rain

Chapter 8

My body ached all over. I scanned my brain for clues as to why I was in such pain when the memories came flooding back. The tree; the storm; the lighting; then falling; falling fast. My eyes flew open and I jolted upright, gasping for air. I regretted the action as soon as I finished for it made me hurt even more so, but my mind relaxed once I saw where I was.

I was in a room, mostly white, with a lot of machinery: a hospital. A nurse hustled in and straight to the equipment. She was frantically pushing buttons and turning knobs and moving levers. I tried to follow her movements, but couldn't keep up so I settled on the heart monitor, watching the little spikes move up and down and up and down. It was rather mesmerizing.

"Carter!" The nurse yelled, but that's not right because the nurse was still fiddling with the equipment. I turned to the other side of the bed with a different nurse and jumped then groaned in pain. Where did she come from? I turned back to the heart monitor and watched the high spike move off of the screen, then turned back around.

"Did you even hear my question?" she said sounding irritated. Gosh, I've been out for... How long have I been unconscious? She rolled her eyes and repeated her question, "I said, how are you feeling, but judging by your actions I'm going to say confused."

"No," I said surprising myself.

She raised an eyebrow, "No?"

"Yes, no. Don't answer for me. Actions hardly reveal emotions, especially mine. To answer your question properly, I'd say I feel in pain, and unenlightened." She just stared at me, her eyes searching mine. I could tell we weren't going to get along. "What? Why are you looking at me?"

"Im waiting for you to ask questions. You say you feel unenlightened, then let me enlighten you, but first I need to know what part of your story needs enlightening."

I paused, considering her words, "First, tell me what you know."

She sighed, but reluctantly began talking. "Three weeks ago, a boy rushed you in here, said you fell out of a tree when lighting hit you. I know you're the girl that ran away about a month ago, but that Carter, is all I know. I don't know why you ran away, I don't know why you climbed a tree, I don't know how you're still alive. Lighting struck victims like you rarely live."

"What do you mean 'like me'?"

"You were hit directly by lighting, and pretty close too. We estimated from the electricity in you when you arrived and the time it took since you were hit with the rate electricity can leave a persons body that you were no more than a hundred feet away from the source of the lighting." Sure, thats all she knows"Is this my first time being awake within the three weeks?" She nodded "So that means for the past three weeks, I've been in a coma?" Another nod. "What injuries did- or do- I suffer from?"

"Well, your body of course was surging with electricity for well over an hour, so your insides were a little damaged, but you had surgery and it just needs another week or so to heal. Then your forearm and your leg were both fractured, but not completely broken, but that should be healed by now. You had a slight concussion we assumed from hitting your head on a branch of from landing. Luckily, it caused no harm. And you had this nasty cut on the palm of your hand, but it was already bandaged so I'm assuming you knew about that already, which now you've got a half a dozen of, but for the main part, you're just a little banged up. A lot of bruises, some cuts and scratches. You might scar, but other that that, no major damage was done. You, Carter, are a very lucky girl."

But am I? I mean if I were truly lucky, I wouldn't have been struck by lightning a hundred feet away and fallen out of a very tall tree. I guess I could be dead right now, so thats positive, but... but what? I shook the thought from my head.