Facing The Reaper

VI

My mother and father watched as I was lifted into the ambulance before jumping in behind me. My uncle sat pacifying the twins on the doorstep, apparently my screaming had woken up everyone, including our closest neighbours. They all stood in their doorways now at 3:25 in the mourning. The night sky casting an opaque light on the street and all their faces but doing nothing to shed the worry that was eating away at my parents.

They sat there now; my dad's arm slung over my mother's shoulder but neither one taking their eyes off me as the paramedic shut the door behind them. My mum stayed holding my hand and brushing the hair from my face. I felt my whole body covered in sweat, in the arm that my mum wasn't holding was an IV tube. The paramedics started to ask me a bunch of questions, but I couldn't move or talk without the pain taking over.

I watched through the windows at the streetlights flew by in a continuous beam of movement. I couldn't hear much past the sirens in the background and the pulsing in my ear. My breathing came in short ragged rasps as I tried to focus on something else other than what was happening to me. My fathers face had turned ashen. His dark hair messy and sticking on edge where he didn't have time to wake up properly before leaving the hospital. The elbow on his free hand was resting on his leg as he lent forward, his hand covering the bottom half of his face.

My mother's hair was half in a ponytail and half trailing down her face. Her blue eyes were turning red and bloodshot with unshed tears. It was both strange and terrifying too see then like this. I had never seen either of then look scared before. I thought back then to the twins and their sad faces as we all left the house in the ambulance. They were still half asleep as well, but where my parents had looked scared for me, the twins looked scared of me. I wondered how my uncle was coping with then now back home. He had never been left in charge of them before without any help. When I was younger and he use to babysit me, we would stay up late playing video games and eating popcorn. I couldn't imagine the twins showing much interest in video games, he was probably there helping them build the worlds biggest tower of cereal instead. I managed a small smile at that thought, the pain medication finally beginning to take effect and bring me a moment of calm through the blaze of pain I had felt before.

"Jude hunny, how are you managing to smile at a time like this?" My mums sleepy voice sounded through the fog in my mind. I turned to face her, my smile turning to a grin as I spoke.

"I hope you remembered to hide the cheerio's otherwise your going to need an army to help you clean up after the twins when you get home."

My mums face split into an instant smile in response, as my parents sat there laughing silently in foreboding agreement, the unshed tears flowed soundlessly down their faces.

When we reached the hospital, we waited for half an hour for the doctor to arrive. I was seen by three nurses in the meantime who came to set and check the fluids in my IV and monitor my vital signs. I was running a temperature of 38.4 degrees; my heartrate was jumping between 120 and 144 beats per minute and my blood pressure was high.

The doctor told me I had ruptured my spleen and I was running a temperature due to an internal infection and  my body trying to fix the damage. That's what had caused the burning pain. The IV's were antibiotics mixed with a mild pain relief. They wanted me to stay in hospital whilst they booked an operation to fix up the damage and then monitor the healing process. I was told I would be in for a few days but would have to remain off school for the remainder of the week. They didn't know how the rupture happened but told me I needed to take it easy until my body had time to repair. I wasn't going to complain about time off school, but the burning sensation that warranted this free time didn't make it worth it.