Ok! This one took a while! sorry for the delay!

CH. 8

Beep…

My mind twitched, sensing a change in the void I was peacefully floating in.

Beep…

Irritation now.

Beep…

Unwillingly, I was drawn towards the steady sound as if by an invisible cord.

Beep…Beep…Beep…

The closer I came to the surface, the more familiar that sound became. It was a heart monitor, proclaiming to anyone within ear shot that I was indeed alive.

Slowly, starting with my toes, I began to become aware of my body. Other sounds and sensations made themselves known. First came the feel of a soft, but lumpy, pillow under my head. Then the thick warmth of a sheet and blanket. Too warm…My sluggish mind complained, and, with an immense feat of will, I kicked the blankets off. There was a very familiar gasp from beside me.

"Wednesday?!" Winifred breathed as I finally forced my eyelids open. Having already used all of my energy removing the blanket, I could only nod at her. Her hands fluttered to her mouth, and her eyes, much to my mute alarm, began to leak tiny glistening tears. I managed to frown and shake my head, hoping she'd understand. She seemed to, for her tears stopped and she found her voice.

"Thank God! We were all so worried! When the bus was finally able to stop safely and the driver realized that some students were missing we didn't know what to do with ourselves! No one even knows how the emergency door managed to open!" As the words flowed from her mouth, Winifred's tears came back, and she was soon bawling into my boney shoulder. We stayed that way for quite some time while my strength slowly came back to me. Finally, I felt strong enough to speak without fear of my voice cracking.

"How and where are the others?" My voice was croaky but otherwise normal. Winifred lifted her head, wiped away her tears, and answered.

"Well, it's my shift right now. The others are eating, sleeping, or, in dad's case, pacing around and muttering to themselves." I smiled weakly as she continued. "You have a pretty bad concussion, but it's not life threatening or anything. The doctor said that with lots of rest you should be fine in a few weeks." Finding out that I was going to be ok made a little bubble of happiness tug at my heart. Its life, however, was short lived.

"How long have I been out? Did anyone else get hurt?" My curiosity was getting worse as my head became clearer. The thought of others being in more deadly situations than my own had my skin crawling in dread, but Winifred smiled.

"No one was seriously injured, if that's what you're asking. A few broken bones here and there, but that's the worst of it." She glanced at her watch. "The doctors sedated you so they could run some tests to make sure your brain was intact, so it's been about three days now. Reasonable should be here any minute to take his shift." Her eyes began to twinkle mischievously. "We'll let you being awake be a surprise."

I smiled at her, feeling a little strange about all the time I'd been gone. The disorientation hadn't dissipated when my only brother walked in several minutes later. He looked tired and frazzled, just as Winifred did. I felt sad that they were wearing themselves out worrying about me. His mouth dropped open the moment he saw that my eyes were open in an expression that I'd have thought hilarious, were I not so terribly tired.

"W-Wednesday! You're awake!" Tears clouded his eyes and began to spill over as he furiously flopped my bangs around in his way of saying he was happy. Reasonable has never been a very huggy person. I grinned thinly at him and made a half-hearted attempt to bat his hand away. My attempts at making him smile worked, and he was soon filling me in on everything that had happened.

Apparently, the car had lost interest and sped off not long after Atton and I had fallen off the bus. Terrified of being attacked again, the bus driver had pulled over as soon as he was sure the car was gone. Someone was able to call 911 in all the chaos that ensued when they realized that they were short two children. I was happy to hear that the worst injury was a cracked femur. Better a broken leg than a lost life. I was also a little surprised to learn that there was a large amount of girls loitering in the waiting room, no doubt worried about Atton.

"Atton!" The name escaped my lips almost by accident. My siblings looked at me oddly while I smiled apologetically.

"I was just wondering…Is Atton ok? I mean, he was so bruised and…" I let the sentence go unfinished as my embarrassment became unbearable. Winifred exchanged a knowing glance with Reasonable before responding.

"Well, he had lots of bruises and shallow cuts, but otherwise he's just fine." I sighed in relief and lay back onto my pillow. The door opened then, before I really knew what was happening, my already shallow breath was knocked out of me.

"Oh Wednesday!! We were so…you looked awful…the doctors wouldn't…" My mother babbled unintelligibly into my ear for a few more minutes before the rest of the family could pry her off. Now able to see something other than my mom's diminutive shoulder, I smiled at my father and youngest sister. I was shocked when I realized that even Emmalea looked disheveled. Her eyeliner and lip-gloss were both slightly smudged, and her hair was escaping its braid in pointy little tuffs.

Many tears and hugs later, the doctor was able to make his way through the throng that was my family and tell me that the tests and scans had showed no real damage to my brain and that I was free to go whenever I chose. The doctor insisted that I stay off my feet as much as possible and refrain from any running or extreme sports. I laughed at that last part. Me? Do any kind of sport? Hilarious! The doctor then told me the most horrible news I'd heard since waking up.

I had to ride in a wheelchair for the next two weeks just to be safe. I frowned, unsure what rolling around in a wheelchair would do for a concussion, but the doctor explained that it was to put less strain on my body while it healed.

"Often," He said gently. "When faced with a large amount of stress and emotion, patients feel tired and skittish. On rare occasions, some even go into a type of delayed shock and collapse. We just want to avoid that as best we can."

My forehead crinkled as I took this piece of information in. It didn't sound like a medical condition, but the doctor seemed serious. Finally, I nodded and told them that it would be fine if I really had to.

"Don't worry!" My goofy brother soothed. "It'll be fine. We'll take you to school and push you to your classes and stuff!" He winked playfully. "I'll even carry your heavier school things!" Thoroughly terrified, I cast a pleading look at my mother. She giggled and patted Reasonable's shoulder.

"I think she'll be able to survive on her own just fine, sweetie."

While my family fought over this, I noticed that Winifred was staring at me with a worried frown on her face.

"What?" I asked. Her eyes cleared at the sound of my voice.

"Well, this whole time you haven't said more than ten words. Are you sure you're not in any pain? I know you don't talk much anyway, but you were thrown out of a bus! That couldn't possible have been-" I cut off her babbling with a wave of my hand.

"I'm just ridiculously tired is all. The crash wasn't as bad as you might think. After all, I was only off the bus for about twenty minutes before that woman found us." I pretended to look sad. "You say that I've been out for three days, but I feel as if I haven't slept in days!" That earned me a little giggle. The rest of my family, much to my amusement, was still fighting over if Reasonable could help me from place to place. Deciding that this was going nowhere fast, I spoke up.

"You guys! I'm going to be fine! Pushing a couple of wheels isn't very hard work, so calm down and check me out of this place already so we can all go home!" Everyone stopped their yelling with sheepish grins. My father spoke up for the first time in his gravelly voice.

"Of course, Wednesday. We'll have you home as soon as possible." With that, he turned and left. My father only ever had that little to say when he was truly upset. He's always been the kind of man that keeps his emotions in check. I got that from him.

The room lapsed into an only slightly awkward silence while we waited for dad to return. I took the opportunity to lay my head back against the pillow and rest my eyes.

When I woke again, I was being gently passed from my father's arms into the back seat of the family van. I smiled and allowed my head to fall onto Emmalea's lap.

I wouldn't wake up again until, hours later, we reached our newest home.

yay!! ch. 8 is finally done!! i really hope you enjoy the next chapter because i know i will!!! i'll only say that it's my favorite chapter so far! i'm sure that i'll have new favorites in the near future, but i have yet to write them! lol please review!!