Kyle tried to rest his brain.
He was still coping with the bombshell hurled at him by the leprechaun revealing that traveling through the magic portal had caused Kyle's age to increase more than 100 years. Of course, he couldn't trust the leprechaun any farther than he could have tossed him, but the fact that every bone in his body ached persuaded Kyle that, at least in this instance, the leprechaun's pronouncement was accurate.
He looked down at the thin hospital gown covering his sunken chest. A sparse covering of white hairs covered his fragile torso. He could count his ribs below his almost translucent skin. A week ago, he'd been worried about hitting 40. Now he was fucking 112 years old and liable to bite if if he so much as suffered a violent sneezing attack. Morbid curiosity made him lift the flimsy gown for a peek at his cock, which was close to unrecognizable, flaccid, grayish, and surrounded by only a thin nest of gray hairs.
He jerked his hand back when the curtains around his bed were suddenly pulled away and a hot Latino man in blue nurse scrubs greeted him with a clipboard and a smile. "Oh good. You are awake," the nurse observed.
If he had been feeling more himself, Kyle would have gladly ogled the nurse considering his enthusiasm for Latino men.
The nurse made a show of scanning the clipboard and took out a pen. "You have hit a bit of a rough patch," he murmured as he settled on a stool by the bed.
"You could say that," Kyle agreed with a bird-like nod of his head. The effort made him dizzy. His head felt heavy and oversized considering his skinny shoulders and thin neck.
"It says you came to us with no personal identification," the nurse said. "Could we take care of some of those details?"
Kyle sunk back. "Like what?"
"How about your name?"
"Kyle." He answered honestly, figuring he had nothing left to lose. "Kyle Waterston."
"The man scribbled furiously. "That's good," he said. "Now let's...
"Hold up!" Kyle snapped with a brittle tone.
"Yes?" The young man looked up in surprise.
"Well, I gave you my name. It's only fair that you do the same."
The younger man grinned. "I am Tobias, but most people call me Toby."
Kyle meant to thank him, but a fit of coughing racked him and send some of the dang-blasted monitors bleeping themselves into overdrive. The young man responded quickly, raising the back of the hospital bed and helping Kyle position himself more upright. "Easy there, Mr. Waterston."
"Call me Kyle," he managed when the coughs subsided and the monitors took on a less menacing volume.
"So, one other question I need answered — Kyle — concerns your age," Toby said. "How old are you?"
"I was born in 1991," Kyle said, deciding to take a gamble. "I know that — "
"Are you someone who likes to tell fibs, Kyle?"
Kyle seized Toby's right gloved hand around his wrist and tried to dig his fingers into the Latino man's skin. "Please, listen," he already felt breathless from the effort. "I am not crazy. I need to explain, and I know it is going to sound crazy, but it's true."
Toby reached and effortlessly pried Kyle's fingers from around his wrist, but he did nothing else to retreat from the old man. "I'm sure things are very unsettling right now..." Toby spoke softly.
"Fuck it! Just listen. There's a leprechaun. He did something and turned me into a little boy, but I found a portal in his cabbage patch and managed to get back here, but the journey caused me to age more than a hundred years."
Toby smiled, then grinned, showing off a dazzling smile, just before he began laughing. "You do have a sense of humor, I see, and quite the imagination."
"I'm telling you the truth, dammit!" Kyle worked himself into a frenzy. "I'm twenty-nine years old... augghhh!"
Toby reacted quickly when Kyle clutched at his heart. "Is there pain, Mr. Walterston?"
Kyle couldn't breathe. His chest felt tight and constricted.
"You can't work yourself into such a state," Toby said and leaned over the bed with an unexpected hypodermic.
"No!" Kyle gasped through clenched teeth, but Toby found a vein and injected the calming sedative.
It took almost instant effect.
"A leprechaun," Toby chuckled. "You must have been a storyteller in a previous life, Mr. Waterston."
The pain lessened and Kyle's eyes grew heavy. "ItWuzAfock-ingLeperkon..." he slurred as he drifted into an oblivious slumber.