Matters of the Heart

Chapter 15: That Old Feeling

Chapter 15:

That Old Feeling

Emily woke up around 5:30 the next morning. She rolled over on her side and stared out the window, trying to go back to sleep. After a while she gave up. She grabbed the laptop Caleb had left for her and started browsing the internet.

Her doctor came in to do his morning rounds at 7:00. After doing his exam he told her that his plan was to keep her for the day and then let her go home. He wanted her to continue the new medication regimen and keep doing the experimental treatment. Even after the sudden cardiac arrest, her heart didn't look any worse than it had days before it happened. He explained that she was at a higher risk of cardiac arrest because of her arrhythmia, but that didn't change the treatment plan. He was hopeful that once she finished her treatments that her heart would be strong enough for them to perform a new non-invasive procedure to repair some of the damage to her heart and implant a device that would help control her arrhythmia. He also said she'd be going home with a device she could wear like a watch that would monitor her heart rate and that she would need to come in for regular checkups.

When her doctor left she spent a little time playing around online, then she pulled up the security file folder and started looking for clues in the footage again. She scoured the files most of the early morning. She'd had no idea how serious Toby had been when he'd said that the security footage was going to take forever to get through. There were so many different cameras and they were trying to cover several hours worth of footage from each camera. It was one thing when they knew what they were looking for, like Caleb had been doing when he was trying to find the footage of Aria leaving the hotel. But trying to find someone doing something suspicious during some part of the night was a lot less precise.

Emily was hyper-focused on the file she'd saved of the weird shadow in front of the camera. Caleb had showed her how to zoom in and make the image more clear, so she was staring at a higher resolution of the shadowy pattern of some kind of fabric.

"Emily?" Elliott appeared in the doorway.

"Elliott!" She jumped, a little startled.

She discreetly closed the laptop and instinctively slid her arms over the top of the computer, as if Elliott could see what she was doing even though the screen was closed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," he said. "You definitely don't need any more surprises in your life for a while."

"I'd say I've hit my quota." Emily nodded in agreement.

"How are you feeling?" He gingerly walked into the room. He had a device that looked like an iPad in his hands.

"Better, thanks," Emily said. "Did Ali send you to check in on me?" she asked curiously.

"Uh, no, your doctor did." Elliott walked next to her bed. He saw the confusion on her face. "He didn't tell you?" He shuffled uncomfortably. "Right. Of course he didn't. The doctors love to leave the talking up to us," he muttered in annoyance. "I'm sure Alison mentioned that I'm covering for a friend of mine in the mental health department while he is out of town."

"Yeah," Emily said. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"Sometimes with near death experiences patients can suffer psychological aftershocks. The hospital prefers that before you're discharged you speak with someone from mental health services. I heard from the cardiologist this morning that they needed a consult before one of their patients was discharged. I didn't realize you were the patient he was referring to until I stopped by to pick up your records a few minutes ago."