~Chapter 6: Dressed In Red~
I woke up to the sound of a steady beeping filling the air around me. As I struggled to sit up, I realized my headache was gone but my entire body was sore, from the neck down. I rested on a comfortable white bed with a thin white sheet covering me. I gazed at my arms and frowned, noticing that the darkness spread a few inches higher. My attention slowly moved towards the IV that extended from my left arm to the metal stand to my left, dripping a clear liquid at a steady pace. A hospital?
"You're awake!" A feminine voice shouted across the small room. I looked over and noticed Ami sitting slouched on a small black sofa before me, holding her vampire romance novel in her delicate hands. Her tired eyes bagged and her dirty blonde hair a mess.
"What happened?" I asked, taking a glimpse of my surroundings. Four white walls and a white tile floor made up the small room around me. A large flat screen television hung from the rugged ceiling over the sofa from a metal bar as two rabbit ear antenna sat above it. To the right of me, was another bed with Chris laying fast asleep. He too had an IV in his arm.
"You passed out on the bus. You've been out for about... maybe four hours," she responded, sitting up and tossing her novel to the side. "Like Chris, you wouldn't wake up so Rodriguez brought you guys here."
"Where are we?" I questioned, still uncertain of where we were.
"Ashville hospital. Only about 20 minutes away from where we went camping." Ami got to her feet and walked over, plopping onto the bed, next to my sore legs. "The rest of the class went back to the school. I had to practically beg Rodriguez to let me stay."
"And he let you?" I asked, looking into Ami's wild green eyes.
"I'm here aren't I?" She laughed, looking at the darkness on my naked arms. "Of course he had to call my dad and ask if it was okay."
"Is Chris ok?" I looked over at his unconscious body. The darkness had spread midway between his elbows and shoulders."
"Yeah. He was up eariler but he was so tired that he went to sleep." Ami's focus trailed back to me. "You look pale. You should eat something."
Ami gestured towards a thin metal tray that rested on a metal cart at the foot of the bed. Passing me the tray, I glanced at the different foods that occupied it. A large plastic containter with a clear foggy lid sat in the center with two small boxes of apple juice to the side. A chocolate pudding cup occupied the other side with two small plastic pouches that contained a plastic fork, spoon, and knife accompanying it.
As my mouth began to water, I quickly undid the plastic lid and revealed a bowl of my favorite food, spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. Ami watched as my face lit up, slightly grinning.
Timelessly, I tore a fork from one of the plastic pouches and started twirling the spaghetti around the fork. I then impaled a meatball before shoving the whole thing down my throat, chewing slowly as spaghetti sauce dripped down the corner of my mouth. I took a napkin from under the bowl and whiped my face.
"You're looking a bit fat there, chubbs." Ami jested, reaching over to grab a fork from the other plastic pouch. "Let me just help you out with that,"
"It's ok," I admitted. "We all know you need to watch your diamond figure,"
"Hourglass," she defended, stabbing a meatball with her fork. Quickly I pick up mine and I tried to release it from her grasp. We both laughed as our forks wrestled on the small tray.
After seconds of the battle of the forks, I finally let Ami have a share of the warm food. She couldn't help but laugh as the food reached her pink lips. As hungry as I was, I was haste to eat the remaining spaghetti along with Ami, who took small, lethargic bites.
