Cinders

~23~ Blessing

The beeping at first is faint—Annoying. I keep thinking it's my alarm clock. Why hasn't mom come in to get me up?

I try to open my eyes, but they're heavy. It takes more strength than it should to open them. I finally manage to open them, and I'm confused by what I see—White walls—Sterile—Cold.

My throat is hurting; I must be catching a cold. My hand is hurting too—Actually, everything is hurting.

"Liam!!!!! Oh, baby!!!!" I hear mom cry. I feel her carefully sit on the bed, and wrap herself around me. What the hell is going on? I try to look at her, but my eyes aren't quite focusing. I try to talk, but my throat is hurting too badly.

Mom is kissing me—Kissing my head, cheeks, forehead, head again, cheeks again—Over and over she's kissing and hugging me.

"I love you so much," she says, crying again as she puts her forehead carefully on my head.

I'm finally able to look at her—focus on her. She looks bad.

The dark circles under her eyes are prominent. Her hair is a complete mess. She's still in her paramedic uniform—Paramedic. Fire. Duncan's house. Oh! I was in a fire. I try to speak again.

"Taylor got me out," I say, not even recognizing my own voice. It's not a question. I'm telling her that I know Taylor got me out. I knew he wouldn't let me die.

"Yeah, baby. Taylor got you out."

"Duncan?" I ask, afraid to know the answer.

"Duncan's fine. He has a little smoke inhalation, but he's already home. Er, with his family. The house is gone."

I nod slightly and close my eyes again.

"Liam, dad's right here," mom says, not wanting me to fall back to sleep until dad can see me. Dad!

I open my eyes immediately, and start searching for him. He and mom switched places, and he's now sitting on my bed, holding the hand that doesn't have the IV.

Once I look at him, tears start to fall down my cheek. My big, strong, dad has been crying—He looks like death—Like he's been to hell and back. "What happened?" I ask, looking at his insanely dark black eye.

"Doesn't matter. How're you feeling?" He asks, brushing off how he got his black eye.

"I hurt," I say honestly. My voice is barely above a whisper. It's so raspy—I'm in so much pain.

"I almost died, huh?" I ask dad. I can tell by how I'm feeling that this was bad. Really bad.

"Taylor got to you in time, and put his mask on you. He saved your life," Dad says, starting to cry again.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," he says, wiping the tears away.

I don't say anything. I'm too tired. I close my eyes and go back to sleep.

~*~

When I wake up, mom and dad are still there, sitting in chairs. Neither are speaking; They're both just staring at the walls. They hear me shifting and look up. Mom immediately gets up and comes over to me.

"How ya feeling, love?" She asks as she touches my face, running her hands through my hair.

"I'm hurting." My voice is still bad. Weak.

She nods and pushes the call button. A nurse walks in moments later, carrying something. She puts medicine in my IV after mom said I needed more pain killers, she takes my vitals, and leaves.

Suddenly I see Taylor coming through the door. His eyes lock on mine immediately.

Hey bud!" Taylor says with a huge smile on his face. "You look horrible!"