𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 / 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧

"never again"

When my eyes first opened, it was dark. The only light was coming from the glow of machinery around the room and some dim hallway lights, outside the door. I shifted in my bed, another sharp pain striking me. I winced and all the memories of the previous day came back.

The locker room. Adam, Charlie, Dean and Fulton. An ambulance.

I sat up, finally realizing where I was. A hospital bed. My dad was asleep on a chair across the room. I couldn't read the clock to know what time it was but judging by the lack of activity, I guessed it was either very late or very early.

I shifted in the covers and noticed an IV in my arm. I had never been a fan of needles and quickly looked away from it. 

"Dad?" I whispered. My voice was very hoarse and quiet so I cleared my throat and tried again. "Dad?"

He stirred in his chair and shook his head to wake up. "Ella, hey. How you feeling kiddo?" He got up and sat on the very end of my bed.

"Okay, I guess. What happened?"

"Well, I'm not really sure. The group of boys that came in with you said that you fainted in the locker room. You've been asleep since. No one ran any sort of tests yet since you were stable when you arrived."

"Oh." I looked down and smoothed the hospital gown I had been dressed in. "What time is it? Where's mom?"

"It's a little past 3am." Dad glanced at his watch. "Your mom was here but she went home with Joey. She'll be here in the morning once she drops him off at school."

I nodded and stared at my hands. "I'm going to be okay, right dad?"

"Of course you will sweetie. We have no reason to worry right now." He got up and patted my leg. "You better get back to sleep. Brain scans in the morning." He tapped the side of his head and sat down on his chair.

I lay back down and tried to sleep. But my mind continued to wander for a long time.   My dad was right. There wasn't anything to worry about.

But for some reason I didn't believe that.

_

"All you need to do is just lay very still. This is the last test, I promise."

I nodded at the nurse who had just laid me down to go through the fourth brain scan of the morning. She smiled and left me alone. A few moments later, I heard the machine start up and I slowly started moving through it.

I lay as still as I could, staring at the top of the inside of the scanner. It didn't take as long as the first three, which I was thankful for. 

"You did great. We're all done here so you can head back to your room." The same nurse who had put me in the machine, held the door as I left the PET room.

Back in my room, my mom had shown up with flowers. "Hi baby." She pulled me into a hug and when we pulled away I saw a tear fall down her cheek.

"Mom, no need to cry." I laughed and she shook her head.

"You have scared me way too many times this week, Ella." She sighed in a good mannered way and I smiled apologetically.

"The doctors say that we'll have those test results by the end of the day so until then, we won't worry." My dad came strolling into the room, probably coming from the vending machine down the hall. "I was thinking your mother and I could pick something up for lunch and we can all eat it back here?"

"That sounds great." I nodded and he looked pleased to not have to eat hospital food. "Is there anyway you can get me spaghetti? I would literally kill for some right now."