Gargoyles- The Heart of Everything (Book 1)

~Chapter Six~ Recovery

~Chapter Six~

Recovery

Rose woke up with a start and was instantly blinded by bright lights all around her. It took her a while to come to and remember what had happened with the gunman, and she quickly concluded that she was in the hospital due to him. IVs, wires, and tubes were hanging out at almost every limb on her body. She was dressed in nothing but a hospital gown and wore bandages on almost every limb.

She slowly moved her fingers and toes, giving herself a quick look over to determine what was injured, and to her relief, found that she had only received bruises and cuts on her extremities.

Rose then raised her bandaged hands to her head, where she felt a large bandage wrapped around her forehead. She moved her neck slowly and found that it was extremely sore and tender, as well as her skull, but all seemed to be well enough. A large square bandage was placed over her throat where the gunman had tried to slice her neck open, and she swallowed painfully at the thought of what had almost happened to her.

Closing her eyes and breathing in deeply, Rose went back to mentally checking her body out and the damage that she had received. After her entire check was over, she was thankful that she could move her entire body and feel all of her limbs.

Though her body hurt and was extremely tender to touch, she sighed in relief. This attack wasn't fatal nor aggressive enough to leave her in a vegetable state of living. She realized, at that moment, that she was fortunate to be alive and able to still function for the most part.

Rose pressed her head gently with her hand and winced slightly in pain.

By now, her eyes had adjusted to the lighting in the room, and she found that it wasn't as bright as she first thought it was. She moved her head to the side to read the monitor above the bed. An IV bag was hanging above her, feeding her saline solution for re-hydration and medications purposes, and the only sound in the room was the steady beeping of her heart beep on the vital sign computer.

As she looked around the room, she suddenly realized that she wasn't alone. At the foot of her bed was her best friend, Emily. Her blonde-headed friend was sitting in a chair, with her face down in her arms, half-resting on the bed, and was fast asleep, snoring slightly.

Rose sat up slightly, relieved to see her friend alive and alright, and gasped slightly at the pain in her ribs. She tried to slowly adjust her body position to try not to wake Emily, but Emily awoke in a jolt to Rose's sudden movements.

Emily looked exhausted, and there were black and blue bruises over her right eye, with a gauze wrap around her wrist. She looked momentarily dazed, having just come out of a deep sleep, but the moment she saw that Rose was awake, she cried out in relief.

"Rose! Oh... oh, thank God you're awake! I've been so worried about you!"

Rose stayed silent, trying to process still all that was going on as Emily stood up and gently wrapped her best friend in a tender hug, which she winced slightly at. Emily let her go after feeling her wince in pain and whispered with tears in her eyes, "I'm so sorry! How are you feeling?"

Rose swallowed a few times, trying to moisten her throat and lips, and tasted old, dried-up blood, making her slightly nauseous. "Kind of lousy, I guess," she whispered hoarsely.

Emily nodded, looking at her friend with great concern, with tears falling from her eyes now. She sniffled, trying to remain strong for her. "Are you in pain?"

Rose groaned slightly and nodded at her friend, feeling exhausted again.

"I'll get a nurse," Emily said, immediately standing up and pressing the 'nurse button' in her room. When Emily returned to her friend's bedside, she picked up a large cup of water and ice and offered it to her with a straw. "Here. I thought you would be thirsty."