Through the Dark

Chapter 2

I could hear the faint noise of people talking but it was almost impossible to interpret what was being said or who was saying it. Before I knew, I was drifted off to the world of unknown yet again. There were few more incidents where I was aware of my surroundings but unable to open my eyes or comprehend any of the words being said. 

It was around evening when I was able to move for the first time. The setting of the sun could be seen through the window which made me speculate the time. Regardless, I was not sure if I was unconscious for only a day or for a week. The only thing that I was certain of was that everything that had occurred was the reality and not a nightmare as I had presumed it would be. I was in a hospital bed with my clothes changed because the last time I was in my school's jersey and then I was wearing the clothes that the patients used to wear.

I endeavored to get up but felt so feeble that I could not do so at first. Why was not I being able to get up? Why was I unconscious in the first place for it was not me who was hit. Where was Reese? Was she okay?

Question after question inundated the only sane part of my mind that was left which in turn made my head hurt bad. I could feel my head was warm which meant that my fever from the previous day had risen. I laid down once more because I was all weak at that time. My whole body was feeling numb. On top of everything, none of what was happening made any sense and I could not fathom any of it properly.

I was still laying on the soft bed sheet, with my head rested on the pillow, when a middle aged woman came inside the room.
"Oh it's good to see that you're awake miss Austin. I'll call the doctor and your friends right away," the nurse said leaving the room. My friends were in the hospital too? 

After waiting for another minute or two the nurse came in again but that time accompanied by someone who I assumed was the doctor, Thea and Aiden.

"Thank you Olivia, I'll take it from here," the doctor said as the nurse left.

"Is Reese alright?" I interrogated my friends at once. Without answering right away, Thea smiled sadly looking at me. Her normal jaunty behavior was not there and both Thea and Aiden kept on eyeing each other with a look of trepidation.

"What's going on and why am I the one in the hospital bed?" I asked the question which was bugging me from the beginning. 

None of them said anything. After getting the go sign from the doctor, Thea came and sat beside me at once and hugged me tight. "What's going on guys?" I inquired not sure what to anticipate as the answer. All of their behaviors were queer which inadvertently made me more anxious  than before.

"Vianna darling I'm Mrs. Carter, your doctor. I'll just check the vitals and then you can see Reese," the doctor's voice was soft and somehow assuring too. She looked a little older than Reese and was smiling brightly which calmed me down to a certain extend. 

Mrs. Carter did all the work that she needed to do while I was looking at the distressed faces of my friends. I came to the conclusion that something was not right for the pale faces of both Thea and Aiden looked at me with nothing but pity.

"You are all fine, just a minor fever, that's all," Mrs. Carter concluded after sometime. She gave me some sort of a medicine to eat after which I was almost instantly feeling much better. With the help of Thea, I got up and followed her as she lead the way out.

"I'm feeling dizzy," I blurted out as we were walking down the corridor. "It's okay dear. You still have some medicines running inside your blood. It'll be fine after sometime," Mrs Carter stated. It was not that I was very dizzy. I could walk properly and was fully conscious but the tingling sensation inside my brain was not welcoming. Thea made sure to support me while I walked the entire time from the room I was in to the one which Reese occupied. After almost a minute of walking, we stopped in front of one of the wards. All the rooms looked the same from the outside but Mrs. Carter said that it was the one where Reese was in. 

"Reese is inside this room. She is still senseless. The treatment may need to be proceeded with but for now we are waiting and watching if there is any progress. There was no deterioration in her health since today morning but given her condition we still need to be cautious. She is a really strong lady Vianna , let's hope that everything gets back to normal soon," Mrs. Carter stated.
"Thank you," I mumbled before she left us to ourselves.

I went forward and looked inside through the transparent window to see Reese laying on the bed with all the tubes and strings attached to her. She looked so peaceful while sleeping yet so worried because of the crease formed on her forehead. A sole tear fell down my eyes which I removed before the others saw. Seeing her in that position completely tore me apart from the inside. 

"What day is it?" I asked while turning to face my friends.
"Saturday," Aiden answered me. Well at least I knew that I have been unconscious for only one night.
"What happened exactly?" I questioned unable to apprehend any of it.

"Yesterday after you got home you saw that Reese was laying on the floor," Aiden began to explicate.
"I remember that," I sighed.
"You had called the ambulance. With Reese you came to the hospital and the doctors began to examine her. At night when I called you, you said that you were in the hospital so I came to check in on you and Reese. I also informed the others of what had happened. Later, when you found out about Reese's condition your body sort of collapsed," Aiden continued.
"Collapsed?" I inquired.
"Yeah you began to shake on that spot," Thea added.

Faint images of what had happened began to appear inside my head. I vaguely remembered that both Thea and Aiden were there the previous night. I recalled Finn's presence as well and that before I fell on the floor he was the one standing beside me.
"Finn caught me before I fell," I stated more as a statement than a question.
"Yeah, or else you would have hit your head," Aiden announced.

"Why did I faint though?" I inquired. 
Aiden and Thea looked at each other contemplating if they should say it or not. Aiden nodded his head after which Thea said the words of horror. "Reese had a brain stroke Vee," she said cautiously. I was still recovering from what I just heard when Aiden held my hand as a symbol to mean that they were there for me.

"Doc said that she may have fell after the stroke and hit her forehead. Reese needed eight stitches because of the cut," Thea finished.
"Did Mrs. Carter mention the time of the stroke?" I asked.  
"Yes. She said that it approximately happened during the evening," Thea answered.

"Vee are you okay?" Thea asked.
"Yeah," I answered, my guttural voice unknown to my ears.
"Your body collapsed after Mrs. Carter told Reese's reports to you. The doctor mentioned that you already had fever that made you weak and after hearing about Reese your mind and body sort of stopped functioning" stated Aiden.

Most of it began to make sense as I put it all together. Reese was the only family I had. When I was young, my parents left me about which I had nightmares even at the present. Losing Reese would mean that I would be all alone in the world. However, the fact that she was alright was the only thing which mattered at that time. 

There was one more thing that kept bugging me. Reese did not answer the text message or return the call which I had given her at noon. If she did had the stroke around evening it meant that she was supposed to be okay at noon. Reese always had her phone with her and constantly checked it, more so when she she worked from home as most of the time there were emails and important messages that needed to be checked. Reese had mentioned that she would be working from home the previous day which also meant that she should have been with her device at all times. There was a high chance that I was only being neurotic but the possibility of a different scenario was not to be eliminated. My gut was writhing as if to say that something bad was coming and that I needed to be prepared to face it.

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