Page 38 of Dueling Flames

“What? Where’s…Thorne?”

“He’s coming with us,” Lacey said as she pushed me through the back of the ambulance and shut the doors, my view of the fire now gone.

“I’m right here.” Thorne sat beside me in the back of the ambulance and held my hand.

Lissa

I sat on the hospital bed surrounded by light blue cloth curtains. I’d been here for about four hours. Light no longer hurt my eyes nor my head, but they had given me some medicine when I’d arrived. After they read my CT scan, they would probably let me go.

Now that I could remember the fire and explosion, I let the scene play over and over in my mind. There was no warning and anything could’ve been in an abandoned building.

Lacey told me that only I was affected. As mad as I was at Thorne, I was grateful that nothing happened to him. He was still on light duty. Him even being on site could get us all in trouble, possibly fired. He’d stayed with me until the doctors forced him out. Now all I wanted was for him to be in the room with me.

Not content to just sit there, I slowly tested my ability to walk. Concussions weren’t something to ignore, and they told me I had a moderate concussion, or Grade 2. If I was lucky, I could go back on full duty in a week.

Walking around the room with the IV still in my wrist proved doable, but made me aware of how sore my body was from the blast. Landing on asphalt will do that. I turned around when I heard the curtains move. A nurse looked at me with a portable computer in tow and shook her head.

“Do you need to go to the washroom?” she asked.

“No. Just needed to move.”

“It’s best if you stay on the bed.” She pointed to the hospital bed I’d abandoned.

I gave her a nod and sat down on the bed. She helped me swing my legs up, even though I didn’t need the help.

“Can you see if there’s someone in the waiting room for me named Thorne? Hawthorne Graves? And if he is, can he come sit with me?”

The nurse nodded. “I can do that. Though, I think they called your emergency contact.”

I stopped breathing for a moment. Did they call my parents?

“Who…is my emergency contact?”

“Let’s see.” The nurse pulled up my file. “Monica Bein.”

“Oh thank god,” I laid back on the bed and relaxed.

She chuckled and pulled out a blood pressure cuff. “Let’s take some readings. The doctor should be with you shortly. She’s just waiting on the CT results.”

Thorne

I sat in the waiting room for a good three hours after they kicked me out of Lissa’s room. Dark dropped by after the run, still smelling of smoke, to ask about Lissa. He told me to look after her and to keep him updated, then left.

Somehow, I managed to have both our phones. Hers was off, and I kept it that way, though I’m sure someone would want an update from her. The harsh lights started to get to me. No amount of walking in circles or coffee helped.

Speaking of which, I looked down at my fourth cup of coffee since I arrived. I should switch to water. The constant shake of my legs was vibrating an entire row of chairs.

“Hawthorne Graves.”

I looked up to see a nurse in pink with a clipboard.

“I’m Hawthorne Graves.”

She nodded. “Come with me.”

I didn’t ask questions, just nodded and followed. She led me to a row of examination bays separated by blue curtains. She pulled a set of curtains aside and motioned for me to enter. Lissa laid on a bed with the back inclined, her head resting on a pillow, and her eyes closed. A little smudge of soot graced her cheek, and her hair flowed down around her shoulders. I rushed in and grabbed her hand without the IV.

Lissa opened her eyes and smiled at me. “Hey, you’re still here.”