#8 reul, beth, kaiya in the hospital (dani, marybeth, marnie)

So they've made plans at the end of this for tomorrow... I'd like to see them all together again! But I think the scene would begin with them eating ice cream in the room and pretending that they've escaped.... since I don't think anyone wants Reul who just had major brain surgery to leave the hospital just yet... so, who wants to pick up where this left off and when?

beth
hello?

reul
hi

beth
oh good. i thought you were asleep.

reul
no, i was trying to sleep. there isn't really anything else to do

nothing on tv

beth
yeah... tv sucks. even cable.

reul
yeah, i remember when i was little i used to watch it so much and now there's never anything on

beth
so i think kaiya is coming too. at least she said so last time.

reul
so how are you! i cant believe you're here

I missed you

beth
of course i'm here.

you too!

i wonder if i should go tell the nurse to look out for kaiya.

you know how she's always getting lost...

reul
haha, yeah, maybe you should

beth
okay.

brb

reul
hey.

so yeah, kaiya came right after you left

im surprised you didn't bump into each other

beth
when was this?

reul
right after you left, remember when you said you were gonna get a nurse

i think i'm going crazy im so druged right now

beth
no no, you're fine. I'm the one who gets weird in hospitals.

reul
so, anything exciting been happening

beth
no -- but wait, how long was kaiya here?

reul
just a little bit. she had to go to the bathroom

beth
so she's coming back? soon?

reul
yeah i guess, i mean i didn't ask her exactly what she had to do in the bathroom but i figure...

beth
haha, right.

I still have no idea where the bathroom is in here. I think they switch the walls around like cubicles every time I leave.

anyway. Bored stiff yet?

you've gotten your computer out, at least.

reul
well, actully, in the middle of the night there are these weird bathroom monsters that switch the signs on the bathrooms jsut to mix people up

yeah.

yeah, its really boring

i'm so glad you're here though, really.

beth
it must be, since you feel the need to create bathroom monsters.

me too.

I am about to be a little honest here, though, Ruel

reul
you guys are my best friends.

what

beth
I -- well, you too, of course.

Here's the truth then, in the name of bestfriendom.

reul
what

beth
I get so frustrated whenever I come here. Not because the walls shift and because it is always cold and smells like gauze and the fluorescent lights give me headaches, but because all those things must be just a fraction of how much YOU hate it here.

and I have the choice to come and go.

reul
oh

beth
it makes me so angry that you exist this way

reul
don't worry its not that bad

beth
it IS, though!

reul
i mean, im used to it and stuff

and there are bathroom monsters to talk to!

beth
No, see, that's what people who visit you are supposed to do -- be positive! But you're allowed to be pissed off and cramped. Because that's how I feel for you.

reul
if i were pissed off and cramped no one would want to come visit. you even said it yourself, you have the "choice to come and go"

beth
yeah. yeah, I guess that's true...

haha, you're so damn sunshiny.

reul
oh, shut up

beth
fine, fine.

where the hell is kaiya??

reul
maybe she got lost?

im sure she's fine

maybe she fell in the toilett

beth
haha. perhaps

are you waiting to do something on your laptop? I could leave if you're trying to get something done.

or if you're tired, I don't have to be here

reul
no no its fine

you can sit down on the bed with me if you want

you dont have to stand.

beth
well, it's just sitting out, losing battery power...

standing is fine, I don't want to crush your toes.

reul
you wont

i was gonna look at this cool star website. i can show you it if you want

but you cant see from there there's a glare

or whatever, i can put it away to if you want to jsut talk

beth
okay, sure.

no no, what about stars?

reul
remember in jr. high when we always used to cuddle under the covers in the same bed and look up our favorite bands and stuff

and interview with our favorite singers

beth
of course. that never would have stopped if we didn't get too gangly to all lay in the same bed..

reul
thats what this reminds me of. except i cant really move with this stupid head thing

yeah, and Hanson got old

beth
yeah. but at least you only got big-headed literally!

reul
better a big head than a big butt, i always say

no i don't always say that. i just didn't know what to say. haha

beth
hahaha, I wouldn't have called you on it, don't worry.

reul
ok, here look. thats a picture of our galaxy like a bajillion lightyears away. isn't that cool.

beth
who took it?

reul
it looks like a blur.

i don't know.

some satalite or something

beth
how did a satellite leave the galaxy? I didn't even know we reached that far.

reul
i don't know. somehow we have that cool picture

beth
is it the only one? are there more like this?

reul
i dont know. i didn't take it. i just look at it

better than looking at white walls, right

beth
true.

you should print it out, plaster it all over. are you allowed to decorate the walls here?

reul
well, nobody said i couldn't but i'd probabally be in trouble for getting out of bed.

beth
right. well, do you want me to hang anything?

reul
um, i don't really have anything.

darn, that'd be cool though

beth
but I could make things! print stuff!

I could print a copy of the galaxy.

reul
ok. that'd be cool.

beth
you don't sound too enthusiastic.

reul
no, seriously, that'd be awesome.

i'm just kinda sick, you know.

beth
oh, of course. sorry. you know, I've been trying really hard to distinguish between the two.

reul
what, health and enthusiasm?

beth
the lack of one or the other.

reul
yeah, sorry. i'll try to be more chipper.

beth
you know, I think kaiya left.

reul
yeah, i was just thinking aobut that. it has been a really long time. i kinda don't think she's in the bathroom.

why'd she leave?

beth
I might know why

reul
why

beth
I don't know, it's pretty w-- not weird. It's...

we just know you've had a rough time.

reul
so.. she thought i wouldn't want to see her.

?

beth
no, it's not quite that.

reul
beth, don't be stupid. of course i want to see you guys. what do you think i want to just lie around all day doing nothing.

i'm so jealous of you because you can DO stuff. and see people and hang out with eachother.

beth
no, that's not it at all!! I wish it was. at least then I'd be happy to see you frustrated.

but it's not like that.

reul
then what is it? i don't understand

beth
okay. how long has it been since the last surgery?

if you had to guess?

reul
you mean this last one that i'm recovering from now?

beth
right.

reul
i dont know. like... not very long

like a day and hours or something.

is that what you mean?

i probabally wont be out of the hospital for like a week

why waht does this have to do with kaiya?

beth
well, it's just that we're constantly in flux, waiting for news about how you've been doing. and that might be what rattled us so bad a few days ago, during the last procedure.

reul
what do you mean rattled. what did people tell you about it?

beth
we were outside of town, watching stars for you...I don't know if we told you that.

reul
really! aw, thats so cool

beth
and we were sitting there waiting for stars and for news, and we figured it had been a few hours into the surgery, at least...

and neither stars or news were coming.

reul
so you didnt see anything



beth
well, time was passing in flux, you know? It was like, we've been lliving with these waves of waiting and hoping and relief and worry, and it was all being played out, outside of town...am I rambling?

reul
beth, its not a big deal ok. They've been running tests and surgerys and stuff on me since, like, forever, and they probablly will forever so just don't freak out about it.

just watch the stars and know that i wish i were there too.

beth
no, that's just it, just listen, okay? you have to listen.

reul
ok. sorry

beth
it's alright, because I understand that it's a weird thing to listen to. It's the way most people get spoken to after they're dead. and I'm sorry. but I have to tell it right.
reul
ok

beth
I really wish kaiya was here for this.

but anyway...

the stars finally filled us in.

after a few hours up there, we saw you.

reul
ok, um i wasn't really expecting to tell you this...


ok this is so weird. i feel like im in one of those lame books my mom reads and crys at.

beth
you don't have to keep talking, if you don't want to. I think I know what you're going to say.

reul
i don't know why im here right now. i mean, i know why im here in the hospital, but i mean like here, like talking to you.

beth
what are you saying?

reul
ok, so on the night of the surgery i had this crazy dream--liek the weirdest dream i'v ever had in my life.

but it wasn't a dream. (ok this isn't making any sence.) just hear me out.

beth
I am.

reul
so, well, when you have surgery, i mean the kind i had, there's a really really high risk.

i know i didn't tell you that, i just didn't want you to freak out, you know?

beth
well, it's okay, because we knew anyway.

reul
but anyway. i sorta like, died? I dont know! I cant explain it. It was so weird. i don't even know what i'm talking about. a part of me just thinks that its the all the drugs im on right now. haha

beth
ruel, don't make light of it.

reul
ok ok im trying not to, God, i jsut feel so corny talking to you about it

i jus twant to say that i love you, yo know

i mean, i guess i've sorta been trying to say that for like an hour now but not so straight forward.

beth
shit, we need kaiya here.

kaiya
did i hear my name?

beth
when has a bathroom break ever taken that long??

reul
maybe she went to get a muffin or something.

kaiya
you'd think they'd put bathrooms in logical places so that weak hospital-lings could find them quickly, but no

they send visitors on wild goose chases accompanied by full bladders

reul
it was kinda awkward cuz we didn't know what to say at first

hey, who ya callin' a weak-hospital-ling

i've got brain-armor

kaiya
then you're not the afore mentioned hospital-ling, i guess

a hospital knight?

reul
yes. a hospital knight, slaying the bathroom monsters. Hoorah

kaiya
im not even gonna ask what kind of monsters you meet in the bathroom

reul
hey! what took you so long?

i hope you brought back candy or hot-chocolate or something. you couldn't have spent that long in the bathroom

we were about to come rescue you

kaiya
just your lucky day, i've got chocolate for everyone.

reul
sweet!

haha literally!

kaiya
haha

the hospital/maze made finding a bathroom quite an ordeal, but it also lead me past numerous snack machines

reul
yeah, isn't that kindof ironic! i mean, the hospital is supposed to make people un-sick. but they give us so much junk food they just make us sicker

although, im not complaining. yum

kaiya
haha in the vending machines anyway

i dont envy the regular hospital food

i think the chefs have flavor phobia

reul
yeah, actually, i think the patients aren't supposed to be eating form the vending machines. but i always ask my mom to get me stuff when she's here

beth
I think I have to go.

see you in a couple days, okay?

reul
oh, why?

ok

hey, wait,

i really love you a lot

ok?

beth
haha. I'm sure you do.

bye, kaiya.

kaiya
she's not the only one. c'mere and hug me before you go

beth
not with those chocolate fingers. sorry man, you're plain out of luck.

reul
hey i dont know if you want to hug her. she has been drowning in a toilet for the past million years or so

kaiya
i promise i wont infect you

beth
see ya.

kaiya
bye, beth

reul
bye

kaiya
so what did i miss while i was adventuring?

reul
it was kinda weird

we talked about my surgery and the meteror shower.

kaiya
yeah, there were some amazing shooting stars that night

reul
and monsters! and the kinghts who slay them (moi)

really.

sorry, i couldn't be there, but i guess i sorta was in spirit.

kaiya
you were.

reul


kaiya
you scared the crap out of us in the meantime, though

reul
ok, grr you're just like beth! its not really my fault--all the shit that happens, ok?

kaiya
i know! im not blaming you, reul

reul
im sorry i didn't tell you everything at first and that i wasn't really detailed about what kind of testing it would be. I just wanted you to have fun you know.

im sick of everybody worrying aobut me.

kaiya
just cuz we love you, you know

reul
i know.

but im fine now. i mean, except for the fact that there's nothing good on tv.

but other than that..

seriously, i feel a lot better when you guys are here.

kaiya
that is a problem

the tv

reul
Beth said that you wanted to leave?

she wasn't really specific. it was weird. she said she thought she had left because you thought i was having a rough time or somehting?

kaiya
now? or when you were in surgery?

reul
before, when you were in the bathroom. she said she thought you had left.

kaiya
my head was as full as my bladder, i think

reul
so it was true? you did want to leave?

is that because you think i don't want you here?

cuz thats stupid

kaiya
nonono, it had nothing to do with you

reul
oh ok, whatever

kaiya
im just working some stuff out in my head

reul
yeah, me too (gestures to the contraption on her head) haha

kaiya
haha

reul
(contraption isn't the word she was looking for but the Janis can fix that later, hint)

kaiya
well looks like at least you've got yours worked out

reul
you know what we should do?

kaiya
what should we do?

reul
we should do something crazy. not tonight, because its late and I have a head-ace. but sometime

you and beth should come and sneek me out.

there's a window over there behind that curtain

kaiya
i am a strong proponent of crazy escapades

reul
i bet we could figure out how to open it

kaiya
hopefully the windows aren't as jail-like as the squeaky clean white walls

reul
and we'll get ice-cream or something

i just want to get out of here!

kaiya
how long are you supposed to be in here for?

reul
and its no fair that you and beth get to hang out and have fun with out me
i think like a week.
but it doesn't have to be that long, im sure. i feel pretty much fine

kaiya
beth and i will have to come to your rescue, obviously

reul
yeah.

kaiya
even though she probably won't agree until your head stops hurting

reul
i know I fine! and I'll keep the little bracelet thingy on so if anything happens everybody will know just to take me back here. and besides nothing will. i mean we'll just get ice cream and then comeback.

kaiya
we'll protect you. promise. *brandishes invisible sword valiently*

reul
sweet.
so will you try to convince beth... Pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase

kaiya
yeah, yeah i will
i'll tell her that since your physical head is all patched up, we hafta take care of the part of your head the doctors missed, aka your sanity

reul
sure thing
well, i guess i better rest up if we're gonna do this tomorrow.
i am so excited!
this is gonna be awesome!

kaiya
agreed.
tell your head to heal up quick
cuz ready or not you're bustin out

reul
"Reul's head, heal up quck!"
"ok"

kaiya
good girl

reul
oh my God, i'm talking to my head. you're right my sanity does need help!

kaiya
step one sleep.

step two go on daring adventure to obtain frozen dairy product

step three rejoice in your reclaimed sanity

initiating step one..... NOW

see you tommorrow, reul

reul
zzzz (pretending to sleep)

yay, bye. shhhh don't tell anyone

kaiya
my lips are sealed

reul
I wuv yoooooou!

kaiya
i wuv you mooooooooooooooooore!

reul
bye

kaiya
see ya tommorrow

reul
see ya tommorrow