Living Life A Bit Differently, chapter 7
"Billie? Billie...you up yet?" Billie opened his eyes, but he saw nothing but black.
His head turned to the side slowly as he heard Jess' voice. Why couldn't he see?
"I can't see...why can't I see?" Billie asked, panicked.
"Shh...you have a big bandage over your eyes. The doctors put it there so the light wouldn't hurt your eyes."
"Wha...?"
"Never mind. How do you feel?" Jess asked, concerned.
Billie stifled a yawn poorly. A loud crash echoed through the room, surprising him, and he jumped slightly.
"Shit..." Jess mumbled, fumbling to pick up the tray of food the nurse had brought for Billie Joe; the plastic cup of water had spilled all over the floor, as well as two painkillers and a small serving of french fries from the cafeteria.
Billie laughed quietly as he heard Jess mumbling and things continued to fall to the floor. He quieted down once pain shot through his skull, "My head hurts."
"Shit...um...I'll get another glass of water and some pills from a nurse. Do you want something to eat?" Jess sounded far away, as if she were across the room.
Billie shook his head, trying to get used to the darkness.
"Okay then, I'll be right back." Jess' footsteps came closer to the bed, then turned away as she walked out of the room and down the hallway.
The stomping of feet entered the room five minutes after, and Billie figured it was Jess; "Jess?"
"No, it's Leela, Billie Joe. How are you feeling?" Leela's kind voice was higher, trying to be louder than the bustling of hospital staff passing by in the hallway.
He heard the door close, and the noises stopped, leaving them both in complete silence.
"My head hurts," Billie repeated, "When do I get to see again?"
Leela chuckled, pulling up a chair from the corner and placed it next to Billie's bed, sitting in it.
"We'll take that cloth off your eyes in a day or two, sound good?"
No it didn't sound good, how could he stay blind for two days? Billie nodded.
"Okay...the surgery went well, but we can't really tell how it really went until we get reports from your-"
"Am I smart yet?" Billie interrupted.
Silence.
"Not yet, but hopefully you will be."
"When will I be smart? I wanna be smart real bad." Billie whined softly.
Leela sighed, looking for the right words to explain their situation, "I want you to be smart too, Billie Joe. But I also want you to know that there's a chance you might not get to be smarter."
Another sharp pain sent shock waves through Billie's head, making him cringe.
"My head hurts," Billie whispered sadly, sounding like a child who had just lost a fight with his parents over getting a toy, "I'm tired..."
Leela got up from the chair and pushed it away with her foot, placing her hand firmly on Billie's left shoulder.
"Take a nap, there's nothing else you really can do but get some rest, anyway. I'll come back in a little while to check up on you." Leela answered sincerely.
She turned to leave, in her way was Jess with a bottle of Desani water and a paper cup filled with pink liquid.
"Hello, Jessil--Jess." Leela stopped herself, fearing Jess would loathe her for uttering her full name.
"Hello, Leela." Jess sneered, stepping aside for the doctor to leave.
Once the women in the white coat had left, Jess placed the contents in her hand onto the night stand next to the bed before walking across the room to retrieve a different chair, not wanting to touch anything that Leela had already spread her germs on--especially a chair where her ass had been.
"Okay, I got you a different kind of medicine instead of pills, 'cause those are hard to swallow." Jess commented after a while, sick pf waiting for Billie to acknowledge her presence on his own.
"Does it taste bad?" Billie asked, knowing from past experience that "different medicine" tasted horrible.
"Um...no," Jess lied, taking the cap off the water bottle, "Sit up" she ordered.
Billie did so, sitting up straight slowly; almost losing his balance due to his lack of vision, even if he wasn't even standing up. Jess caught him before he leaned towards the night stand, not wanting him to start his day off in the hospital with a bloody mess pouring from his skull.
"Woah...okay, hold out your hand..." Billie obeyed, holding up his left hand, Jess placed the paper cup in his palm.
"Now drink that and I'll give you water after."
Billie Joe brought the cup up to his mouth and tipped the cup so the pink liquid would enter his mouth. He almost gagged as the chalky taste came with it; he forced himself to swallow it down, and Jess put the water bottle up to his lips.
She tipped the bottle slowly, letting the water wash away the disgusting taste of pain medicine. Once he had had enough, she wiped the top of the bottle with her shirt, and took a few sips herself, before placing it back down on the night stand.
"You said it wouldn't taste bad." Billie whined, laying back down on the bed.
"Would you have drank it if I said it tasted bad?" she asked expectantly.
"Yeah."
"You're a great friend, Billie Joe, but you suck at lying."
***
The next morning, Billie Joe woke up, and he looked around, relieved the cloth was removed from his eyes. Surrounding almost ever corner of his hospital room were flowers. He wondered who had sent them, since he didn't have that many friends. Oh well, he liked the colors.
"Morning, Bill." Jess yawned, stretching her arms high above her head, she was standing in the doorway, a duffle bag laying at her feet, she was dressed in different clothes; fresh-looking.
Billie waved drowsily, yawning loudly; he began to feel dizzy and looked as if he were going to vomit. Jess realized this and dashed to the room's bathroom, coming back out with a large bucket. She got to him just in time as he puked in the bucket, almost making Jess do the same in the process.
"Okay...that was disgusting..." Jess remarked placing the bucket in the bathroom again. She ripped a few dozen towels from the paper towel rack and helped Billie wash his face off.
"I don't feel so good." Billie commented afterwards, crossing his legs under the sheets.
"No kidding...well, Miss-Goodie-Two-Shoes said you would be for a bit, so I'll get you another bucket." Jess answered, substituting Leela's name for a more suitable one.
She walked out of the room covering her mouth as the foul odor of vomit wafted in the room from inside the bathroom. Billie Joe busied himself by getting up off the bed and going over to one of the flower arrangements on the table closest; it was a bouquet of red roses, pink lilies, and yellow daffodils.
He spotted a card in the center of the bouquet and he opened it, reading along slowly: To the bravest man out there/From, Nurse Applecheen and her family
Who? Maybe Billie had more friends than he thought. He looked through the other bouquets of flowers, picked the card from each one, read them through, and put them in a pile. Once he was done, he had gotten used to the different flower scents mingling together to create disgusting smells. Billie Joe looked at the large pile of colorful cards, each signed and sent by Jess, Deefer, Kit, along with many hospital staff and other sincere patients.
Jess entered the room with four or five buckets in her arms, she looked at the pile, and then at her best friend.
"I'm not gonna ask..." she muttered, placing the buckets beside his bed and sat down in her chair; she leaned back, exhausted.
Billie Joe picked up as many cards as he could and grabbed one of the buckets. He dropped the paper cards in it and continued to drop the rest in for safe keeping.
"Okay, now I have to ask. What are you doing?" Jess asked, confused.
Billie looked up at her from the floor, "I'm making friends" he answered simply.
Jess stared at him in confusion as he dumped the last of the cards into the blue bucket, and pushed it next to the night stand.
"Okay. Are you hungry yet? I don't think you're allowed to leave your room to go down to the cafeteria, but oh well, you already got out of your bed and I'm not even sure if you were allowed to do that." Jess arched her back out of the chair, making it crack.
Billie nodded silently. He stood up slowly, still a bit dizzy, and followed his best friend out the door.
***
They sat in the cafeteria of the hospital; Jess had ordered a hamburger that looked more like a piece of beef jerky than a burger, and Billie had ordered saltless as well as stale fries. Jess chuckled, almost joking on the processed meat, making Billie look at her confusedly.
"I'm sorry. It's just that...now that they've shaved half your head, you look like an old man."
Billie placed his hand on his head, making his bare skin shiver. He hadn't even noticed half his hair was gone. He felt the space where they had made the incision in his head, stitches kept it closed.
"...maybe we should get you a hat until it grows back." Jess was saying.
Billie nodded, not really listening. He was too busy eating his fries.
"...hello. Bill? How does that sound?"
"Wha?"
Jess sighed, "I said, 'Do you want a baseball cap or a beanie?'" she was already irritated with his lack of attention.
Of course, she should have been used to it already, considering his brain capacity.
"Beanie, I guess." Billie answered before continuing to eat.
"Okay then, I'll get you one when I go to drop my dirty clothes off at my apartment." Jess answered, smiling.
What would Billie Joe do without a friend like Jess? Vice Versa?
The two friends turned their heads to see Leela trying to get through the mass of patients entering the cafeteria.
"Shit." Billie heard Jess mumble.
They were caught; the jig was up. Once Leela had made it to their table, she looked at them both, waiting for them to spill their guts and beg for her forgiveness...at least, that was what she was hoping from Jess; it wasn't Billie's fault if Jess dragged him everywhere.
"Billie Joe, you weren't supposed to leave your room." Leela remarked, out of breathe.
Billie looked down at his plate of fries, feeling bad that he had disobeyed his doctor. What must she think of him now?
"I thought it would be good for Billie to get a bit of exercise, it's not good to lay in bed for an extended period of time...aren't doctors supposed to know that?" Jess challenged.
Leela's eyes squinted in anger. No one was to answer back, she was always right, and some snotty punk wasn't going to tell her otherwise.
"It's not good after that person has had brain surgery, which Billie has had. He can get out of bed when I see him fit to, you hear me?" She signaled for Billie to stand up and follow her.
He stood up, not wanting to anger her any more than she already was. But what about Jess? She was his best friend. Who was he supposed to side with?
"He's not your god damned dog like the rest of the hospital you've brain washed. He's my best friend, I know what's best for him, you do not. He can go down to the cafeteria if he wants to, and you can't stop him." Jess snapped loudly, making the table of people next to them turn to see what was going on.
Jess signaled for Billie to sit down, and he did. Leela growled and walked away, she turned a corner and disappeared. Billie Joe and Jess ate the rest of their meals in silence, Billie too afraid of saying something wrong.
Leela appeared ten minutes later with a staff of security.
"Get her out of here and don't let her back in." Leela snapped.
Two officers grabbed Jess' arms and pulled her off the bench. They worked together to pry her hands from the table and carried her out of the building as she screamed to let her go; this presentation earning concerned and nosy glances from everyone in the cafeteria and neighboring hallways.
"Now come with me, Billie Joe. We'll go back to your room and rest your head." Leela ordered him to stand up.
She took his fries and threw them in a nearby garbage can. Billie followed behind her obediently, each time they turned a corner he looked behind him, hoping Jess would come back.
"Will I get to see Jess again?" he asked once Leela had tucked him in, "She said she'd buy me a hat." he added as an afterthought.
"I don't think so. How 'bout I buy you a hat?" She turned the light off and left before he could answer.
His head turned to the side slowly as he heard Jess' voice. Why couldn't he see?
"I can't see...why can't I see?" Billie asked, panicked.
"Shh...you have a big bandage over your eyes. The doctors put it there so the light wouldn't hurt your eyes."
"Wha...?"
"Never mind. How do you feel?" Jess asked, concerned.
Billie stifled a yawn poorly. A loud crash echoed through the room, surprising him, and he jumped slightly.
"Shit..." Jess mumbled, fumbling to pick up the tray of food the nurse had brought for Billie Joe; the plastic cup of water had spilled all over the floor, as well as two painkillers and a small serving of french fries from the cafeteria.
Billie laughed quietly as he heard Jess mumbling and things continued to fall to the floor. He quieted down once pain shot through his skull, "My head hurts."
"Shit...um...I'll get another glass of water and some pills from a nurse. Do you want something to eat?" Jess sounded far away, as if she were across the room.
Billie shook his head, trying to get used to the darkness.
"Okay then, I'll be right back." Jess' footsteps came closer to the bed, then turned away as she walked out of the room and down the hallway.
The stomping of feet entered the room five minutes after, and Billie figured it was Jess; "Jess?"
"No, it's Leela, Billie Joe. How are you feeling?" Leela's kind voice was higher, trying to be louder than the bustling of hospital staff passing by in the hallway.
He heard the door close, and the noises stopped, leaving them both in complete silence.
"My head hurts," Billie repeated, "When do I get to see again?"
Leela chuckled, pulling up a chair from the corner and placed it next to Billie's bed, sitting in it.
"We'll take that cloth off your eyes in a day or two, sound good?"
No it didn't sound good, how could he stay blind for two days? Billie nodded.
"Okay...the surgery went well, but we can't really tell how it really went until we get reports from your-"
"Am I smart yet?" Billie interrupted.
Silence.
"Not yet, but hopefully you will be."
"When will I be smart? I wanna be smart real bad." Billie whined softly.
Leela sighed, looking for the right words to explain their situation, "I want you to be smart too, Billie Joe. But I also want you to know that there's a chance you might not get to be smarter."
Another sharp pain sent shock waves through Billie's head, making him cringe.
"My head hurts," Billie whispered sadly, sounding like a child who had just lost a fight with his parents over getting a toy, "I'm tired..."
Leela got up from the chair and pushed it away with her foot, placing her hand firmly on Billie's left shoulder.
"Take a nap, there's nothing else you really can do but get some rest, anyway. I'll come back in a little while to check up on you." Leela answered sincerely.
She turned to leave, in her way was Jess with a bottle of Desani water and a paper cup filled with pink liquid.
"Hello, Jessil--Jess." Leela stopped herself, fearing Jess would loathe her for uttering her full name.
"Hello, Leela." Jess sneered, stepping aside for the doctor to leave.
Once the women in the white coat had left, Jess placed the contents in her hand onto the night stand next to the bed before walking across the room to retrieve a different chair, not wanting to touch anything that Leela had already spread her germs on--especially a chair where her ass had been.
"Okay, I got you a different kind of medicine instead of pills, 'cause those are hard to swallow." Jess commented after a while, sick pf waiting for Billie to acknowledge her presence on his own.
"Does it taste bad?" Billie asked, knowing from past experience that "different medicine" tasted horrible.
"Um...no," Jess lied, taking the cap off the water bottle, "Sit up" she ordered.
Billie did so, sitting up straight slowly; almost losing his balance due to his lack of vision, even if he wasn't even standing up. Jess caught him before he leaned towards the night stand, not wanting him to start his day off in the hospital with a bloody mess pouring from his skull.
"Woah...okay, hold out your hand..." Billie obeyed, holding up his left hand, Jess placed the paper cup in his palm.
"Now drink that and I'll give you water after."
Billie Joe brought the cup up to his mouth and tipped the cup so the pink liquid would enter his mouth. He almost gagged as the chalky taste came with it; he forced himself to swallow it down, and Jess put the water bottle up to his lips.
She tipped the bottle slowly, letting the water wash away the disgusting taste of pain medicine. Once he had had enough, she wiped the top of the bottle with her shirt, and took a few sips herself, before placing it back down on the night stand.
"You said it wouldn't taste bad." Billie whined, laying back down on the bed.
"Would you have drank it if I said it tasted bad?" she asked expectantly.
"Yeah."
"You're a great friend, Billie Joe, but you suck at lying."
***
The next morning, Billie Joe woke up, and he looked around, relieved the cloth was removed from his eyes. Surrounding almost ever corner of his hospital room were flowers. He wondered who had sent them, since he didn't have that many friends. Oh well, he liked the colors.
"Morning, Bill." Jess yawned, stretching her arms high above her head, she was standing in the doorway, a duffle bag laying at her feet, she was dressed in different clothes; fresh-looking.
Billie waved drowsily, yawning loudly; he began to feel dizzy and looked as if he were going to vomit. Jess realized this and dashed to the room's bathroom, coming back out with a large bucket. She got to him just in time as he puked in the bucket, almost making Jess do the same in the process.
"Okay...that was disgusting..." Jess remarked placing the bucket in the bathroom again. She ripped a few dozen towels from the paper towel rack and helped Billie wash his face off.
"I don't feel so good." Billie commented afterwards, crossing his legs under the sheets.
"No kidding...well, Miss-Goodie-Two-Shoes said you would be for a bit, so I'll get you another bucket." Jess answered, substituting Leela's name for a more suitable one.
She walked out of the room covering her mouth as the foul odor of vomit wafted in the room from inside the bathroom. Billie Joe busied himself by getting up off the bed and going over to one of the flower arrangements on the table closest; it was a bouquet of red roses, pink lilies, and yellow daffodils.
He spotted a card in the center of the bouquet and he opened it, reading along slowly: To the bravest man out there/From, Nurse Applecheen and her family
Who? Maybe Billie had more friends than he thought. He looked through the other bouquets of flowers, picked the card from each one, read them through, and put them in a pile. Once he was done, he had gotten used to the different flower scents mingling together to create disgusting smells. Billie Joe looked at the large pile of colorful cards, each signed and sent by Jess, Deefer, Kit, along with many hospital staff and other sincere patients.
Jess entered the room with four or five buckets in her arms, she looked at the pile, and then at her best friend.
"I'm not gonna ask..." she muttered, placing the buckets beside his bed and sat down in her chair; she leaned back, exhausted.
Billie Joe picked up as many cards as he could and grabbed one of the buckets. He dropped the paper cards in it and continued to drop the rest in for safe keeping.
"Okay, now I have to ask. What are you doing?" Jess asked, confused.
Billie looked up at her from the floor, "I'm making friends" he answered simply.
Jess stared at him in confusion as he dumped the last of the cards into the blue bucket, and pushed it next to the night stand.
"Okay. Are you hungry yet? I don't think you're allowed to leave your room to go down to the cafeteria, but oh well, you already got out of your bed and I'm not even sure if you were allowed to do that." Jess arched her back out of the chair, making it crack.
Billie nodded silently. He stood up slowly, still a bit dizzy, and followed his best friend out the door.
***
They sat in the cafeteria of the hospital; Jess had ordered a hamburger that looked more like a piece of beef jerky than a burger, and Billie had ordered saltless as well as stale fries. Jess chuckled, almost joking on the processed meat, making Billie look at her confusedly.
"I'm sorry. It's just that...now that they've shaved half your head, you look like an old man."
Billie placed his hand on his head, making his bare skin shiver. He hadn't even noticed half his hair was gone. He felt the space where they had made the incision in his head, stitches kept it closed.
"...maybe we should get you a hat until it grows back." Jess was saying.
Billie nodded, not really listening. He was too busy eating his fries.
"...hello. Bill? How does that sound?"
"Wha?"
Jess sighed, "I said, 'Do you want a baseball cap or a beanie?'" she was already irritated with his lack of attention.
Of course, she should have been used to it already, considering his brain capacity.
"Beanie, I guess." Billie answered before continuing to eat.
"Okay then, I'll get you one when I go to drop my dirty clothes off at my apartment." Jess answered, smiling.
What would Billie Joe do without a friend like Jess? Vice Versa?
The two friends turned their heads to see Leela trying to get through the mass of patients entering the cafeteria.
"Shit." Billie heard Jess mumble.
They were caught; the jig was up. Once Leela had made it to their table, she looked at them both, waiting for them to spill their guts and beg for her forgiveness...at least, that was what she was hoping from Jess; it wasn't Billie's fault if Jess dragged him everywhere.
"Billie Joe, you weren't supposed to leave your room." Leela remarked, out of breathe.
Billie looked down at his plate of fries, feeling bad that he had disobeyed his doctor. What must she think of him now?
"I thought it would be good for Billie to get a bit of exercise, it's not good to lay in bed for an extended period of time...aren't doctors supposed to know that?" Jess challenged.
Leela's eyes squinted in anger. No one was to answer back, she was always right, and some snotty punk wasn't going to tell her otherwise.
"It's not good after that person has had brain surgery, which Billie has had. He can get out of bed when I see him fit to, you hear me?" She signaled for Billie to stand up and follow her.
He stood up, not wanting to anger her any more than she already was. But what about Jess? She was his best friend. Who was he supposed to side with?
"He's not your god damned dog like the rest of the hospital you've brain washed. He's my best friend, I know what's best for him, you do not. He can go down to the cafeteria if he wants to, and you can't stop him." Jess snapped loudly, making the table of people next to them turn to see what was going on.
Jess signaled for Billie to sit down, and he did. Leela growled and walked away, she turned a corner and disappeared. Billie Joe and Jess ate the rest of their meals in silence, Billie too afraid of saying something wrong.
Leela appeared ten minutes later with a staff of security.
"Get her out of here and don't let her back in." Leela snapped.
Two officers grabbed Jess' arms and pulled her off the bench. They worked together to pry her hands from the table and carried her out of the building as she screamed to let her go; this presentation earning concerned and nosy glances from everyone in the cafeteria and neighboring hallways.
"Now come with me, Billie Joe. We'll go back to your room and rest your head." Leela ordered him to stand up.
She took his fries and threw them in a nearby garbage can. Billie followed behind her obediently, each time they turned a corner he looked behind him, hoping Jess would come back.
"Will I get to see Jess again?" he asked once Leela had tucked him in, "She said she'd buy me a hat." he added as an afterthought.
"I don't think so. How 'bout I buy you a hat?" She turned the light off and left before he could answer.
