Picture Perfect: A CaptainSparklez Story {COMPLETE}

Chapter 19: Favors and Family

That was the first peaceful sleep I'd had in over two years.

Usually the darkness would cause me to snap, to break like a twig, to lose my sanity, to cower in the corners of my mind. The darkness would choke me, crush my windpipe to keep me from screaming. It hated my screams, it hated my cries. It had no sympathy for me.

It despised me and laughed at my pitiful pleas.

But the darkness that encompassed me while I slept was a calming, soothing kind of darkness. It protected me, kept me safe. It didn't choke me or crush my heart. It hugged me, wrapping me in its comforting arms, rocking me like a little child.

Little child...

Emma!

Where was Emma? Was she okay? Did I save Robin and Patrick? What about Jordan and Ruby and Mark? Were they with me? Were they okay?

My eyelids were heavy so I couldn't open them. My entire body felt numb and heavy to where it was impossible to move. I felt something clinging to the area around my mouth and nose and my first thought was a breathing mask. I heard voices talking in low, urgent whispers.

"Is Ms. Carrie sick?" asked the voice of a child. "Is she gonna be asleep forever?"

Emma, thank God.

"No, sweetie," said the soothing voice of a woman, possibly her mother. "She's gonna be just fine. She saved our lives. She has to be okay."

Robin?  She's alive!  So I did save her.

"She will be," said the soft voice of a man. There was a catch near the end of his sentence. He sounded like he'd been crying. I felt a pair of fingers curl around my wrist.

Jordan!  Jordan, I'm okay!  I'm here!  My throat...it hurts.  I can't speak.

"What exactly happened there?" a new male voice asked. "Was it a bomb?"

Good, Mark was still here to comfort Ruby.  Wait, I haven't heard Ruby's voice yet.  Ruby!

"No," said another man with an authorative tone, "it was an accident in the chemical lab. Chemical fire set the lab ablaze, causing a chain reaction of exploding chemicals."

That has to be Patrick.

"All those people that died," whispered Robin's voice, "and we could've been two of them."

"Hmm...uh..." I groaned softly, struggling to speak.

"Carrie?" cried a female voice in worry. "Carrie, can you hear me? Talk to me!"

Ah, there's my worried big sister!

I felt my fingers twitch slightly. They felt as if I was wearing five heavy rings on each finger and they were weighing me down. They felt compressed, as if something was keeping me from opening my hand.

"Carrie, please be okay!" Mark whispered. "Please! You can't leave us again!"

"Ugh...uh...Jo...r...dan," I mumbled.

The grip on my hand tightened. "What? Carrie, did you say something? Say it again!"

My lips struggled to form words. My throat still burned and felt laced with massive internal blisters. "Jo...r...dan. Jor...dan."

"I'm right here, baby!" he said happily. "I'm here! I'm here!" I felt his lips press lightly against my forehead.

The gloriously bright light was blinding as my eyes slowly opened, encasing my vision in a blanket of white. As my vision slowly refocused I noticed the teal green fabric above my head, realizing I was inside one of the medical tents. I had been stripped clean of my burned and soot covered clothes and was wearing a thin blue patient dress. The brace around my hand has been replaced and my fingers were wrapped together in a white bandage. Along my upper arm was a small fleshy colored bandage covering the place where I had fallen on the broken glass inside the hospital. There was a tube in my arm, hooking me up to an IV. The faint beep of the heart monitor was slow and steady paced.