Ignite

Little Hero

“She’s so small.” Laura’s fingers brushed loose strands of hair from Cora’s forehead like she was made of glass. Cora’s eyes moved around behind her eyelids as she dreamed, settled into a restless sleep by the IV in her arm dripping sedative into her bloodstream. She was not as hurt as Officer Stilinski had made it sound, but she still wasn’t in good shape. Her small hands were red with burns and scrapes up to her elbows, and the side of her neck was covered in a neat little square of white gauze secured with medical tape. The police report-Derek had only gotten a peek at it in before Officer Stilinski realized what he was doing- said that Cora vaulted out of her window on the third floor to escape the flames. Derek had no idea how she had managed it; Cora had been afraid of heights since we were kids, when she’d fallen out of a tree and snapped her collarbone in three places trying to catch a bird. Derek didn’t dare close his eyes, for fear of imagining it the moment he did.

“But brave,” Officer Stilinski offered quietly from his position by the door. He didn’t seem to know what to do with himself, whether he should leave them or not, so he just stood there with his hands drifting from his pockets to his sides and back with fidgeting uncertainty. “She busted the door open. Your uncle wouldn’t have made it out alive without her.”

Laura made a sound somewhere between a whine and a sob, her fingers trembling against Cora’s temple. “Can we stay with them?” she asked, not daring to look away from Cora for even a second. “Just tonight, Officer Stilinski. I don’t want… I don’t want her to wake up when we’re not here.”

Officer Stilinski nodded slowly. “I’ll need to check with the head nurse, but I’ll see what I can do,” he agreed, and with renewed purpose exited the room.

Laura’s eyes turned up to Derek’s when Officer Stilinski was gone, and he knew what she was going to say before she said it. “We should take some of their pain away,” she said. “To help trigger their healing.”

Derek nodded. “Take Peter, his burns are worse,” he suggested, taking one of Cora’s small hands in his own. “I’ve got her.”

Laura’s jaw worked over his words like she was chewing them before she nodded, and rose from her seat to move to the bed beside Cora’s. Peter was by far the worse of the two, having been trapped on the first floor where the flames had been strongest. Half his face was crinkled and red with burns that went all the way down his neck and across his chest, ending just above his waist. His shoulder too was raw and burnt, and according to his medical chart had been dislocated when he’d arrived. Healing or not, Peter would be lucky if he made it through without scars, reminding him every time he looked in the mirror what they had lost.

Derek focused his energy on siphoning away some of Cora’s pain, taking it up into his veins and dissolving it. Cora’s eyes settled their roaming, and the small twitch of her lips subsided until she was still and peaceful. Derek glanced over at Laura, who had one hand resting against Peter’s heart while the other touched the side of his face. Her veins ran black as she took the pain away, and behind her lashes her eyes glowed red.

“Don’t do too much,” Derek warned her, remembering his mother’s counsel. “Taking too much is dangerous.”

“I have to do something,” Laura replied, and somehow her words sounded more like a snarl than speech. “Or I’m going to go crazy. I can do this, and I will do this.” She kept her hands in place, her breaths becoming shallower as the pain continued to flow into her.

Derek put a hand on her shoulder, and together they shared the pain until Officer Stilinski came back, and they had to let go.

Officer Stilinski had brought back the head nurse to see them, and she looked at Derek and Laura with pitying, motherly brown eyes. “My name is Melissa,” she introduced, and her voice felt so gentle after Officer Stilinski’s gruff and apologetic conversation. “I’m the head nurse for this floor.”

“Can we stay with our family?” Laura asked. She sounded trapped somewhere between bursting into tears and imitating their mother’s commanding tone, though Derek wasn’t sure to which side she drifted more.

Melissa looked a little uncertain. “Technically it’s not allowed because of the visiting hours rules,” she told them, but continued quickly when Laura opened her mouth. “But I’ve talked to Officer Stilinski about it, and he agrees that in this case, some rules can be bent. So, if you two could please put on these bracelets, we shouldn’t have a problem.” She held out two plastic wristbands like the kind patients wore. Laura rose stiffly from her chair beside Peter and took the bracelets, examining them somewhat critically. She looked back up at Melissa. “You’re checking us in as patients?” she asked, dumbfounded.

Melissa nodded. “We think it’s best for right now,” she said. “You’re registered as showing signs of severe shock, which can require hospitalization if it doesn’t go away. They’ll last you the night, and in the morning we can fill out the proper paperwork so that you can come in to visit whenever you want, okay? I’d just do the paperwork now, but my supervising physician isn’t in tonight, and his signature is needed on the forms.” Melissa raised her dark eyebrows at Laura, as if she expected Laura to challenge her.

Instead Laura just nodded, looping her bracelet onto her wrist and handing the other one to Derek. “Thank you,” she said, nodding her head mechanically. Melissa smiled thinly at her.

“I’m just down the hall if you need anything,” she said, more warmly than before. “We’ll work on getting you some food too.” She glanced at Officer Stilinski before leaving the room. Officer Stilinski nodded at them somewhat uncomfortably, motioning to the hall and mumbling something about going to get some coffee before retreating after Melissa.

Laura looked at Derek with eyebrows raised, and he offered her a weak smile. They settled back into their seats, and without another word resumed siphoning pain from Cora and Peter.