Spirits of the Past

Chapter 5

After 45 minutes, Pearl woke up and stretched out her arms. She spotted Connie in the kitchen. Connie walked over and told Pearl about the conversation she had with her mom

After hearing the news, Pearl thought it'd be best to wake up Steven. She gently rubbed his arm. "Steven? Steven, you gotta wake up." He moaned and simply shifted onto his back. His arm was hanging over the edge

She decided to try a different strategy. She tapped him on the forehead a few times. That managed to get him to open his eyes half way. His vision was a bit blurry and he appeared somewhat lethargic. "Huh?"

"Connie managed to get you a doctor's appointment later today. It's in an hour so you need to get dressed."

"I don't feel very good." Pearl pressed her hand on his forehead and felt a high amount of heat

"Oh my, you have an extremely high temperature. I'll get a thermometer." Pearl pulled a thermometer out of her gem and stuck it in Steven's mouth. When it beeped, she pulled it out and saw the temperature was 102.5

"Oh no. I need to get you a cold washrag. Sit up for me please." She helped Steven sit up and immediately ran to the bathroom. She grabbed one of the small hand towels and soaked it in ice cold water

Steven placed his elbow on the arm of the couch and held his head. He looked like he would pass out at any moment. He can barely keep his eyes open. As soon as Pearl placed the washrag on his head, it was instant relief for him

Meanwhile, Connie had just finished sending a message on her phone. "I texted my mom. She says you still have to come in."

Steven whined a bit. "Ugh, fine."

"Just put on sweatpants and a coat." Connie tried to help him in any way she could

Steven headed upstairs and did what he was told. He came back wearing black sweatpants and a blue jacket with a hoodie. He pulled the hoodie over his head as the three of them walked out the door

Pearl offered to drive and made Steven sit in the back with Connie. During the trip, Steven rested his head on Connie's shoulder. She reached out and held his hand

"Connie, how far away is the hospital?"

"Only 30 minutes ma'am."

Connie held on to the rag and continued to dab Steven's head with it. He wasn't asleep but he did rest his eyes a bit. His nose was bright red and could only breathe through his mouth 

They eventually made it to the hospital. They checked in and sat in the waiting room. The building was really packed so it could take up to a few hours before they get a room

Pearl got up and gave Steven a glass of water. Unfortunately, it only made things worse. Covering his mouth, he stumbled towards the nearest bathroom. Connie decided to check on him and knocked on the door

"Steven? Are you okay in there?" You could hear him gasping for air

"I-I-I'm fine."

Connie finally barged in and found Steven in the corner next to the toilet. He was sweating buckets and had slight tremors throughout his body

"You're not fine Steven. You're sick. It's okay. Let's head back out to Pearl." She grabbed his hand and pulled him off the floor. They went back to the room, with Steven sitting in between the two women 

Both held his hands as he rested in his seat. 2 hours later, a nurse came walking out. "Steven Quartz Universe?"

Connie immediately shot up from her seat. "Come on Steven." She helped him out of his seat and the three of them followed the nurse to the back

As they were walking towards an empty room, Steven felt a need to correct the nurse. "It's Steven Quartz Cutiepie DeMayo Diamond Universe."

The nurse was a bit taken aback. "Oh..uh...I'll make a note of that."

Once they arrived, the nurse started taking his vitals. Heart rate and oxygen was normal. Blood pressure was a little high but not too bad. Temperature didn't really change. The nurse became a little concerned which made Steven anxious 

"Steven, we have to move you to a different section of the hospital. You look severely dehydrated so we're gonna put in an IV and get some fluids in you." Steven wasn't sure what she meant and got even more anxious 

"What's an IV?"

"We'll just be putting a needle in you and connect it to a bag so the water will go directly into your system."

"WHAT?!" He immediately turned pink and was practically ready to run out the room. He did make an attempt but Connie and Pearl restrained him. Each of them grabbed an arm and held him back

Connie tried to comfort him. "Steven I know this is a lot right now, but I need you to relax. Take a few deep breaths." Steven did so and the pink slowly went down

Once he was calm, the nurse moved them to another room on the other side of the hospital. Steven layed down in the bed while Connie and Pearl sat in the chairs in the corner of the room

Dr Maheswaran walked in with everything to put the IV in. "Hello Steven. This was originally just a therapy appointment but when Connie said you were sick, it was even more reason for you to come. Okay, hold out your wrist." 

He extended his arm out to her. She cleaned the area with an alcohol wipe and got ready to stick the needle in. Steven instantly tensed up at the sight of the needle. As soon as it broke the skin, all hell ran loose

Steven cried out in pain and jerked his whole body. Dr Maheswaran had to pull back. "Steven you have to stay still or this is going to be a lot harder." He started tearing up a little 

Pearl stepped in and got directly in front of his face so he couldn't see anything. She held his face with both of her hands. "Steven honey, look at me. Don't pay attention to what they're doing. Focus on me and my voice."

Dr Maheswaran went in for round 2. As the needle entered, Steven whimpered in pain and Pearl kept him steady. "You're doing so good Steven. We're almost done."

He was full on crying now. "I just wanna go home."

"We will. We just have to go through this first. You've encountered way tougher things than this. We believe in you. You're my brave little boy." Pearl wiped a tear off his face. But her comment only made Steven cry harder. Except this time it was happy tears

A second later, the IV was in and they hooked it to the bag of water. Dr Maheswaran wrote a few notes on his chart. "Okay Steven, we're gonna have to keep you overnight to make sure you're stable. Just relax, get some sleep, and we'll discuss therapy tomorrow."

He simply smiled and nodded. Connie was ushered to go home despite her arguments. Steven made sure she knew he would be alright so she left. Pearl stayed behind and spent the night in the hospital 

She never left his side and held his hand. She started thinking to herself. "I got our son, Rose."