fireproof {l.s}

chapter four

Harry

12:22 p.m

I awoke to a loud machine hum. A huge contraption lay in front of me. I noticed that none of the doctors realized I was awake. They were all focused on typing something into a computer.

"What is that?" I asked. Every person in the room whirled their head in the direction of my voice.

"Oh, you're awake!" said one of the doctors. "It's just an MRI. Nothing to worry about."

"What's the last thing you can remember, Harry?" I moved my eyes, following the voice of another doctor.

"Drinking water in my car."

It was true. That was the last thing I remembered. I immediately wondered how drinking a bottle of water led to this. To me sitting in a bed, struggling to breathe. To having three, painful, lacerations.

"What day was that?" the doctor asked.

"Thursday. I was on my way to the studio."

I didn't tell the doctor that I was running late. That wasn't important, right?

It seemed like, finally, my brain was catching up. I finally realized I had so many questions. I kept my mouth shut but my mind wandered as I prepared to enter the machine.

What day was it? What year? How long was I out? What happened to me? Did I do this to myself? Where were my friends? Louis? My family... my sister? How is Gemma? Did they know that she's why I'm always late? What did they know? What did I know?

I started breathing harder as my questions multiplied. All I wanted was answers. I let out of sigh and listened to the doctor's instructions.

No heavy breathing. No sudden movements. No talking.

I read those words above me. The doctors repeated it, as well. The MRI beeped and I was inside.

The air was dry and stuffy. I needed to take a deep breath and let the air fill my lungs, my lungs that were so sore.

No heavy breathing.

I badly wanted to wiggle my fingers and scratch my nose. I needed to move, to stretch.

No sudden movements.

I wanted to ask every single one of my questions. The questions that repeated in my head, over and over and over again. The questions that made my head hurt and my heart race.

No talking.

I tried to relax. I needed to relax. I know I would have broken the rules in about 30 seconds, but luckily, the machine beeped again and I was being pulled out.

I broke every single rule as soon as I was out. I raised my arms above my head. I sucked in the dry air. And I started talking. I had a nurse on either side of me and they both looked at me with concern. I repeated my questions again but nobody answered.

I started to stress. I could feel my head throbbing and my heart pumping. Something beeped rapidly to my left, a beeping that was so steady just one second earlier. I stared at the monitor. The green line moved up and down quickly. The nurses looked at each other and I felt a sharp pinch in my right shoulder. My eyelids fluttered. My voice slowed and slurred. The world went blurry and then dark.

1:13 p.m

Louis

"... severe head trauma and minor lung damage.." Dr. Karr revealed. I could barely hear her because I was so wrapped up in my own mind. "He was really stressed when he woke up, so we sedated him. We assume the brain damage will affect more than just his memory, but we have to wait for him to calm down before we can test it. Also, he might not be able to breathe comfortably for awhile... complications with his asthma."