The Fourth Notebook

31

Cody POV (morning)
12/2/2014
The rain is still pouring hard.
Last night a fuse was blown in James and my room and also in the janitor's closet, so James and I camped out in Grace's room after she offered. Grace was a little sad yesterday, though. The hospital finally got her chemotherapy in so she is hooked up to is for two hours a day. She is afraid that she will lose her hair and look bad. She asked me to run down to the crafts store to get some yarn and crochet needles so she can make hats. I ran in that crazy storm with James and our hospital escort. Thank goodness we didn't slip.
58- Grace's smile

Grace POV (noon time)
December 2, 2014
Cody is grabbing us some lunch and I am hooked up to my chemo.
This rain is weird, I've never seen anything like it.
It's like a purge.
I turned on the news while I waited for the guys to come back.
There was a news reporter standing in the rain in front of a mangled mess that might have once been a white car.
"Four people have been pronounced dead here at the downtown freeway exit and one minor is critically injured. She is being transported to the nearest hospital."
Poor woman, she might have had a family. For a split second you could see a gurney being rolled into an ambulance. She had dark black hair. Then the tv cut to static and then went black.
"Dang it. Old antennas probably can't handle this storm.
Cody and James came back with the special, chili.
"Hey can you fix the tv? It went to static," I asked one of them.
James reached for the electrical cord, "You know this isn't even plugged in, right?"
Weird storm.
58- yarn

James POV (evening)
12/2/14
The chili here is so good.
It probably tastes even better because it's freezing cold outside and Grace had Cody and I get some yarn so we were all wet.
I love the rain.
Everything gets this white-gray glow.
It smells like wet dirt.
I always though rain brought good things.
I sat on Grace's window sill and ate my chili.
An unmarked white van pulled up in the emergency ambulance area.
No sirens.
No horns.
It just rolled in.
Two people dressed in pristine white clothes hopped out of the van and took out a gurney from the back.
They left the gurney on the sidewalk in the rain and got back in the van and they drove away.
"Uh, guys?" I asked.
"Yeah?" Cody said.
"I think there's something out there for us."
They came towards the window.
"I'm going downstairs!" I yelled as I sprinted down the hallway.
I passed Nurse Patti's desk on my way out.
"James! Where are you going?"
"Can't talk now! Get some nurses!"
The alarms went off when I passed the sensors.
I took the employee elevator to the 1st floor and ran out into the rain.
The girl was lying still.
She was unscathed and her jet black hair was perfect.
She looked like she was sleeping.
I placed my finger under her nose to see if she was breathing.
I light warm air tickled my chilled fingers.
I rolled her into the lobby just as two nurses were running out for me.
"She was just left here," I told them.
They looked at me in puzzlement.
Then her.
Then me.
Her.
Back to me.
"Does she have any identification?" One nurse asks.
A small pink wallet in her pocket poked out.
I grabbed it and pulled out her state ID
"Emma Paisley. Born December 2nd, 2000."
"Is that it?" The nurse asks
"I can't read the rest. Sorry."
"That's okay, James. Go on inside."
A nurse half forced, half led me back to Grace's room.
"So what's up?" Grace asked.
"It looks like we have a new friend."