Hospital Trip

I woke up to flashing lights and muffled voices and ringing. Loud, piercing ringing. I groaned and turned over. My left thigh felt like it was on fire. It hurt to move. And the smell. Smoke that burned my nose. It hurt to breathe. 

I opened my eyes to blurry figures running all over the place like chickens without heads. Smoke rose behind them, flashing lights reflecting off the gray rising into the air. 

My vision cleared, and I saw Lili lying on the ground a few feet away. She wasn't moving. I tried to say her name, but it came out as a cough. I forced myself to crawl over to her, ignoring the worsening pain in my leg. Ash was falling on her face. 

I pulled her onto her back. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were parted. My entire body tingled as I searched for her pulse. Relief flooded through me when I found one, so intense I almost passed out.

All of a sudden, I was grabbed and hauled away from Lili. I started thrashing, screaming Lili's name. The person holding me grunted before dropping me. White-hot pain washed over me, but it didn't matter. The sirens didn't matter. The crackle of fire and falling of ash didn't matter. I needed to get to Lili.

"I need help over here!" someone yelled. A moment later, strong hands grabbed me by my armpits and pulled me up. I kicked with my legs, but a blurry figure in dark yellow grabbed my legs and held them still. I tried rolling my body, trying to break free of their hand that stung like needles, but they put me on a cold metal sheet. They pinned me down and strapped something over me to keep me still.

"We've got blood!" Another person yelled over the sirens. 

"Sedate her!" 

A needle was pushed into my arm. I fought and fought, screaming for Lili, even as everything faded to darkness.

*~*

The first thing I heard was beeping. The constant, rhythmic, electronic beeping. Then the breathing that wasn't my own. 

I opened my eyes to a white ceiling with pictures of beaches on a few tiles. I tried to sit up but groaned in pain as I did. 

"Easy," said a familiar voice. Light blue eyes and a tan face appeared in my line of sight. "You've been out for almost a whole two days."

I opened my mouth and felt how dry it was. "Water," I breathed in Desponian. "I need water." 

"I'll get it for you," RJ said. He pressed a button on the control, and I felt the bed vibrate. My back and head were pushed up until I was sitting. As I was sat up, I saw the rest of the room. A small Watch Box was attached to the wall in front of me. The sliding door was shut, and the white curtain around my bed was pulled halfway around. 

RJ smiled. "There you go." His blue eyes flicked over to something on my left, then back at me. 

I looked over and saw a head of brown hair lying on my bed. She had pulled the visitor chair up to my bed and fallen asleep with her head in her arms. 

Beyond her was a stand with a few bags of liquid hanging from them. A few of them were attached to hoses stuck in my arm. There were a few things on the wall. One was for gloves, one was an open box with a bag inside it, and the third was a whiteboard with a bunch of information written on it. Below that was a chart used to measure pain on a scale of 1-10. 

Closer to the bed was where the beeping was coming from. A weird device that would beep every second or so, and a few others that displayed information I didn't understand.

"She hasn't left your side since we got here," RJ explained. "Eli's undergoing hand surgery, and Summer's confined to her room next door. They had to get you in first, though. You lost a lot of blood." 

I glanced back at RJ. He had a few bandages on his head and white linen peeking out from under his shirt. "What about Lili?" 

"Shaken up, but perfectly fine as far as I know." He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Throwing yourself on her probably saved her. And almost killed you." Lili made a noise and started to stretch. He tilted his head to the side. "I'll get you some water. I'll be back." He slipped through the sliding glass door and closed it behind him. 

"Brooks?" I heard Lili say. I turned to see her staring at me, her turquoise eyes big and round. 

"Hey, Lili," I said with a smile. In less than a second, she had climbed onto the bed and was hugging me tightly. I grunted in pain, and she backed off. "What happened?"

You were taken here, she started to explain. There was a big piece of glass in your leg. The doctor said that it had cut something important in your leg. They had to get you in fast. The surgery lasted three hours. You could have... She faltered. You could have died, B. You almost died.

But I didn't, I told her. I'm still here. I'm still with you, sis. She started to cry. "Don't start that. I'm gonna cry if you do..."

And that was how RJ returned to us bawling like babies, holding each other tightly. He promptly set down my water on the bedside table and walked out.

A few minutes later, Lili climbed into bed on my right, and we fell asleep on the hospital bed. 

When I was woken up, it was by a dark-haired doctor. He was wearing pristine white doctor scrubs and had what I believed was a stethoscope around his neck. He held a clipboard under his arm and a pen in a chest pocket.

"How are you feeling, miss?" He asked. 

I rubbed my eyes. "Tired," I replied. 

"I would suspect so. You lost a lot of blood in the time you were unconscious. You're incredibly fortunate that there were people who called ambulances."

"How's Eli?"

"Fine. He won't be able to use his left hand for a month or two, and he'll probably have a headache for a couple days, but he'll be fine after a while. Mr. García had minor burns around his left shoulder blade and a few scrapes on his face, but he will be alright. Ms. Summer has no injuries except for a few cuts on her neck and hands. Your car's back windshield broke from the gas explosion's force."

Gas explosion? Is that what happened? All I remembered was RJ running towards us, yelling at us to get in the car when Eli shouted something. Then the explosion happened. I had thrown myself onto Lili, but we were still knocked off the car. I think I might've landed on her.

"What about her?" I nodded to my little sister, who was sleeping soundly beside me. 

The doctor's expression turned grim. "Blood was coming from her ears," he started. "The explosion caused her eardrum to rupture. A perforated eardrum can cause hearing loss—further loss, in her case—and other symptoms. She may experience times where she'll experience dizziness or vertigo, and further bleeding or drainage from her ears."

"Will she be okay?" I asked but regretted it the moment the question left my mouth. The doctor's jaw set.

"We've cauterized the tissues in her ears. To help with the pain that'll accompany her for a few days to a week, we've prescribed her to use an antibiotic. It will help keep infection away and help her heal, which should only take about two months." 

I felt my mouth go dry."We-we can't afford anything." I felt the shame wash over me. The man who raised us made sure that we didn't have a penny to our name.

"You don't have to," the doctor said. My expression must have been funny because he cracked a smile. "Your friends Eli and RJ have insurance that covers it fully." I blinked. "Yes, you're lucky your friends have such amazing insurance. Can't say I can understand the name, though. Iatrikó Theó Voítheia. Whatever that means. But I'm not complaining. They gave me the ability to be able to work on you - to be able to make sure you stay alive."

"And we are extremely grateful, sir," Summer said from my door. I glanced over to see her leaning against the door frame. "Would it be alright if you help us check out? Eli is out of surgery and ready to go. The nurses just need your say, and we will be out of your hair." Her voice suddenly turned airy and almost magical. The doctor's face lost all emotion as she continued, "It would help us so much to be able to get going. We have to be in Khada soon, or we will miss our flight to Xaka. I would be so happy if you could do that for us." The doctor blinked.

"Of course," he said, but he sounded mentally distant. "I will sign you all out right away." He left the room. I stared at Summer. She was dressed in a new shirt and pair of jeans, paired with a few bandages on her neck and hands. 

She grinned at me. "Like it?" she asked. "I used it on the nurses to help get us out of here. Eli is out of surgery and ready, but the nurses still needed the doctor to discharge us."

"Did you put a spell on him?" I asked in amazement. "That was like magic!" She shrugged.

"I have no idea," she admitted. "All I know is that once RJ saw me do that, he sent me to 'woo' the doctor." She made air quotations with her bandaged fingers. 

"What about the medication for Lili?"

"It's ready, too. I heard the doctor and went to tell a nurse to get it for us. She did."

"That's amazing." She strolled over and sat on the left side of my bed.

"It is, isn't it?" She smiled, and at that moment, she looked absolutely stunning. A lock of hair escaped the confines of her ponytail, curling around her cheek. Her eyes flashed pink, which I thought was a trick of the light.

"You're really pretty right now," I said. She raised a brow, and heat flushed through me. "Did I say it in Desponian?" She nodded. "Sorry. I said you look really pretty."

Her cheeks turned light pink. "Really?" I nodded. She swallowed before hopping off my bed. "Oh. Well… thank you." She coughed. "I'm going to go get you crutches. You are going to need them to walk on that leg." She walked out, leaving me to wake up Lili. I tapped her arm. When that yielded nothing, I poked her a bit harder. She woke up this time.

"What?" she groaned groggily. I tapped her ears, and she opened her eyes. We have to get going. Summer has gone to get me... I struggled to remember the sign for crutches. I gave up after a couple of seconds and continued. Things to help me walk. E-L-I is fine, and we are being released from the hospital. Summer worked some type of magic on the doctor and nurses and told them to let us go. R-J is most likely getting everything ready.

Lili asked How is E? I gave her a thumbs-up in response. She nodded and hoisted herself up before lifting her legs off the bed. She stood up, using the bed to keep herself upright, and turned around to face me. I smiled sheepishly at her.

Can you help me sit up? She beamed at me and pressed a button on the side of the bed. It began to vibrate again, and I was pushed into a sitting position. Once all the way up, Lili sat on the bed by my feet. I finally remembered my leg injury. I looked down to see my pants leg cut off above my thigh. My thigh itself was wrapped in bandages and the same linen stuff that was on RJ. I sighed as I looked at it. Looks like I won't be walking for a while.

I carefully swung my legs off the bed and waited for Summer. But it wasn't her who came in.

RJ walked in, holding my crutches. "Time to go." He set the crutches down next to me. He stretched his hand out to me, but I ignored it. I grabbed the crutches and put them under my armpits. I pushed myself off the bed and took a step. Pain flared through my leg like bolts of lighting, and I stumbled forward. RJ grabbed me before I could fall. He helped me stand up again. I shook myself out of his grip. 

"You alright?" he asked, bending down a little.

I tried not to shiver. "Fine," I growled. I tried to walk again, this time bending my leg to keep myself from putting pressure on it. "No one ever taught me how to use these damn things."

RJ tracked my movements as I made my way for the door. He grabbed something from the bedside table drawer and then followed me. "You're doing great," he told me with a bright smile. Too bright for my current mood.

"Does someone have Lili's medicine?" 

  "Eli does," he answered. "He's the oldest, so they trust him the most. I can't blame them; I certainly wouldn't give it to anyone else."

"You trust him that much?"

RJ almost stopped walking in surprise. "Of course I do," he said like he couldn't believe I would ask such a question. "He's saved me a bunch of times. And when we're training, he never wipes the floor with me or anyone else when I know he can."

I thought back to when I had seen him fight that monster at school. "He was hurt by that monster at school, though."

"Cyclopes are tough," RJ said. "They are far stronger than us, and much more durable. And Eli didn't want to scare you and Summer. He could've just incinerated it and been done. But he's smarter than that; he knew it'd freak you out too much."

"But we're strangers," I pointed out, confused. "Why would he care if he scared us?"

RJ shrugged. "That's just how he is." We rounded a corner and saw Eli and Summer talking. Summer was laughing at something Eli had said while he smiled. "It's almost like he's programmed to be nice. It's rare that he ever really gets angry. Like, sure, there are times he does, but he's human. And he never stays mad. He always wants to be friends. And he's the best friend you could ever ask for."