The Birch House

Chapter Nine

When I woke up, I was on my side, and I felt warm all over. Sleepy. There was someone sitting next to me, a boy, and I blinked twice and realised that it was Chase. Chase was in my bedroom. No, wait, this wasn't my bedroom; it was somewhere else...

"Emergency room," he said. I must have looked confused. "Damn, Evie. Warn a guy before you do a faceplant on the floor next time. I could have looked all heroic and caught you or something."

I smiled. My voice came out lazy and slow. "You caught Chloe." That was funny, so I said it again. "You caught Chlooooeeeeeeeee."

"Yeah, ha-ha, you're high as a kite, you know? And they called your parents."

It took me a little while to realise what he'd just said. "Parents?" I repeated, and tried to lift my head. "Oh. Ow. Not good."

"Not so much. Mum and Dad were pretty freaked to hear you become a lab accident. The campus cops forgot to mention the part where Chloe deliberately threw acid on your back. They seem to think it was just one of those funky accidents."

"Was it?" I asked. "Accident?"

"No way. She meant to hurt you."

I plucked at the ugly blue hospital gown I was wearing. "Killed my shirt."

"Yeah, pretty much." Chase looked pale and tense. "I've been trying to call Alex. I don't know where he is. I don't want to leave you alone here, but-"

"He's okay," I said softly, and closed my eyes. "I'm okay, too."

I thought I felt his hand on my hair, a second of light, sweet pressure. "Yeah," Chase said. "You're okay. I'll be here when you wake up."

I nodded sleepily, and then everything faded into a lemon yellow haze, like I was lying in the sunlight.

Ouch.

Waking up was not fun. No hazy drug lemon sunlight; this was more like a blowtorch burning on my back right on the shoulder blade. I whimpered and burrowed into my pillow, trying to get away from the pain, but it followed close behind.

The drugs had worn off.

I blinked and whimpered and slowly sat up; a passing nurse stopped and came in to check me over. "Congratulations," she said. "You're doing well. That burn is going to hurt for a while, but if you take the antibiotics and keep the wound clean, you'll be fine. You're lucky somebody was there to wash it off and neutralise the reaction. I've seen battery acid burns down to the bone."

I nodded, not sure I could actually speak without throwing up. My whole side felt hot and bruised.

"Do you want to get down?"

I nodded again. The nurse helped me down, and gave me what was left of my clothes when I asked. The bra, cut through, was a total loss. The shirt - not much left of that, either. The nurse came up with a loose back T-shirt from lost and found and got me presentable, and the doctor came around to give me a quick once-over. From the brisk way they dispensed with me, a little sulphuric acid burn was barely worth working up a sweat about, at least in Mystic.

"How bad is it?" I asked Chase as he wheeled me through the halls to the exit. "I mean, is it, like, really gross?"

"Unbelievably gross," he said. "Horror movie gruesome."

"Oh god."

He relented. "It's not so bad. It's about the size of a quarter. Your teacher guy did a good job chopping up your clothes and getting it away from your skin. I know it hurt like hell, but it could have been a lot worse."