Chasing Cars

Chapter Thirty Two

     I looked around. My eyelids drooped, and I was more tired than I'd ever been. I remembered nothing from when I was under the medication. In fact, I don't think I dreamed at all. "You're awake!" The voice that spoke to me was ecstatic. At first, I was completely confused about where I was and why I was there. But then it all came back to me. I survived the surgery that was supposed to be the death of me. The same one that has only ever failed in the past. I was the one person out of fifty who actually got to wake up.

"You're alive!" Evan exclaimed from the back corner of the room. His voice held relief and he hurried over to stand next to me. "I'm alive," I answered with a light laugh, but doing so sent a wave of pain through me. When he bent down to give me a hug, I attempted to raise my arms to hug him back, but I felt too weak. I didn't even really want to anyway, for whatever reason, the thought of hugging people at the moment bothered me. I lay there tensely until my friend ended the hug.

The doctor entered the room and grinned from ear to ear when he saw that I was awake. "How are you feeling, Karev?" he asked, lifting his clipboard and sitting in a stood next to my bed. "I'm okay, a little tired. Did everything work right?" I asked nervously, searching his gaze for any sign of sadness. "Yes, everything went very well. While you were under, we discovered something that we'd missed in all of our other patients, and without that, I'm sure you would have passed away, too. You're extremely lucky," he answered. Breathing a sigh of relief, I closed my eyes. "I'll be able to walk again."

"Yes, you will! And because the surgery requires minimal cuts, we'll be able to get you started on that as soon you're ready to try! The sooner you do, however, it'll hurt, but if you try it out sooner, the pain shouldn't last too long," the doctor explained, writing something on his clipboard that I couldn't see. I nodded, thinking about what I'd been told. Nobody had told me I'd be able to walk whenever I wanted to try. This was news to me, and amazing news too. Everyone in the room smiled at me, some with tears in their eyes. Only one person didn't. Cam was leaning against the wall, his hand under his chin, looking like he was deep in thought.

When he saw me looking at him, he smiled and stood up straight. "Hey, Kay!" He said, flashing a glance at Evan, who shook his head lightly, as if he didn't want me to see the gesture. "I know you just woke up and you want to talk to everyone, but could you try moving your feet for me?" Dr. Reynolds asked politely. I nodded and gulped, unsure if it would work or not. I'd just gotten a surgery for it to work, but I was still unbelievably nervous about it.

"Okay, I've got this," I laughed nervously, carefully dragging myself into a leaning position so I could see my feet through the thin blanket. Taking a deep breath, I tried moving them slightly. Both feet shifted, just barely, to the left. It wasn't much, but it was more movement than the day before! "It works!" I exclaimed, not surprised when I realized I was in tears.

Everyone in the room cheered, and Krystine's parents were crying as well. Dr. Reynolds grinned. "That's a great sign. We weren't expecting movement for at least an hour after you woke up, but it appears they're working just fine. Congratulations, Karev," he said before getting up and leaving me alone with my friends in the room. "Where's Krys?" I asked when he'd gone. Evan shot Cam a look, and Cam raised his arms in a surrendering motion before turning to face me. "She's taking care of something, she'll be back as soon as she can get here," he explained, looking at Evan more than he was looking at me.

"Oh, okay," I answered with a shrug. I didn't bother asking about Andrew's whereabouts, I'd just guessed he'd grown tired and went back to his room. His injuries were still not anywhere close to being healed. "Are you gonna want to try walking?" Evan asked, sitting on the end of my bed and waggling his eyebrows. "Hopefully!" I exclaimed. "I'm kind of nervous though."