As Kirby walked towards the gym on a Friday afternoon he felt as
though something was off. He couldn't quite place exactly why he felt
so uneasy as he neared the building or why his stomach churned as he
grabbed the door handle. He looked around nervously though he still
didn't know why. People shuffled beside him and they didn't appear to
seem fazed one bit. Kirby attempted to will the feelings away but as
he neared the locker rooms on the lower floor he felt as though he
would puke. He stopped in his tracks and leaned against the wall to
keep his vision from becoming hazy as he glanced towards the water on
the wall next to him. He actually considered drinking it but he
remembered what had happened last time and opted out.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed away from the surface supporting him
from behind and moved into the locker room. He stopped and looked
around when he saw everyone that was in there before were running
right back out. He nearly toppled over when Damon bumped into him,
obviously in a hurry. Everything was in slow motion, he couldn't hear
correctly and his eyes were blurry. He smelled smoke and soon enough
his brain became alert again.
People were screaming upstairs, but he still had trouble registering
what they were saying. Ignoring his intuition, he rushed up the stairs
and into the middle of the gym, stopping in his tracks when he saw
bright flickers of flames coating the building. He began to panic and
couldn't move. The smoke started to fill in his lungs and he instantly
ran a few steps in the direction where he thought the exit was,
instead hitting a wall straight on and stumbling on to his backside.
He could hear faint screaming and he struggled to get up.
"I'm getting out of here!" he managed to choke out and turned around
to locate the doors of the gym, but was soon on the floor with a
burning, heavy weight on top of him. He screamed immediately, flailing
his arms, but it was to no avail. He was trapped.
His vision was swimming out of focus and he found it a struggle to
breath, barely getting time to inhale any oxygen before he coughed in
attempt to rid the smoke from his lungs. The last thing he could see
were the legs of a person standing in front of him before he blacked
out.
Kirby soon awoke, looking straight at a faint shade of white. It took
a moment before the pain settled in and he was breathing heavily,
wanting to hold on to his back to cease the pain seemingly ripping,
tearing at his flesh. Tears threatened to leave his eyes and the rest
of the pain and adrenaline kicked in, causing him to hyperventilate,
hands sitting him up ever so slightly and voices not even in the least
bit coherent urging him to do something, and was having water shoved
down his throat.
After calming down at least a little bit and drinking the water he
desperately wanted, all he managed to muster were slight whimpers from
the back of his throat. He looked around and found he was in a foreign
room, perhaps in a hospital, judging by what he remembered happening
prior to being unconscious.
The doctors gave him more medicine to relieve him pain and he lie
there, motionless in his hospital bed, left staring at the dirty
ceiling above him. He wiggled his fingers to a random tune the thought
of in sheer boredom. Kirby eventually fell into the clutches of
sleep, his pain being forgotten for at least a little while.
Kirby was awake again when he jolted from a dream he was having, his
stiff muscles groaning in complaint. He groaned himself, then relaxed
and saw someone staring at him in the doorway. The blurry person
stared a while longer before turning away. Kirby closed his eyes again
and tried to rest once more, but his mind wouldn't allow him.
He heard a familiar, panicked female's voice coming closer and closer
and he opened his eyes, soon staring into the distraught gaze of his
mother. She leaned close and searched his face before breaking down
into tears, mumbling something to herself that Kirby couldn't hear.
His mom wiped her face and took a chair, moving to sit beside him,
reaching to gently stroke his face. He smiled at the contact and
closed his eyes again.
"Sleep, Kirby," he barely registered his mother say.
And he did.
He woke up later on and his mother was gone. He guessed visiting hours
were over and he winced as he was slowly, carefully being sat up. He
definitely felt better, that was for sure. He could hear again and his
vision wasn't as blurry as it was. He was beginning to hurt again, but
didn't complain as he started to eat. He was told that if he didn't
have the appetite then he most certainly did not have to consume any
of the food given to him.
He thought he wasn't at first, but he was hungry.
The next day, his mom returned and visited him as long as she could.
"I love you Kirby," was the first thing she said, tears that were
pooling in her eyes dropping on to her cheeks and sliding down to the
sad smile she was giving him. Kirby returned his smile to let her know
he acknowledged what she had said. He didn't have the voice to talk,
but that was okay for his mom.
"If I had lost you in that fire..." she trailed off, looking down and
stopping her strokes on her son's face. She looked back up after a
moment of quiet sobbing and shook her head. Kirby wanted to hug her
and tell her it would be okay but he couldn't bring himself to. Not in
that amount of pain.
"But you're... You're still here. I should be grateful for that," her
words dropped to a whisper and she sighed softly before sniffling,
retracting her hand from Kirby's face to wipe her's. He stared
helplessly at his mom, starting to reach his arm out to touch her face
like she had been before, but she stopped him.
"I'll be fine Kirby, don't you worry," she whispered, gently squeezing
his hand as she guided it back to rest next to him. She sighed and
looked down, then to the side, and finally back to Kirby. She looked
exhausted, her face wet and her eyes red and puffy from crying. Kirby
didn't like it when his mom cried. It made somewhere deep inside his
chest start to throb and his face would feel heavy.
"D-don't cry..." he whispered in a hoarse voice, wincing both at how
he sounded and how much his throat hurt. His mom nodded sadly and
chose to smile instead.
"I'm sorry honey. I forgot how much you hate it when I cry," she
replied, stroking the back of his hand gently. They both were silent
after that. They were both smiling as Kirby let a million questions
race through his mind and his mom was holding his hand, watching him.
What if he had died in that fire? How did he even get out from under
the burning object on top of him? He saw legs before he blacked out-
who was it that rescued him? How did the fire even start?
He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a doctor's voice fill
the room. "Ms. Olsen, Kirby. I have some information I need to share
with you." And with that, he took a seat and pulled out a clipboard.
Kirby could vaguely remember the conversation but his heart was
pounding in his chest by the time it was finished. According to an
anonymous witness inside of the gym, a large, wooden frame of some
sort fell directly on his spine. From the way it fell on him, he
probably wouldn't be walking any time soon.
Kirby's mom started crying again, but she couldn't help it. She held
Kirby close and he wanted to cry as well. His face was in a grimace
and his hands were slowly clenching and unclenching as he stared down
at his legs. He realized that he couldn't even feel them a little past
the hips.
The doctor told them that another day or two would be needed in the
hospital before they were released. Kirby would he in a wheelchair.
The only reason he panicked was because he couldn't play football. He
wouldn't be on the team and he probably would be picked on because of
his disability too. It didn't bother him so much since he's got a
special recipe for poundcake for those losers, but what really
bothered him was that he didn't know if the jocks were going to
completely oppose him as being apart of the clique. If they were, he
wasn't exactly sure what he'd do. Maybe he could work something out
with Ted.
His mom was stroking his face again, tears pooling in her eyes but not
falling from her face. She looked at him for a while before she sighed
and slowly stood up.
"Kirby, I would stay longer with you, but I need to get some more food
at home so we don't run out," she explained, playing silently with her
fingers, a soft smile on her face. Kirby nodded and mouthed an 'okay'
in her direction. Sometimes his mom worried about him too much and
didn't take care of herself.
"When you come home, I'll make you a nice dinner. Poundcake for
dessert. How about that?" she beamed a little bit brighter as she
spoke. Kirby gave her another nod, raising his hand to make waving
motions as if to shoo her out of the room. She only chuckled and
planted a kiss to his forehead, whispering that she loved him and
she'd be back soon before taking her leave.
Once his mom was out of the room, Kirby sighed and stared at the
ceiling. A few scenarios ran through his head of how talking to Ted
would go. He wasn't exactly sure how he'd react. He didn't even see
him around all that much. Did he even know Kirby was gone?
He was suddenly worried, showing this by tentatively bringing a
fingernail to his mouth and nibbling on it. He could pretty much hear
Ted in his mind; "I don't even know who you are so no you can't be a
jock get out of my face I have a cheerleader to bang lol bai"
...Not really.
Kirby sighed again, this time in frustration. He rubbed his eyes with
the heels of his hands and glanced at the clock on the wall. 2:41 pm.
He was hungry and tired, thirsty and restless. He needed to do
something, anything to pass the time. He wanted to walk around and
stretch the legs he would never be able to use.
He should've asked his mom to bring his Pokémon game with her when she
came back.
The only thing he could do is stare at the wall and think. About
shoes? Lola's shoes were boring and white but they had a cool design.
Kirby stopped himself and sighed again, finally deciding to try and
get a nurse's attention so he wouldn't be bored out of his skull the
rest of the day.
A/N: I took the events of the mission The Gym is Burning and made it into my own little fanfiction. Yaay!
I wanna apologize in advance for any OOCness throughout this fic.
Also, suggestions are welcome! ^^