Ch. 10
I knew I was injured when my last thought was the blinding pain in my left side. I couldn't tell exactly what was going on but it was sheer confusion then blissful darkness. My mind was the first to awaken then. Time was of no matter. I couldn't feel anything but pain in my whole being as I struggled upward toward consciousness. My Mind Palace doors were locked and I couldn't get inside so I knew something was very wrong.
I heard soft voices speaking, a sort of mumbling in the hazy background. Opening my eyes was a task and I saw movements in the haze. I couldn't breathe. Pain burst into my chest and head and I choked on something deep in my lungs. I caught the movement of tubing being rearranged around my head and someone touching and moving my body. Those soft voices again beckoned me to rest and I gave in.
Pain again. I tried to concentrate on waking but they must have me drugged pretty well. I can only manage to open my eyes a bit again. I feel a warm pressure on my hands and a familiar buzzing voice in my ear. A hand in my hair, again familiar pressures. I struggle to see thru the haze. It isn't John, the shadow's too tall. Brother... my mind latches on. Mycroft. He's soothing me just like when I used to get sick in withdrawal. I sigh and the pain explodes in my chest again, my throat is so sore.
Touches again, not Mycroft this time. I'm choking again and a gurgling sound is loud in my ears. I see hands reaching for me and I fight the panic inside. A female voice, soft but commanding tells me to relax. I get the feeling there are tubes in my mouth and nose. I want them out but I'm too tired to try to tell them. They are shifting me around again. I hurt all over but I know I am being taken care of instead of being someone's play toy. I succumb to the dark again.
When I came to myself again, Mycroft was still at my bedside. I felt nauseated and weak. Mycroft dabbed at my face with a cool flannel. That helped to quay the pain filled panic that was welling up inside of me. I still felt tubes in my throat and I tried to move my hands to push them away. Mycroft's warm hands encircled mine.
"You're under the best of care, brother dear."
I knew he was right. I felt another set of hands take mine, this time a little rougher and shorter than mine. John. He took the place where Mycroft used to be in my view. I wanted to go home, back to Baker Street. John would make everything better and he could take away all the pain and pull out these annoying tubes in me. I tried to tell him but I had no more strength left.
John's touch to my cheek was all it took for me to tip back over into blissful unconsciousness once again.