I Can't Breathe

Ch 9: Day Three

I wake up to a girl yelling outside my room. I glance at my clock, 4:17 am.

"HE'S FLATLINING! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP ME!" she screams. I look through the open  door and see a dozen nurses running towards the voice. I see a girl around my age being drug towards the outside my room struggling against the arms of a nurse, sobbing.

"P-p-please let m-m-me see him." she sobs.

"Sweety, they're trying to make him better, okay, there doin' everything." the nurse coos at her. I get up out of my bed and make my way, slowly towards the door.

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" I hear a doctor yell. The girl in the nurses arms stops struggling and collapses, sobbing harder than before. I walk out the door and to my surprise, the girl crying on the floor seriously resembles a broken Téa Montgomery.

"Téa?" I ask the girl. I kneel down and then sit on the floor beside her. "I've got her." I tell the nurse while Téa continues to sob. I embrace her and the nurse leaves.

"Téa." I say again, a bit louder this time so she can hear hear me through her sobs.

"Alex?" she says looking up at me. Her eyes glossy and puffed up. "Alex!" she cries, and gives me a squeeze.

"T-Té-Téa I-I can-t brea-breathe." I manage to get out and she immediately releases me.

"Sorry." she apologizes. 

"It's fine," I reply, "Let's go for a walk." 

"Okay," she says wiping her eyes. We stand up and head down the hall towards the coffee machine on the other side of the hospital.

"Are you okay?" I ask as we walk and I lug my oxygen drip behind me.

"No," she says

"Who was flatlining?" I ask hesitantly. Téa's eyes gloss up again and her lip quivers. She wipes away the tears running down her face.

"D-Drew. He started to have a panic attack in his sleep and he couldn't breathe and then we came here and then he, he, he stopped... living b-b-but then they got him back." she explains. Drew's her older brother. We stop and I pour two cups of coffee. I put a lid on both of them and we take a sip, I immediately regret it.

"I forgot how bad hospital coffee tastes." I laugh

"Yeah, I know right," Téa giggles in response. A nurse is making her way towards us. She stops beside us and grabs Téa's arm.

"Are you Ms. Montgomery?" she asks

"Yes," she replies

"Your brother, he's awake." the nurse tells her

"Can I excuse myself?" she asks turning to me.

"Yes, Go." I reply

"Thanks," she says already jogging down the hall. I dump the coffee and walk back to my room. I get back into my now freezing bed, pull the covers back up and realize, I still have homework. One of the downsides to being in the hospital all the time is that your teachers lose all pity and send you homework to do, I think to myself. I hop back out of bed and pull out my homework. 

                                                                                            ---

I finnish my last math paper and glance at the clock. It reads 7:15. Hanna should be here any minute to pick it up. I finally crall back into bed and hear my phone buzz. I roll over and grab it from the night table. I have a message from Ali, it reads: