“Your body experienced an extreme cold shock. We estimate your time in the water at about four to five minutes. You were lucky to get out quickly and it likely saved your life. Your thinking may be unclear for the rest of the day, but that is normal. Sometimes after a shock like this your brain can be slow to work. That’s normal and no cause for alarm.”
I nodded again, looking around the room and wondering where Piper was. Then I remembered letting go of her hand and watching her slide slowly back into the water…
“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked. “Are you warm enough? Do you have feeling in your extremities?”
I nodded. “I think so. I feel fine.”
He proceeded to check my fingers and toes and check my core temperature. Everything looked good because he called the nurse to get me some forms to fill out before I could be released.
“I want to see Piper,” I said before he could leave the room.
“Of course,” the doctor replied. “I was just going to her room next. Give me a few moments and then you can see her. She’s right across the hall.”
“She has her own room?” I asked, making sure I heard him right.
The doctor nodded. “Your clothes are over there. The nurses had them dried for you.”
I came so close to killing her. But as she was sliding back into the glacial water she moaned. She was awake. I couldn’t let her go back into that dark, lonely water. I couldn’t let it swallow her whole.
I had been in there. I knew what it was like. How could I sentence her to a death as horrible as that? And so I grabbed her, I pulled her free, and then I raced down the mountain with her in my lap. She made no more sounds and her lips and face had long turned blue. From the dead weight of her body against mine, I truly thought she was dead.
The last thing I remembered was waving down a patrol vehicle and them rushing to help. Then I passed out. When I asked to see Piper just now, I thought I’d be visiting the morgue. I thought I’d only be seeing her body.
But she was alive.
“How long have we been here?” I glanced around for the clock.
“It’s late morning. You were here all night. Bringing the core temperature back to stable levels can take time. But you both look great.” He smiled. “You were very lucky.”
I nodded as he let himself out the door. Funny, I hadn’t felt good that my job was finally complete. I hadn’t felt any kind of elation.
I told myself that was because I’d been half frozen as well. I could hardly call G.R. and announce a job well done when I was ready to pass out.
And knowing she was alive, I was disappointed. Wasn’t I?
I threw off the fifty blankets and began dressing. Halfway through putting on my layers, the nurse brought in a million and one forms for me to fill out as well as my release papers. She looked alarmed when I told her I had no insurance. But when I slapped my credit card into her palm, she seemed a little less frazzled.
“I’m taking care of the woman I was brought in with too,” I said, not overthinking my need to make sure Piper was taken care of.
“Sir, are you sure?” the nurse began. “The bill…”
“The card will go through. Don’t worry about it,” I snapped.
That shut her up and she went on her way. I finished dressing and shoved my feet into a new pair of boots. They weren’t the ones I’d been wearing. I had no clue what happened to them. I had no clue where these came from, but I didn’t really care.
I did, however, miss my glasses with their thick, black frames. Having blurry vision wasn’t fun. Because I could barely see the forms, I only filled out two and made sure to sign the release. Something told me they didn’t care about their records, only the payment.
I left the clipboard on the bed and went across the hall to Piper’s room. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, partially dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and socks. She had an oxygen mask up against her mouth and nose. I pushed down the funny feeling I got in my stomach as I shut the door behind me.
“Are you having trouble breathing?” I asked.
She pulled the mask down and shook her head. “I was when they brought me in. My lungs were too cold to breathe right. This is just warm, humidified oxygen they’ve been giving me to help bring up my body temperature. The doctor wanted me to take a few more breaths before releasing me, just to be on the safe side.”
“How are you?” I asked, coming to stand beside her.
“I’m fine,” she said, hooking the mask near the machine. “That was pretty scary.”
Her voice dropped on the last part and something inside me squeezed. “Yeah. I didn’t realize we were on a lake. There was no sign.”
