Top Model
Marc couldn't figure out what was going on. He couldn't move his body. There were a couple people probing him with needles and what looked to be an oxygen mask. He couldn't be completely sure; everything was way too blurry. They kept touching his head. He couldn't feel his head; everything was numb. One of the men pulled his gloved hands away from his head. His hand was covered in blood. What? Wait a minute; was he in an ambulance? Marc wanted to ask what was happening, but he couldn't get his mouth to move. Everything seemed to echo around him. Nothing was clear. His blurry vision began to blacken. He didn't fight it. He let out a calm breath as darkness overtook him.
Beeping. What was beeping? He couldn't move his body. He could only feel. He was in a bed. It wasn't his bed. There was a strange pressure on his head. Marc's eyes slowly opened. Where was he? He didn't recognize this room. There were people in it. Everything was too blurry; he couldn't make any of them out. One of the people walked up to him. Marc couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. All he could tell that the person was wearing white. The person was speaking to him. What was he saying? Was it even a he? The person's voice was just a muffled echo to Marc's ears. He wanted to ask this person what was happening? Where was he? Why was everything numb? But he couldn't. He felt himself drift back to sleep again. He tried to fight it. He wasn't ready to fall back asleep. He wanted to know what was going on. His body wouldn't let him stay awake. Before he couldn't fully comprehend what was happening; his eyes were shut and he was already in a deep slumber.
"Marc? Hey, wake up." Someone whispered softly in Marc's ear. He let out a soft moan in response.
"F've more min'ts m'm." He slurred.
"Marc, you've got to wake up." Someone else whispered. Marc cracked his eyes open. He was greeted with the sight of Lee hanging over him.
"G't out of my room." Marc said groggily. Lee gave his younger brother a grimaced smile.
"Marc, you're not in your room." Marc stared at Lee. What? He was in bed. Did he doze off on the couch?
"Wha?" Marc asked. Lee leaned back. Marc took in the room. It was dim and quite large. On the left of him, Marc could see Tony on a medium sized couch, passed out with his head in Megan's lap. Megan had her head resting on a wall. She was passed out too. Marc's father was on a cushioned chair on the other side of the room. He was sitting upright, but his head was resting his right hand. His eyes were closed. His mom was next to Lee. They were both looking down at him with worried expressions.
"How do you feel?" Karen asked. Marc stared up at her.
"I dn't know. What happin'd?" Marc asked, his words still slurring. Lee's worried expression intensified.
"You don't remember?" He asked in disbelief.
"Remember what?" Marc asked. Karen's hands come down and wrapped itself around Marc's.
"Sweetheart, you slipped on the ice at school. You were on the stairs and you…" She choked back tears.
"I what?" Marc asked. He looked down at the hand his mother was gripping. Small tubes were coming out his arm. The tubes were covered with white bandages. Although Marc couldn't see or feel it, he knew that there were needles in his arm.
"You hit your head on the cement stairs. You were rushed to the hospital." Lee finished for his mother. Marc gave his brother a confused expression.
"Wattua mean hit my head? I can't even…" Marc's sentence was cut short. He had raised his needle less arm up to his head. Instead of feeling hair, he felt a tightly wrapped bandage. Marc slowly let his hand fall back to his side. He stared at the dim, unfamiliar room. A hospital room. He's in the hospital. "How long was I out?" Marc asked.
"Practically the rest of the day after you hit your head. It's three in the morning right now." Lee said.
"We tried to wake you up sooner, but every time you woke up, you just fell back asleep." Karen said.
"They're pretty positive you have a nasty concussion. You cracked your head open in the fall." Lee informed Marc with a grim expression.
"Stitches?" Marc asked.
"About twenty-twenty-five. I'm not quite sure." Marc sighed.
"Then why can't I feel anything?" He asked.
"They hooked you up to some serious painkillers. You've got quite a bit of morphine in you right now." Marc cringed when his vision suddenly blurred. Nausea overwhelmed his senses. He put is hand over his mouth. He could feel the bile in the back of his throat, just waiting to come out. Lee seemed to catch on to what was going on and rushed to grab the trashcan. Just as he handed it to his little brother, Marc spewed his guts into the trashcan. His body wracked in pain as threw up the contents in his stomach. Once the vomiting stopped, he coughed heavily until the urge to throw up vanished. Karen grabbed a Kleenex and handed it to Marc.
"You okay?" Karen asked as she watched her son wipe off his mouth. He finished cleaning himself and stared down at the bed sheet. He gripped the dirty Kleenex his fist.
"What happened?" He asked. Lee and Karen gave marc a confused expression.
"Marc? What do you mean what happened?" Lee asked. Marc looked at the room. His eyes were a bit fogged over.
"Where am I?" He asked.
"Marc, you're in the hospital. You hit your head, remember" Karen said. Marc gave his mother a confused expression.
"Hit my head?" He reached up and touched his bandaged head.
"I have stitches, don't I?" He asked.
"What's wrong with you? You already asked that." Lee asked in confused exasperation.
"I did? I don't remember that." Marc whispered as he stared at the tiled floor.
"Do you think there are any nurses on duty?" Karen asked her oldest son.
"I hope so." He said as he hit the help button. Marc stared at his eyes as he clasped and unclasped them. The Kleenex had fallen onto the floor.
"Why is everything numb?" A nurse walked in.
"Is something the matter?" She asked with worry.
"Yes. My son seems to be having trouble remembering something we just told him." Karen said.
"He threw up too." Lee added. The nurse grabbed a clipboard from the end of Marc's bed. She quickly read it over.
"You said he threw and he's problems remembering things?" She asked.
"Yes." Karen said. Marc shut his eyes and moaned in pain.
"My head hurts." He moaned.
"Dude, you're drugged up on morphine. How could you be feeling that?" Lee asked. The nurse walked over to the stand that was feeding morphine into his system.
"Looks like he needs a fresh bag of morphine."
"What's wrong with him?" Karen asked.
"Don't worry, miss. He's just experiencing symptoms common for a patient suffering from a concussion. Vomiting, trouble-remembering things, headaches, stuff like that." the nurse walked over to Marc. "Are dizzy at all?" She asked. Marc gave her a weak nod. He had his eyes closed and he was leaning back on the reclined bed.
"I feel sick." Marc mumbled. The nurse made a concerned expression.
"They're all symptoms of a concussion. The effects are probably a bit worse than normal as well. He lost a good amount of blood when he cracked open. His body as already on the brink of exhaustion too. You add that to the fact that he was also mildly dehydrated, yeah, he's going to be feeling all of it." The nurse said
"Can't you just me kill instead?" Marc mumbled. The nurse chuckled slightly.
"I'm afraid not. I'll have the doctor come in first thing in the morning. I'll make sure Marc's the first person he sees. Until then, just try to make sure he's doesn't sleep for more than a full without being woken up. He may only stay awake for two minutes, but it's better than nothing." She said as she nodded to the already drifting, hospitalized teen.
Marc woke up to the sound of people talking. Sunlight streamed through the hospital windows. He could barely remember the happenings of the night before. Marc fought back the pain raging inside his skull and tried to sit up.
"Whoa! Marc, no!" Someone pushed him down a bit too hard for Marc's liking. He glared up at the person who pushed him down. Tony still had his hand on Marc's chest.
"Marc, you've go to take it easy. No moving around." Megan said. Marc swatted Tony's hand away.
"I just wanted to sit up." Marc said.
"Oh, here." Lee said as he hit a button on Marc's bed. The head end of the bed immediately started to rise. Lee let go of the button. Marc was now practically sitting up. Marc let out a frustrated sigh and glared at his siblings.
"Where're mom and dad?" Marc asked. The Clark kids seemed to be the only ones in the room.
"They went to go get food. I'm dying for some pizza." Tony said.
"Is food all you ever think about? Marc's seriously injured, Tony! He could've died!" Megan snapped. Marc felt his stomach rumble.
"Actually, I could go for some pizza. I can't remember the last I've had it. Then again, I can't even remember yesterday." Marc said. He ignored the pain in his head and leaned forward just enough to grab a glass of water sitting next to the bed.
"Man, that was crazy." Lee said.
"Yeah, people were screaming and freaking out when you hit your head." Tony said.
"Really? What all happened?" Marc asked as took a gulp of water.
"You don't remember anything from yesterday? Not even before you hit your head?" Megan asked. Marc shook his head.
"No, nothing."
"Well, you hit your head and people immediately started freaking out. I mean, you weren't moving and blood was pouring out all over the ground." Lee said. Megan shuddered.
"I never want to see blood covered snow again. That was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life." Marc gave her a guilty smile.
"Anyway, after everyone started freaking out, people were saying you were dead." Tony said.
"Then of course everyone was screaming at everyone to call an ambulance. I swear the entire school staff had a panic attack when they saw you out cold on the steps in a puddle of blood." Lee said.
"It didn't take long for the media to catch wind of what happened. You've been all over the news all day long." Megan said.
"Really?" Marc asked.
"Yep! Look!" Tony grabbed a remote and hit the power button. A television set bolted in the far right corner wall in the room came to life. It was already on a news channel. The screen showed a well-dressed female reporter sitting at a desk.
"Thanks Tom." An image the kids' school cam up next to the woman. "Now, the top news that everyone is talking about. Yesterday evening, at a seemingly normal elementary school, student and young model Marc Clark slipped on cement covered ice and cracked his head against the stairs in front of the school. The teen was rushed to the hospital, the whole time coming in and out of consciousness. He had already lost three pints of blood. Once at the hospital, the young teen was given a severely needed blood transfusion. Our latest update informs us that Marc Clark is now stable and fully conscious. Back to you, Tom" The scene went back an over weight man. Marc sighed.
"Great, I'm never going to hear the end of this." Marcs said. A sudden thought crossed his mind. "Why didn't they mention that I had a concussion?" Marc asked.
"They probably don't know yet. I don't even know how they know as much as they do." Megan said with a shrug.
"I'm amazed that you know. Last night, you even retain a small piece of information, like you having stitches in you're head." Lee said jokingly.
"I have stitches? How many?" Marc asked in astonishment.
"You're kidding, right" Lee asked, dumbfounded.
"Why would I be kidding?' Marc asked, slightly offended.
"You've got about twenty-ish stitches." Megan said.
"Doesn't he have staples in his head too?" Tony asked.
"Staples?" Marc asked.
"Oh yeah, you do. We told when you woke up an hour prior. I can't remember how many you've got in your head, though." Lee said.
"I was awake an hour ago?" Marc asked.
"Yeah, because of you're concussion, we have to keep waking you up. Sometimes you refuse to wake up, though. You don't remember?" Megan asked. Marc shook his head.
"Nadda." Tony suddenly lit up.
"Oh! Check it out! I got your phone!" Tony said as he handed it to Marc. Marc took it from him and turned it on.
"I bet it's full message from Jessie, Vicky, and Daniel. Man, they're going to kill me. I was supposed to have a photo shoot today." Marc said as the phone's screen fully loaded.
"Hey! Mom and Dad's back with the pizza!" the three Clark kids ran to the doorway where their parents were with steaming hot pizza. Marc checked his messages. He ignored his family's shouts and stared at his phone. He couldn't help but grin as he read the only message in his phone. It was from Daniel.
"Morning Sleeping Beauty." It said.