Chapter 4 - Not Another Hospital
Wheatley POV - I sat on an uncomfortable hospital bed whilst a doctor was poking around the cut on my side. Chell was watching anxiously, despite the fact I kept smiling to reassure her. Rick lay across the hospital bed next to mine, having just got back from the X-ray room. His neck was in a brace and I found it difficult to not laugh. Inhaling sharply, I turned to look at my side. It had been cleaned, and the actual cut wasn't so bad. Maybe about five inches long and not too deep. I sighed, annoyed. I wanted to go home, even if that meant not having my wound treated.
"I have to go for a minute, stay here," the doctor emphasised the 'stay' because I had a history for trying to run away from hospitals. As soon as he left the room, I pulled on my shirt and stood up.
"Hey Rick, do you know what's wrong yet?" I called across the ward as I stretched my side out to test the flexibility of my wound.
"Yeah. I wasn't bleeding internally, when I fell I bit my tongue really hard, it was bleeding a lot. But that's healed up by itself now. I have a crack in my collarbone, and since I'm healthy I should heal quickly. I have to stay here for a few days, then I can go home as long as I wear this stupid neck brace for a week," he spoke in an agitated voice, tugging at the brace impatiently.
"Look, I'm getting out of here whilst I can, so I can't visit you," I said sympathetically, knowing Rick would understand as I grabbed Chell's hand. She complained and tried to pull me back but I was stronger. We were leaving.
"See ya then," Rick smiled to himself as I gave up, yanking myself free of Chell and speeding up significantly. I vaguely recall Chell shrugging to Rick, before jogging after me.
I attracted the attention of some doctors on my way out. Blood had started to show on my shirt again, and I kept looking around me nervously. I ignored the nurses that kept calling out 'sir are you alright?' and 'sir are you lost?' not even slowing down as I passed them. Hospitals scared me, and I liked to flee from the fear. I wasn't brave like Chell or Rick, and everyone should just accept that instead of forcing me into frightening situations. My instincts told me this place reeked of death and pain, and I didn't want to hang around for someone to inflict it on me. I froze, wide-eyed like a deer in the headlights, when I saw the same doctor that told me to stay in my ward standing right by the exit. It was almost as if he heard my deep gasp, because he looked up directly into my eyes and frowned. Slowly, he placed his clipboard down on the white desk and took a step forwards across the white tiles. I looked around, petrified, the white engulfing me. The death, the pain, the sterile colours covering every surface, I was in Aperture again.
I stood in Her Chamber, trapped with no way out. Her laughter echoed around the room, sneaking up behind me, blowing into my eyes and ears like the wind and cutting into my ankles like snares.
"Back so soon?" she chuckled, the loose wires swinging from her towering frame like whips. "You honestly thought you could get away after ripping wires from my body and killing me?" I shook my head frantically, party answering her question, and partly in denial. Not here, not again. I couldn't cope with this place again.
I took a step backwards, only to land on something hard as a rock yet soft too. I whipped around, and that was when I saw the dead bodies. Scientists. Killed by neurotoxin. Murdered by Her. I saw some faces I recognised. They all had friends, family, lovers. They all had lives worth living. Everything gone, in a few minutes of Her sadistic tests and games and betrayal. I turned back to the now laughing super computer, fear coursing through my veins. The same could happen to me now I was human. Although knowing GLaDOS she would never let me out of the situation so easily.
I felt Chell beside me, and pushed her behind me protectively. GLaDOS didn't like that, and a bladed claw swiped at me, slicing down across my eye and cheek. My hand flew up to hold my face in pain, and warm blood trickled through my fingers. She laughed at my pain, and threatened to cut me again. All I could do was flinch as her laugh echoed through the room again, following me... Haunting me...
Chell POV - I had never seen somebody looking so scared and helpless as Wheatley did in that Hospital. His eyes were wide, he was shaking, and he couldn't move an inch. Tiny blonde hairs stood on end along the back of his smooth neck, and when I tapped him all I got was a flinch. Wheatley had never flinched from me before, something was very wrong. The doctor held his hands up, motioning to Wheatley he wasn't going to harm him. Slowly, the doctor approached, looking extremely worried and concerned. Everyone in the room could read his fear like a page on a book. Suddenly a flicker of recognition showed in his eyes, and he clenched his fists. That was the only movement he had made in about five minutes. I nearly cried out in shock when the doctor reached within a six feet radius of us, and just like a rabbit, Wheatley bolted. He ran at alarming speed, dodging the doctor, and charged out of the hospital nearly in tears, leaving me staring after him in the wake of his fight or flee instinct.
"Is you're boyfriend okay?" asked the doctor concernedly as he came over to me.
"I... Yeah... He's scared of hospitals," I muttered, walking around the doctor with a miserable sigh and beginning the lonely walk home alone. I knew I should be thinking of Wheatley, but all I could feel was the hurt that came with him leaving without me. I just wondered, if faced with danger would he wait for me? That's stupid, of course he would! He rescued you from Aperture, didn't he? I thought, although I wasn't so sure. Suddenly, Wheatley seemed a million miles away, separated from any contact with me. With another sigh, I trudged towards home.
Wheatley POV - I collapsed onto the bed in a panting heap, having just ran home. At least I now know why I have a fear of hospitals, on a subconscious level they must have always reminded me of Aperture. Except today they triggered hallucinations. My hand slid along the huge bed, searching for Chell's hand, but came back empty. Then it finally dawned on me, I had left her behind. The memories surged back into my mind, Chell's shock and confusion and pure pain when I bolted and left her. According to my brain, I might as well have left her in Aperture. It just wasn't right on a moral level to leave somebody like that. My knees curled up to my chest, and I buried my face into my arms. I've betrayed her again.
I was having trouble separating hallucinations from reality. Was a sharp claw cutting into my flesh or was that just Chell tapping me? Was I really bleeding? Was the room cloudy with neurotoxin and full of my dead scientist friends? Every noise I heard in there my brain converted into Chell GLaDOS torturing us, anything disturbing associated with That Place was haunting me. So, did I leave her in danger, or was it all my imagination? I wasn't really sure.
Chell confirmed that I was only hallucinating when she shouted up the stairs to me asking if I was in. I replied immediately, but was still too frightened to get out of bed. I didn't have to, I heard Chell running up the stairs as soon as she heard my voice. She ran into the bedroom and cannonballed into me. I fell flat onto my back, and hugged her happily. She evaporated my fear with her very presence, and I couldn't help but smile. I didn't even care that she was lying on top of me and hurting the wound on my side. This pain was worth it.
"Are you alright?" she asked, absentmindedly curling a lock of my hair around her finger.
"I guess. It wasn't real," I sighed, resting my cheek against hers.
"What happened back there? What wasn't real? Wheatley please tell me because this just isn't making any sense!"
"In the hospital... I had a... Hallucination... I thought I was in Aperture again," I turned away, slightly embarrassed.
"It's alright to be afraid of something," she whispered, turning my face back again very gently. I sighed, resting my chin on her shoulder rather like a little child gains comfort from its mother. Chell simply played with my hair, soothing me. Maybe it was alright to be afraid, but hallucinating danger? I'm so messed up, I thought miserably, closing my eyes and pulling Chell even closer to me. The systematic caressing of my hair slowly lulled me into sleep, even though it was only the afternoon.
Chell POV - my heart ached for Wheatley, as all the stress and fear drained from his now sleeping face. He looked innocent and helpless, and I couldn't resist kissing his cheek softly. Slowly and carefully so as to not wake him, I rolled from his comfy torso onto the bed next to him. Wheatley's chest became a pillow for my head, and I wrapped my arm over him protectively. I promised myself I would prevent Wheatley from harm as much as possible, to avoid unwanted hospital trips. I felt disgusted with Aperture, just for existing. I dared not ask him what his hallucination was; for Wheatley to be so frightened like that it must have been pretty traumatising. A soft sigh escaped his lips, and his arm wrapped around me. Looks like I'm stuck here till he wakes up, I thought, although I couldn't help feeling smug amd happy about this. I simply listened to Wheatley's strong heartbeat, his gentle breathing and his infrequent quiet murmurs. All the vitals showing he was alive was a lullaby of its own to me, and I soon drifted into deep sleep too.
I awoke when Wheatley struggled to untangle himself from the mess of our arms and legs entwined, and looked up. It was the middle of the night, and I groaned. My jeans had dug into my flesh where I had been lying on them for so long, and I sat up painfully.
"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to wake you luv!" Wheatley said in a rush, as he gently twisted his arm from underneath me. "I woke up and I was hungry and I wanted to get into my sleeping clothes because it's night time now but I didn't want to wake you because you looked really tired."
"It's fine," I couldn't help but smile at his nervous chattering. "I want to get changed too, these jeans are hurting me."
"Do you want something to eat?" he asked me, narrowly avoiding tripping over the washing basket.
"No thanks, but be careful," I replied, not wanting the house to be burned down or something dramatic like that. He left the dark room smiling, feeling his way down the hallway in the darkness. I hoped he had the common sense to turn a light on in the kitchen. Who knows with Wheatley. His intelligence is completely unpredictable. Well, at least he's smiling now, he must have gotten over the hallucinations pretty quickly.
I lingered on the edge of the bed, feeling too lazy to get into my pyjamas but knowing I had to. Using all the effort I could muster, I heaved myself to my feet and pulled on the nearest pair of pyjamas I could find. With a sigh I returned to bed again, pulling the duvet over my head with a sigh. Wheatley returned a few minutes later, and climbed into my duvet tent as well. We laughed, and he offered me a crisp from the massive bag he found. I don't even remember buying that, I swear he sneaks to the shops just to buy mountains of crisps. I took a few, then curled up into his warm, now bare chest. Of course Wheatley had to show his affection for me by dropping crisp crumbs in my hair. I kicked him in the shin giggling, and he started to pick the crisp shards from strands of my hair. I rolled onto my side, laughing whilst dragging the covers with me and leaving Wheatley out in the cold. He complained vigorously, and decided to sit on me. I tried to push him off, but he wasn't budging. Trust Wheatley to just laugh and carry on eating. Eventually he stopped laughing and eating and sitting on me, and hugged my cocooned body close instead. Despite the fact he was just being a total idiot and slightly annoying, I fell asleep immediately when placed in his safe, warm arms.