Chapter
16
By Julie
Once inside
the plane, I sat down in one of the seats, breathing hard. I felt very weak and
dizzy, and I was still nauseous. Without warning, I began to cry. I buried my
throbbing head in my hands and cried softly. I was so scared. Scared for my
friends, and now, scared for myself. I didn't have to be a doctor to know that
throwing up blood was not a good thing.
Suddenly, I
stopped crying as I heard a noise. I looked up to see Nick, rolling around and
mumbling. I wondered if he was having a bad dream. I eased myself onto the
floor, moaning in pain, and sat beside Nick. I gently shook his shoulder.
"Nick!"
I whispered. "Wake up, buddy. You're having a bad dream. Now wake
up." I gently shook him, hoping he would wake up. Finally, his eyes
opened. He stared at me and mumbled something that I couldn't make out. I
didn't care. I was just happy to have him awake. "Nick?" I asked.
"It's me, Brian. How are you feeling?"
"I'm so
cold," Nick mumbled weakly. Nick already had three blankets on, but I
grabbed the one I was using and covered him with it. He was still shivering.
"Nick, do
you know where you are?" I asked. I wasn't sure if he was delirious or
not. He didn't reply, just stared up at me. I bent over and felt his forehead.
It was still burning hot. His skin was deathly pale, except for his cheeks,
which were flushed with color, and the dark circles under his eyes. His eyes
were pale and bloodshot.
Suddenly, he
began to cough. His whole body shook with his large, racking coughs. When the
coughing spasm ended, he was left gasping for breath. I could here him
painfully wheezing. My heart reached out to him as tears came to his eyes.
"It
hurts," he said, the tears running down his flushed cheeks. "I can't
breathe."
"I know,
Nicky," I said. I felt horrible for him. There was nothing I could do for
him. He continued to wheeze. His eyelids began to droop. Suddenly, his eyes
just rolled back in his head, and he began to go into convulsions.
"NO!" I cried in horror, watching as his whole body shook with the
seizure. "Kevin!" I screamed. Kevin jolted awake. His eyes widened in
terror as he saw Nick, still having a seizure on the floor. He leapt up and
scrambled over to Nick. He leaned his entire body over Nick's, trying to hold him
down. The seizure only lasted a minute longer, but it felt like forever.
Finally, Nick's body relaxed. His eyes closed and his breathing slowed down and
became more steady. I heaved a sigh of relief. Kevin jumped up to get the first
aid kit. I watched Nick carefully. His mouth dropped open as he slept. I gasped
as blood began to run down the side of his mouth.
"Kev!"
I yelled. "His mouth is bleeding!!" Kevin scurried over.
"He must
have bitten his tongue," he said, looking at Nick's mouth. "We have
to clean the blood out of his mouth so he doesn't choke on it. Get out some
gauze," he said, handing me the first aid kit. Kevin turned Nick's head to
the side, so the blood ran out of his mouth easier and dripped onto the floor.
I pulled out some gauze and handed it to Kevin. Kevin put it in Nick's mouth,
trying to clean out the blood. He blotted at his tongue, trying to stop the
bleeding. Finally, the blood stopped dripping out of Nick's mouth, and Kevin
was satisfied.
Next, Kevin
took out the thermometer. He stuck it in Nick's mouth and waited for it to
beep. Finally it did. Kevin pulled it out and looked at the number. His eyes
widened. Wordlessly, he handed it to me. I looked at it in horror. The number
read 106° . I gasped.
"We have
to lower his temperature!" I cried. "Remember when I was in the
hospital when I was five? I had a temperature of 107°, and the doctors said
that was high enough to cause brain damage!"
Kevin nodded.
He looked around the plane. Then he grabbed Nick's suitcase and pulled out a
t-shirt. "I'll be right back," he said. He hurried out of the plane.
I watched out the window as he scooped up snow and put it in the shirt. Then,
he rolled the shirt up and brought it inside. He lay it on Nick's forehead.
"This should help," he said. Nick shivered beneath the blankets, but
Kevin held the shirt on his forehead until the snow started to melt. Then he
got up. "Hold this on his head," he told me. Then he grabbed another
shirt and made another ice pack. When he brought it in, I switched in with the
melted one in Nick's head, while Kevin went out to get another one ready.
After awhile,
we took his temperature again. It had gone down to 105 degrees. We both sighed
in relief.
"That's a
start," I said, feeling a little better. We spent the rest of that night
putting ice packs on Nick until his fever had gone down to 103 degrees. Then we
called it quits for the night and went to bed. Kevin went right to sleep. I
could hear him snoring softly. But I lay awake in the dark plane, crying. Even
though Nick's fever had gone down, he was still very sick. I knew I was in bad
shape myself. And I had no idea how Howie and AJ were. As I worried, I wore
myself out, and eventually, I cried myself to sleep.
***
