I woke up in a room I couldn't recognize. The walls and ceiling were an off white color. I heard monitors beeping all around me. I looked down at my left arm and saw I was hooked up to an IV. My left shoulder felt itchy and sticky. I saw I was bandaged. I was in a very uncomfortable, adjustable bed. There were cheap wooden chairs with worn out beds lining the wall in front of me and a wooden bench of similar styling under the window to my right. I decided I was in a hospital room.
I tried to sit up, but I was too tired and the sudden change in position made me dizzy. I collapsed back on the bed. There was a knock on the door and a middle aged woman in scrubs walked in with a tray of food. I didn't realize till that moment how hungry I was.
"Oh good, you're awake," the nurse chirped. "I've brought you some dinner. I'll let your parents know you're up, and I'll have the doctor come in and look you over so you can get out of here."
"How long have I been in here?" I asked groggily
"We found you yesterday morning in the middle of the woods. You've been unconscious up till now. It is presently Friday night," she answered.
"Did you find anyone else when you found me?" I questioned.
"We did, actually," she said. "We found another girl unconscious, much like we did you. But unlike you, she wasn't injured aside from a light concussion. Her parents checked her out a few hours ago. As I understand, they're heading back to their home."
I closed my eyes and sighed in despair. I knew this day was coming. I knew she'd have to leave. But I still wished there had been another way. I never even got to say goodbye. I didn't blame her for what happened. She couldn't control what the Slender Man did to her. But with her gone, we were both alone. We were without protection, without support. Now what were we going to do?
I must have started to cry. The nurse became concerned.
"Is something wrong? Are you in pain? I can increase the morphine drip if I need to," she said.
"What? Oh, no I'm fine. The other girl was a friend of mine. I just wish I could have seen her before she left," I sighed.
"Oh, I see. Well your parents have been out here for a while waiting on you to wake up. I'm not technically supposed to let them in until the police come and question you about what happened, but seeing as there isn't an officer here yet, I don't see any reason why you can't see them," she encouraged.
'I'd like that," I said, smiling lightly.
The nurse grinned and left the room immediately. She came back a moment later with my parents trailing behind. I could see my mom had been crying recently. She and dad both had worried lines etched into their faces. Not surprising, since their only child was hospitalized after being stabbed. It was frightening to know that the worst had yet to come. I worried about how they would react to my death.
My mom rushed to my side, hugging me and crying fresh tears into my uninjured shoulder. My dad stood there awkwardly, wanting to do the same but unwilling to show such emotion. My mom blubbered over and over about how happy she was to know I'm alive and safe and how she never wants something like this to happen again.
A police officer marched in a few minutes later and forced them out of the room. My mom refused to leave at first, claiming she had the right to be there, but she begrudgingly left thanks to a short conversation with my dad and an unpleased look from the officer. He told the nurse she had to leave as well.
The officer took out a pencil and pad and began to ask me some questions. He started off with small talk, asking me how I was feeling and how my home life was. Then he got down to business, asking about why I was in the woods the night I was stabbed, if I had seen who stabbed me, what part Leslie played in the ordeal, and various other questions of the sort. Not wanting to cause any trouble for Leslie, I fabricated a story.
I admitted that Leslie and I were friends and that she was staying over at my house the night it happened. But instead of saying I was trying to chase her down, I stated that we were both wide awake that night and decided to go for a hike since the weather was lovely. I said we were hiking through the woods when someone snuck up behind us and attacked. I said the person knocked Leslie unconscious and tried to do the same, but I grabbed my knife and tried to fend the attacker off. The person knocked the knife to the ground and grabbed it before I could, rising back up and stabbing me. I claimed the attacker was wearing a mask so I couldn't see the individual's face.
"And the person who attacked you just left you both there?" the police officer asked.
"Apparently," I said. "I don't know what the person wanted."
The officer narrowed his eyes and looked at me quizzically, not believing my story. After a moment I suppose he decided there was no point pressing the subject, getting up and leaving, wishing me well on the way out. I sighed in relief as the door clicked shut.
After only a moment, my parents returned to the room with the nurse and a doctor following close behind. The nurse's cheerful demeanor had changed to a more reserved characteristic. It seemed that she had been chided for allowing my parents into the room before she should have.
The doctor checked the monitors to make sure my vital signs were in good shape. Then he removed the bandages and checked my wound. I had a lot of stitches keeping the skin together. Seeing it was healing well and with out infection, he had the nurse apply fresh bandages and set me up to leave. I was unhooked from the machines and the IV, and I was helped to my feet and into some clean clothes. The nurse brought in a wheelchair, and I was wheeled down to the front of the hospital. My dad drove the car around to the front, and I left with my parents.