Together We Fall

Chapter 48

Chapter Forty Eight

My eyes flutter open. The room is brightly lit with sunlight shining through the curtains. It doesn't have the same fruity smell that my bedroom always does, the smell of cucumber lotion or a berry scented perfume. The air smells clean and spacious but concealed.

I find myself staring at lights going in rows down the ceiling.

"Hey," a gentle voice says from beside me, "you're awake."

I turn to my left. Trace is laying in a bed next to me, smiling.

He's got tubes going into his nose. I follow the tube to see they're connected to an oxygen tank. On his left is Olivia. She's sitting up playing cards with Dylan who's at the foot of her bed.

"What time is it?"

Trace looks at the clock in front of us. I didn't see it before.

"It's almost five o' clock. You've been sleeping all day. You're mom stopped by earlier but left about twenty minutes ago to feed your dog supper. What's the last thing you remember?"

I think about his question for a moment. Erica carried to me to field where I layed in between Mason and Trace until I heard sirens in the distance.

There was a time after that when I woke up and saw a man staring at me. He had lights behind his head and a warm smile.

My head gets a small sting to it and I wince. I reach up to touch my forehead but a plastic, straw-like tube stops me.

I'm hooked up to a breathing tank too.

"Riding in the ambulance." I tell him.

He's quick to hide his reaction. I know he's surprised that I haven't been awake for so many hours but he doesn't want me to worry.

"I'm just glad you're awake now."

The door opens and Lucas, Adalyn, Cameron, Josephine, Erica, Ethan and Mason all come traipsing through the threshold.

"Damn, Emma! Took you long enough." Adalyn teases when she sees I'm up.

Mason holds up a bag of food and I suddenly realize that I'm starving. I guess it's been about fifteen hours since I ate last so I've earned the right to be hungry.

The door opens again and a doctor appears.

His eyes scan over the group of new arrivals with a look of disapproval, "You can't all be in here."

Ethan walks over to the doctor with a bite of cheeseburger hanging out of his mouth. He places a hand on the doctors shoulder and looks at him meaningfully, "We'll behave ourselves but the patients need us in here. We preform best as a team and I'm almost certain their health will have no improvement without us."

The doctor picks his greasy hand off of his shoulder and drops it. He looks back up at Ethan and groans, "Fine, but go breathe in that corner." he gestures to the other side of the room, "Your onion breath is making me nauseous."

Ethan smiles triumphantly and walks to the corner, "You can thank me later." he tells Mason on his way by. Mason just slaps the back of his head.

Charles- I read from his name tag- walks over and stands in between Trace and my bed.

"I'm not sure if you're aware yet Mrs. Kennedy, but while you were sleeping I took some blood so we could run a few tests. I took samples from all three of you and I just recently received the results."

I wasn't aware. I'm just glad he didn't wait until I was awake.

"A complete blood count test was given and everything came back good. This means that there are enough red blood cells to carry oxygen and enough white blood cells to fight infection. Your bodies will be able to heal themselves and none of you suffer from chronic burns, or any burns of that matter. The arterial blood gas determined the degree of oxygen shortage you had and Olivia had the worst. She will be prescribed six months for the use of an inhaler.