Thunder

Chapter 2

"Good news!" Dr. Carson says, coming into my hospital room. He, my mom, and I are the only ones in the room. "Kyleigh is cleared to go home today!"

"Really?" I say, surprised. It's Saturday morning; I haven't even been conscious for 24 hours yet. Something about this seems odd to me.

My mom gives me a hug. "That's amazing news!"

"Yeah," I agree with her.

Dr. Fields walks into the room and speaks to my mom. "There's a few things you need to fill out at the front desk, Mrs. Everson," he says.

"Oh, alright," she replies. Dr. Fields leads her out of the room.

I wait in awkward silence with Dr. Carson until my mom returns.

"The paperwork is all filled out, and you should be released any minute now," Mom tells me.

"Great!" I say happily.

About thirty minutes later I'm cleared to leave. My mom leads the way, but before I can follow her through the door, Dr. Carson grabs my arm to stop me. Surprised, I look at him.

"Kyleigh," he says, "be careful."

Confused, I reply in a slightly questioning tone, "Okay."

He releases his grip on my arm and pushes open the door that has closed since the time my mom walked out. I exit the room and follow my mom out of the hospital and into her silver van.

The twenty minute car ride gives me time to think about the strange way Dr. Carson was acting during my stay in the hospital. Yesterday he was hiding some sort of information, and today he told me to 'be careful'. Does he know something that he isn't telling me or even my parents? Maybe he told my parents something, and they decided not to tell me.

Why would my parents keep something the doctor said a secret from me?

My mind races through possible reasons and the worst case scenario pops into my mind.

Am I dying?

No, I'm overthinking now.

Don't be paranoid, Kyleigh.

We reach the street that our house is located on and pass the white house that neighbors our own. There used to be a 'For Sale' sign in the lawn, but it has been taken down. I guess someone has finally bought the house.

The car pulls into the driveway and I get out, eager to be back home again. I walk through the front door of the dark green two story building, and I'm greeted with the smell and sounds of meat cooking on the stove. Making my way to the kitchen I find my dad standing by the stove, cooking hamburgers.

"Oh, yum!" I exclaim. "When will they be ready?"

Dad laughs. "You just got back home after a week in the hospital and the first thing you worry about is food?"

I smile. "Dad, I'm a hungry 16-year-old girl. Of course the first thing I'm going to worry about is food."

He shakes his head, smiling. "Lunch will be ready in a couple minutes."

"Okay," I say, hugging my father. I go down the hallway and enter my small and messy bedroom. On my bed, a long haired, black and white cat sits on a math assignment that was supposed to be turned in on Monday. The cat meows at me when I sit on the bed.

"Did you miss me, Lily?" I say as I pet her silky soft fur. Lily replies by purring.

I find my cellphone plugged into the charger beside my bed and pick it up to discover that I have several new messages. Many of them are from my friends asking me why I wasn't at school. The messages were received on Monday, when, I assume, no one had a clue what happened to me. One message received on Wednesday from my friend, Angela, reads: