Sawed: Chapter 04
Chikorita-Trainer1
T
Disclaimer: I don't own Saw or anything else I might reference or shamelessly rip off.
Adam returned to his room, not entirely surprised to find a wheeled tray with a meager breakfast left at his bedside. It appeared to be a microwaved egg McMuffin or something, that had no doubt cooled down to room-temperature, some unappetizing-looking hash browns and one of those little plastic cups of orange juice with a peel-off top.
Better than nothing, he thought as he sat back down in his bed. He rolled the IV pole to a safe distance and pulled the tray close to him.
The meal, as hospital repast typically did, left much to be desired, but he just crammed it all into his mouth as fast as possible and gulped down the juice to get the taste of crappy breakfast food out of his mouth.
Oh, fuck! What channel was that movie on? I want to finish watching that! he suddenly thought, looking for the remote to his TV. He turned it on and flipped around the channels until he found 8mm again. Despite knowing it would be censored and edited for TV and interrupted periodically for commercials, Adam nevertheless settled down to revisit the film that had inspired his career.
About halfway through the film, and at a commercial break, a doctor came in to check on Adam.
"Hey, how're you feeling?" he asked.
"Fine," said Adam, muting the TV.
In the room down the hall, Lawrence Gordon was left alone with his thoughts. His mind kept playing over and over again the events that had landed him here.
"Hello, Doctor Gordon. This is your wakeup call. Every day of your working life you have given people the news that they're going to die soon. Now you will be the cause of death. Your aim in this game is to kill Adam. You have until six on the clock to do it."
Why Adam, though? Why make Lawrence kill him? Wouldn't it make more sense to have kidnapped the woman he'd almost had an affair with? At least she would have been somewhat guilty of something, too. Why put Adam in the room with him? Just because he had invaded his privacy? Was that really worth being murdered for?
And why him, for that matter? Because doctors have to deliver bad news sometimes? How was that a crime punishable by death? Why did Jigsaw choose the two of them to play his game? What did they ever do to him?
And what had Allison and Diana been feeling when Zep had them tied up at gunpoint? How deeply hurt and betrayed must they have felt to be in such a helpless position without Lawrence there to protect them, or even take responsibility? He had failed them. They were all still alive, all three members of the family, yet he had failed them. Because now they would have to live with that trauma forever.
He certainly didn't regret not killing Adam. How would that have helped? He still probably would have had to saw his foot off to get out of there. He certainly didn't know Zep was going to open the door. He could have just sawed his foot off, killed another person, and then bled to death right there in that room. What would that have accomplished?
And if he had somehow escaped and made it back to his family, he would have been a murderer. Would his family have approved of that? Grateful as they might have been, would they have been able to look at him the same way, knowing what he'd done? Would they have wanted to be saved that way?
So deep in these endless and answer-less thoughts was Lawrence, that he didn't even notice that he had started crying silently. His heart ached with regret, with fear, with guilt and frustration, and he succumbed to his emotions, sobbing silently in his hospital bed.
"Have you eaten anything today?" asked the doctor.
"Yeah, just now, found my breakfast had been delivered. Sorry I wasn't here to receive it, I was visiting Dr. Gordon," said Adam.
"That's just fine," said the doctor, writing things down on his clipboard.
Suddenly Adam felt a throbbing in his shoulder. "Agh!" he grunted and lifted his left hand up to his injury.
"You alright?" asked the doctor.
"Ugh. It hurts," said Adam, unconsciously trying to massage himself.
"Is it a muscle pain, or does it feel more external?" asked the doctor, coming around to the other side of the bed.
"Definitely internal," said Adam, cringing further.
"Let's have a look," said the doctor, pulling on some gloves. "Turn around for me."
Adam twisted around slightly so that the doctor could undo one of the ties of his gown, allowing it to drop down off of his shoulder. He gently peeled back the tape and gauze bandage, revealing a reddish, sore site with five stitches. None of them had popped, there was no blood, no cause for alarm.
The doctor felt around gently, but found no abnormalities in the wound.
"How long have you been having pain?"
"Uh, like, right after you walked in," Adam grunted. "It's really bad now," he winced, willing himself not to cry.
"I can give you some Tylenol, if you want," said the doctor. "And if that doesn't help, we can bump you up to something stronger."
"Wait, wait," said Adam, taking a deep breath. "It's gone."
"The pain?"
"Yeah, guess it was just a little flare-up."
The doctor replaced the bandage and tape, and tied Adam's gown back on.
"If it happens again, or it persists, just press your call button. We can definitely help you out."
"Yeah, thanks," said Adam, eager to get back to his movie.
That was weird, he thought.
The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully. Both Lawrence and Adam rested as best they could, despite all the things they had to think about. Before long, night fell, and they were served their bland hospital dinners, and were expected to go to sleep for the night.
Lawrence lowered his bed to about a 20-degree angle, pulled his blanket up over his shoulders, and closed his eyes. He expected to be asleep within minutes.
Adam, night-owl that he was, was still flipping through the channels of his TV by about eleven o'clock, which is when a night nurse came in to advise him on turning out the lights.
"Can I have another blanket, please?" asked Adam. "It's freezing in here."
"I'll see about that," said the nurse.
"Thanks."
Unfortunately, an hour passed and the nurse didn't return. Adam tried to lift the blanket up to his shoulders, but with only one hand to grip it, half of his body remained exposed. He began shivering and his teeth started chattering. Why was his room so cold? Why couldn't they turn the heat up? How was he supposed to get any sleep?
In Lawrence's room, Lawrence began to feel the slightest twinge of pain in his right ankle, where his foot had been reattached. He hadn't felt any pain there since coming to the hospital, because he was being pumped full of painkillers. Why now?
What the hell, man?! What is wrong with me? Adam thought. It wasn't as though he was malnourished. He had eaten. There was no reason why he shouldn't be able to maintain a comfortable body temperature.
Lawrence wondered at the pain. It was still dull enough that he thought he could sleep through it. But then it quickly increased.
Adam couldn't curl up on his side and throw the blanket over his head, thanks to his IV tube, and he couldn't even wrap his arms around himself, since his right arm was still bound in that sling.
Alright, fuck this, he suddenly thought. Reaching over to his left, Adam once again bit down on his IV tube and yanked it out of his arm. He sighed triumphantly when he heard the needled end of it clatter on the floor. He was free. He got up out of his bed, exited his room and made his way down the hall to Lawrence's room.
The room was dark. Lawrence appeared to be sleeping, even though his ankle was throbbing. Adam quietly opened the door and slipped in.
"Who is it?" Lawrence asked softly. He was hoping it was a nurse, or someone he could explain his pain to and get some relief.
"Move over, man. I'm freezing," Adam muttered. The younger man lifted up the covers and slid in next to Lawrence, lying on his right side, his injured shoulder tucked in between the two of them.
"Adam?" Lawrence asked.
"Shh. Just let me be here, please," Adam almost whimpered, his voice quivering as he spoke through chattering teeth. "It's SO. COLD. I can't sleep."
Lawrence could feel Adam's skin against his own, and he could feel the goosebumps that covered his body. He wasn't lying.
"Well, hospitals have to be kept cold," Lawrence explained, trying to get his left arm out from under Adam. "A warm environment would only cultivate bacteria. Keeping the place cold helps keep it sterile…" he trailed off as he felt Adam's shivering cease and his breathing even out.
"Mm…interesting," he moaned as sleep overtook him.
"It's hospital regulations, they can't turn up the heat," For some reason, Lawrence felt he had to further explain, even though Adam wasn't listening.
"Eh, goodnight, Lare," said with a sigh.
Lawrence wriggled around a little to get more comfortable with Adam curled up into his side, and awkwardly reached his left arm around the smaller man, eventually letting it rest on his shoulder, and pulled him close.
"Goodnight, Adam," he said softly.
And only then did he realize his ankle didn't hurt anymore.
END OF CHAPTER 04
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