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Sunny was cut short by the sound of shrieking metal and exploding glass. The normal hotel lobby noises were replaced by screaming, crying, and a tinny ringing in my ears.
Sunny and I were flat on the floor, about five feet away from where we had been standing a moment before. The lobby was filled with chalky dust, a fire alarm was going off, and people were either huddled on the floor or running away from the doors.
It took me a second to realize I was on top of her. I didn’t remember grabbing her or shielding her, but my body was wrapped protectively around hers, and she was curled into a small ball underneath me.
“Are you okay?” Was I yelling? I could barely hear the words.
She blinked up at me, totally dazed, and when she finally realized what I’d asked, she started nodding. “I’m fine.”
At least I thought that’s what she said based on the way her lips moved. I couldn’t actually hear anything she was saying. It was as if my ears had suddenly been tuned into the wrong frequency and the soundtrack in my head was for a different movie.
I heard the sirens of a police car
or ambulance. I heard people outside the hotel calling each other’s names. Above all that was the ceaseless ringing in my ears.
Sunny climbed out from under me then helped me to my feet. Her eyes widened as she looked at me, and suddenly her hands were everywhere. She was investigating all my exposed skin with the thoroughness of a mother gorilla picking nits out of her baby’s fur.
I tried to swat her hands off me, but she kept right on poking away.
Only then did I notice her fingers were stained with blood.
“You’re hurt.” I must have been yelling because a few people turned to look at us.
She was shaking her head solemnly as she stared at her bloody fingers. She showed them to me. “This is yours.”
“Oh.”
I gingerly touched my forehead, and in a state of total shock, picked a piece of breakaway safety glass out of my scalp.
I thought it was called safety glass because it couldn’t hurt you.
How dumb was I?
I showed her the piece of glass and said, “Ow.”
Then, naturally, I blacked out.
Chapter Thirty-Four
If I had a dollar for every time I passed out due to injuries sustained on the job, I probably could have bought myself a nice helmet.
Or at least a decent takeout meal.
Maybe a new book to read while I was in the hospital.
I came to on a gurney in the middle of a sterile-looking hallway. A private room this was not. It took me no time at all to figure out where I was, thanks to the drunk frat guy passed out in a wheelchair nearby with a metal dish in his lap to catch his vomit. Drool was dripping from his mouth to the tin in a long, shiny strand.
He made a loud snoring sound.
I touched my forehead and felt the bump of stitches and some bandages. Surprisingly it didn’t hurt too much. I had anticipated a whopper of a headache, or at least something to tell me I’d been seriously hurt. Instead it felt like I’d stood up too fast under a low ceiling and hit my head too hard.
A life-threatening injury this was not.
Honestly, I’d probably patched myself up after worse without ever setting foot in a hospital.
There was no one else around me aside from the drunk guy, and he wasn’t exactly going to give me the lowdown on what had happened. My clothes were covered in a fine film of dust, but otherwise nothing looked ripped or damaged. I did a quick touch test, much like Sunny had subjected me to before I passed out. Nothing was broken or missing. Aside from the stitches on my forehead I seemed to be in fine shape.
I slid off the gurney, testing my footing. No issues with walking or balance. I felt lightheaded, but in the way I did if I went too long without eating. It was more likely low blood sugar than a sign of brain damage.
