Great Escape

Chapter 22: I'll Make The Call

Chapter 22

Harper

I've always been the kind of person that gets second-hand pain.

In a game if someone gets injured, I wince, instinctively grabbing my own limb or body part that the other person knocked or broke or twisted.

When someone stubs their toe, I scrunch my own toes up, my stomach flipping.

I'd be a horrible doctor because any sort of injury makes my stomach weak and my heart rate speed up.

One time in a basketball game another girl broke her elbow and it was all sticking out at a nasty angle and she was screaming and everyone was moving around and I passed out.

I don't do well with injuries.

So when my body hit the floor and my back twisted, I instantly knew I was out for the game.

Even if I didn't get injured, it would throw me off my game and I couldn't get back in.

Excruciating pain shot through my abdomen, enough to make me cry out loud.

My right hip, right knee, and right elbow scraped across the gym floor loudly and instantly started stinging.

I tried taking in a breath but it only made my head spin with how much my middle was hurting.

I'd never felt pain like this before in my life. Nothing even came close.

And just like that, the room started spinning, and I passed out.

There was once an episode of Glee when they all kept going to the dentist or something because they would trip on the laughing gas they got. I think it was the Britney Spears episode.

But that's what I felt like.

At first, I was vaguely aware of the ambulance ride to the hospital. The flashing lights and loud sirens and my dad telling me that everything was going to be okay and that Noah was on his way.

That didn't bring me any comfort. I knew that Noah didn't want to follow through with what I wanted.

How could I put him through it?

I was vaguely aware of a ton of doctors around me. I was aware enough to be able to tell that something was seriously wrong with me and that I was going to go into surgery.

But then things started to get fuzzy.

I was eighteen so my dad had no legal say over me so I was supposed to be responsible for everything.

But I wasn't comprehending anything.

The lights were flashing overhead as the bed I was in was being wheeled down the hallway and then I felt myself losing it.

It was euphoric experience that you read about and think 'oh wow that's total bullshit'. All of those stories of people having out of body experiences always make me laugh.

I never believed them because they seem like completely made up crap, right?

Well apparently not.

Because I saw myself laying in the bed with a pale face and an oxygen mask and an IV in my arm and doctors quickly pushing the bed and talking intently to each other.

I saw them wheel me into the operating room and then the door shut, leaving me outside.

I could no longer see myself but I heard my dad's voice down the hall and then Noah's voice.

I quickly followed the sound, feeling like I'd just slept for ten hours and was completely rejuvenated. I felt lighter than usual but I was definitely still walking.