Escapade

Chapter Ten: Richie's Roses

The world hazily came to view as I woke up. I moved my elbows up to prop me up from the armchair I was sleeping on. A thin blanket fell from my shoulders as I  looked around myself, instantly aware that I was not in Sophia's flower shop any more.

The smell of disinfectant filled my nose.  I was in a small room, sitting in a corner between two white walls. A small window beside me showed me that I was high up in a building in the middle of Miami, where all the skyscrapers can be seen. Besides the window, there was really nothing interesting in the room. It was pristinely clean and devoid of any personality whatsoever. Everything was white except for the floor, which was a weird green color. The fact that it was so clean and organized bothered me. A feeling close to claustrophobia started to creep up in me, and I had the urge to burst out of the room.

Some doctors were huddled in a circle with their backs to me, unaware that I was awake. All of them looked important and were using big words as they were talking. I tried to look around them at what they were staring at, but I couldn't see who was in the bed.

 "Knock knock."

 The doctors turned at once to stare at Gabriella as she walked in, her hips swaying in her tight skirt. Instantly they were all mesmerized as she loped her way towards me and pecked me in the cheek. "Morning, sleepy head."

"Oh, you're awake!" One of the doctors said, shaking his head as if waking from a dream. He walked over to me, a clipboard in his hand. "Good...good. We have some –ahem—questions we need to ask you."

I couldn't say a word before Gabriella interrupted. "I don't really think it's the right time to interrogate her right now. Don't you agree, doctor?" Her voice was low and sultry and she was looking at him from under her lashes.

"Well, uh, you see..." the doctor said, hesitant. A nurse behind him made an impatient 'tch' noise. It flustered the doctor even more, making him blush. "You see, Ms. Primero, I am interested in what kind of relationship a person like you would have with that woman."

"With an old lady? Who cares?" Gabriella said.

"I care!" the doctor cried, rifling through some papers in his clipboard. "Sophia has been in our care from a heart attack before. She was getting better, and suddenly she's back in my ward again with a Primero. What did the girl do to her?"

"You mean besides save her life?" Gabriella said, laying her hands on my shoulders protectively as she stood beside me.

"What are you guys talking about?" I said, shifting restlessly from my chair.  The need to leave was getting more urgent, and somehow I'd managed to land myself in another problem without even realizing it.

The nurse looked down on us through his glasses. "Obviously there must have been some mistake here," he said. "The girl clearly has no background knowledge on medicine at all. How would she know how to save anyone?"

"Uh, sure, I guess you're right then" Gabriella said. She motioned me over as she walked to the door. "Now if you'll excuse us—"

"Wait!"

Everyone paused, then turned to the source of the voice as she sat up from her bed, fixing us all with a stare. Now that the doctors had moved away from her, I could finally see who was lying on the bed. Sophia looked like she was a hundred years old, her long hair lying limply around her face. She was dressed in a hospital gown, and countless tubes were snaking around her arm. Her wrinkles and the dark circles under her eyes looked like they were weighing her down now more than ever.

"Sophia! Thank god, you're alive!" I said, running to her. She looked too weak to take a hug, so I grasped her hands and held them against mine, heaving a sigh of relief. She'd survived after all.