They look over at me like I’ve lost my mind. “So, it took us kissing to get your heart rate in the danger zone?” Blaine says sardonically. “Really, Ed?”
The door rattles as one of the nurses try to enter to check on me. Both the guys scramble to get themselves back together, while I lay back and pull the gown on completely and the sheet back up. My breathing is still a little erratic when the nurse gets the door open. When Blaine rolled the stool away she almost fell through the door.
“Visiting hours are over. You’re a little distressed and need to get some sleep,” the nurse orders. She tries to shoo both the guys from the room, until Matt insists, he’s staying for the night. She gives up but gives him a disapproving look. “Well, don’t keep her up. She won’t heal if she doesn’t rest. Her breathing and heart rate for the past twenty minutes according to this read out was elevated.” She scratches at her cheek. “It could be just an anomaly, but…” She looks at the guys and we all burst out laughing.
The nurse leaves our room after a long lecture on ‘exerting’ myself in my state. Blaine had to excuse himself before he had another laughing fit.
14. KEIR
The sweet smell of my mom’s shampoo washes over me. She leans into my side and gives me a quick side hug. “Do that thing with your face again…” Her laughter making me smile. She doesn’t do that much anymore. I’ve been trying all morning to get her to cheer up. It took doing impersonations and making faces to lighten her mood.
“No way. That was just embarrassing.” I rub my hand down my arm and the bruising that is just starting to show from a couple of nights ago. We don’t talk about it. Or her bruises.
“Sam…” My mom uses his name for me, and my reaction is visceral. She always calls me by my real name. Never the made up one.
“Mom?”
“Sam…” Her face starts to morph into another face… a grotesque and twisted face. Evil eyes. “Let go… just let gooooo.” The voice isn’t my mom’s. “It’s easier that way. Let go.”
My breath feels suppressed and I try and force it out of my lungs. Then pain. So much pain. What’s happening? Panic spreads through my mind. Am I dying? I always thought death would be fast. But like so much in life, I’m probably wrong about death, too.
Light floods my vision. I blink it back. Where am I? I cough and look around. A hospital bed. I feel around for a call button and press it. My head feels like it was trampled by something. I don’t know why I’m here. I look over my body and move my arms and legs. Touching my head, I can tell that it has bandages on it. I was… I was… A chill goes down my spine. It’s like someone excavated my brain. The compound. Mom and I were working in the garden… I try to sit forward and the pain in my head makes me drop back. Did something happen in the garden?
I look at my arm and the bruises are gone. How long have I been here? A nurse rushes into the room with a man in a white coat. A doctor. They start checking my heart rate and asking too many questions. I blink at them and try to keep my thoughts sorted.
“Keir, I’m Dr. Hardin, we’re sure happy to see you awake. How are you feeling?” He types into a computer and then uses a tiny flashlight to look in one of my eyes.
“Ahh... I…” The nurse checks on the bandages on my head.
“Do you want some water to drink? Take it slow.” She hands me a Styrofoam cup of lukewarm water and I sip it.
“How long have I been here?” My voice sounds foreign to my ears. Scratchy.
“Five days,” the doctor says while pocketing a pen. “You’ve sustained head trauma and a brain bleed.” How? Is my mom, okay?
“Is my mom here?”
The doctor’s brow furrows, and he looks at the nurse. The shared look makes me want to take the question back. Something’s wrong.
“Keir it’s normal when someone has had head trauma to lose memories. Do you know what date it is and who the current president is?”
“I… I don’t know who the president is. In the compound we… I don’t know.” I tell him a guess at the date and he puts a hand over his mouth for a few seconds.
“Keir, I’ll be right back. We’re just going to step out for a minute.”
I want to get up and look at my injury in the mirror, but when I sit up again the shooting pain in my head makes me give the idea up. I’m going to convince mom not to return to the compound. I almost don’t care how I was injured if it’s the chance we need to break free.
I don’t want to fall back to sleep. Afraid that I’ll lose more time. I pick up the remote from the table near the bed and once I figure out how to change channels, I stare at it as I flip through them. Giving up, I put the remote down and leave a loud talk show on. Where did they go? Minutes turn into an hour and then another. Where is mom? If she was able to, once I woke up, she’d have fought for a way into this room. My throat clogs with tears that I won’t cry. I stopped crying years ago.
There’s a knock at the door and a dark-haired man with a suit on opens the door slightly. “Keir, can I come in?” I notice a badge on his belt and relief floods through my body. Help is here. It’s going to be okay.
“Yes, sir.” He gives me a small and fake looking smile. He may be bearing some bad news. As long as it’s not about mom. She’s all I have.
“Do you know who I am?” he asks lightly as he takes a seat.
I go to shake my head, but the move hurts too much. “No, sir?”
He places a hand on the back of his neck and sighs. “Okay. Keir… there is a doctor named Dr. Vargas that is outside waiting to talk to you. Do you remember her? Or that name?”
