"Sir? Sir! Please leave! Can't you see that this poor man is frightened about new voices?" Mozzie felt like running but he didn't want to leave his friend. Not when he had just found him back. He should've say something like: I know this guy! But his tongue felt numb.
Mozzie was so upset by his scared friend. It was so uncharacteristically of Neal. He'd never seen him like this.
Mozzie just stood there like a sack of potatoes, ready to be carried away by the security. Meanwhile, his friend crawled himself up like a shivering ball, thumping his fists against his ears like a four year old.
"S-sorry…. Sorry…" that was all Mozzie could say.
"Sir, if you're not leaving, now, I am afraid I'll have to call the security," the woman said a little softer. She meant what she said but somehow she had a heart that was big enough to care about the both of them. "He doesn't handle his blindness very well," Betty muttered as she looked fondly at her favorite patient. She walked past Mozzie, softly pushed him away, and kneeled down. Her hand was touching Neal's quivering shoulder and that sooth him a little. Mozzie took a few more steps away from them. But he couldn't turn his eyes away when Neal suddenly crawled in the nurse's arms and started to sob. It was so weird, sad and yet so heartwarming. The kid looked like a… well yeah… a kid.
So that's it then. Neal was blind… Blind and amnesia… that explained it all… Poor Neal… He must of felt so lost.
"I-I am so. so sorry, Neal. I wish I could do something…" Mozzie blurred out. And he backed down.
Nurse Betty heard what the man said. And of course she heard the name Neal. It had gotten her attention. But when she looked up again, that bald guy was already gone.
If only Mozzie had seen that, or the face Neal pulled from under the bandages, he must've caught the confused look. Neal stopped sobbing. But he held his skinny arms still firmly around the nurse's neck for protection. From under the bandages his eyes moved a little. Then his small voice whispered in Betty's neck.
"W-who was that man?" he asked.
The nurse watched her patient ease down some more. And she finally broke the embrace. "I don't know," the nurse said, now looking very unsure of what she saw in the man's changing behavior. She frowned at him as she helped him on his legs. 'That guy,' she thought. 'He called him Neal.'
"Let's get you back in bed, first. You need some fresh bandages, too. They are a little wet." Neal nodded weakly as he shuffled forward, while clutching into the IV pole. He was too tired to feel ashamed about his recent crying spell.
But his mind was filled with a weird kind of image he didn't understand. Because al he saw was a face of a brown eyed man, yelling at him. Was this an actual memory?
…
He was back in that damn elevator again.
Not even a single hint of happiness was left in his quivering body. My god! Neal was blind… That was horrible. What should he do? Neal's carrier was over. Neal was done. He could never paint again. Never work again, with Peter neither. Oh my God! Will Neal be going back to prison, now?
The elevator stopped at the 2th floor. Mozzie put of his glasses. Rubbed his stinging eyes and sigh deeply. He couldn't bring himself to get out of the small elevator room. He couldn't! If he did, he must go back to June, Elizabeth and Peter.
He should tell them what he just had seen. Although it scared him, he must tell this now!
He needed them. Neal needed them…
"Oh God," he moaned as the elevator doors slide open. This was going to be very difficult.
…
"Mozzie! There you are! Where have you been? Elizabeth and I were worried about you!" June fastened her steps towards the, now extreme, nervous looking guy. And as soon as June was close enough she gave him an all knowing glance.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" she whispered. Mozzie jumped a little by this assumption.
"You knew?" Mozzie muttered with widened eyes. June just shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, I had my suspicious when you didn't show up, again." Mozzie sighed deeply as his eyes stared at the floor. His shoulders hung forward. He suddenly was very tired. Exhausted was the better word for it. The adrenaline had poisoned his body, and now all his muscles ache.
June saw the blood draining from his face, and she frowned.
"Mozzie, are you ever going to tell me what's going on," her hand landed on his shoulder and she immediately noticed that the man was trembling. Mozzie shook his head. "I-I don't know how to tell you this ... but I've seen him ..." Confused, the older woman blinked her eyes. "Who, Mozzie? What did you see?" Mozzie shook his head. "Maybe you should sit down first," Mozzie stammered. June frowned deeply. "You mean, you saw Neal?"
"Maybe I must sit first, then," Mozzie said under a shaky breath.
The man felt his knees grow weak and sought his place in one of those plastic hospital benches.
June lowered herself beside him with a worried look. A hand touched the man's forehead.
"Mozzie, you're getting hot. Sweetie. You're not going to be sick, are you? What happened? Tell me." Mozzie sighed. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he took of his glasses.
"... I saw him. And I scared the crap out of him. Nurse Betty send me away. She thought I was bothering him." He looked June tightly in her eyes.
"Patient Sinatra ... he's alive!" Now June drew a grimace.
"Frank Sinatra is alive?" Mozzie shook his head. "No."
June shrugged her shoulders.
"Sorry, Mozzie. But I believe that you should be a little more specific. Because I'm beginning to think you're a little... you know ..." she didn't dare to go further. But Mozzie got it loud and clear.
It made him a little mad, because he wasn't!
"I'm not crazy, June." He took in some amounts of air.
"It was Neal" Mozzie cried out and hit the hand of away from his shoulder.
This behavior made June a little confused. She wanted to say something but Mozzie stopped her with an up holding finger while he was pulling out a crumpled piece of paper from his pants pocket.
"Look. Room 304. Mr. Sinatra. That's him! I saw him!" June gazed at the quivering name on the paper and dropped her jaw.
And "Oh, dear…" was all she could say.
…
"Alright, mr. Sinatra, let me look at your face." Nurse Betty started to remove the bandages while Neal lay flat on his back onto the hospital bed. He was very tired and almost fell asleep when he suddenly felt a hard yank on his hair.
"Och," he yelped. His hands got up to his face but they were firmly grasped.
"Oh no, you don't. Sorry for the hair pulling, sweety, but your infection is starting to exudate. The bandages are sticking to your skin. It means that the swelling is finally getting down, but we need to be careful and let the wounds as clean as it gets." Neal felt the thumbs on his wrists caress a bit. He sight at the sweet touch.
"H-how do I look?" he suddenly asked weakly. Because he really didn't know.
At that he heard the nice nurse chuckle.
"With, or without your wounds?" Neal shrugged at that as he gave a sleepy sigh.
"B-both, I guess," he whispered. A smirk appeared on his lips. Then he felt a hand grasped his shoulder. Fingers squeezed in his skin.
"You don't have to worry about that right now, mr. Sinatra. Let's get you healthy first."
Some noises were made. Neal tried to recognize them. A draw shoved open. There was a crackling sound from a plastic back. Then a soft hand fell on his shoulder again.
"Don't panic. I am going to clean the wounds a little with disinfection lotion. It shouldn't hurt much. But if it does, just tell me, alright?" Neal gave a strong nod. But his hands were clinging into his covers. He heard another chuckle and he felt himself smile, too. But as soon as the light stinging lotion touched his skin Neal bit his lips. He wasn't a softy. But when you couldn't see, every sensation felt a little more intense. At least, that was what the others had told him.
"Hm. I can feel you glowing with fever. How are you feeling?" Neal felt nausea. Weak, cold, shaky and death tired, but worse of all… he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. He felt like he should do something... But what? His mind started to wander.
"That man… He called me N-Neal… How did he look like? Did he got… uhm... brown eyes?" The hands that were working on his head stilled.
"He was bald and short. I didn't see his eyes because of the glasses. Why? Do you remember something?" the voice sounded very curious. There was a long silence between them Betty saw how the eyes rolled a little from under the puffy red eyelids.
"No… Only a yelling face of a brown-eyed man." Neal sounded very off. He was already drifting away. The poor young man did that sometimes. He was like a light switch that could turn itself on and off.
The man had a bad concussion, after all.
...
AN: What could I say right now? I'm very pleased that you are reviewing me so well:) It makes me wanna dance! but I can't. I have to work on this story in return for you guys:D did you enjoy this chapter as well? i know I did. Nurse Betty is so sweet:3 But Neal blind? ... that sucks! I hope they heal up nicely. see ya soon buddyyyy'sss
X
Josie