Chapter
20
By Julie
Late that
afternoon, Kevin woke up from a nap. The first thing he did was check on Nick
and Brian. Both were sleeping. Brian was still unconscious, and Nick had been
sleeping ever since he had fallen asleep before. It seemed like all the three
of them ever did was sleep, but there wasn't much else to do on a broken down
airplane.
Kevin heard
his stomach rumble and took out some crackers to nibble on. He wondered how
long it had been since Nick or Brian had eaten. Brian had tried, but he
couldn't keep anything down. And Nick was usually asleep. Kevin wasn't even
sure how long they had been in the plane. It was hard to keep track of the
days. He wondered how much longer they would be there. He had no idea where
they were and wondered how far Howie and AJ would have to walk until they found
help. Kevin hoped it wasn't too much longer, for he knew Brian and Nick didn't
have much time left if they didn't get medical attention soon.
Kevin's
thoughts were interrupted by a strange, gurgling sound. He looked around
alarmed, until his eyes rested on Brian.
"Oh, my
God!" he cried, rushing over to his cousin. Brian was still unconscious,
but he was throwing up. The bloody vomit oozed out of his mouth. Kevin knew he
might choke on it. He forced open Brian's mouth and tilted his head to the side
so that the vomit wouldn't get stuck in his throat. When Brian stopped throwing
up, Kevin grabbed some gauze from the first aid kit and used it to clean off
Brian's mouth. The bloody mess had gotten all over the blanket Brian was lying
on. Kevin tried to clean it up the best he could without moving Brian off of
the blanket.
When he had
finished cleaning up, he looked up to see Brian open his eyes.
"Bri!"
Kevin exclaimed happily. "How are you doing, man?"
I looked
around, confused. "Fine," I replied weakly, even though I knew I
wasn't. My stomach hurt so badly I wanted to cry. I think Kevin could tell I
was lying.
"Are you
in pain, Brian?" he asked. I looked into his eyes and realized he knew the
truth about my injuries.
"My
stomach hurts really bad," I moaned, letting the tears flow out of my
eyes.
"Bri, why
didn't you tell me about all of this earlier? This is serious!" Kevin
said.
I shrugged.
"I didn't want to worry you anymore than you already were," I
replied.
"Can I
take a look at your stomach?" Kevin asked. I nodded and let him unzip my
jacket and carefully lift up my shirt. He gasped. I sat up quickly, immediately
feeling dizzy and nauseous. I squeezed my eyes closed until it passed, then
took a look at my stomach. I gasped at what I saw too.
My stomach was
bruised looking, and it looked swollen and bloated. Kevin gingerly put his hand
on it.
"Does
this hurt?" he asked, gently pushing his hand into my stomach.
I winced.
"Yes!" I cried. Kevin looked very worried. Neither of us were doctors,
but we knew this was very bad.
I tried to not
think about it by changing the subject. "How's Nicky?" I asked.
"He was
awake for a little while this morning," Kevin replied. "But he went
back to sleep and hasn't woken up since. I gave him some aspirin, but I'm not
sure if it helped much."
"We
should take his temperature," I said. I started to hoist myself up, but
Kevin eased me back down.
"I'll do
it," he replied. "You just lie still. I don't want you making
yourself worse." I nodded, feeling a little relieved.
Kevin got out
the thermometer and stuck it through Nick's parted lips. A few minutes later,
when it beeped, he looked disappointed. "If it went down before, it's gone
up again. It's at 105 still."
I said
nothing, feeling depressed. I knew Nick wasn't doing well either just by
looking at him. His skin was still nearly white except for his feverish cheeks.
His breathing sounded even worse than the last time I had heard him. It sounded
like he was struggling for every breath.
Suddenly, a
wave of nausea washed over me again. I lay back and took a deep breath, but
nothing helped. Suddenly, I had the urge to throw up again. But I felt so weak,
I couldn't even sit up. I managed to turn my head away and began to throw up.
It was even more thick with blood than before.
When I
finished throwing up, Kevin was by my side. He wiped off my mouth for me. Then
he disappeared outside for a minute. When he returned he was carrying some snow
in his hand.
"Here,
eat this," he said, handing it to me. I ate the snow. It helped to get the
bad taste out of my mouth. I didn't know what we would do without the snow. It
was what had been keeping us from getting too dehydrated the whole time we had
been there. I didn't know how long it had been since the plane crashed. All I
knew was that it been many days, maybe even a whole week, and there was still
no sign of help.
But, just as I
was thinking those thoughts, Kevin suddenly sat up and listened, alertly.
"What?"
I asked, but he put his finger to his lips, silencing me. I lay still and
listened too. My eyes widened as I recognized the sound of a helicopter. It
sounded close. Before I could say anything, Kevin jumped up and ran outside. I
was too sick and weak to get up, but I listened carefully and prayed for it to
be someone coming to rescue us.
Tears filled
my eyes as I realized the helicopter was getting closer. Soon, I saw it landing
outside one of the windows. I knew this was it. We were finally going to get
out of this nightmare. I wanted to jump and shout for joy, but I was too weak.
Suddenly, another sharp pain hit my stomach, and I drifted off into a sea of
darkness.
***
