𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘

CHAPTER 34

1 Month Later

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Kai groaned. Her eyebrows pinched in annoyance as she slowly eased her way into consciousness. Mistaking the beeping for her alarm, she attempted to reach for it but her muscles didn't respond. Her eyes blinked open, finding that her arm was only hovering over the bedsheets. All at once, an achy feeling buzzed throughout her body.

Where am I? She wondered, dropping her arm. Her eyes strained, burning as she scanned the room. The room was small but full of light. To her left was a large window that overlooked a parking lot full of cars. Her face scrunched, confused. She noticed that the bed was enclosed with plastic handlebars and an IV pole was set up on her right. How did I get here?

On the left side was a ventilator, pumping air through Kai's airways with a ventilation mask. The heart monitor beside it drew her attention as she linked the beeping to the machine. Her brows twitched again. There was no recollection as to how she wound up here.

"Sunshine?" The Australian accent of a boy she didn't recognize made her eyes groggily shift. In the corner of the room, Pierce was slacked in a chair, rising from sleep. He was clothed in baggy black fabrics with a hat resting backward on his head. "Oh my god..." He shot up when he saw her slimmed eyes.

He rushed over to her bedside, clamping onto one of the handles. When he got closer, Kai could see relief in his eyes. Who is this guy?

"Holy shit..." he exhaled with a smile. "I've gotta go tell someone!" He said before running across the room and throwing the door open like a maniac.

It wasn't long until the doors busted open again with a handful of people rushing in, but in the time of silence, Kai tried to remember how she ended up in the hospital. But nothing came to mind. Up until now, her memory was fuzzy and blurred—she couldn't remember anything.

How long have I been here?

She wiggled her body around, her arms slowly lifting to tug on the mask over her mouth. Letting it fall to her side, she kicked her heels into the mattress and sat herself up. At once, five people came rushing into the room.

Pierce led three people in who immediately wrapped around the bed and tended to the equipment; one repositioned the ventilator mask back over Kai's mouth. But she didn't notice them as Aizawa being hot on Pierce's heels caught her attention. When he saw her, a saddened smile teased the scars over his lips. She didn't recognize him either. She wanted to ask who they were but her mouth wouldn't open and the words she wanted to use slurred in her mind. She didn't understand why her body wouldn't do what she wanted.

But he came to her. Resting his hand atop hers, their eyes met. Sadness and exhaustion painted his dark eyes as they looked upon her. "It's good to see that you're alright."

'Alright?' What does he mean? She began to shift again but this time her body ached in sharp pains and her entire body felt like jelly.

"Heart rate is steady," a nurse in turquoise scrubs commented from beside the bed. Without warning, cold gloves wrapped around her arm as a man in a white coat placed an inflatable cuff around her arm. With the small pump on the end, he inflated the cuff to take her blood pressure.

"115/75 BP," he read off the monitor.

"All of her vitals are steady," the second nurse said from beside the IV pole. "Red blood cell count, as well."

Kai's eyes began to wander. "We'll go call her parents," the doctor said before leaving the room with the two nurses behind.

After they had gone, the room was silent. Quiet breaths occupied the silence as Kai's audible breathing pressed against her mask.