Unbroken

Days are Numbered

(ASHLEY’S POV)

Carter’s awake! She is okay! Is all that goes through my mind.  Ashley is still pulled over as Carter starts crying.  Then she just sort of collapsed.  What the hell?  Was she okay?  I grabbed her.

“Ashley,” I say, tears filling my eyes.

“On it,” He said, heading to the hospital.  We pull in and I scoop Carter up and carry her, bridal style, to the entrance.

“Help! My girlfriend just collapsed in the car!” I say frantically.  The lady at the counter said some things to me, but I wasn’t listening.  I let Ashley and Meri take over for me as I sat, holding Carter and stroking her.

***

(CARTER’S POV)

What’s happening?  Where are we going? Why is someone carrying me? Why is someone crying? Why can’t I move, God Dammit.

“Ms.  Black?” someone asks.  I try to say yes.  I feel myself being carried, again.

“And you are?” the same voice asks.

“Ashley Paws, her boyfriend,” I hear Ash say, his voice quivering.  He was the one who was crying!

“I’m Meri Kastrol,” I hear my best friend whisper, she was crying, too!

“And you, sir?” The mysterious voice asks.

“I’m Ashley Purdy, sir,” Ashley says, his voice soft but not broken like Ash’s and Meri’s were.

“Okay,” the voice said.  I felt us moving again.  “Lay her down here,” the voice says.  I am set down on something squishy, a bed, I hope.

***

(ASHLEY’S POV)

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

What happened?

I was so worried I couldn’t think strait. Meri and Ashley stood in the corner, Ashley trying to soothe Meri, who had her head buried in his shoulder, and him, blankly staring at Carter.

The doctor looked her over and took some tests.

The rest of the guys and girls came in and just stopped and stared at Carter.  Sammi started bawling and Juliet just sort of glanced over.  What a bitch. 

“Do sleeping disorders run in her family?”  The doctor asked me.

“Her dad and her both had insomnia,” I reply.

“Is her dad sure that it was insomnia he had?”

“I don’t know! He is dead!” I shout.  Everyone gasped and looked at me.

“Oh, well, sorry,” the doctor said.

I started to cry, again.

“It looks like she may have narcolepsy, not insomnia,” the doctor started.  “After I get the tests back I will know for sure.  She is shoeing the signs of cataplexy and sleep paralysis. The tests should be back with results tomorrow.  We should probably keep her overnight, though.  The nurse is going to give her something to help her sleep through the night without disruption.  You and your friends may stay if they wish.” The doctor said, but I didn’t understand a word he said.  Thankfully, one of the guys looked up each thing he said on their phone.

“Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that causes excessive sleepiness and frequent daytime sleep attacks.  Most commonly confused with insomnia”

It said.  Then another phone was shoved in my face.

“Cataplexy is a sudden and transient episode of muscle weakness accompanied by full conscious awareness, typically triggered by emotions such as laughing, crying, terror, etc. It is the cardinal symptom of narcolepsy with cataplexy, affecting roughly 70% of people who have narcolepsy”