I wake up to the smell of cooked rice and the sound of a males voice and a child's squawking.
I open my eyes and see Conor and James looking at something on Conor's phone.
"Hi," I say.
Conor immediately gets up and hugs me.
"Hey, how are you feeling"?
"Fine. I'm not feeling sick or anything".
"I know. But Anna told me about that girl you met today, and I wanted to see how you feel about all that".
"Oh. Yeah, she seems pretty chill, but it's still a shock to me".
"Yeah, I can imagine how you feel. I met her too, and James really likes her".
"Is that so"?
"Yup!" James pipes up from where he's sitting in an armchair pushed against the wall, staring at Conor's phone, next to the identical chair Conor was just sitting in.
"What are you looking at?" I ask him.
"Funny cat videos," he says, oblivious.
"Funny. Cat. Videos," I repeat to myself, giving Conor a "look".
"What?" he asks me, confused as to why I'm looking at him so sternly.
"You know we want to raise our children to have their face away from phone screens, not shoving their noses into a pixel screen".
"Says the one who does nothing BUT exactly that," he retorts.
"I-"...
"Exactly," I know he has won the argument.
I sniff the air, and trace the scent of cooked food to the bedside table.
A plate of fresh Jasmine rice and apple slices is resting next to a glass of water.
"Who brought food?" I ask.
"Jennifer".
"Oh, I wish she would have stayed so I could thank her".
"She had work to do, but she told me to tell you she said "hello" when you woke up".
"Hello, Jennifer".
"Do you want the food now"?
"Yes, please".
He hands me the dinner tray and I suddenly realize how hungry I am because I haven't had lunch.
"We saw Allison in the NICU".
"Really? How is she doing"?
"Asleep, and still a baby".
"Great status, Kierce".
"Thank you very much".
"De nada".
"Don't go all Espanol, you know what that does to me".
"No te desesperes mi amor".
"Oh godddd," he groans and I laugh lightly.
I take a bite of the rice and spit it back out, the grains still very hot.
"Is it that bad?" Conor asks.
"No," I say, taking a drink of the water, cooling down the fire on my tongue; "it's just too hot".
"Still?" he asks, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
I nod; "And she brought it in like, ten minutes ago"?
"Yup," he says; "they must have a powerful microwave or something".
"Or something," I say, setting the now half-empty/half-full, glass of water back down on the tray and decide to dig into the fresh apple slices instead.
They are crisp and send sweet juice down my throat. Very refreshing.
"Is the food good?" he asks.
"Mhm," I say.
I look at him, "What time is it"?
He looks at his watch; "6:30 pm".
"How long was I out"?
"Couple hours, but you missed nothing important".
I set the tray on the table and lean back against the pillow on the hospital bed.
"Do you want to go see Allison?" he asks me, "Or go talk to Charity with me"?
My body shoots back up, and I stare at him, confused; "Why would we need to talk to her"?
"Well, I want to meet her at some point and look into the eyes of the daughter of the woman who attempted to murder my wife, twice".
"She's no murderous minor, I can tell you that".
"Did Anna tell you to say that"?
"Yes," I say, defeated.
"It's okay, I wouldn't trust this Charity girl either".
I put my hands to my face; "I spent the WHOLE DAY with her! I TRUSTED her"!
He gently removes my hands from my face and looks into my eyes; "It's okay. We all know you are very vulnerable".
I glare at him.
"Too soon"?
"Yes".
"Sorry," he says, patting my shoulder, "but really, I would like to meet this girl, and you are coming with me once I shoot a message to Ansley saying to pick James up".
"Fine." I huff.
Conor gets up, takes his phone from James, who protests and sulks in the corner, and pulls my phone out of his pocket.
"Where was my phone"?
"With me. Anna wanted me to hold onto it until you had settled in".
"I've already been settled in".
He raised an eyebrow and types on his screen, handing me my phone.
I snatch it and press my thumb to the home button, my home screen popping up and I immediately open "Messages" because I have 246 notifications.
Most of them from my co-workers (bridesmaids) group chat and Ansley.
I take my time to respond to all messages and check my social media platforms.
Nothing too interesting. Just the normal jumble of comments, likes, follow, etc.
My newfound vast recognition from the hospital bombing and my published book have gained me followers. Immensely.
Over 200k followers on Instagram, 300k on TikTok, but I rarely post there, and 50.2k on Pinterest. I refuse to download SnapChat. It is of no use to me. Nor do I have Facebook or Twitter. Those apps are for old people.
I only have 20 posts on Instagram, and all of them are of me, my family, the rebuilt hospital, news about my books, and updates on my hallucinations.
TikTok is different, I posted quite a few latest-trend videos of me and Conor when I first downloaded TikTok, but when I first started getting attention was when I would make storytime videos of my hallucinating episodes.
On Pinterest, I have boards of my written books, my top book recommendations, and attention-grabbing pins.
I power off my phone and set it on the table.
At that moment, Conor tells me; "Ansley will be here in twenty minutes".
"Daddy, can I watch more funny cat videos"?
"No".
"Pleeeeaaaasssseeee"!?
"No, James, I need to handle some things with mommy right now. Auntie Ansley will be taking you to play with Fletcher and Elise, okay"?
"Mmph," James grunts.
"Nini, lets go find Anna and have her take us to Charity".
"Okay," I say.
After leaving Anna to look after James until Ansley arrives (Anna was currently on break), I lead Conor to my old room.
I knock lightly two times on the door, and open the door when I hear; "Come in".
