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— ELIZABETH SAT IN THE hospital chair with her hands clasped tightly together and eyes squeezed shut. The nurses had just finished checking over Reese, changing the bandage on her forehead and making sure the staples were healing nicely. Her near death experience had been enough to land her two nights in intensive care, but she was free to go home now — not that she was looking forward to it, considering that Elizabeth was now in on the whole this-prophecy-means-that-I'm-going-to-die fiasco, and Reese knew she wasn't too stoked about it. Reese avoided looking at her aunt, choosing instead to prod the thick gauze that was occupying most of her head.
This wasn't how Reese wanted her death to go, and it was exactly the reason she didn't want Elizabeth in on it. Ever since Flynn had left the hospital after forcing an explanation out of Reese, Elizabeth had been periodically staring at her with those sad green eyes that reminded Reese so much of her mother it made her chest ache something fierce. She felt the swirl of emotions press against her lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Voices — eerily similar to those that rose up from the depths of her subconscious when the tidal wave of anguish rolled back into the sea of pain and despair and surged forward, drowning Reese in the survivors guilt, and thus opening a chasm in her mind where the darkness talked to her — whispered incoherently, but all the succeeded in doing was making Reese's staples throb. She focused on her breathing, ignoring the rising wave threatening to smash her down into a pit she wouldn't be able to crawl out of, pulling air in through her nose and out of her mouth (like her mother taught her when she was young). Elizabeth must have heard the short gasps, because her eyes flickered over to Reese's trembling form.
The older woman made a move to stand up to comfort her niece, when the door swung open and the nurse that had been taking care of Reese entered. She grinning when she saw Reese, unaware of the panic attack the teen had just forced down to deal with at another time. "Well, your CT and MRI scans look great and your blood work just came back; everything is right where it should be. Your staples need to come out by Friday, so I'll see you then."
"Sounds great," Reese answered, giving her a stiff nod. "Can I go home now?"
"Dr. Cullen just wants to give you one last look over, so after he checks you over you'll be all set."
