Chapter
11
By
Rachel
My eyes shot
open as another round of pain shot through my stomach. I bit my lip so I wouldn't
cry out and wake Nick and Kevin, who still needed their rest, and sighed in
relief when the pain decreased. It was then that I realized I must have fallen
asleep, but again, I didn't know how long.
I looked
around the plane and immediately realized something was missing. Nick! my mind screamed at me as my tired
body tried to respond. Oh my god, where
could he be? I thought as I got up quickly from the seat, pushing aside the
pain. I got up and tried to hop to the front of the plane to see if he was up
there, stopping only a few times to catch my breath. I about gave up hope when
I looked in the cockpit and didn't see any sign of him and I immediately turned
around to hop back towards the area we had adopted as the "sleeping
area".
For some
unknown reason, I looked out the window, and I cried out in shock and relief at
what I saw. Nick was kneeling on the ground, his body shaking as the moonlight
that was peeking through the dark clouds every once in awhile illuminated his
form. I was relieved I had found him, but upset to find him outside when he was
already sick. I mentally scolded myself for not thinking of looking outside
earlier and hopped over to the plane door.
I quietly
opened the plane door and the cold night air hit me like a knife. I shuddered
and pulled my sweatshirt sleeves over my hands to keep me a little warmer and
slowly made my way over to Nick. My heart went out to him when I got closer and
saw he was throwing up after every few seconds. I knelt down on the ground
beside of him and started to rub his back. He jumped in shock at first and was
about to say something when he got sick again. After a few minutes of rubbing
his back, he leaned back against me. "You better now Frack?" I asked
gently as I put my arms around him to give him some warmth.
"Cold,"
he responded when his teeth began chattering.
"You want
to head back to the plane? It is warmer there," I suggested. He nodded in
response and slowly got up from the ground and offered me a hand to help me up
once he was standing. I graciously accepted it, and Nick weakly pulled me up to
my feet and began to stagger back towards the plane entrance. When we got
within about five feet of the plane Nick suddenly stopped, and the next thing I
knew, he was falling towards the ground. I was too far behind him to catch him
so he hit the blanket of snow on the ground at full force.
"Nick,
Nick! You okay!?!" I frantically screamed as I quickly hopped over to him.
I gently rolled him onto his back and shook his shoulder, trying to wake him
up. My attempts did no good; he still lay on the ground motionless, and his
breathing was shallow. I knew with my injuries I couldn't move him to the
plane, and I started to pray that he would regain consciousness soon.
***
Several
minutes later, I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder, and I screamed. I quickly
turned around and found myself staring into my cousin's face. "What
happened, Bri?" he asked as he lowered himself to the ground beside of
Nick. "I found him out here, and he was throwing up, and he passed out,"
I stuttered.
"Come on,
'Lil Man, wake up," I heard Kevin say as he shook Nick's shoulder gently,
using one of his many nicknames for Nick. He sighed in frustration when he
received no response and slowly rose to his feet and bent down to pick up Nick.
When he had Nick securely in his arms, he gently nudged me in my good leg with
his foot, and I obediently got to my feet and hopped ahead of Kevin to open the
door for him.
Once we
entered the plane, Kevin placed Nick gently on the floor and put all the
blankets over his shivering body, attempting to warm up Nick's body. It was
then at that time, that the dark clouds had disappeared from the sky and
moonlight was now streaming in the plane windows. I finally got my first good
look at Nick since I found him outside. He was a shade paler than he was
earlier, and his lips had a slight blue tint to them. I could tell he was
having trouble breathing. I was shaken out of my thoughts as Nick burst out
into a coughing fit without even waking and watched Kevin gently move him in
the sitting position and started rubbing his back. Once the coughing fit
subsided, he gently laid Nick back down and covered him back up.
"I think
he has pneumonia, Kev," I stated in a fear-filled voice.
Kevin looked
up at me with question in his eyes. "Why are you so sure about this,
Bri?" he asked.
"You
remember when Harry got that really bad case of pneumonia when we were kids,
and he was in the hospital? Nick has the same symptoms Harry had," I
stated matter-of-factly, referring to the one time my brother had the flu that
then turned into a horrible case of pneumonia that landed him in the hospital
for a few weeks when I was about seven years old.
"Yeah, I
remember, Bri. No offense, but I hope you are wrong. I don't know how long he
could survive with a bad case of pneumonia and no medical attention."
I sighed as I
took in Kevin's words - he was right; it would be hard to tell how long he
could survive with pneumonia. I found myself hoping that it was just a bad case
of the flu and not pneumonia like we both feared.
I heard Kevin
cry out and looked over towards where he was and screamed. Nick was on the
floor, convulsing vigorously, as Kevin fought to hold him down. I watched the
scene with tears streaming down my face, feeling helpless and guilty for not
helping. Finally, Nick stopped convulsing and lay motionless on the floor. I
crawled over to his side, hoping he would wake up after his seizure, but was
greeted by his steady and ragged breathing, signaling that he was asleep.
"What do
you think caused this, Kev?" I asked as I watched over my best friend
sleeping and looked up to see Kevin rest his hand on Nick's forehead and frown.
"Well, he
has a very high fever; that may have caused it. I remember Mom telling me that
when I was about one or two, I had a seizure, and she and dad took me to the hospital,
and the doctors said it was caused by the high fever I had. That is probably
the cause of Nicky's seizure also," stated Kevin as he looked into my face
for a reaction. I only nodded and didn't say a word.
I felt exhausted all of a sudden and tried to hide it, but Kevin
noticed. "Bri, get some sleep; I will watch over Nick, and if he wakes up,
I will tell you," Kevin told me in a stern tone. I knew not to argue with
him when he used that tone of voice so I mumbled an "okay" and put my
hand on Kevin's shoulder, using it to pull myself up, and hopped over to an
empty area a few feet away. I lowered myself to the floor and lay on my back
staring at the ceiling of the plane and gave a weak smile when Kevin walked
over and put a blanket over me. "Go to sleep now, Bri," he said as he
turned around and walked back to where Nick was. I rolled over onto my stomach
ignoring the protests from my stomach, ribs, and leg and buried my head in my
arms, finally crying myself to sleep.
***
