Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 67

*
Oana's POV.
*
I woke up with a start when David shut my bedroom door behind him, groggily walking out of my room. When he saw my face, his eyes widened and he hurried over to the couch.
"What's wrong?" David knelt beside the couch, suddenly looking much more awake. He pressed his hand against my head and I cringed. His palm was freezing. "Oana, you're-"
"I know, I'm taking her to the clinic." Soma came out of her room, dressed and with a pair of slippers in her hand. She stopped midway to the couch when a knock sounded at the front door. Soma tossed David the slippers and hurried over to the door, muttering something about timing.
I felt a flash of heat when David slipped the slippers on my feet, and I groaned, reaching down to take them off. It was too hot, my entire body felt too cold and too hot all at once. It was hard to breathe.
"Oana, you need shoes." David shook his head, pulling my hand away and setting it in my lap.
I huffed out a breath and looked at David. "Don't talk to me like that..." I rolled my eyes, swallowing and closing my eyes when my vision blurred. In the distance, I heard Soma discussing the rent with our landlord Jenna at the front door. I hadn't paid the bill yet. My stomach tightened again.
The more I felt sick, the more willing I was to go to the clinic. I hated hospitals of any sort, but I felt horrible. Everything around me felt distant, and I was doing everything I could to keep myself from vomiting.
Eventually, Soma finished her conversation with Jenna, and came back to the couch to give David some instructions. Soma was going down to the parking lot to bring the car around to the door, and David was going to help me down the stairs.
Standing wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but my head still pounded like I was banging it against a metal door, and my chest kept constricting at random. Slowly, I shuffled across the room and out the door of my apartment, leaning on David's shoulder as he guided me into the hallway. I was able to descend the first flight of stairs without much help, but on the second set, I had to put most of my weight on David. He held me tightly, with one arm wrapped around my ribcage and the other arm grasping the railing to help him keep us both balanced. By the time we reached the last flight, David was practically carrying me. Climbing down the stairs had taken more energy than I thought I'd had before, so at the bottom of the stairs I paused for a breath. I leaned against the wall beside me, dizzy and nauseous.
I could hear Soma saying something in passing to our landlord at the top of the stairs, and for a split second, Jenna's voice sounded like Sara.
David rubbed my back gently, patiently waiting for me to recover, but when I didn't straighten he leaned down to see my face. "You alright?"
I started to nod, but couldn't finish the action. My stomach lurched and I started to vomit. I coughed, grabbing my stomach in pain, and blinking against the tears that clouded my vision. I heard David somewhere behind me, murmuring words of encouragement, until I finished throwing up, then I felt him scoop me up into his arms and carry me out into the parking lot.
The fresh air helped soothe my burning throat, and my chest's aching started to fade, but I still felt like a weight was crushing my middle.
As David settled me in the front seat of my car, I realized that no one had cleaned up my mess at the bottom of the stairs.
"David, we can't leave-" I shook my head, before he closed the door.
"Soma's going to stay and clean it up, don't worry." He cut me off, already pulling out of the parking lot. I closed my eyes and bit my tongue. I didn't have the energy to argue with him.
*
I woke up the next time to David shaking me gently.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" He gave me a tight smile as he pulled his hand away from my shoulder.
I blinked and frowned, grimacing when I heard my stomach growl in complaint of hunger. "Like I'm about to throw up." I groaned, closing my eyes again.
David chuckled. "You worried me there for a bit..." He trailed off, and I peeled my eyes open again.
I vaguely remembered checking in to the emergency room and being taken back to an exam room to be looked at by a nurse, but I wasn't entirely sure what else had happened.
"What's wrong with me?" My eyes wandered quickly around the small hospital room, pausing on the heart monitor, before returning to David.
His expression faltered. "They have no idea." David sighed, running a hand over his head. "On all the tests they ran you're completely fine." He continued when he saw my expression. "But they think it might have something to do with extreme stress."
I scoffed. "Stress doesn't make someone pass out."
David frowned. "You didn't pass out. The nurse gave you a sedative."
For what?
I opened my mouth to ask David why the heck he'd let a nurse give me a sedative, but he answered my question before I even spoke.
"You had all of the symptoms for a panic attack, and when the nurse tried to check your pulse you freaked."
I frowned. "Why don't I remember?"
"Side effects of the sedative." He smirked. I could tell he was relieved to be talking to me.
"So, you're telling me I've been hospitalized for stress?" I reached up to rub my temple.
David shrugged and nodded. "More or less..."
"That's ridiculous." I muttered.
"I agree." He was smirking again. I couldn't find the energy to chuck a hospital pillow at him, but I really wanted to.
"You might also have a stomach bug from something you ate last night." David added, and I groaned.
I thought back to this morning. I'd felt fine when I woke up, a little sore and stressed, yes, but not as horrible as I'd felt on the couch shortly after. Is that how panic attacks worked?
I grimaced. "When can I leave?"
"In a few hours. They want to keep you for observation." David walked across the room and sat down on the couch underneath the room's only window. I closed my eyes and focused on how my body was feeling.
Exhausted. Tight. Sore. Stressed...
I opened my eyes quickly, shifting into a sitting position. If I was just here because I was stressed then I needed a vacation not a hospital.
David looked at me quizzically. "What are you thinking?" He sat forward, resting his forarms on his knees and clasping his hands loosely together in front of him.
I didn't bother lying. I'd done enough of that. "I'm leaving. I need a vacation not a hospital." I threw my legs over the side of the hospital bed, glancing down at the paper gown I was wearing.
David groaned and covered his face. "Oana!"
I pursed my lips and grabbed the blanket off my bed, wrapping it around me at my chest. "Get over youself. I'm decent." I muttered, sliding to the floor. David glanced up cautiously, before he shook his head and stood.
"You're impossible."
I shot him a look. He held up his hands in surrender.
Apparently, the hospital wasn't allowed to keep me against my will, so David and I found my clothes and after I'd changed we left. Before we went home, we stopped and grabbed ice cream at the store.
I texted Soma to see what flavor she wanted (after answering her fifty texts about me being alright) but she said she'd gone to work. That meant she'd gone to a park to paint. As far as I knew, she still didn't have a real job.
"Is it really necessary to buy three gallons of ice cream?" David frowned as I set the cartons on the self-checkout table.
I flipped open my wallet and pulled out my card. "Don't stress me out by asking questions." I flashed David a smile when he scoffed.
We checked out at the store, and ten minutes later we were rounding the turn into the apartment complex parking lot.
"What the..." David trailed off, and I lifted my eyes from my phone screen. My stomach dropped when I saw the five police cars parked in front of the building.