Catch Me

Chapter 6

I run through the club, pushing people out of my way. My thoughts are only about my sister. Isabella usually doesn't cry and beggs for my appereance, so I know something horrible must have happend to her.

"Bella!", I shout as soon as I am outside.
"Liv!" Thank God, there she is. I sprint to the corner, where she is sitting on the bare street. When I reach her, I am shocked. Her hair is a mess and the mascara is smudged by the tears running down her face. I sit down next to her and put my arms around her. She immediantly clutches on to me and cries into my shoulder. Holding her as tight as I can, I stroke her hair and wisper calming words into her ears. After some time, Isabella calms down and her muscels relax around me. I take her face into both of my hands to make her look at me.
"What happend?", I quietly ask, trying to sound as calm as I can in this situation. Tears begin to stream down her face gain and she refuses to look me in the eye. I wait because I know she needs time. She leans into my embrace and I wrap my arms around her again. Without looking at me, she begins to talk.

"I was talking to Adam and one of his friends. He was cute so I started flirting with him after Adam had to take care of someone, who blacked out at the dancefloor. So we got closer and when he asked if I wanted to grab a drink, I said yes. He was nice and told me how good I looked tonight. I liked the attention he was giving me and without thinking I just drank what he gave me." She stopps talking and I swallow hard.
"He began to get very touchy and for a while that was okay with me. But than he tried to get his hands into my pants and when I stopped him, he got really angry with me and tried to pull me to the door. Only than I felt, that something was off. I couldn't think straight and wasn't able to walk properly. So I got scared and tried to free my arm from his grip. But he was to strong. Or I was to weak - I don't know. When we were outside, I really started to panic and yelled at him. Or better I tried.  I was so, so tired and didn't have any strength for being... loud. While doing so, he yelled at me and said, I would owe it to him. That I should behave or I would regret it.
Nobody even bothered to help me. There were some people on the street and what did they do?",she sobbs and with every word of her, I get more and more upet. 

"When he pushed me into the car, he forgot to lock the door, so when he got into the car himself, I somehow was able to open the door again and to stumble into the club again. I reached the restroom and the last thing I remember is locking the door of my stall. I must have passed out because I can't remember anything after that, only waking up becaus I was feeling nauseous and throwing up. I wanted to find you but you weren't with your friends anymore so I thought behind the door was another room, where you might have been with Ryan. But instead I landed here and called you."

"I'm so sorry Bella. I should have looked out for you." She looks up at me and her big blue eyes pierce into mine.
"It's not your fault. I was just dumb and shouldn't have flirted with him", she quietly says.
"NO!!!", I say angry.
"Bella this is NOT your fault. Do you understand? Look at me. I need you to understand that. None of this is your fault. Even if you flirted with him, he didn't have the right to touch you okay? And he defently can't drug you. He commited a crime. And he has to pay for that. No one drugs my sister without consecquences." I sit up straight and pull my phone out of my purse.
"I'm calling a cab and then we are going to get you checked up." 

I try to controll my anger while we are waiting for the cab to come. Isabella fell asleep in my arms soon after I finished the phone call. She is exhausted and something else is horribly off. My heart breaks seeing her like that. Our roles are switched tonight. Normaly she is the strong and independend twin, while I simply follow and let her take care of everything. But not tonight. 

When a cab stops in front of us, I basically have to carry her into it because she is too weak to walk or even stand on her own. I tell the driver to bring us to the next hospital and while he is driving, I text my friends, that Isabella and I already got home. Eventhough they aren't close with her, I know that they care about her because I do. So I don't want them to worry and send another message to them, saying I would explain on Monday at school. And I call Dad, explaining the circumstances. He promises they would come to the hospital as soon as they can. Than we sit in the cab in silence and I just know that Isabella is in a very bad condition. Her breath isn't steady and her lips are already turning blue. Feeling helpless and terrefied to loose my sister, I yell at the driver to drive faster.

We reach the hospital and I pay the driver and half- carry my sister into the ER. Arriving there, a nurse rapidly comes with a wheelchair and takes Isabella into a room after I told her that she was drugged at a party and can't breath now. Because I am not allowed to stay with her in that room I watch through a window how a doctor and three nurses quickly connect her to monitores and examine her body. Isabella just lays there, not making a move. She looks so fragile and I am the most scared I have ever been in my life. My eyes start to water. I can't loose her. One of the nurses sees me staring through the window and closes the window shade so I can't see what is going on. 

Suddenly I feel very weak and nearly collapse on the floor. But strong arms catch me right before I hit the Floor. I immediantly remember these arms. A small voice inside of my head wonders why she is here but the rest of me is jut glad she is and I snuggle into her arms that are still wrapped around my waist to keep me up. I don't want to talk, only want to sink into the girls arms and and forget about the horror of the last few minutes. She seems to understand, just holds me and whispers words of comfort into my ear while she strokes my hair and back. And all of a sudden, I feel like everything is gonna be okay again.

I don't know how long we have been standing this way but after some time, that felt like a year and a second at once, I feel ready to face reality again. Reluctantly I shift out of her embrace and look at her. I was right. She is only a little taller than me and I don't know why I have to think about her height now but all my thoughts suddenly leave my brain when I look into her eyes. The golden sprinkles in her eyes are just so captivating and destract me from everything else. She smiles at me. Not the way like she did at the club, this time the playfulnis isn't there and her expression is soft and calm. But I can see a bit of a worry in it. "She worrys about me", crosses my mind.
"How are you feeling?" Her voice is ripping me out of my staring. This voice is turning my legs into jello again.
"Okay... I guess. Thanks to you again." I shyly say and feel my cheeks getting warm. When I look at her again, a little smile is on her lips but she is looking over my right shoulder.
"I guess your parents are here. You should properbly go." I turn around and see my Mom talking insistenly to a nurse behind the main desk of the ER. I hesitate and her arm around my waist tightens. She kisses my head and with that, the misterious girl is gone once again. But I can still feel the ghost of her arms around me, which makes me feel a little stronger.

"Dad! Mom!"
"Oh honey. Are you okay, what happend?", Mom comes running at me, her heels klicking on the white floor. The sound makes me realize, that I'm not wearing any shoes. I kicked them of in the process of carrying Isabella into the hospital. Mom embraces me and steps one step back again, still touching my shoulders with her hands. She lets her gaze shift over my whole body.
"Are you hurt? Olivia please, you have to talk to me", she beggs and her blank despair reinforces my own. My eyes are watering up and Dad puts one arm around my shoulders. He suddenly looks about ten years older.
"Olivia, lets sit down and you tell us what happend okay?" I nod my head. We are sitting in front of the room Isabella is still in and I tell them everything Bella told me earlier. Tears are streaming down Moms face and Dad looks like he is about to kill someone. They don't say a word. And my thoughts wander from my sister to the misterious girl. And I realize, I don't even know her name.

"I am going to inform the police", is the only thing Dad says, before standing up, looking furious.
"Henry, wait." The door to the room opens and a tired looking doctor walks out. We all storm to him instantly.

"Mr. McKinny, Misses McKinney?" He asks my parent and looks at me irritated for a second.
"Yes, how is Isabella?", Mom asks before anyone else can say something.
"I am Dr. Jerald, your daughters docter. Isabella came here being very weak, nearly unconcious. At first we thought it was because she was drugged, as your other daughter told us. But her condition got seriously worse in a small amount of time. We had to inturbate her, because she couldn't breath on her own anymore. Her condition is still very poor and we have to hope that she will survive the night." Horror was written all over my parents face. They seemed to be unable to process the things the docter just told us, so I took their place.
"What does that mean? Is she going to be okay?", I try to sound strong. No emotion.
"Unfortunaly Isabella seemes to be allergic to the given substance. Her body isn't able to deminish it like it should and simpy stopped working. Machines are keeping her alive right now. All we can really do now, is to wait. We are giving her medication so she doesn't feel any pain and an infusion through her artery, that is antiallergenic,  should help her recover. But the main part, her body has to do alone. We just have to wait." I swallow hard.

"Can we see her?"