Michael

Even with my eyes shut, I can tell how painfully bright the room is. It's quiet, besides some soft beeping and muffled footsteps. I clearly recognize the faint scent of bleach and linen, bringing back memories of agonizingly boring hours throughout my childhood. I feel exhausted and everything sort of... hurts. There's a dull ache that radiates from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

It takes all my willpower to slowly peel one eye open, and I find myself staring at a plain white ceiling.

What the hell happened?

I blink a couple times as the bright hospital room slowly comes into focus. I try to sit up, but to no avail. Glancing down at my body, all of my limbs are bandaged up.

"Oh thank goodness," a soft, high voice whispers, "you're awake."

My neck is painfully stiff but I manage to turn my head a couple centimeters. Alyssa is sitting next to my bed. She looks a bit scratched up, though nowhere near as badly as me. There are some bandages on her cheek and neck, and a couple of stitched up cuts on her arms. I can't imagine that I look any better.

I grimace and look at her tiredly. "Do I even want to know what happened?" I croak quietly. I try to clear my throat a bit, it feels as dry as sandpaper.

"Well," she begins, awkwardly looking away and fidgeting with her hair.

"Hello Michael, glad to see you're up," a tall doctor with an assertive, deep voice says as he comes in. "You've had quite the night, eh?"

Looking at the clock on the wall across from me, it's nearly three in the morning. "I don't really know what happened." Besides Alyssa being involved, of course.

This girl is truly going to be the death of me.

Alyssa stares at her lap as she begins to speak. "I drove into you on my motorcycle," she murmurs, followed by a soft sniffle.

She drives a motorcycle? I can't say I'm too surprised. At this point, I'm convinced that this girl just lives off of excitement.

I try to concentrate and my memory slowly comes back to me in bits and pieces. I finished some club duties for the night and got on my bike to head home. I took my usual shortcut through the parking lot. Rumbling motor noises seemingly came out of nowhere and everything is fuzzy from there.

The doctor nods. "She drove straight into your right side, so your injuries are significantly worse over there." He glances at the notes on a clipboard. "A broken femur and broken arm on your right. We're probably looking at two months for your arm and four months for your leg, followed by physical therapy."

Fucking hell

"And on my left?"

"A sprained wrist and twisted ankle. Your landing was pretty rough." He shakes his head. "Thank god both of you were wearing helmets."

I turn to Alyssa when I hear a tiny whimpering noise. A couple of tears slip out of her watery eyes, and her lower lip trembles. "I'm so sorry Michael," she sobs.

I try not to sigh audibly. Alyssa might be a colossal pain in the ass, but I swear I have a heart. I don't want to make her feeI any worse than she already does.

I muster up all of my strength to hold back on a sarcastic comment. "It's... alright, it was an accident... suitcase girl."

That gets a half-giggle, half-sob out of her.

I give her a wry smile. "Or is it motorcycle girl now?"

She actually smiles and chokes out a small laugh this time.

The doctor gives us a sympathetic smile and hands a nearby tissue box to Alyssa. "On the bright side, your twisted ankle and sprained wrist will heal in a month or so." He pauses for a moment and it looks like he realizes the bright side might not be so bright after all. "Are you left-handed by any chance?"

"Nope," I sigh. "When will I be able to get out of here?"

"We can actually discharge you tonight. All of your casts and splints are set, and you haven't shown any signs of serious head injuries. We'll get you set up with a wheelchair in a bit." The doctor looks at my clipboard again. "Michael... Adachi, is it? Is your dad Kenji Adachi? From Toronto General Hospital?"

I simply nod. For once in my life, I'd love to visit a physician in the province without them bringing up my dad. I'm just here to be treated. I don't need, nor want, to hear more stories about him.

He gives me a cheery grin. "Ah, we went to med school together back in the day. Quite a nice guy, graduated at the top of our class," he says. "I'll call him and let him know what happened."

"Thank you," I mumble.

He takes out his phone and begins dialing as he leaves the room. I hear his voice trail off down the hall. "Kenji? It's Raymond from Markham Gen..."

"I could drive you back to campus," Alyssa offers once her erratic, hiccupped breathing has calmed down.

I stare at her blankly. "That's a joke... right?"

Her cheeks flush pink and she shakes her head. "N-no, I have a car," she quickly stammers.

"No thanks," I laugh dryly. "The last thing I want right now is to get in a vehicle with you."

Alyssa looks like she's beginning to say something but quickly shuts her mouth again. I wouldn't have any defenses if I were her either. She sighs and absentmindedly stares at all of my casts for a bit before speaking up again. "How are you planning to take care of yourself?" She looks at me with her head slightly tilted. "You know, getting to class, eating, that kind of stuff?"

I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. I hadn't even thought about it. This is much too big of a favour to ask of my friends. My sisters definitely don't have time and neither does dad. "I... I can take care of myself," I mumble. I'm not a helpless child, I'll be able to figure things out for myself in a couple days.

Alyssa rolls her eyes. "You're seriously going to let your pride get in the way of this?" She places the tissue box on the table to my right. "Show me what you'll do if you need a tissue."

I scowl at her but I can tell she isn't going to let me off the hook unless I humour her. I try to reach over with my left hand, but my casts on my right prevent me from rolling over far enough. I try to reach with my right hand instead, but my cast covers my thumb, making it impossible to grab anything.

I turn back to Alyssa as I feel heat rushing to my cheeks. I told you so, is plastered all over her face. "Fine, maybe I'll struggle a little," I grumble.

"I can help take care of you. It was my fault, it's the least I can do!" She gives me a soft smile. "I've taken care of people before. I have tons of little cousins."

"I don't need help," I growl. I'd much rather just lay on the floor, unable to move, than admit I need Alyssa's help.

"That's besides the point," she chuckles. "I'll help you out with everything, I promise!"

The doctor walks back in, still with his phone. "Michael? Your dad wants to talk to you." He begins handing the phone to me before realizing the problem. Jesus Christ, how long has this guy even been a doctor?

"Speakerphone, please." He nods, placing the phone on the table and stepping outside to give me privacy.

"Michael? Are you ok?" I almost don't recognize him for a second. I rarely hear dad sound concerned. His voice has always been deep and serious, usually with a bit of apathy or indifference tossed in. I doubt it's on purpose, but a terrible combination for a doctor regardless - someone who has to be a constant bearer of bad news. 

"Hi Dad, I'm fine."

"Why am I hearing about this just now? Am I not listed as your emergency contact?"

"Sorry, I don't remember."

Dad hasn't been my emergency contact in a long time. Why bother contacting someone who isn't going to respond?

There's a long pause and soft sigh. "Alright. Your doctor said you're going home tonight?"

"Ideally."

"Sorry son, but I can't pick you up right now. I'm scheduled to perform a kidney transplant in an hour, then a major procedure after that." I hear the faint sounds of paper being shuffled around. "If you stay the night, I can pick you up in the morning."

What a surprise. It's not like I was asking him to pick me up anyway. "Uh... I'm not sure about that." The last thing I want is to be trapped in this dreary, sterile prison for any longer than necessary. Especially not next to little miss sunshine over here.

"Hm... the hospital shuttle doesn't run this late at night, but I have a couple of friends at Markham General Hospital. I'll see if I can get someone to drive you back in the shuttle anyways.

"Alright."

"Are you going to be alright on your own? I'm too busy with work, but I can hire a full time care aide to help you out while you recover."

In other words, a full time babysitter. No thank you. Alyssa enthusiastically points towards herself. I ignore her. "No, I'm fine."

"Are... are you sure Michael? Your injuries sound very severe. I won't sugarcoat it, it's going to be really rough."

"Yeah, I'm s-" I begin but Alyssa interrupts.

"Hi Mr. Adachi, my name is Alyssa," she greets him cheerfully. I try to snatch my phone away but the weight of my wrist splint slows me down and Alyssa grabs it first. "We both go to U of M, I'd be glad to help him out. I promise I'll take good care of your son," she giggles.

Dad lets out a gruff chuckle. "Are you sure about this Alyssa? Michael can be a bit difficult to get along with sometimes."

"That's bullshit," I scoff.

Alyssa ignores me. "I'm sure!"

"Well, I suppose that's settled then."

I scowl. "Hey, don't I get a say in this?"

"Nope!" Alyssa tosses me a cheerful wink as dad begins giving her a rundown of what she's going to need to do.

It takes nearly ten minutes for them to finish their call. Alyssa somehow managed to charm my dad - the most serious guy I know, and he already seems to adore her. I throw her a dirty look but she just laughs and gives me a proud grin once she's hung up. "Don't give me that look," she says, "it's going to be easy-peasy lemon squeezy."

"Let me make this clear, stay out of my way," I warn and narrow my eyes at her, "I only need you to be around for food, transportation, and any other basic human necessities. We're not friends." For the sake of both of our sanities, I know that this is what's best.

"Alright, alright," she snorts and raises her hands innocently. "I'll leave you alone." 

These are going to be the longest four months of my life.

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A/N:

They're definitely in for one hell of a ride lol 

Thanks for reading!