I has some light bandages around the worst offenders being my knee, lip, and nose. When fully up, I sit there thinking about the fight I had with the three boys. I did surprisingly well for a fat bastard that doesn't any experience. The sheets were put over me which means the nurse came in after I fell asleep. Speaking of asleep, how long was I out?
I don't see any clocks in viewing range while looking around so they're probably out of the curtains. Swinging my legs off of the bed, I stand up and limp to the curtains. I push them aside to see the nurse was in the room, at his desk.
It was an older, short guy who gave off good granpa vibes. He looks up from his desk and lightly smiles. "Been wondering when you would get up. Gave me a good frighten when a boy I've never seen the face of shows up, black eyed and battered. Set you all up in bed, rubbed some medications on the bruises, and put some bandages on the parts that looked like they were needed."
Nodding, I respond, "Thanks, I'm going to be heading out now. Don't want to skip classes I don't know about."
He seems baffled at my choice, "Boy, you do realize that if they continued for a minute more you'd be in the hospital? It's a miracle you're even moving right now, and you want to head off to class? No, I won't allow it. Tell me your classes and I'll get the school work you need. You just rest in the bed."
I awkwardly smile at his declaration, how do I tell him I don't know what my classes are? "Um, nurse, I don't know what my classes are."
The nurse seems even more baffled, "How do you not know the classes you're taking? It's already the second week, you should've known the first day exactly what classes you have."
"I got amnesia due to blunt force trauma. I don't remember two days ago, let alone a week."
His face softens at that, "Oh, I'm sorry. Well, I'll head to the office to grab your schedule and classes, you just stay here."
"Thank you, Mr... I don't know your name."
"Right, I'm Mr. Min, nurse of this here school. Pleasure to make your acquittance stranger.", and with those words he's out the door and into the halls.
I'm left standing in the Nurse's office, only my thoughts for company. To keep myself busy I look around the office. I see the six beds fit with curtains, a desk that nurse Min sits at, a funny little Anatomy of a Skeleton, and some medical supplies in the cabinet. This is the most well supplied Nurse's Office I've ever seen, which either says a lot about this office or my other schools.
I limp back to the bed and lay upon it again. They got some really good matrices for these beds. Now that I've got time to think, what should I do here? What should I do now that I know this isn't Earth?
How do I get back home, to my family? What happens to Choehabu and his if I were to leave? So many questions take hold in my mind and tighten their grip around my heart. Like wolves in the shadows, they sink into my flesh and numb the pain. I can't breathe, I can't think, I can't feel!
My arms and hands start shaking uncontrollably. Anxiety piles in my chest, dread forms in my stomach. My heart starts beating faster, my blood starts pumping harder. I start breathe more every time I take a breath. Is this a panic attack, is this what they feel like? I have to move, I have to move.
I rush off the bed and end up falling. I crawl as tears start leaking from my eyes, what will happen to my family there? Are they okay, will they survive? What will ##### think when he finds out his brother disappeared?
I'm bawling now. All these fears and insecurities finally bubbling to the surface after being pushed down for so long.
I don't hear the door opening, nor the dropping of bags. I don't feel the sensation of someone shaking me. I don't feel, period. A black ocean of void I am submerged in, clouding thoughts, feelings, sensations, and wants.
I close my eyes and try to regulate my breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the mouth. While doing this, I lull myself into a sleep. I eventually open my eyes to a new world. A world that's more vibrant, more alive now.
I look down and see I'm in the bed again. Looking over, Nurse Min is in the chair besides the bed. It seems he brought me here after finding me on the floor. "Nurse Min, are you awake?"
He stirs while grumbling "Hmmbamg. What, what's happening? Oh it's you, Choehabu, how are you doing? Feeling better"
I nod, "Yes, I feel much better. Like a weight was finally lifted from my chest. Thank you for helping me, I don't know what happened."
"I don't know either, just found you on the floor hyperventilating. Tried to get your attention but you didn't respond. Looks like you figured it out though, whatever you were going through."
"Mmh, I've been going through some stuff for a while now. Looks like this day was when it finally brew over. Thank you again, for bringing my bags and for helping me with... this. Do you mind if I spend the rest of the school day here?"
"I'd mind more if you didn't. Just rest here, boy. I'll tell the teachers you got sick and had to stay out for the rest of the day." he finishes his sentence with a pat on the back.
I look up at the ceiling. Maybe... maybe this world, isn't so bad after all.