Chapter 7: Touko (I Use the Power of the Panic Button)
Later that day I met Shauntal, a man with dark skin and blond hair walks into our ward. When he sees Shauntal, he cries out in joy,
"Shikimi! You're okay! They wouldn't let me up to see you until now."
The man and Shauntal hug, but why did he call her Shikimi?
"Oh, I've been rude." Shauntal tells the man, seeing the puzzled look on my face. "This is my... friend, Touko White. Touko, this is my close friend, Marshal Renbu." She looks, at me, an I nod my approval.
"Pleased to meet you, Marshal." I say.
I kind of feel like a third wheel, until Shauntal asks a very curious question.
"Marshal, what happened?" Shauntal inquires.
"What do you mean?" He returns.
"Well, how did I get a concussion in the first place?" She queries.
"We were eating lunch, and you got up-" Marshal prompts.
"And I fell out of the window, but I wanted to leave because you were mocking me and my book." Shauntal says remembering, but then she gets very serious. "Marshal!"
"Hey!" he says, getting on the defensive. "It's not my fault. Caitlin made me. Oh, and uh, speaking of Caitlin, there are some people downstairs who would like to see you."
"Tell them to go away." She moans.
"Well, that might be a little hard considering they're already here." Says a tall dark-haired man.
His companion is a young blond girl with ridiculously long hair. As they enter, Shauntal shuts down completely. She just turns off. I have to get the out of here. But I am too late because the blond girl is at Shauntal's bedside.
"Shauntal, how are you?" She asks in a fake sounding voice.
"Fine, Caitlin." Shauntal says in a dead sounding voice.
So this is the infamous Caitlin Cattleya, and that must be her boyfriend, Grimsley. Caitlin walks over to me, and leans over my bed.
"Sorry you had to be cooped up in here for god knows how long with Shauntal. I'm Caitlin." She simpers.
"Well, Caitlin, I'm sorry that Shauntal had to spend most of her life cooped up with you." I tell her.
"That's rude I thought we were friends!" Caitlin hisses.
"I'm not your friend." I say loud enough for Shauntal to hear.
Caitlin backs off, and I reach over to a small orange button on my bed. I slam it. Within five minutes, Fennel arrives, and shoos out the troublesome visitors.
"How'd you do that?" Shauntal asks, amazed.
"This little thing is called the panic button. If anything irritates you, it could cause symptoms. Feel free to press it to discourage annoying visitors." I tell her.
"I will use this power with liberty." She announces.
. . .
Shauntal and I are getting released tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of this rat-hole. Even Shauntal wants to leave.
"Shauntal, I know how we could leave." I mischievously say.
"How?" She asks.
I whisper my plan in her ear.
"Hell yes we're doing that. This is a hospital. If we get hurt medical help is on the way." She agrees.
We pull all the sheets of of the empty beds and wrap them around our arms, legs, and waists. We grab pillows and duct-tape them over the blankets. I wrap one around my head as a helmet, and secure it with a strap of duct tape. I watch Shauntal do the same. We wrap ourselves until we look like marsh-mellow men. We them drag our wheelie beds out of the ward, and to the glass sliding doors that must be on every floor. We wheel the beds through the doors, and to the top of the stairs.
"Bon voyage!" I call, hopping on mine, and pushing off.
Shauntal follows me, and soon we are riding down the stairs in hospital beds like a bunch of maniacs. When we get to the fourth floor, there are no sliding glass doors! Fuck. I have to throw my weight to make a hairpin turn, and I crash down another flight of steps. I turn again, and I see Shauntal is safe behind me.
"I think we have to go to the first floor." She yells.
She nod her head in acknowledgment, and we careen wildly down the stairs. We get to the first floor, unharmed by a miracle, and crash out through the open doors.
"That was AWSOME!" We both scream, until I see the face of Professor Juniper glaring disapprovingly at us.
"That was not awesome?" I ask.
The Professor sighs, and simply says, "I'm going to ask you both to leave the hospital."
We run to the lady's room, unwrap, and hi-five. We're going home!
