Sunflowers

-•- Fourteen -•-

"The family of Faith Kiefer?"

Her father is the first one to respond. "Yes, I'm her father. How is she?"

"She is resting for the time-being," the doctor says. "She was very sick when she came in. She has pneumonia, which triggered an asthma attack."

"Is she okay now?" Corbin asks, worries for his best friend.

The doctor smiles at him. "Yes, she is. She is getting lots of medicine and she should be better in a few weeks. She should be good to go home in a few days too. For the meantime, we want to keep an eye on her to make sure her asthma doesn't flare up again." He pauses and studies him for a moment. "You must be Corbin," he says, smiling gently. "She told me that you brought her in."

"I did," Corbin says, his heart warmed slightly by the fact that she mentioned him.

"A good thing you did, young man. Her asthma was severe when she got here. She was past the point of a rescue inhaler."

He sees her mother blanch and her father put a comforting hand on her back, rubbing it in circles. "Yes, she called me and I knew right away something was wrong. I'm glad I got her here in time. Did she tell you that she had a seizure on the way here?"

The doctor shakes his head. "She did?"

"Yes. We were a few minutes away when it happened. It wasn't long, a minute at most, but I thought you should know."

The doctor nods. "Thank you for telling me. We can run some tests, but it was probably from her asthma. Every once in a while, during an especially severe asthma attack, seizures can be triggered by a lack of oxygen. I doubt it's a regular thing or even something that would happen again, but it can happen occasionally."

"Thank you," Corbin says. "Is there any way we can see her?"

The doctor hesitates. "I'll check on her, and if she's feeling up to it, you can go back one or two at a time." He turns and walks back into the medical wing and Corbin falls backwards into a chair, suddenly tired.

About ten minutes later, the doctor returns. "She is awake and feeling very much up to seeing you all. She asked for Corbin first."

Her parents look defeated for a second, but motion for him to go. He hauls himself to his feet, excited to see her but worried about how sick she still is. He doesn't know if he can see her so sick. It makes him feel so terrible, and there's nothing he can do to help.

He follows the doctor down the hallways until the reach a room marked two-seventeen. He opens the door for him and the boy steps inside, his heart beating erratically. Machines beep in the quiet of the room and he steps around the corner so he can see her.

She looks up and sees him, a smile instantly taking over her lips. She's still pale and the bags under her eyes are still a dark shade of purple, but he still thinks she's beautiful. He walks over beside the bed as if he's in a trance, snapping out of it only when she takes his hand. "Hi," she greets him.

The simple greeting has him spinning. Oh God, the words are on the tip of his tongue. He can't blurt them out now, though. They aren't even dating, how can he say it? And what if he were to lose her? He can't admit to that only for her to be gone. Instead, he smiles weakly, the three words on the tip of his tongue, but he swallows them. "Hey."