You Know Why (on hold till april 24)

Chapter 45: I need you

I know, two chapters in a day? Well, why not. Enjoy!

Screaming. Distortions. Pain.

So much pain.

Where the heck am I?

I woke up to a plain white ceiling above me, and the slight noise of beeping in the background. My vision was still slightly blurry and I waited for it to come to focus, tilting my head to the side to see that I was in fact on a hospital bed, with a monitor next to me. I turned to my other side to see my brother slumped over in his chair, sound asleep. I groaned.

I saw a needle running through my hand, with a bandage around it. My head still felt like it was filled with cotton, as I called out his name weakly. "Nick?"

He stirred, sitting straight up with his eyes wide, his face relieved. "Alex, you're awake!"

Before I could reply, the door opened and both my parents came rushing inside, their faces also extremely worried, but now somewhat calm. "Alex! Are you okay? How are you feeling?" My mom asked, kneeling next to my bed. "What happened?" I managed.

This time a doctor walked in, holding a clipboard. "Ah, Ms. Pierce, I see you're awake. Sorry folks, I need you all to step outside for a minute while we do a check-up."

Nick looked reluctant to leave, but my dad guided him out, giving me a small smile. Once they had left, I asked again. "What happened?"

"Well, Ms Pierce the good news is that you're going to be just fine. You seemed to have passed out due to an extreme level of dehydration. On testing, we found insomnia to be another factor. Have you been under any kind of unusual stress lately?"

I tried to think, but my thoughts were still muddled up. "Yeah... I suppose."

"We had to place you under a sedative for some much-needed sleep. Sorry about the IV, I know it's not anybody's favourite, but you were too severely dehydrated. Although, not to worry. With a few days rest and plenty of fluids, you'll be all right."

"Thanks."

He gave me a smile and walked back out, after making a few more notes on his clipboard. My parents and brother came back in, fussing over me and everything. I was glad to see them, but I had to admit I really wanted to see someone else right now.

Once they finally left so my parents could sign some papers, I heard another knock on the door. Ezra's face peeked through the door; his face lit up with a huge grin. "Hey Alex."

I smiled, glad to see him. "Hey Ezra."

"How are you feeling?"

"A little lousy, but I'm all right."

He sat down on the chair next to the bed, his expression turning a little more solemn. "So... how are you doing? Like, besides physically."

"I honestly don't know. But what happened with the match? Did we win?"

"Yeah, you guys did. Thanks to all the baskets you had already scored. None of them really wanted to celebrate much though, considering what happened..."

I sighed. Ezra was quiet for a second and then he spoke again. "Megan wants to see you."

"Is she here?"

"No, all of them are at home. I told them I'd call them as soon as you woke up."

"Well, did you?"

"Not yet."

I closed my eyes for a second, still trying to process everything that had happened. I couldn't believe this. By passing out at my basketball game, all my hopes of getting into Stanford had been crushed. No way any recruiter would have been impressed with that. My entire future had been dangling by a fine thread, and now even that had snapped.