Notes

Chapter XVIII

HEATH

Music: Ending Da! from Parodius Da! Arcade

Sam signaled his hovercraft in to fly us home, since we deserved a nice little break. Obama thanked us once again as we stepped on, and we waved goodbye to D.C and flew off.

I must say- it was a relaxing 5-minute ride. I sat back, thinking about all we had accomplished in the past week. We saved the US from a Russian army, stopped a weapon from hitting the White House, and saved the President. What more could we do?

After making it home, we all stepped off, and Sam told us, "Alright, we did it, guys. Consider yourselves proud."

Jack then teleported with Ariana, Abbey, Isabelle, and Skylar, leaving the rest of us behind.

Music: Time Attack (Yoshi) from Super Mario Galaxy 2

Right then and there, Elle fell to the ground for no reason.

"ELLE!" Sam yelled, rushing to her. Sean, Shanna, Luke, and I were still there as well, and we joined him.

"I-It's okay... I'm fine..." Elle said not-so-convincingly. Sean and Luke helped her get her back on her feet, and right when we thought things were fine, she fell down and began coughing. It was right then Sam gasped. I followed his eyes to the ground and saw...

Blood.

"Get her water. NOW." Luke instructed. Sam produced a cup of water and held it to Elle's lips, and she drank it, barely maintaining consciousness.

"Sam... I don't feel so good..." she moaned.

"Elle, keep talking to us. We've gotta keep you awake," I instructed. I looked to Shanna and told her, "Get an ambulance pronto."

"I've got that covered," she responded, getting out her phone and dialing 9-1-1.

While Shanna was calling an ambulance, Elle faintly whispered, "G-guys... I should probably tell you why this has happened to me before, and why it's happening now."

LUKE

Elle began explaining, although she took deep breaths inbetween words every now and then. "M-my power... it has the ability to reach my own brain and start messing with me... usually it leads to fainting but it can... it can lead to me coughing out blood."

Then she closed her eyes, and ceased to talk. I quickly checked her pulse and then told the others, "She seems fine. We need to get her medical attention ASAP."

"The ambulance is coming," Shanna yelled to us, and we all breathed heavy sighs of relief.

About 15 minutes later, Elle was on a stretcher inside our local hospital, being taken to the ER. Sam, Sean, Shanna, Heath, and I were told to wait in the waiting room. It only took 2 minutes before Sam begged to a nearby hospital attendant.

"M'mam... she's my girlfriend, and I want to see her, to make sure she knows I'm there. Please, let me see her," he told her, beginning to choke up.

The attendant raised an eyebrow at him, as if to say, "You're crazy." Then she sighed, realizing he was serious, and told him, "Alright. You and your friends can go in now."

Sam ran through the doors to the ER area, and the rest of us were close behind.

---

Music: Gaia from Gradius IV

Once we finally caught up to Sam, he was in Elle's room, staring at her with a look of depression and pain on his face. She had wires and stuff stuck in all around her, and two nurses sat around her, monitoring her heart rate and everything.

"Is she going to be okay?" Sam said, practically squeaking.

"It's too soon to say. I'm sorry," a nurse replied, shaking her head.

Sam, obviously overcome with emotion (I can't blame him, this is his girlfriend we're talking about), left the room in tears. Sean, Shanna, and Heath followed him. I stayed behind, even when Elle's own parents came in to see her. The room was silent for a while, with only the sound of the heart monitor's beeping filling the silence.

Finally, my Rock of Doom senses told me that something was changing about her, so I stared down at her. And I noticed that her eyes began fluttering open...

SEAN

Music: Give My Heart to You from Nemesis 3 MSX

"SHE'S AWAKE!" we heard Luke's voice yell from afar.

"She's WHAT!?" Sam exclaimed, running back into the room. Shanna, Heath, and I once again had to follow him back.

Inside the room, Elle began to rise from her bed slowly, moaning from either pain, being tired, or both. She rubbed her temple and groaned, "What... what happened? Where am I?"

"You fainted, sweetheart, and your friends got you to the hospital just in time," her mom told her. She then looked at us and mouthed, "Thank you."

I couldn't help but smile, and the rest of us did the same.

After all the paperwork and crap required to release Elle from the hospital, we went back outside. Elle's mom asked, "Would you like for my husband and I to drive you all home?"

"Nope. I can handle it myself," Heath smirked. He began floating back to his house. Luke just disappeared by ways unknown, which left Shanna, Sam, and I. We all took up the offer.

Sam was dropped off first, followed by Shanna and I. Before we left, Elle grabbed us by the shoulders and told us, "Thank you for getting me to the hospital, guys. I don't know how I can thank you enough."

"It was nothing," I told her. Elle flashed us a smile, and then the car doors shut and she was off. I looked at Shanna, fake-sighed, and said, "Well, that was fun, wasn't it?"

She gave me a "are you serious" type of look. "Let's just say I really hope the rest of this day goes normally," she told me. Neither of us said anything else as we walked back inside our house.