The Reaper's Assistant

*3*

   When I got to the parent parking lot, mom was already waiting.

   She jumped out of the car when she saw me and rushed to my side, checking me all over and counting my wounds.

   I tried uselessly to wave her off and got in the car.

  "Cypress Xaviar, what happened?!" Mom demanded as she started the car and turned it out of the lot.

   "Nothing mom, stupid brunettes and a superiority complex, I'm fine."

Mom scoffed and sped out of the lot as quickly as legally possible.

  What I wasn't, and wouldn't tell her, is that my chest and lungs were screaming and breathing was becoming harder by the second.

   Mom stopped at a red light and the seatbelt around my abdomen constricted, making me inhale sharply.

   Mom glanced in my direction with worry clouding in her big green eyes.

   "I'm fine mom, just drive please."

   She must have heard the strain in my voice as she started to press harder on the gas. "I'm going as fast as I can without wrecking us."

  "Just drive."

  I hissed as we turned off of the road and into the parking lot of the hospital.

   My feet hit the pavment hard and sent pain rocketing up my spine. I grunted hard and waited as patiently as I could for mom to get to my side.

   As quickly as she would allow, I let mom lead me, hobbling into the lobby of the ER.

   When we got inside chill air encased us and made breathing more difficult. The lady at the desk looked up at our entrance and immediately got to her feet, seeing my shirt covered in blood and my struggling to walk.

  "Let's get him to a room quick, we need to stop that bleeding."

   Together they led me into and down a white painted hall towards the many rooms that lined the halls of the ER workspace. Several nurses stopped to stare for a moment before a doctor was called.

   Finding an empty room, the receptionist called a nurse and got me situated on the bed.

   I felt dizzy with all the moving and my tongue was already swollen from my having bit down on it. The taste of blood was making my stomach hurt and my throat raw. I could feel saliva and blood mixing and spilling down my chin while I moved. My head ached and pounded, and the muscles in my leg felt twisted funny.

   I felt like I was about to pass out. I groaned and tried to pull my head up. A pillow was set behind my head and I was able to lay back for a minute while a doctor made his way over.

  Muffled talking echoed in my ears while my world slowly faded into black.