Everything came to me in waves.
It started with light. A bright one. It passed by quickly followed by another with the same outcome. I knew I wasn't dead because of the second feeling I got.
Then pain. My entire left arm, leg and part of my chin stung like I've never felt before. A few small spots I didn't feel anything at all.
And lastly, sound. The sound of rolling wheels filled the hallway I was in as well as the constant yelling and chatter of doctors in distress. One touched my leg and I wanted to scream from the pain, but nothing more than a raspy screech came out. I felt a hand take my only normal hand and hold it.
"Hang in there, Aniki…"
The voice was South Korea constantly saying over and over in his native language. He was terrified to the point that his eyes watered. I focused on him until I noticed another stretcher in front of mine turn into a set of doors. The wavy-brunette haired girl on the bed looked a little young and weak, and her entire right leg and arm looked cinged. They had a mask over her and her eyes were closed. Before I had a chance to process whom that girl might be, another doctor had a mask over my nose and mouth and I was out again.
I came back in a similar way to the last one, only sound took a lot longer to become clear, and I noticed I was admitted in. The sliding glass door read "UCI," which probably meant I was in an intensive care unit. My hair also was down, which made me wonder what happened to the hairtie. South Korea was anxiously sitting in a chair against the wall staring directly at me, and someone that looked like Hong Kong opened up the sliding door and came in. It looked like he was talking to Korea, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. He looked over at me, and left saying that he'd be back, the only words that registered in my mind. I moaned and winced feeling the pain set back in, but this time around it was a lot less concentrated. I tried to lift my arm to scratch my head, but I couldn't bend my elbow from needles sticking into my skin. Morphine, I thought. I was on morphine and it didn't kill out all of the pain.
"ANIKI!!!" Korea yelled, bursting to my side. He was the only one there.
"Not so loud aru…" I said in a raspy voice, coughing harshly afterwards.
"How do you feel?" I leaned back and just stared at him. I seriously felt worse than I have ever felt before. And the best part was I began to feel nauseous. I closed my eyes and moaned to answer him.
"That bad?"
I nodded.
"I'd leave you alone but the doctor asked me to give you water when you wake up. You're really dehydrated right now." He reached over to the side table next to the chair he was sitting in and handed me a paper cup. I sipped the contents, while South Korea pulled up a chair.
"So, do you remember anything?" He finally smiled, more relaxed than before. For some reason, it made me feel a little more relaxed myself. If Korea was serious at anything, then it was a drop-dead-this-is-serious-no-joke kind of situation.
"Before the hospital, aru?"
"Yeah."
I thought back, and I couldn't think of anything. I knew I didn't just go to bed and then wake up on a stretcher. Then it hit me, I had a little rice and pork buns for breakfast. It was something, and to me that was better than nothing. I knew I wasn't burned like this then, because I gave my panda his breakfast with my left hand, and that was affected. So what happened after? I think I went in to work for something, I felt rushed to get over to my bosses' office. A major meeting maybe? I answered.
"I remember breakfast and leaving, aru."
"Alright. So the impact killed your short term memory of that."
"Impact, aru?"
"I don't think you can feel it, but you also bruised your back badly falling from the second floor with someone I haven't seen before. You were knocked out when you hit the ground." I never felt the bruises, even before I was on the painkillers. I would of reached back if I could bend my elbow effectively, but I believed him for the time being. I reached over for the water on the table in front of me, and as soon as I touched the paper cup I paused for a second.
"Did the doctor say anything about side affects of Morphine, aru?"
"Yeah. Why?"
I cussed in Chinese, leaned over the side where my burns were and vomited. After a few minutes, a few nurses came in and cleaned up, and left a bucket on the side if it happened again, and sure enough it was on and off for hours. I was happy to have Korea with me through it, and by the time I finally finished, I was too tired to even think. The doctor came in and forced South Korea out because of my current condition. I managed to wave bye, but soon after I fell asleep again.