Faithful

by Waiting for my Munkustrap

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Pouncival shifted uncomfortably, his groggy mind simply wishing that annoying sound would stop.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

He opened his eyes slightly, then clenched them shut again, when they were flooded with stark white light. He groaned.

"Pouncival, are you awake?" asked an unfamiliar voice. That jarred his mind awake enough for him to force his eyes open. A silver tabby queen in a white gown was standing over him, where he lay in an uncomfortable bed covered in papery white sheets. The annoying beeping was coming from a heart monitor. He rolled his head to the left, and he saw the IV drip attached to his arm by a long, thin tube. Clearly, he was in the hospital. Unnervingly, he didn't remember why or how he got there.

"We have you on morphine for the pain," the silver queen responded to his confused expression. "Your mother and brother have gone downstairs to the cafeteria. Would you like me to send for them?"

Pouncival nodded drowsily, still squinting from the light. His nurse stepped just outside his room, where he heard her ask another cat to find his family and let them know he was awake.

Though his memory was quite foggy, when he tried to picture the events that had evidently led to his hospitalization, he was starting to wake up enough to remember some things. Namely, that he had been in a car accident.

When the nurse stepped back into the room, he asked her, "With my family, was there another tom…um, my age, also brown and white, but darker brown?"

The nurse looked pained, as she gently touched his shoulder. "No, I'm afraid not," she said. Pouncival sighed. He knew it was probably silly to be upset, but Tumblebrutus was really the only one he wanted to see.

A minute passed, and Pouncival's mother, Jellylorum, and older brother, Plato, came rushing into the room. They looked more than relieved to see him awake.

"Oh, my poor baby," Jellylorum cooed. "How are you feeling?" She sat in the chair next to the bed and began running her paw gently over her injured son's head.

Jellylorum had obviously been crying. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her cheeks were red. It hurt Pouncival, to see that. He was only a kitten, when his father, her mate died in a car accident. She never fell in love with another tom, after that. Pouncival felt so guilty. He couldn't remember if he had caused the accident or not, but either way, he was driving, wasn't he? He could have stopped it. His mother didn't have to be scared.

"I'm feeling pretty stoned," Pouncival replied, gesturing towards his morphine drip. Plato laughed at his remark, coming to stand by their mother.

Pouncival dared to ask what happened. His mother and brother looked at each other with grim expressions, then Jellylorum took a shaky breath. "You were hit by a drunk driver, sweetie," she explained. "You were conscious, when the paramedics arrived, but they said you were pretty delirious. I'm sure they don't expect you to remember anything. Apparently, you passed out in the ambulance on your way here. Everlasting cat, we were so worried about you."

By the end of the albeit short story, she had choked up. She took her son's face in her paws and kissed him on the forehead.

"How long was I out?"

"Six hours," his brother replied. Pouncival's eyes grew wide. "Six hours? Wh- What was wrong with me?"

Jellylorum quickly tried to calm him down. "A concussion and a lot of bruising. Somehow, you didn't even have any bones broken."

He winced. "Was it bad?"

Both Jellylorum's and Plato's eyes fell to the floor. "It was pretty bad, kid," Plato said quietly.

Pouncival got the feeling they were keeping something from him, which unsettled him to his core, but he didn't have the energy to push them. He was aching to ask if Tumblebrutus had come by, but he was too afraid of being told "no." Besides, he tried to leave his mom out of his relationship. She hadn't been exactly thrilled to find out that both her sons had a thing for other toms, even if Plato went for queens, too. Pouncival tried not to take it personally. He knew she just desperately wanted grandkits and was afraid she wouldn't get them, and she put in an honest effort to be supportive, but he could tell she was disappointed. Their little family been through so much. The pain of knowing he was just the next tragedy in his mother's life hurt Pouncival more than his injuries.

"I'm so sorry," Pouncival whimpered. "I should have been more careful. I-"

"Now, you just stop that!" Jellylorum snapped. "You were not at fault. There was nothing you could have done." She placed a paw on her son's cheek and looked him straight in the eyes. "You are my son. I'm proud of you, I love you, and nothing will ever change that."

One of the upsides of being in a tight, little family: Jellylorum and her sons always knew exactly what to say to each other.

There was a knock on the door, and a mature-looking calico queen entered, holding a chart. "Hi, Pouncival. How are you feeling?"

"I guess alright, considering."

"Good. That's good. Well, I'm your doctor, Dr. Malicowren. Most people just call me Dr. Mal." She cast an awkward look at Plato and Jellylorum, still addressing Pouncival. "I need to do a quick examination. We usually send visitors into the hallway, but your family can stay, if you would prefer it."

Pouncival didn't prefer either option, but he knew his mother would much rather stay, so he decided in her favor. The doctor checked his heart rate and blood pressure. She shined a light in his eyes, which did not feel good, but she said he seemed to be recovering from his concussion quite like she would expect. She made him wiggle all his digits. At that point, he began to zone out. By the time the doctor finished her exam, he could barely keep his eyes open. He heard Dr. Mal tell his mother, "It's normal for him to be tired. His body is working hard on healing." It was the last thing he heard, and his final thoughts before falling asleep were of his noticeably absent tomfriend. He figured, Tumblebrutus would surely be there when he woke up.

Pouncival woke again to the same jarring beeping as before. The morning light was beginning to filter through the window behind his head, the blinds casting stripes of warm light across the ceiling. Looking to his right, he saw his brother slumped over in a chair, asleep. He heard his mother's tired, hushed voice speaking with another outside the open door to his room. He shifted in his bed. His body felt about like one would expect, after a horrific car accident.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," Pouncival whispered, trying to get Plato's attention, "What time is it?"

"W' I don' fuckin' know, I jus' woke up," Plato slurred. When he came to his senses a bit more he asked, "How you feeling?"

"How do you think I'm feeling? Like shit. Who's Mom talking to?"

"Uncle A."

Was Tumble here? The words tingled on the tip of Pouncival's tongue. He was screaming them, in his mind. Was Tumble here? Where's my tomfriend? Why hasn't he visited me? He took in a breath to finally ask, before his mother and uncle stepped into the room, startling him, and the words fell away.

Asparagus stepped up to Pouncival's bedside and cast a sad smile down at his nephew. "Hey, kid. Are you feeling alright?"

"I guess, considering."

"Good. You gave us quite a scare."

Once again, Pouncival got the distinct feeling that everyone was hiding something from him. That, plus Tumblebrutus' lack of presence, was starting to give him a sick sense of dread.

"Your mom said you don't remember much," Asparagus went on to say. Pouncival shook his head as well as he could without feeling like it was being bashed in with sledgehammer. "No," he said, "I don't remember hardly anything."

He really didn't. He remembered that it was a car wreck, but he didn't know how he remembered. Everything was just…fuzzy.

About an hour later is when more cats began to visit. Munkustrap, Cassandra, Demeter, Tugger. Every face that walked through the door that wasn't Tumblebrutus' left Pouncival more confused and upset. Victoria, Bombalurina, Etcetera, Mistoffelees. The day crept by with no sign nor mention of the only cat Pouncival really wanted to see.

The sun had set, and Pouncival was beginning to doze off. Then, his ears perked up at the sound of Jennyanydots' voice. Jennyanydots was Tumblebrutus' mother. She was quietly chatting to Jellylorum in the hallway. The two exchanged a hug, then, to Pouncival's surprise, Jennyanydots walked away. Jellylorum walked into the room, facing the floor.

"Where's Tumblebrutus?" The words fell out of Pouncival's mouth.

Jellylorum's head snapped up. "What?"

That's when all the frustration Pouncival had been feeling came crashing down. "Where is Tumblebrutus!?" he cried. "Why hasn't he been here? Everyone else has."

Jellylorum began to reply gently, "Pouncival-"

"I don't want to be calmed down, Mom! I want to know where the hell my-"

"Pouncival, when you were in that accident, you weren't alone in the car."