Gone.

Chapter 12

I awoke the next morning with a sharp pain in the back left of my skull. I sat up and bent myself over placing a hand on the back of my head trying to release some of the pressure. A tear slipped out of my eyes as I reached for the nurse call button on my bed. When I finally found it I heard it beep.

"Can I help you Ann?" the nurse rang through the speaker.

"Please, my head." I managed to struggle out before the pain struck harder in my head.

I heard my room door burst open as nurses followed the heels of Doctor Adams. She came to my bed and placed her hands on either side of my torso. "I am going to lay you down now Anna." She reassured me as I felt her hands softly push me back onto the bed underneath of me. She pulled out what looked like a little pen and clicked it. A light shone into my eyes as she held a finger up for me to focus in on. I squinted my eyes and shook my head away from the light.

"Anna, I need you to sit still. I need to see what is going on with you. This is serious." She grabbed my chin with her hand and held my head still shining the light in my eyes once more, just causing the pain in my head to worsen. When she finally clicked the light off I had tears streaming down my face. "Anna, I need you to tell me what's wrong. What happened that had you so upset?"

"My head... there is so much pressure in it." I stuttered out.

"Go get me a CT scan ready, now!" Doctor Adams commanded one of her nurses. The girl nodded and rushed out of my room.

"What is happening Doctor?" I questioned.

"We are not totally sure, but it could be related to your black out yesterday. I need you to stay calm though because extreme amounts of stress can lead to another episode happening."

I slightly nodded in her way and closed my eyes shut again. The pain had moved from the left side of my head to the right, affecting all the areas of my lower skull. Lying on the parts of me that were overflowing with pressure was no help in the matter either. I pulled my hand up an laid it gently across my eyes to help keep the light from protruding through my eye lids.

I felt my blanket tuck underneath of me with cold hands as my bed rails clicked up. The metal against metal of my bed moving was enough to make my ears split. I groaned at the noise and someone laid their hand on top of mine for comfort. I suddenly felt my bed jolt forward as I was being pushed out of the room and into a hallway. I opened my eyes to see where I was going, but all that I noticed was the strand of lights that seemed to be a mile long above me. I quickly pushed my eyes back shut and focused on the movement of the bed beneath my body as it jolted at the uneven floor rolled underneath of it. I heard a door click open and my bed veer to the right and into a much darker room.

I slowly peeked an eye open and the darkness is comforting to my head. "Anna?" an unfamiliar nurse questionably states my name.

"Um... yes?" I stumble out.

"Do you have enough strength to switch beds for me?"

"Um... I am not sure." I struggle to push myself up in my bed and swing my legs over the side of my bed and the room around me starts to spin. I instantly push a hand to my forehead and lay my elbow onto the railing on my bed to steady myself from falling over. "No... No I cannot switch by myself." I shook my head as a tear slipped, once again, through my eyes.

"Okay, Anna. It is okay. Let me help you then. It kind of is my job to do so." She lets a small laugh escape her lips as she makes her way swiftly over to my bed. She pushes an arm undermine and lets me lean my weight onto her. I place my head onto her shoulder as it suddenly becomes too heavy to hold up on my own. We slowly stumble our way over to a smaller and definitely colder bed. I let my body slightly slip out of her grip onto the table. She helps me swing my feet onto the bed and lower my upper body to match my lower. "There you go Anna. Now I am going to step into the other room so we can run this test on your brain. If you need anything just let me know sweetie."

I nodded unable to get anything else out. I heard the door click behind her as she exited the room. I watched the dome behind me behind to light up and a mechanical sound start. I closed my eyes to block out the light and focused on the rhythmic sounds of the machine running around me. The table below me moved backwards into the dome and I tried my hardest to stay relaxed.

The machine came on telling me when I needed to breathe in and out. I tried my best to follow its patterns but struggled to slow my breath rate down that far. When the test was done the machine beeped and started to move me back out of the dome that I was just enclosed in. I opened my eyes to the once again comforting dark room as I heard the door open. I saw the nurse that had just helped me get to this table enter the room in a brisk pace.

"Anna, you did great in the CT scan. Now I am going to take you back to your room once again and we will let you know what the results are as soon as possible." I gave my head a small nod before she started to help me out of my bed once again. We had the same strategy as last time to put me back into my old bed, but this time before we left she offered me a sheet to place over my eyes to help block out any light from the hallway invading my eye lids.