Jenalyn: Crossing Lines (#4) [Complete]

Chapter 79: Evelyn

Thursday, 4:54  P.M. EST

She’s going to wake up… I know she will. 

Jenalyn is literally the strongest person I know! Is she sometimes the stupidest, too? Yeah… but she’s going to come back from this stupidity. 

She has to... 

The doctor takes Jena’s temperature again, awkwardly leaning over the tub to do it. Dane is breathing down the man’s neck; I’ve never seen him like this before.

It’s kind of off-putting, I’m not going to lie. Dane has a pretty good feel for when the life is slipping out of somebody; It’s one of his sick pleasures, but I guess in some sense, one of his talents too. 

If he’s worried right now? So visibly worried that it’s radiating off of him… maybe something really is wrong…

Maybe this really is the stupid decision that takes her out..

I feel like I’m going to be sick. 

“Well?!” Dane's voice slices through the tense air left in the room as we wait for the doctor to tell us she’s going to be okay. “What’s the fucking verdict, Haines?! She’s been in there almost ten minutes!”

The doctor pulls away from Jena, his face too emotionless to give anything away before he finally decides to open his mouth. “Her temperature is going down-“ he says, “but she’s not in the clear just yet... let’s get her out of here before she’s conscious enough to shiver. We can’t afford to raise her core body temperature if we want to keep the fever down.”

At least her fever is going down... I think Dane said that’s what’s causing the seizures. 

Both Dane and the doctor work together to remove Jena’s naked, limp body from the ice-water bath. 

I move from the bathroom doorway and contemplate sneaking back down to the livingroom so I can give Rob an update on Jena’s status. I’m sure he’d appreciate it; he’s very low-key freaking out down there.

 “Evelyn, grab Jena some clothes from the suitcase in the closet by the bedroom door!” Dane calls out from the bathroom.

I guess Rob can wait…

I grab whatever is on the top of the suitcase and rush it back to Dane. He snatches the clothes from my hands and immediately goes to dress Jena while the doctor makes his way over to his briefcase. 

“I’m going to give her some Tylenol,” he says, pulling a bottle from his case and turning back to Dane. “That should keep the fever down for a bit while she continues to withdrawal, but if you don’t want to take her to the hospital, I can’t promise she’s going to make it out-“

Dane finishes dressing Jena and turns to the doctor to interrupt him with a stern tone.

“Give her the damned pills, and get the fuck out you useless piece of shit!” he yells, letting Jena slip out of his arms and onto the bed so he can approach the doctor. “-Just know if anybody shows up here, that’s your fucking life on the line.”