Viola

Chapter 4

Viola's POV

I hear a slow beeping as the world fades in around me. 

Willing my eyes to open, I feel tears well up as my frustration grows

After 5 minutes of trying, I finally find the strength, slowly peeling open my eyes, wincing at the bright fluorescent light that shines in my eyes. 

The lighting... 

I let a tear fall, I'm in a hospital. I have a chance. 

I open and attempt to close my mouth but start panicking as I bite down on a hard cylinder. 

I need to tell them, I need to be able to speak. 

My hope fades and my fears reinstate themself as the beeping I have been hearing accelerates.  The next thing I know, the nurse from earlier... Veronica, I think, bursts in through the door, rushing to my side with a frantic and frazzled expression on her face. 

"Viola, sweetie, there's a tube down your throat to help you breathe. I need you to calm down for a minute so I can take it out, okay love?" 

I nod and try my best to calm down but fail miserably, some combination of the beeping and the sensation of the tube being removed simply making my anxiety shoot through the roof. 

After a minute she attaches a syringe to one of the smaller tubes attached to the large one that was down my throat, pushing it in and asking me to breathe out before pulling out the tube. 

I cough as it's removed but quickly recover, knowing I might not have much time. 

I try to speak, once again being stopped as my voice comes out small and raspy. 

Nurse Veronica rushes away, and I let more tears fall, I need to tell her!

Just as I'm about to let out a sob, feeling absolutely helpless, she rushes back in with a pitcher in one hand and a cup in the other. 

Pouring water into the cup she hands it to me. 

I gulp it down, my mind repeating the same phrase over and over which I know will be the first words out of my mouth as soon as my throat doesn't feel like sandpaper. 'My papa and my brothers! I need them.'

Deciding to try to speak again, I open my mouth, finding it more difficult than I could've imagined.

"My papa-" It comes out as a hoarse whisper, I myself could barely even hear it but I grip her arm, pulling her focus to me as a pleading look controls my features. 

Her's carries a worried expression as I pull her down slightly to whisper to her.

"My papa, i miei fratelli?" (My father, My brother?) I manage to choke out.

I blink in confusion as she simply sweetly at me in response. 

A moment later she attempts to respond but isn't able to get a word out as the door slams open.

I freeze, imagining the worst.

Leah and Jack found me and somehow conned the nurses into thinking I ran away. I jump in fear and start hyperventilating. 

I can barely hear anything. I feel Veronica try to calm me down. 

I start to see spots before I feel someone pull me into a hug. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion at the sense of comfort that takes over my body. 

As my breathing calms down I blink away the dots that had begun to block my eyes and when my vision is finally clear I pry the body that is attached to me out of the hug.