The Skylar Experiment : The "X" in Apex

Chapter Forty-Three - The Fine Print

--another longer chapter--

I'll never get tired of sunset colors, and especially tonight's oranges. So many of them. Fiery orange, peach orange, copper orange, saffron orange, lily orange... all blending together across the sky. For the last time, I sit here, listing in my head the variety of oranges and their related objects. Usually, in the privacy of my little ritual, I feel close to a monk's peace. Straddled on my board, needing nothing more than this sky and this calm sea. But this is my last ritual from home. I can almost hear Mom calling me back to the house, though her voice would never carry past the shore. It's late already. I should be in bed, so we can catch her plane and Dad. The beautiful colors, you will have seen the whole show if you wait for dark. I'm not supposed to but witnessing the end of something perfect might give me some courage. I lay down and leave my knees dipped in the water. My hand instantly lowers to my stomach, expecting to double over from sharp pain. I'm suddenly wondering how is it that I can breathe. I sit upright again and look in the direction of my house. Mom's not there. She can't be. The distant beach seems cold all of a suddden. I'm looking at it, and yet it's so empty. All the regular joggers and humdrum vacationers the size of an ant are gone. I am completely alone on the surface, and somehow I know that if I step one foot in the sand, whatever chased the people away will find me. Someone is waiting for me, but it isn't Mom. 

Amelia's features floated in my mind.

Nothing else registered at first. For a while, the world was mere colors. My mouth was pasty. The position was comfortable. I didn't want to leave the fog but it was evaporating bit by bit.

This was indeed a bed. I lied on my side under a blanket. Sunlight crept in through blinds. The pale blue room was quite empty, with no specific decoration. Just a nightstand near my head and a dark brown dresser in the back.

My breath escaped me.

"Oh, are you awake?"

I shifted and inadvertently tugged something under my forearm. Still, I saw her face burned in my eyelids and didn't know where the hell I was. The covers flew off to reveal an... an IV line. Plastic stuck on the skin of my chest and I realized nobody had removed Ethan's sweater off of me.

I peeped in. Some white patches all over were tied to a small electric device.

"Hey."

I pushed against the headboard, knocking down some dense packs that had been around my body. Ethan was sitting on a chair by the other side of the bed. So many things I needed to know. Where was I? What hour was it? Where was Luc? Who did the IV line if I wasn't in a medical building?

"You're in a guest room," he said, guessing that one. "You can take it easy, no one is looking for you, and it would be best to rest. I'm glad to see you can move around."

I pointed at the IV. "Did you do this?"

He hadn't seemed to notice until then. "That? No, my mom did it, she's a doctor. We keep some basic stock in the house just in case... when the hospital isn't a great option for us. How do you feel?"

"I..."

The door opened, and this silvery blonde, long-legged woman strode in. Her hair was tied in a loose bun, and she wore bunny slippers beneath a flowery robe. "Hello! I thought I heard some bumping and talking. Riley, good to see you're holding yourself up after that ordeal. I'm Heather."

She didn't offer her hand. Instead, she stopped behind her son and gripped his shoulder.

"How... did we get here?"