Is this the final stop? (Toni Shalifoe)

Chapter 62

AN: YOU DID IT!!!

Toni jolts awake. Her senses are coming in one by one, there's a warmth on her cheeks, a cobalt blue flash pulsating in the distance, and ear-piercing sirens. Her breathing is labored. Toni jerks left and right, shuddering, "I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go!"

Her vision is hazy and unfocused. The heat on her face must be from the blazing sun. The blue lights remind her of the ocean. She coughs, can she still taste the saltwater?

But no, she isn't on an island. She sees Shelby. And the small TV attached to the wall. Toni is in her hospital room. She's still in Texas.

It's Shelby's hands who are cradling Toni's cheeks. The source of the warmth. Toni's cheeks are streaming with tears that she doesn't remember spilling. The ends of Shelby's hair tangles with the wires connected to Toni's body. The sounds of the alarms change in pitch. Shelby's wide eyes flash to the vital signs monitor. Her eyes scan, reading the names: heart rate, blood pressure, respiration. The lines are all trending up, spiking higher than the last.

Toni's ears finally tune in to the right frequency. Shelby is talking frantically, "Toni. TONI! Come back to me." Shelby's grabbing at Toni's shoulders, trying to anchor Toni back into reality. But the girl's eyes are still blinking around, her sight jumping to different corners of the room.

Shelby continues, her voice still laced with panic, "You're safe. You're not goin' anywhere. You're with me. Forever, okay?" Shelby tries to link her hands with Toni's but the girl is still thrashing around.

Toni has trouble registering with all the words Shelby is saying. The edges of her vision go dark, and she grabs at her chest again. She's clawing at it now, trying to get air. She wants to reply, but the air she breathes in feels like dust, like sand. Nothing feels right.

"Help!" Shelby calls out, she surges toward the bedside table, fumbling to grab the remote. She slams the help button, her hands trembling.

Shelby doesn't know what else she can do. She watches as Toni winces and squeezes her eyes shut in pain. The green spikes fill the monitor, blue lights turn red.

Instantly, a nurse rushes into the room. Her hands move swiftly, pushing buttons on machines, twisting dials, and flipping switches. She turns up the oxygenation levels, places an oxygen mask on Toni, carefully not letting the elastic band snap. The nurse holds Toni's hand and puts it on her own chest, high by her heart.

"See me. Hear me. Feel me."

Toni's unfocused eyes have to blink a few times. Her heaving chest rises and rises until it begins to fall steadily. Her hot breath fogs up the oxygen mask. It's working. She's breathing easier. The alarms don't beep as rapidly. The green line returns to the normal peaks and valleys in the heart rate monitor. Her eyes lock with the nurse. Toni closes her eyes, feeling the sensation of the nurse's hand wrapped around her good wrist. Toni nods at her, she recovers.

The nurse turns back to Shelby, "I'm glad you were here. Keep an eye on her monitor. If that line goes past 115 more than twice in a row, you hit this button again."

Shelby nods, taking her orders very seriously. She checks the monitor, just in case. The nurse looks at her own watch, doing a manual assessment of Toni's heart rate. She relaxes and takes the oxygen mask off Toni.

"If you get that panicky feeling again, press this button. That's what we're here for," the nurse says to Toni. She leaves the room.

Toni collapses into the mountain of pillows propping her up. She digs her face into one, feeling embarrassed, but mostly tired. She tries to rebound from her nightmare, but her mind flashes to the cigar box and everything flying in the wind. Toni wipes her eyes, hoping the images will go away.