8

Tw: hospital, mentions of crash, injury

Tyler woke up the next day, the scream of Josh's name still on his lips.

He completely opened his eyes, dazed and confused as to where he was.

His mom was beside him. "Tyler! You're awake!" She sobbed.

"Mom," His voice squeaked. "Where am I?"

"The hospital, baby. You're in the hospital." She said, taking his hand which, strangely, was sore.

"What's going on? What happened? I was- I was going home..." Was he? He couldn't remember.

"Yes," his mom nodded. "You were going home from here with Josh."

"Josh?" Tyler echoed.

"Josh... Your boyfriend." She said, nodding.

"Boyfriend?" Tyler shook his head.

His mom became very concerned.

"Tyler, honey. Do you remember what happened?"

Tyler scrunched his eyebrows together. "Glass? Everything was red. And rain? And..." There was a lot more missing.

Mrs. Joseph looked at her son, very serious. "You were in a car accident, Tyler. Josh was driving you home after coming here to be checked by a doctor and a car spun out of control and caught the both of you." Her voice caught, obviously trying not to cry for the sake of her son.

"I was in a car accident!?" Tyler tried sitting up, only to be met with pain all over his body and a throbbing ache in his head.

She nodded.

"The other person with me-"

"Josh?"

"Yeah, Josh," the name seemed strange, why was he riding with someone he didn't know? "What happened to him?"

Mrs. Joseph saddened. "You really don't remember him, do you?"

Tyler carefully shook his head.

"Well, he got most of the impact. He... He was out immediately. He still hasn't woken up."

Tyler stared up at his ceiling. He didn't remember anything, and didn't remember even having a boyfriend.

His pain medications started wearing off and the throbbing in his head intensified.

A nurse came in a second later, administering more painkillers and checking all the monitors to see if everything was working properly.

He sat in silence for a moment before thinking about "Josh."

"Would I be able to go see him?" Tyler turned to his mom.

"I don't know, I can go ask if you want me to." She answered, sounding a little more hopeful.

Tyler nodded carefully and watched as his mom left, staring up at the ceiling as he heard the door snap shut.

He was concerned for the other boy, even though he didn't even really remember him, if he was supposed to.

He sat in the quiet, listening to the heart monitor beep in time with his breathing while the painkillers started to work as the door was opened and a nurse and his mom came back in.

"Mr. Joseph, you wanted to see Joshua right?" The nurse asked politely.

Tyler nodded. "Can I?"

"Yes, you just have to be really careful. You have a minor concussion, bruises and cuts everywhere and we don't need you more injured." She answered as she walked over to help him up.

He still had to be connected to the IV and medicine, so the needle stuck in his arm had to be made sure that it was secure to where the bags hung on the small roller-cart.

Tyler carefully sat up, a numb pain lacing through his ribs and back. He inhaled sharply and slowly stood up, gripping tightly on to the cart that his IV was connected to.

Stars laced his vision and the room tilted. He leaned against the IV stand and breathed deeply for a moment, the nurse and his mom concerned.

"I'm good, I've got it." He said, trying to convince himself more than his mom or the nurse. He slowly made his way to the door and out into the hallway, his mom and nurse right behind him.

"Right this way, Mr. Joseph." She said and lead him to Josh's room, carefully opening the door.

She stepped aside to let him in the room, carefully shutting the door behind him so he was alone.

He heard all sorts of machines quietly beeping, the heart monitor the loudest, which was incredibly slow.

Tyler quietly, slowly padded to the side of the bed where the boy was laying.

Well, they weren't wrong.

He had received most of the impact.

He looked terrible. Thick stitches ran across his hairline, cuts and bruises adorning his pale face. His eyes look sunken and dark, almost like a skeleton. Red, wild and curly hair brushed his forehead and rested against his pillow.

A sling held his arm across his body and his legs were heavily bandaged, one of them in a brace.

Something scratched at the back of Tyler's mind. The boy looked familiar, but he couldn't figure out why.

Feeling dizzy, he sat in the chair beside his bed and studied him for a second.

He felt bad, guilty even, that this boy who he couldn't remember was put in this position instead of him. Even though Tyler couldn't remember him, he didn't deserve to be like this.

"Hey," he spoke softly, even though he knew it was pointless. "I don't remember what happened, I don't remember who you are, but you don't deserve to be like this..."

The heart monitor jumped, every machine beeping a little faster. Tyler was confused. Maybe something wrong with the machines? He continued to speak softly anyway.

"If you really were my boyfriend," tears started to sting his eyes. "I was lucky. I was really lucky, Josh, you seem like an amazing person..."

For another second, the heart monitor jumped.

"And I'm so sorry that this has happened to you. It's not fair, I should be in this position and not you. You don't deserve it. I really wish I could remember you, I do, but I can't. I'm sorry, I'm so so-"

The heart monitor was increasingly faster, his nurse running in and pulling Tyler out of the room. "That's been long enough, it's time for you to go back to your room."

Tyler refused, he didn't even know why. "No, I'm not done-"

The heart monitor was insane.

"You have to, Tyler." Declared his nurse, tugging him out of the room.

A doctor and more nurses rushed past them and into Josh's room as Tyler was lead back to his room.

What was going on?

He didn't remember ending up in his room again, how he got there and what he was doing or what was going on, and why his mom had started to cry again.

He wanted to know what was wrong with Josh, why everyone was so surprised and concerned.