Mr Wolff watched it happen, Alex finally fell asleep and began leaning before he just toppled off the bed, landing on his back.
He rushed over Alex and started to comfort him.
"What happened?" Alex cried confused and in pain.
"You fell asleep and fell off the bed," Mr Wolff said holding Alex gently
Ten minutes later Mr Wolff had soothed Alex.
"I need to go toilet," Alex said softly.
"Come on then," Mr Wolff said helping Alex up. He held Alex's hand and with the other hand helped to drag the rack to which Alex's IV was attached. A couple of minutes later and they were back and Alex was lying on top of the bed.
Little Grace and Onita walked in, with some pizza for dinner. She put a box on Alex's bed, for him Nat and Little grace to share.
Alex had barely finished his first piece, when he fell asleep again landing face down in the pizza.
"wow" Little Grace said giggling.
Mr Wolff looked up and sighed with relief.
Nat was amused, relieved but also a bit annoyed, he was annoyed because he was hungry and Alex had amusingly decided to use the pizza as a pillow.
"Do we have anymore pizza?" Nat whispered as his stomach growled.
"No, but we'll go and get some more and then I will take you two home," Onita said, before leaving with Little Grace and Nat.
Alex had been asleep for two hours when he was gently shaken awake,
"Come on Alex, I need you awake for a bit," Mr Wolff whispered to his son.
"I want to sleep," Alex whined angrily.
"I know, but you need to be awake for a bit." Mr Wolff whispered.
"I want to sleep!" Alex said angrily before he started to cry.
Mr Wolff helped Alex sit up and get his face out of the pizza.
A nurse attached a new course of antibiotics to Alex's IV, before she left.
Mr Wolff got a wet cloth and wiped the pizza of Alex's face, he then sat down in a chair beside Alex's bed,
Alex slowly went and got up and sat on his dads lap.
"Can I go to sleep now?" Alex asked, although he felt that now he was awake, it would be difficult to do so.
"You need to wait until the IV is finished, then we can take the tube out so you can get to sleep easier," Mr Wolff whispered.
Alex whimpered frustrated.
Mr Wolff gently put his arm around Alex, cautious to avoid his burns and just sat there hugging Alex.
The hours dragged on until the antibiotics were gone. Alex stared absently at the wall. His burns were once again uncomfortable and he didn't think now he would be able to get to sleep.
The nurse came and detached the tubes from the entry point of the IV which was stuck into Alex's arm. After that the nurse left and Mr Wolff placed Alex on the bed, while he went and fell asleep in the chair.
Alex was right, and he lay there quietly sobbing unable to get back to sleep. He thought how unfair it was at being woken up as stared blurry eyed through the tears around the room.
Alex fed up, kicked off his shoes and threw them at his dad to wake him.
"Alex, it's 1:30" Mr Wolff complained yawning.
"I want soda!" Alex said crankily.
"Alex, you need to get some sleep," Mr Wolff said yawning.
"I can't, because you woke me up!" Alex said angrily.
Mr Wolff yawned and that was the end, he had fallen asleep again, infuriating Alex even more.
Alex got up and grabbed his dads wallet, which was sitting on the table. He stumbled out of his room and down the corridor. He wandered the hospital trying to find a vending machine, or the cafeteria, but couldn't. After 20 minutes of wandering the hospital half asleep, he found a vending machine in the ED.
Alex took a note out of his dad's wallet and tried to feed it to the machine, but the machine kept spitting it out. Alex was on the verge of finding something to smash the machine open with, when some one came over and kindly got him a soda, giving Alex back the note he took out of his dads wallet.
Alex opened the bottle took and took a drink before turning around. It was the lady that was with that girl.
"What are you doing down here so late?" She asked kindly as she looked into his sleep deprived eyes.
"Stupid dad woke me up and now I can't get back to sleep," Alex mumbled.
"Come on, you can sit with us if you like, Juanita fell out of bed, so I want to make sure her leg didn't get any worse." Juanita's mom said softly.
She guided Alex over to where Juanita was, she looked tired, not as tired as Alex who still failed to register the name.
"Hey," Alex mumbled.
Juanita looked up.
"Hey," She said enthusiastically.
"How are you now?" She asked kindly.
"I want sleep… stupid dad," Alex mumbled.
They all sat there quietly, while they waited. Alex drunk his soda. Once he had finished, he stood up, he put the bottle in the bin beside the vending machine. He pulled out his dads wallet and pulled out another note. This time the machine accepted it. Two sodas popped out and Alex went back over and sat down.
"Alex, you shouldn't drink so much soda if you want to sleep," Juanita's mom said quietly.
Alex didn't fathom how she knew his name, but tried to give one of the bottles to Juanita.
"No thanks, I only drink milk" She said kindly.
Alex opened one bottle and put the other one in his pocket.
"Juanita Mendez," One of the doctors called.
The three of them stood up and followed the doctor.
The doctor looked, at Juanita, then at Alex. He wasn't so much concerned at how different they looked, but that they were both injured.
Juanita's mom noticed the way he was looking at them.
"Only one of them is mine, Alex, is already admitted upstairs." Juanita mom said quietly.
The doctor looked unsure. "I'll check that out," He said and left for a few minutes.
The doctor left and came back 5 minutes later, he also had the doctor who had been treating Alex in tow.
"Alex, what are you doing down here at this time of night?" She asked walking over to Alex.
"Sorry, I just had to check it out, we are very wary of child abuse," The other doctor said to Juanita's mom.
"It's alright, it's better to be safe than sorry," Juanita's mom replied before the doctor started to look at Juanita.
"Stupid dad, woke me up, and now I can't sleep," Alex mumbled.
"Sorry Alex, but he had to wake you, so we could help get your burns better," She replied softly.
"Unfortunately there is a big delay on the X Ray so we can't get you in until morning. However it appears that the room you were in for the last week is still empty so we can put you up there for the night." The doctor said.
Juanita and her mom agreed and Alex's doctor began taking them all back upstairs. They stopped outside Alex's room.
"Here you go Alex, you should go and get some sleep," She said quietly.
"NO! I CAN'T SLEEP!" Alex yelled frustrated, why did they try to make him do something he couldn't do.
"Calm down Alex, I know you are tired and frustrated, but you should get try to get some sleep," She said soothingly.
"Alex, if you promise to try and get some sleep, do you want to come with us for a bit?" Juanita's mom asked kindly.
Alex nodded, he felt comforted by her genuine kindness. As much as he was still upset that his mom was gone, he liked the feeling of someone acting like one, even though Alex didn't know her.
The doctor looked at them both. She pulled out a small note pad and scribbled something onto it. She disappeared inside the room for a second and then came out again. She then took them a couple of rooms down the hall. Juanita's mom helped Juanita on to the bed, while Alex sat awkwardly in one of the chairs so he didn't hurt his burns.
Alex envied the girl as she fell asleep, and got more frustrated an hour later when her mom did too. Alex tried to fall asleep. He didn't even drink the other soda in his pocket, but he still could not do it.
Mr Wolff woke about 7:30, and was startled when he saw that Alex wasn't there. He did however find a note, explaining that Alex was a couple of rooms down the hall.
He walked down, and saw that Alex was in what looked to be the most uncomfortable position ever devised in one of the chairs. He saw the girl and lady who had been with Alex the day before. Both were awake.
"I'm sorry, he hasn't been being a pain has he?" He asked walking in.
"No, he's been good. Just frustrated about sleep," Juanita's mom said.
Mr Wolff looked at Alex, he was wondering if it would have been better if he just let Alex sleep and made the doctors worry about him later.
"Good Morning Alex," Mr Wolff said.
"Easy for you to say." Alex said very tired and very grumpy.
"Hey don't worry Alex, when you get some sleep you will feel loads better," Juanita said quietly.
"Come on Al, Onita, Little Grace and Nat will be here soon with breakfast," Mr Wolff said kindly as he helped Alex up.
"Thanks," Alex mumbled quietly to Juanita and her mother before his dad led him away.
"I thought you were going to ask to go skateboarding with him?" Juanita's mom asked gently.
"I think he's too tired to remember that he actually went to hospital let go skateboarding with me," Juanita said quietly.