Banter and laughter

Though his eyes were closed, Gunner listened to Bree's reading. He had some trouble tracking what she was saying and understanding the words, but he loved the topic, and her voice was soft and soothing. Finally his heart begins to slow, his pulse going back to normal again. Too groggy to do much, he eventually lies down, curling up with his head back on his pillow again. The medication had taken its toll, but the hallucination was over for the night. He falls to sleep to the sound of Bree's voice.

"Here you go, Brent! Sunny eggs for a sun-shiny day!"

Gunner is sitting slouched in the chair at the table, and looks up at the nurse with disinterest. Nevertheless, the breakfast plate is put before him. Taking up the plastic spoon, he picks around the overdone scrambled eggs. He felt strange this morning, as if he were in the dark, but not. Or maybe kind of cloudy, but not really. He didn't remember a whole lot from last night... he remembered waking up by a horrid nightmare that was so real, he'd thought he could reach out and touch the monster. After that, he kind of remembered Bree... he wasn't really sure what she'd been doing here... and he remembered falling asleep to her reading. Otherwise though, his mind was pretty much a blank.

He stares down at the eggs, his appetite down to nothing. He wasn't hungry, and he had no real mood - the drugs had made sure of that. They were just starting to wear off enough that he knew where he was, but he also knew that meant another dose would be coming within the next ten minutes or so. Death would have been much more pleasant than this.

Finally giving up, he shoves the food aside and slouches even more in his seat. He had the strangest feeling... why he wanted to see Bree, he didn't know. Of course, right now he didn't know much of anything, let alone why he was feeling what he was. But if he had to eat those eggs, the feeling was one of nausea, and that one he recognized.


"No, no, no, yes yes, no, yes!" Jade squeals as the last two pins fall, giving her the spare. Throwing her arms in the air, she does a little dance, laughing.

"She's not my cousin." Clint shakes his head from his seat, taking another swig of pop. "I never saw her before in my life."

Jason chuckles. "Yeah, well that non-cousin of ours is going to win if we don't watch it."

"You could always, you know, knock down an extra pin or two."

"What?!" Jason picks up his bowling ball. "And have Katie tip me off? Never!"

The night was loud, long... and a whole lot of fun. Teams had already shuffled, this round ending up with Dan and Jade, Wendy and Katie, and Jason and Clint. Boys against girls had wound up with the girls winning by a hair, so the guys had insisted on changing things up. Now Jade and Dan were ahead, thanks to Jade's skill, though Dan had been a quick learner as well.

Clint watches Jason get ready and hollers at him. "Whoa, watch it! Careful! A little to the left... no, right... no... wait!" Starting to laugh, he waits his turn, just enjoying all of the banter and laughter.