The Heartthrob Won't Leave

Chapter Forty-Seven (New Chapters)

It hurt to breathe, every small shift it hurt to move. Her lungs felt raw, her throat clogged. Letting out a cough, she heard the screeching of a chair to her right, the beeping of machines fading into her ears.

"Blake" She let her eyes crease open, but the sudden assault of light had them shutting on instinct, hiding away from the reality of the present. She was on some sort of bed, she could feel its starchy sheets feel across the skin of her arms, her legs. She groaned, leaning her head back, stretch a kink that painfully held her neck. "Blake, finally" she opened one eye just a bit to see the presence of Karl next to the bed, leaning over her, the centre light in all the darkness.

"Wh-what?" she muttered, confused by her faded mind, where she was. Every moment, more painful to speak than the last

"Just relax" He said quickly, placing a gentle hand on her covered shoulder "Don't speak, your lungs are damaged from the smoke inhalation" she didn't know why, but despite him telling her not to move, she wanted to. Every shift was painful, but she still wanted to move. It was like waking up from a long sleep and having a sudden full bar of energy that begged to be expelled.

"Wh-what h-happened?" she groaned, shifting uncomfortable shoulders as his hand fell away

"Do you not remember?" he asked "Your school caught on fire. They said it was an accident, apparently someone left a bunsen burner on in one of the science rooms"

"Stella!" she burst out suddenly, a panic swelling her entire mind. She tried to lean up, but Karl stopped her, pushing her back into the bed.

"Stella is fine-" he insisted "She said she lost you in the smoke, but she managed to find her way out" Blake let out an audible sigh of relief, her throat throbbing. It felt like having road rash in her lungs. She settled back how Karl wanted her to, knowing her friend was safe.

"Somehow you wondered into the science wing. You were in one of the science rooms just down the hall from where the fire started. The medics found you in the snow just outside of a broken window, they think you broke it and crawled out of the building"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, weak "I broke the darkness" she slurred slightly

"It must have looked like darkness to you, it was already after dark when it happened" she felt a hand running through her hair slightly, pulling it away from her cheeks. She could hardly believe she was still alive. "You were covered in burns and slashes from the glass from when you crawled out the window"

"Everyone..." she asked gently, turning her head slightly to look at him

"Everyone got out fine, no one was hurt" another sudden cough welled in her throat, causing a horrible pain in her throat that had tears piercing the edges of her sight. The world was blurry, she wasn't wearing her glasses. "Blake...what happened in there?" he asked, pulling his chair closer and sitting down, meeting her eyes as he sat level with her. She glnaced down at her hand, bandaged with white gauze and wrap.

"It was...the fire was everywhere...all around me-" she spoke quietly, her voice hoarse and unletting "I was so tired...but I don't know why" a knock on the door had them both turning to look, watching as a physician opened the door, a clipboard in his hand.

"Good, you are awake" the man spoke, his dark hair pushed back behind his ears "You've been out since last night" he shut the door behind him. He pushed the edges of his white coat up to his elbows, still keeping grip of the clipboard the held a few papers on it she could sight the edgings of. "You got out of there with some nasty thermal burns and a few good lacerations, but you'll be fine. The damage to your lungs will just take time to heal"

"Thank you Doctor" Karl spoke. The man smiled, looking over to meet her eyes.

"Miss Collins, how much do you remember from what happened last night?" he asked, standing at the foot-end of her bed.