The Trap

Healing

When Cari opened her eyes, the intense light made her pupils hurt. It took her a few seconds to notice that she wasn't at the cabin anymore. She tried to get up from the bed wrapped in impeccable white sheets that she was laying on, but she couldn't find enough strength to pull herself up. For a moment she was confused as if she was still alive or if she had made it to heaven after all. She scanned the room with her eyes, trying to assimilate the place she was. Her arms were no longer tied. Instead of cuffs, there were clean white bands around her wrists and they weren't hurting anymore. She heard a constant beeping somewhere next to her that was gradually increasing his speed every second passed and a little discomfort where a needle connected her bloodstream to the yellow liquid hanging over her. Hospital. She was at a hospital. She looked around and didn't find any sign of Reid, the only other person there was her mother, who was sitting on the armchair next to the bed reading a book.

"Cari!" As soon as she noticed that her daughter had woken up from a nearly twenty hours of sleep she got up from the chair and stood next to her. "Hi sweetheart, how are you feeling?"

"M-mom." Cari almost couldn't speak. Her attempt to answer her mother came out as a whisper. Her throat was still sore because of all the times she tried to make someone listen to her screams for help. She was confused and trying to remember how she got there. The last thing she remembered was fighting to keep her eyes opened because she was too afraid of letting go and not being able to open them again. But now she was at a hospital room, and her mother was there, and they were taking care of her, and Reid wasn't there anymore. She felt her eyes get watery and instantly the tears falling down her temples when she realized that the nightmare was over.

"Hey, it's okay, you're okay now." Olivia swiped her tears away and kissed her forehead, caressing her cheeks. "My beautiful girl, I'm so sorry this happened to you, but you're safe now and we're gonna take care of you." She also had tears in her eyes. She wanted to hold her in her lap and tell her everything was going to be ok, just like she used to do when she got hurt when she was a little kid.

Her vocal cords insisted on not working. She wanted to ask how they found her, what happened to Reid, how long she was there, but it was like she was mute all of a sudden. She was trying to concentrate and say something when the door on the other side of the stretcher opened. After seeing who was there, not only the beeping machine sped up even more, but she could physically feel her heart jumping inside of her chest. Shannon was standing there with a cup of coffee in her hand and a tired look on her face that suddenly softened when she saw Cari awake.

"Cari!" Less than two seconds later she was right by her side holding her hand. "Hey, it's okay, we're here, don't cry." She said when she saw the tears falling and the scared look on her face. She slowly brought Cari's hand up to her lips and left a kiss on its back. "How are you feeling?"

"She can't speak Shannon, I don't know what is going on." Olivia said, looking at her concerned.

"It's probably because of all the time she was asleep, but we're gonna check that out, don't worry." Shannon said feeling Cari's hand tighten the grip around hers.

"Shan... Water." She had to make a giant effort to whisper that out. She never felt her throat as dry as it was at that moment.

"Water! I got it." Olivia said, immediately looking for water around the room. When she returned with a cup of water in her shaky hand the door opened again and a nurse entered the room.

"Hi Kelly." Shannon said as soon as she got close to them. "I got this for now. Just do me a favor, go to my office and bring me my stethoscope and the blood pressure meter, please. It's inside of my bag. I'll call you guys if I need anything alright?"