The doctors and nurses talk around me like I don't hear them.
"Change the TV to a Buffy The Vampire Slayer re-run."
"Don't give him cheese, he hates it."
"He lost the remote that changes the bed postion again, god damn it."
"Why does he want a Sharpie cat face?"
"Contact Mr. Howell, tell him Phil is awake."
The nurses found the remote for the bed and changed the position so I was propped upright. They tried drawing a cat face on me, but they couldn't do it properly because of the oxygen mask. As I'm watching Buffy kissing Spike, I think of Dan. They called him five minutes ago. He should be here by now. Did something happen to him? Did the car break down or is there traffic or-
"PHIL!"
Dan charges through the door and trips. The nurses lightly grab his shoulders and try to lift him up, but he shakes them off. He stands up, looks straight into my eyes, and runs towards me. He lifts up my oxygen mask and kisses me. Slobber and tongues and everything. He then realized I couldn't breathe and he put down the mask. "What's on your face?" Dan asks, trying to fix his messy hair. "Cat whiskers," I croaked. "No, Phil. Those are just 3 lines on your cheeks," he murmurs. He gets a little wipe and rubs off the whiskers gently. Dan, being prepared for this visit, pulls out a black Sharpie. He does my whiskers and the nose with one swift lift of the mask.
Dan grabs a chair and scoots it as close to my bed as possible. He smiles wide as he carefully puts the Sharpie in my hand. "Can you do mine?" He requests. I uncap the marker and try to make it as neat as possible. His nose is just a big scribble and his whiskers are long squiggly lines, but he doesn't seem to care. He puts the Sharpie back in his pockets. I intertwine my fingers in his as we watch Buffy. "So," Dan says, "Do you know what happened a week ago?" I really don't. The last thing I remember was losing control of the car. I just woke up this morning, and no one has talked to me about what happened that night. "No," I wheezed. "You got in a terrible car crash," Dan whispered, tears forming in his eyes.
I try to hold his hand tighter, but I'm too weak. He strokes my fingers. "I thought you were dead, Phil. I thought it was too late," Dan muttered, his tears flowing over his whiskers. I wanted to tell him so many things. But all that came out was: "I love you, my Dandelion". "I love you too, my Lion," Dan said. He pulls out a brush and starts to fix my hair for me. He opens his backpack and pulls out Lion and one of our big Totoro plushies from home and places them next to me. "Hashtag 'Pray for Phil' was trending all week on Twitter," Dan says, grabbing my bed remote. He props me up so high, it's like I'm sitting. "What are you doing?" I squawk. "We're going to do a YouNow," Dan utters. I grunt. The last thing I want to do is let people see me like this.
"Hello Internet!" Dan exclaims, staring at the phone. "Phil, would you like to say hello?" I use my good arm and lift up my mask as he turns the phone to me. "Hello!" I say. My throat hurts from talking like normal. I slide the mask back on as Dan turns the phone away. "So," Dan starts, "If you don't know, Phil got into a car accident about a week ago and was in a coma until this morning. It kinda blew up on Twitter. So he broke... wait, what did you break, Phil?" "Um, I broke both of my legs and my left middle finger," I mumble. "His legs and his left middle finger, for the people who didn't hear," Dan repeats. "And we're at the hospital now, just... doing nothing... um, ask questions, I guess!" Dan exclaims. He answers questions for about an hour, saying "Phil can't answer any questions right now!" at least 10 times. Finally, he signs off. The doctor comes in and tells Dan he can't stay any longer because visiting hours are over. He gives me a kiss on the forehead and tells me he'll be back tomorrow.
It's just me, Lion, and Totoro now. The Twiggy Three. Even though Totoro is basically the opposite of twiggy. And Lion isn't very skinny, either. "Um... nurse?" I croak. "Yes, Phillip?" the American nurse says, popping her head through the door. "Can we change the channel?" I mumble. "Um, yeah. Sure. What do you want to watch?" She asks. "Anything works." I say, my voice wispy. But wispy is better than hoarse. She turns it on to a random comedy channel. "Want me to fix your bed, too?" I nod. She puts the bed back down. "One more thing," I say. "What's up, hun?" The nurse says. "Isn't Dan allowed to stay at the hospital on a cot?" I ask, holding Lion tight. "Lemme check," the nurse says, flipping through a large binder. "Um... oh, okay. Yes. 'One person may stay over night with the patient for the rest of their visit if they have been in a coma for 3 days or longer.' Want me to contact him?" The nurse asks. I nod. "Alright, hun," The nurse says, dialing Dan's number.
"Mr. Howell? No no no, everything's fine. But, um, by hospital rules, you are allowed to sleep overnight with Phil. Yes, I'll tell him. Alright. See you in 10."
"Dan says he's going to embarrass you. I dunno what that means, but I'm staying for it," the nurse says, plopping down in a seat across the room. We watch the comedy channel while we wait for Dan. It's really just an old man saying cheap jokes while a SFX plays fake laughter. After extra 5 minutes of wondering where Dan is, he bursts through the door wearing onesie pyjamas and a smile. "SLEEPOVER!" Dan shouts, holding up a pillow. The nurse laughs so hard she falls out of her chair. She quickly gets back up and pulls out a cot from the closet, still laughing. Dan drags it next to my bed. "Alright. The name's Jordyn. Call me over if you need something, hun," The nurse says, walking out of the room. "I come with more presents for the Lion!" Dan exclaims. He puts a small "Get Well Soon!" balloon next to my bed. He puts my phone and laptop on the nightstand. "I think that's it," Dan says. He puts a sleeping bag and his pillow on the cot. "Okay then!" I chuckle.
After an hour of talking and laughing and kissing at much as I can with these crappy lungs of mine, another nurse comes in. "Okay, Phillip. We gotta try something," she says. Dan lets go of my hand but stays close to the bed. "Alright. You're going to try and breathe with out the mask," she says. "Take a deep breath-" I inhale sharply, "Okay," she says, lifting the mask. All the air comes out of me like a deflated balloon. The nurse just stares. Dan comes in quickly, putting the mask down. He puts a gentle hand on my heart and starts to scream profanities at the nurse. She leaves quickly. Dan gets Jordyn into the room. "What happened?' she asks, rushing towards my oxygen tank. "We tried to let him breathe normally," Dan says. Jordyn stares at him like he's insane. "Why would they try to take him off oxygen if he just woke up this morning?" Jordyn asks. Dan eyes widen as rubs the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "I don't know," he admits, pulling his fingers through his hair, "But I didn't have any power to stop her, right? I don't have authority against a nurse."