Chapter 8: Hardin

                                    

                                          
I don't know how much longer I can take this. The pain in my abdomen has only grown in intensity since Tessa has left. I have been in bed, clutching my stomach for the past hour, and the more time that goes by, the more I'm confident that this isn't just nerves. Did I eat something bad? Am I sick?
                          
"Hardin!" I hear the front door slam. "We're here! We decided to walk back from the station. You have such a cute little neighborhood." My mum and Mike are back.
                          
I have no strength to even open my eyes, let alone speak.
                          
"Hardin, where are you?"
                          
"In here!" I barely get out without pain coursing through my body.
                          
She knocks on the door before entering my room. "The city is wonderful! We went to the famous tree that you mentioned. It was lovely, but so crowded though! I got you a sweater that I thought you would... like..." She stops speaking as she slowly notices my state. "Honey, are you feeling all right?" She sits down besides me, and places her hand on my forehead. "You're sweating, and burning up. I should check your temperature. Where's your thermometer?"
                          
"Bathroom." I whisper in pain, and she quickly runs to get it.
                          
"Here, open up." She comes back and sticks the thermometer in my mouth. She gasps, which isn't a good sign.
                          
"Your body temperature is 100 degrees, that's pretty high. You have a fever."
                          
"No, no I'm fine." I turn over onto my back, and a sharp pain shoots through me again. I groan loudly in response.
                          
"Is it your stomach that hurts?" My mum asks.
                          
"Yeah, like right here." I point to my lower right side of my abdomen.
                          
"I think we should go to the emergency room. You're burning up."
                          
"No." I shake my head. I have been to the hospital too many times this month, and I am not going the night before my wedding. "I just need to sleep it off."
                          
"You can't sleep off a fever, Hardin. I'm gonna call an ambulance to take you since you seem like you're in a lot of pain." She takes her phone out of her pocket, but I quickly smack it out of her hand, and it falls onto the floor.
                          
"Don't." God, each time I speak it hurts.
                          
"Hardin, we need to get you help. Mike call the ambulance!" She screams for Mike in the next room.
                          
"No, it costs... a lot... no ambulance."
                          
"Well then I am taking you. Mike! Grab Hardin's keys!" She helps me up, and I am in the most severe pain I have ever been in, even worse than the headaches from when I forgot to take my medication.
                          
"What's going on?" Mike meets us at the front door, opening it for my mum to help me out.
                          
"Hardin has a fever and bad stomach pain, so we are taking him to the hospital. Have you ever driven in the States before?"
                          
Thankfully, Mike nods. "Once, when I came like twenty years ago."
                          
"That's good enough for me, you're gonna have to drive while I look up a hospital address."
                          
My mum slides me into the passenger seat, laying me across.
                          
"How are you feeling?" My mum asks me as Mike begins driving my car. I swear to god if he crashes it. Driving in New York City isn't the same as driving in any other part of America, so I wouldn't be surprised if he were to wreck my car right now, and I'm not even wearing my seatbelt. I can't form words, and I feel myself wanting to close my eyes and fall asleep. I just shake my head and groan loudly as the pain continues to spread throughout my stomach.
                          
"Trish, you're gonna have to look up an address. I have no idea where I'm going."
                          
"Right, yes." She feels around for her phone in her pocket. "Shit!" She screams. "I left my phone back at the house! Do you have yours?" 
                          
"No, I didn't bring it with me!" Mike says.
                          
"G...P...S..." I say barely audibly. 
                          
"Oh, this car has GPS, thank goodness."
                          
I feel my eyes closing, my mind being taken to another place, then suddenly...
                          
BLACK
                          
"My son is having severe stomach pains, plus a fever. He is barely conscious now." My mum cries to the woman at the reception desk. Mike is practically carrying me in, and if I wasn't in so much pain I would be so embarrassed right now.
                          
"Okay, yes. Let's put him on a stretcher." The woman says, and radios two of her colleagues to help. "We have a young male with stomach pains and a fever."
                          
I feel myself moving, but I cannot say anything right now. The pain is too strong.
                          
"Sir, are you with me?" The lady asks, and I move my head slightly just to show that I'm not dead.
                          
"What's his name and age, ma'am?"
                          
"Hardin Scott, he's 27. I'm his mother."
                          
"I see, we're gonna help your son..."
                          
BLACK
                          
"It seems that his appendix has burst. He needs to go into immediate surgery." I hear a man say when I wake again. The pain isn't as strong anymore, so I think they gave me something.
                          
"Surgery?" My mum gasps.
                          
"Yes, I'm afraid so, but I wouldn't worry. These surgeries are one of the more common ones, so it should be fine. I'm just gave him something that'll put him under, then we can begin the surgery."
                          
Surgery? My appendix burst? What the actual fuck! Well, that explains a lot... Why did this have to happen on the night before my wedding? Wait, I am getting married tomorrow, how am I supposed to do that if I am gonna be in the hospital. Fuck! I am trying to open my mouth to speak, but I'm unable to do so. I can't move, I can't open my eyes, but I can hear everything that's going on around me.
                          
"Call Tessa!'  I am screaming to my mum, but she isn't responding. I guess this is all in my head, now. The doctor said he is 'putting me under', and I have never been under anesthesia before. Shit, this is terrifying. I feel my heart increasing in its rate, and my breathing has increased.
                          
"Wait, what's happening?" I hear my mum yell as there are loud beeps coming from the machine. My heart rate is continuing to rise, and the fear of not being able to wake up after this surgery is consuming me.
                          
"Heart rate is increasing." Someone says, and I can sense the panic in the room. "Get him to the operating room, now!" I hear a doctor yell, and feel myself moving again.
                          
"Hardin?" I hear someone say, but it's a familiar voice.
                          
"Who's there?" I scream out into the void that is my mind. Suddenly, I see a blonde haired figure step into the light.
                          
Tessa.
                          
"Tess?" 
                          
I hear her giggle. "Looks like you ended up in the hospital this time." Tessa walks over to me and touches my hand. I know this isn't real, just a figment of my imagination, but her presence calms me immensely. I can feel my heart rate decreasing, and my breathing rate returning back to normal.
                          
"You're here." I cup her face in my hands.
                          
"I am... you're gonna be okay. It's all going to be okay." She assures me, and I feel this extreme wave of peace overpower me. She takes me in her arms, stroking my hair.
                          
Even though my mind is making this up right now, there is no place I would rather be. It's amazing how Tessa will always be my source of calm.
                          
BLACK