So now it came to the bad part. If these two where this upset, then something really bad happened, and they needed to spill the beans, even if I didn’t like hearing it.
I sighed and pulled away from Jiro’s warm arms, and flicked my eyes between the two.
“So, what’s going on?”
Jiro patted my shoulder.
“What have they told you?”
I gave him a bug eyed look.
“What are you talking about? No one’s told me shit, that’s why I’m asking you.”
Noah and Jiro exchanged a look.
Oh no, that isn’t good.
Noah bit his lower lip, his voice sounded nervous.
“Kari, what’s the last thing you remember?”
I shrugged.
“The last thing I remember is kicking Rex’s ass.”
I pointed at Jiro.
“I told you I would.”
I was getting a little excited now, I could finally brag about how awesome I am.
“Rex thought he had me, and he was doing some really scary shit, like really scary! But then, “Wam!” I pulled out the big guns, and he didn’t now what was coming!”
I was waving my arms around as I talked, so they would get how epic the battle was.
“There was like beams of light, and I totally zapped his monsters. Lumpy . . .”
I sniffled a little bit.
“Lumpy, that ugly ass monster, he didn’t make it. He fought real hard though, right to the very end.”
Noah tilted his head to one side, and squinted his eyes at me.
“Lumpy?”
I smacked my fist into my other palm as I continued.
“Don’t worry, I got revenge for Lumpy too.”
I shrugged.
“After I wiped the floor with Rex last night, I kind of passed out, and woke up here.”
Noah winced.
“Last night?”
I frowned at him.
“Yeah, last night. You guys did notice that I was missing, right?”
Jiro and Noah shared another look.
Jiro place a firm grip on my shoulder.
“We noticed, Kari.”
He sighed, looking deep into my eyes.
“ . . . Hime, that scum taking you, that fight, the house where they found you. . . that all happened four months ago. You’ve been in this hospital ever since.”
I stared at Jiro, then Noah. They wore matching grim expressions. This wasn’t a joke.
“What?”
It took a long, hard, moment for my brain to even attempt to wrap itself around that.
“What?”
My mind took the information, wound it around it self, flipped it up-side-down, and shook it a few times.
Nope! This doesn’t work for me.
REJECT!
I slowly shook my head from side to side.
“No, I don’t think it’s been four months.”
Noah was vigorously nodding his head.
“Yes, Kari. It’s been four months.”
I scowled at Noah, and his words that weren’t currently doing what I wanted.
I turned to Jiro while pointing a finger at the offender.
“Uncle Jiro, tell Noah that it hasn’t been four months.”
Jiro sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.
“Kari, I know this is hard, but you’ve been unconscious for a long time.”
I folded my arms over my chest.
“Well, then fix it!”
Jiro was giving me one of his, “Are you serious?” looks.
“I can’t turn back time, Kari.”
I grumbled and threw myself back on my pillows, just so I could glare at both of them at the same time.
“I did not lose four months.”
I grumbled some more and kicked my feet hidden under my hospital blankies.
“Someone stole four months from me, and I want them back.”
I narrowed my eyes at Jiro and Noah, until the world had nearly been squinted into darkness.
“So, I’ve been out for a whole bunch of months, what did I miss?”
Jiro and Noah glanced at each other again.
Noah looked extra nervous.
“N-not much.”
Jiro shrugged.
“Nothing important.”
So what they were saying was, I missed a whole bunch of stuff, and all of it was important.
Awesome.
“Where’s Tina? Is she okay?”
Jiro held up his hand to calm me down.
“She’s fine, uh, we’ll bring her soon.”
Why did Jiro look kind of nervous about that? Was Tina actually okay, or had she grown like a second head or something?
“Wha –“
Jiro cut me off with a,
“Is there anything you want? Are you hungry? Is there anything we can bring you, Kari?”
I knew that Jiro was just holding out some bait, hoping I would fall of the obvious distraction, to change the subject.
I totally pounced on it!
“Yes! I’m sooo hungry! I need food. And I mean real food, not more of that hospital muck.”
I pointed at Jiro.
“Uncle Jiro, take notes. I need some raviolis, and I need some of that almond torte you make, and I need some cannoli. Oh, and those green cookies too.”
Jiro was nodding and feverishly typing on his phone.
“Hmm, and maybe some minestrone soup too. It’s good for your health.”
I gave him my best, “I’m a sick person, spoil me”, eyes.
“Could you put some sausage in the soup?”
Jiro scowled.
“There’s no meat in minestrone.”
I coughed a few times, trying to look extra pitiful.
Jiro sighed.
“I can ask them to put some sausage in it.”
Jiro turned and took a step towards the door.
“I’ll call in the order at Sergio’s, so it’s ready for pick up. And I’ll get a hold of the twins, they can grab it on their way here.”
Before Jiro stepped out the door, I called after him.
“Oh, and make sure they bring Tina with them.”
Jiro froze in mid step, he looked at me over his shoulder and gave a stiff nod, then continued out of my hospital room.
Yeah, something was definitely up.
I turned to Noah still holding my hand.
“Okay, now that Jiro’s gone, you need to get going.”
Noah tilted his confused fluffy head at me.
“Going?”
“Yeah, you need to get my pre-food food.”
Noah’s forehead scrunched up a bit.
“You’re pre-food food?”
“Yeah. My food is coming, but it could take a whole thirty or even forty minutes to get here, so I need food to eat while I’m waiting for my food. So you need to start raiding some vending machines.”
Noah wasn’t angry at me, just very disappointed.
“Kari, if you eat a bunch of snacks, isn’t that going to ruin you appetite?”
I gave one sharp shake of the head.
“Nope. And snacking before a meal is not a problem as long as I eat the meal too. Now get going!”
Thankfully, Noah managed to scavenge some snacks and get them back to me before Jiro returned to my room. It was mostly just packets of flavored nuts (“Meh”) and cheese puffs, but it was better than nothing.
I was still licking the cheese dust off my fingers when Jiro came back. He raised an eyebrow at my neon orange fingertips and the light snowfall of cheese dust covering the blanket over my lap, but said nothing.
Hmm, that’s one perk to being in a coma for months.
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