"Yeah, I was there-- kind of. I was in another room, but I knew something was wrong and I came to bring you here as soon as possible."

Al took a seat on the chair next to the bed again, careful not to damage it with his weight. It returned them to the positions they had been in when Ed first woke up, and Al had a small hope that at least getting back to this position might mean that they could now move forwards instead of backwards.

"You've hit your head a lot in the past, it's-- it's so hard I didn't think anything could really hurt it. But I guess I was wrong. I'm..." Al's voice cuts off for a moment, shuddering and choked. "I'm so sorry, I should have been there faster."