The Elementals of Edgewood

Chapter Eleven

Consciousness came back to George slowly.

The first thing he noticed was that he was lying down, every limb weighted with exhaustion. The bright light of the exterior tinted his closed eyelids in orange, fuelling his dread at opening them.

He was content in his disorientation. It was peaceful. Only a slight throbbing above his right eyebrow tainted his mood.

Eventually, it was this pain that reminded him of why he was unconscious in the first place.

George jolted upright in panic and was immediately blinded by the fluroscent light hanging above him. He blinked furiously as his sight focused on the excessively white, clinically scented room. A heart monitor beeped steadily next to him, and he sat up he felt an IV twinge in his right arm.

He was in a hospital.

Panic coursed through his previously relaxed limbs as the events of the night flooded back to him: Sadie's note, his apparent supernatural powers, the gunmen and the car crash.

The last three hours had contained more disasters than his entire life.

A soft snore to his right nearly made him jump out of his skin. He turned to see Arlo and Jess slumped on two chairs, deeply asleep. Jess's head was rested on Arlo's shoulder, a small trail of drool darkening his shirt while the boy's head was tilted backwards, mouth agape.

George rolled his eyes. Typical. It was good to see them though.

The door opened to reveal a nurse. "Ah, you're awake!" She smiled at him.

Jess snored loudly, quickly sitting up. "Wha- What?" She looked to the nurse, clearly groggy from sleep and then to George. "Oh, hey." He nodded back to her. Arlo was oblivious, still unconscious next to the girl.

The nurse walked towards him. "How are you feeling?"

"Um, well my head hurts a bit." He was still confused as to how he got to the hospital in the first place. The last thing he could remember was the crash, and even that was blurred and distorted.

The nurse seemed to pick up on this. "You've been out for about an hour- hit your head on the car window and got yourself knocked out!" She smiled down at him. "Wasn't bad though, all your vitals were positive when you checked in and your neuro exam came up negative which is extremely good news. I just have to some last minute check ups, is that okay?"

He nodded, having no idea what she was on about. He was more focused on the logistics of the crash. How had they gotten to the hospital? What happened to his car, and where were Sadie and Harrison? The steadily increasing pain of his head convinced him that his questions could wait.

After shining a really bright torch in his eyes and changing his bandage, the nurse declared he had only a mild concussion and unplugged him from the IV and heart monitor. Jess analysed her movements carefully, asking lots of annoying questions because she apparently 'wanted to be a doctor someday.'

"Okay, so you'll have to wait here until a parent arrives to discharge you-" The thought of confronting his mother sent a wave of dread over George. He'd told her that he was at Nate's house for dinner. "But the police need to speak with the five of you-"

"The police?" He couldn't keep the alarm out of his voice as his mind involuntarily flashed back to the two men lying unconscious on the diner floor.

"They just need to ask you about the crash." She smiled at his alarm.

"Oh right, yeah."

"I'm sure they'll value your side of the story much more than the other driver's anyway, considering they didn't stick around."