6. Chapter 6: Days Gone By
(Quentin POV)
It had been decided by both the Hospital and the Police that due to poor health and the inescapable psychological evaluation, he would be here for the next few weeks. Everything went well as expected, proving to everyone that no, he wasn't insane. But now regardless, he was here stuck in the hospital for the next few weeks, which to Quentin felt like a blessing given how his life was stuck in limbo at the moment, so he was thankful. He was still drawing a blank on where to go from here, so why not have food, water and somewhere to sleep? These basics wouldn't be accessible anywhere else.
A few days after coming clean to Nick, he'd started coming by for regular visits, which were greatly appreciated when his only other company was the doctor and the nurse, and they weren't exactly chatty. So Nick was Quentin's only source of information about the world around him, something he desperately needed. The only pressing imminent matter was what they were going to do with his stuff and, more importantly, with him. Judy and Nick had kept him updated on the developing situation with the apparently counterfeit currency and fake ID which he hadn't seen coming, making the visits anxiety inducing waiting for the worst. At least until Nick came through the door again, looking much more upbeat than usual.
"Hey Nick, what's new?"
'Please be good news.'
"Quentin, I come bearing news," Nick said, dragging a chair over alongside the bed before getting much more serious and putting on a professional tone. "So I'm here to talk to you about all your illegal items."
'I still don't think that it counts as illegal.'
"Ah, I see you are saying 'they aren't fake just not from here' so we have been holding an investigation to find out the origin of these items," Nick pulled out the ten and five-pound note along with Quentin's provisional licence. "We have determined you are in possession of counterfeit goods. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
'There is no way they decided that these are counterfeit. They look nothing alike. This has to be a joke.'
"Very funny Nick, you got me. You had me worried. You know what? I plead not guilty. Where's my lawyer?"
Nick dropped the facade, "Lucky for you the Police have also decided you aren't guilty. I really had you going though~"
"Yeah, for a minute I thought something had gone wrong. I just suffered a head injury. No need for a heart attack as well. I've been through enough." Nick just grinned.
"Damn you," Quentin slumped back into the hospital bed. 'Thank god it wasn't serious. I do not need that right now.'
"So I'm guessing you want to know why?"
"Is it because the 10 note is orange and the five note a turquoise colour?" Nick nodded in response.
"So normally having counterfeit cash and a fake ID is quite serious, especially together, and usually has substantial prison time or massive fines. But as you can tell from the lack of cuffs, that isn't the case."
"If I left in cuffs, I'd be pretty irritated, all things considered."
"So, as you said, they look too different to be real counterfeit items, but also convincing enough to need to speak with you about. So I am instead here to deliver a lecture and some reading materials about the consequences of this crime, prison time yadda yadda yadda you get the deal." Nick handed over some leaflets.
"All I get is a warning?"
'Hallelujah.'
"Pretty much. Oh, and an order to destroy said items in the next few days." Nick said, handing over the items.
'Why hand them over if they want them destroyed?'
"Yeah, I- I'm gonna hold off on that for a bit. There... isn't much I have from home... maybe one day, but for now… no, later."
"I had a keeling you would say that. Take the time that you need," Nick says understandingly. An awkward silence settled over the room.
"Sooooo do you have to give the lecture cuz that seems like too much punishment," Quentin jokes, trying to raise the mood back up.
"Well, since you put it like that, I shall... *Cough Cough* So I am here today..."
'I couldn't have kept my mouth shut, could I.'
Well, it was official. His health was becoming much more stable now. Had it been a week? Sure. But for a fractured skull, no longer being forcibly bed bound was amazing after being stuck in one place for a week. The doctor had come in a few minutes prior, being blunt as ever, to give approval to walk around barring any side effects, but he could overlook the bluntness in the face of good news. Not that medical advice would have stopped him either way after a week of being stationary. He had been plotting for the last couple of days to get up, so this was amazing.
'One small step for man.'
It was amazing just how good it felt to be mobile again and to stretch his joints, which was quickly overshadowed by everything seeming much... larger than he expected.
'It has to be due to the larger animals,' was the first thought, so he looked around the room for some frame of reference such as the window, which until now he had completely overlooked it being floor to ceiling. 'What sort of hospital has floor to ceiling windows? It's like the opposite of private. Could it be... No, no speculating? This is all probably reasonable here. Maybe tall windows are all the rage. But why is the room so tall? No, just go find out, Quentin.'
Once again infected with the desire for some straightforward answers for once. He steps out into the hallway and, 'holy shit! That guy's huge.' Stepping out of the room, he's immediately almost bodied by an elephant that is in a doctor's coat rushing by. 'Everyone is so damn tall. What the hell is going on? That guy had to be over twice my height.' The hallway was a flurry of activity, with animals of all shapes and sizes filtering through the halls. It was manic and entirely overwhelming, especially being driven along by the force of an unfamiliar crowd with the new ever looming risk of being trampled just for being in the way. Rhino's, Bull's and more bears were all seemingly ignorant to Quentin's presence.
Eventually, he broke free from the force of the masses and pulled himself off into an alcove towards the floor's restrooms. He panted off in the hallway, breathless from darting around in what felt like a fight for his life because he now he couldn't go too long without the threat of death, apparently. 'So either I am shorter or everyone is freakishly tall. I don't know what's worse.' In that moment, having gotten some semblance of answers, getting back to the hospital room was his key priority, as frankly, the experience was terrifying. It felt like losing control of his life for the second time. 'Enough exploring. I just want to get back now.' Time to find a nurse.
It was a massive relief to get back to his room. His sanctuary. Not that it was without challenges, as not knowing where he started or what room he was in made it an especially awkward conversation. Quentin felt worse when he found out he had been gallivanting around the hospital in only his underwear and the hospital gown. Could things get worse? Yes, apparently. Doubly so, when he returned to find Nick sat in the room drinking a coffee, scrolling through his phone, smiling as he is getting escorted sheepishly back into the room by the nurse. 'I should have stayed put to hell with being more adventurous that sucked.'
"So I heard you tried to pull a runner."
"I'm not much of an escape artist, am I. Really, though, I just wanted to get used to walking again."
'Where would I run off to, really?'
"You never walked before?"
"You're a real comedian. Why are you here?" Quentin replies.
"Awww, why want me gone?" Nick said, still smiling away.
"Yes. Please. Buuuut I may have some questions you could answer if you desperately want to stick around."
Nick sat forward a little less jokey much the Quentin's thanks. "Alright shoot."
"How tall am I?" Quentin said in a serious tone, with Nick looking more than a little confused, but that was to be expected. Most people knew how tall they are.
"You don't know? Ah, never-mind, don't answer that. Well, I'm about 4 foot tall and you're oh a little shorter by maybe a couple inches, so lets say around 3 foot... 8 maybe," Nick said standing directly face to face giving him a perfect view of Quentin's dismayed expression. "Not what you were expecting, then."
"I was 6'2! I'm really that much shorter. So everyone is regular sized or taller."
Nick whistles, "Wow 6'2 you definitely hit your head. Foxes aren't that tall. Only mammals like wolves, lions and all that are 'regular sized'. Everyone is shorter or much taller. You did pass the psych eval, right?"
Another culture shock was not what he was expecting. He really should've been. Sure, he'd considered it, but every-time something new happened, it threw him through a loop. 'Things will get better. Things will make sense with time,' had become his mantra to try to deal with the increasing realisation that next to nothing was the same.
"So how do you deal with crowds then, because I was just swept up trying not to get trod on? How does anyone deal with this?"
"You kinda just learn how to ebb and flow in a crowd as a smaller mammal and is something you will get used to over time. I could give you some pointers," Nick explained.
"Please," Quentin begged.
"Right, so especially when in a crowd with the larger mammals..."
Two long weeks had now passed since he'd found himself here in not only Zootopia but also in a hospital room. Staring at the same four white walls. Twenty-four hours a day, Every-day, for two weeks. He couldn't even say it was getting old as it already had done. With the rock and a hard place of being scared to brave the crowds lurking outside the door and sitting in a white square box with nothing to do. The second most exciting part of his day was hospital food. Quentin could describe the hospital food in one word: slop. Sure, it's a hospital that has to cater to different dietary requirements, but god did it have to be the same thing day after day, just brown slush. 'The only constant here so far is that hospital food always sucks. Typical.'
Nick had come by yesterday and suffered through Quentin's complaints about the food and promised to provide the "finest local cuisine," whatever that means. Regardless, Quentin was banking on it being an improvement, not that it would be difficult, but there was a glimmer of hope. Right on time, Nick arrives, which prompts Quentin to consider asking why he comes here every-day. There are definitely better more fun things to do on your lunch break. 'Another time. No need to look a gift horse in the mouth.'
"Hey, I come bearing gifts," Nick says waving a brown paper bag with... 'Wait Bug-Burga? Oh no, it's bugs. How did I forget about the bugs?' Quentin's expression is a restrained grimace, a complete opposite to Nick's happiness, 'This will be interesting.'
"Yay," was Quentin's overenthusiastic response. How this would go, he wasn't sure. He wasn't especially squeamish, but no-one wants to eat bugs or where he's from. He hadn't really considered that he would never have any of the foods he loved anymore because well meat products, 'I sure know how to drag the mood down.'
Nick lightly tossed a crumple closed paper bag with Quentin's half of the meal over to him with the both the weight of reality and the bag hitting him in one. Quentin spent longer than he should have staring at the foreboding bag without opening it up.
"Right, you're not from here. So this is a Bug-Burga meal, as the bag says. You can read, right?" Nick stared with a mocking raised eyebrow, causing Quentin to roll his eyes. "Oh, can't talk either. Anyway, this is the top fast-food chain in the city. sooo I got you the basic cricket fries, cicada burger and a Pola-Cola. Enjoy," Nick finishes with a wound up half bow before continuing his own meal.
'Alright. Ok. Yeah. You can do this Quentin. You said you wanted to be more adventurous, just be impulsive. Right, the coke... no Pola-Cola because of course it has to be called something else. Just start there, I can manage this. This is cool.' The drink was in a small two cup holder on the bedside table and grabbed with the as much confidence as he could. It was a pleasant surprise when it was almost like a regular Coke. There was a lull in the conversation with an almost uncomfortable with just the chewing of insect foods and Quentin trying desperately to get more drink with the straw that simply wasn't there.
"What's the problem?"
"Huh. There is no problem."
"See that there is a lie, I would know."
To tell or not to tell. The last thing Quentin wants to do is to be inconsiderate after all Nick had done, so he quashed his internal struggle with the concept of eating bugs to not let the food go to waste. 'Fuck it. Eat the burger.' To its benefit, it looked like the cicadas had been blended and reformed into a burger patty. At least it wasn't like the scorpion in a lolly. No need to look your food in the eye. He wished he could say he'd eaten worse, but mentally this had to take the cake and he'd not even started eating it.
'Aaaaand go', Quentin took a large bite. 'That's... not bad.' The whole idea of eating bugs was torturous, but things could be worse. 'Amen for spices.'
"I have never seen someone agonise over a burger that much in my life before," Nick applauded lightly.
"Just not my usual diet, no," was Quentin's ashamed response. "Sorry. But hey, you won me over salesman of the month."
"It's fine," Nick sat up straighter and leant forward, "only salesman of the month?"
"Don't push your luck. Salesman of the year wrote a song. Are you going to?~"
"No."
Quentin tutted, "Salesman of the month it is then. Collect your trophy at the door."
'I suppose food is another thing I'll have to get used to then. Could be worse.' With renewed confidence but still a healthy level of restraint, Quentin carried on with his meal as he and Nick chatted away. But one question remained.
'Why are the chips not potato?'
'Only a few days left,' Quentin reminded himself. A clean bill of health, a wound healing steadily and infinite boredom, his three favourite things. His phone couldn't connect to the internet here for whatever reason and the TV in the room had broken, so he felt he was almost ready to bounce off the walls. Sure, he could have left early, but with a head injury and nowhere to go, he deferred to the experts and stayed put. Plus, Zootopia has free healthcare, so it was no harm. Might be worth dragging it out. There was always wandering the halls again, but he just couldn't stomach the idea of crowds anymore with it, leaving him feeling far too vulnerable and persistently on edge. One step forward, ten steps back.
Quentin often wound up staring up at the clock, waiting for Nick and being crushed when he had to leave, only to gravitate back to the clock until tomorrow. He'd become pretty much his only friend, a source of entertainment and a lifeline in Zootopia. With that came the thought, 'Where's Judy been?' and ending on 'I'll ask later.'
Only a few days left. Tic-toc tic-toc tic-toc.
'12:03pm which means,' the door clicked open, 'yup aaaaand he's here.'
"Hey, it's you."
"It sure is. Who else would it be? Hoping for someone else?"
"Anyone would be better than you after three weeks."
"Ow, everyone loves my company. Thank you. Maybe I should go somewhere I'm wanted." Nick turned in an animated slow-motion to the door.
"I suppose could allow you to stay."
Nick stopped on the door handle. "Thank you, your highness."
Comfortable silence eased over the room. Quentin had found it crazy how simple even sitting in silence with company made the hospital experience more interesting. "Hey Nick, I just wanted to say thanks for being here week after week and sorry."
"You're welcome. What are you sorry about?" Nick looked confused.
"Sorry about you know... dredging up the past. It was a pretty dirty move."
"Like I said the first few times, you've apologised. It's fine."
'He's probably just saying that.' Sure, it's easy to continue to say it, but whether it was true, Quentin had his doubts. It still felt bad, no matter how needed or desperate he was. It may have been to avoid having his life ruined a second time, but it still felt too underhanded and simply wrong. 'I'll have to find some way to make it up to him.'
"If you say so. Say, where's Judy been all this time?"
"Oh, so you were hoping for someone else," Nick said, acting hurt before reverting back to his usual self. "The answer is simple. Promotion season is coming up, and she's looking to make detective this year. I just don't like to spend my lunch break filling the ticket quota."
"Nothing says good detective like parking tickets." Quentin responded sarcastically, "What if she does get it? How does it change your partnership?"
"We'd spoken about that, but odds are we'll still be working together. Detectives have a good amount of freedom in the Precinct so unless she's secretly changed her mind, she's stuck with me. And before you ask no, I'm not going for detective. I have been on the force for 3 months. I'm not eligible."
'Am I really that predictable?' "Well that's lucky and their loss."
"Thanks."
The conversation ended up drifting around and being filled with less silence than usual with an almost back and forth mock interrogation of each other as, contrary to all the chats they'd had, they knew only very basic stuff about each other.
"So Quentin, here's the big question. You said you were from a different world, right?"
'Boy, does that still sound crazy'
"Yup, I'm guessing there is more that you want to know. There was a lot I didn't cover. I'll give you the truth this time."
"I'd know otherwise."
"Sure you would. I might be the world's greatest liar and I've got you hooked on the story."
"You keep telling yourself that." 'Smartarse.' "So, how did you get here?"
'Oh god this is going to be embarrassing,' "I actually died trying to help people during a bank robbery. Got two of them, but I just missed the guy with the bat. I'm actually a hero." 'Go on, tell me I'm lying, you know it, I know it.'
"Wow! A genuine hero! Can I get your autograph?" Nick comically thrust his small flip-book over with a pen, so Quentin, following on with the joke, signed his name. "Wow! Sorry, but you misspelled liar." Nick's expression twisted from excitement to amusement.
"Yeah, yeah. It's more mundane and embarrassing, I guess," Quentin said with Nick nodding in encouragement. "I... fell... intheshowerwhereihitmyhead," Quentin followed up, mumbling and rushing through the last part.
"I didn't quite catch that."
"I fell getting out of the shower trying to get jeans on as the floor was wet." Quentin threw his head back, staring back at the ceiling. "Happy."
"Ah, that explains the head injury. Slipped into a new reality, huh?"
Quentin scoffs, "Read the rooooom." 'Damn puns. Is this hell?' It wasn't nearly as irritating as he made out. Having someone try to lighten the mood around his death was more than appreciated. He spent enough time in his own head worrying about back home and his mortality and this and that. Sure he wasn't over it, but they say laughter is the best medicine.
"Not my finest moment, anyway. Still isn't the stupidest thing I've accomplished."
"Oh ho ho colour me interested what would that be," Nick said with Quentin quickly back-peddling and attempting to change the subject, "Consider this even with the ranger scouts."
'He has me there. Way to go Quentin. Make yourself seem like more of a moron. The price I pay.'
"Fine, but we are even, right?" Quentin asked, awaiting confirmation, getting a nod.
"Ok, so a couple years ago..."
- Flashback -
'This should be fine'
Jay had found a bunch of shopping trolleys from various shops tipped over in the bushes. It was a lot of fun pushing and spinning each other in the trolleys. Simple fun. But things had escalated. Quentin and Danny were sitting on a trolley sat at the top of one side of the hill while Žofie and Jay sat on the hill just across from them. Trolley jousting, they called it. Great idea.
'Is it too late to get cold feet?'
Matty had abstained from this... madness and had spent the last 15 minutes trying to talk everyone out of all this. Both Quentin and Žofie knew that this was a terrible idea and even agree with Matty. But here they were, caught up in the moment with the feeling of impending doom that Danny and Jay were seemingly ignorant of.
"Hey, Dan. This is a bad idea. Maybe we should stop. This is a mistake." Quentin queried.
"No man, this will be great! It'll be just like modern day jousting!" Danny replied, jolting the trolley and at the movement Quentin felt a cold, anxious chill shoot through his body.
'God, how did I let Danny drag me over here?' Quentin thought in exasperation.
Matty stood just off at the meeting point of the trolley's path, looking disapproving and concerned. 'How I wish I was him right now. We both could have been down there safe and happy, but no.'
Jay could be heard off in the distance starting the countdown, "THREE... TWO... ONE... GO GO GO!"
The actual main event went by in a blur accompanied by the sound of rattling wheels followed by the clanging of metal crashing and scraping. Then he just felt hurt. All over.
'Oh, my god my ribs', Quentin groaned, trying to roll off his chest only to see Danny also groaning in pain with his arm... broken to the point of seeing the bone sticking out with blood all over the place.
'What a fucking mistake.' Quentin thought as he pulled himself out of the trolley.
- Flashback end -
"How old were you when this happened?"
"I was 14."
"And you didn't-"
"Nope, and like I said, I didn't want to do it. It sort of just happened."
Nick had been trying to stifle chuckles from the beginning, already knowing where the story was going, just like Quentin had in the moment, but neither could do anything. It was such a stupid idea.
"You could have said no. So, what were the injuries of the day?"
"I broke a couple of ribs. Danny obviously had a massive break in his arm. Jay got his leg caught in the trolley and broke it. And Žofie had hunkered down so only got whiplash and a concussion." Quentin admitted.
"That's- wow, I wish I could say more, but it is time for me to go. Remember, you're out of the hospital tomorrow get excited I'll meet you on the way out. In the meantime, I need to write you a restraining order on all shopping carts."
"Gimme a break, get out Nick. Shoo."
(29/11/22) Short note here. As I said, this chapter was coming soon. Nothing new to say from the last update other than like I said, I will be gone for a bit and the next chapter should be the 11th of December. Getting my workload together so that's good. Hopefully, this longer chapter will tide people over and as I said, this was a bunch of thoughts that I felt best addressed sooner rather than later. Congrats to Unknown on his profile creation good to have you easily recognisable. Feedback appreciated.
Adeus
