JILL
"Lucas, wait for me!" Jill screamed after her friend as they ran along the river bank. Many other kids were also playing in the calm water. The adults were either washing clothes or fishing further down the river.
"You're so slow. Hurry up!" he shouted back at her. They were both running closer to the waterfall to get a better look. "You know, sometimes you can see a rainbow from the mist on a sunny day."
Jill and Lucas had been best friends ever since they were born. Now thirteen years of age, they could basically say that they lived the same lives since they shared almost everything and did everything together. Their families were both merchants and for as long as they could remember, they were always on the road together, home schooled together and taught everything together.
"Whoa! Check it out!" Lucas pointed to the waterfall. It was about thirty feet high, bringing a lot of water from above into this slower running river. They didn't go too close to it since the mist from the water crashing down was enough to soak them.
"What do you think happens to the fishes that come down from there? Do you think they die?" Jill asked her friend. Lucas made a face.
"Of course not. Fishes don't die that easily. They live in water so I'm sure they know how to go down waterfalls without getting crushed to death. They must have some kind of special ability that us humans don't have." Oh I see. That makes are fishes downstream too.
"Look! A rainbow!" She pointed out the rainbow in the mist.
"I can see the end of the rainbow, but there's no pot of gold," Lucas said with a disappointed look.
"Yeah, you're right."
They continued to stare at the huge rush of water, listening to the loud roaring waves crashing down. Jill stared, mesmerized by the powerful outpour, when she suddenly saw something within the water falling down.
"Ah!" she cried out in surprise.
"What?" Lucas looked at her curiously.
"Did you see that?" she asked in a hurry, not taking her eyes off the water.
"See what? Where?"
"In the water! I saw something fall and it was big!" Jill said excitedly. She moved forward to get a little closer, not caring if she got wet.
"Wait! Watch out! Are you sure you saw something? It could be a really big fish." Lucas was a little afraid to follow her so close, but he did anyways.
"I'm sure! And it's not a fish. It's too big to be one. There are only small fishes in this river." Jill said in a louder voice so he could hear her.
They were both standing on big rocks by the side of the river and stared intently at the water.
"There's something there!" Lucas pointed between two rocks a little further down from them, close to the place where they were standing right before. Jill quickly hopped off her rock and ran to the place that he had pointed to.
When she came near the two rocks, she stopped dead in her tracks, making Lucas bump into her from behind.
"What is it? Why are you stopping?" He peaked from behind her shoulders and gasped. "A- a- a person!"
Between the two rocks, a body was floating on its side with its back towards them. She felt Lucas grab her arm firmly, urging her to back away. "Is it dead?" he asked quietly, but urgently.
"I don't know," she answered back in the same tone.
The person bounced up and down in the water in the same rhythm as the waves. After a stronger push, the person started to drift a little further away from the two rocks. Jill immediately jumped into the water and grabbed the person's shirt, clinging with all her might to keep him or her from drifting any further.
"Jill! What are you doing?" Lucas screamed out in panic.
"Lucas, go call someone! Get an adult here quick! I'm going to hold him here so he doesn't get drifted away in the current."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Now hurry! Hurry!" she screamed at him. She was a little higher than her waist deep into the water, but the current wasn't that strong so she wasn't going to get pushed away in the river.
She watched Lucas run as fast as he could back to where the rest of the people were. Hurry! She looked back down to the person she was holding and gasped. When she had seen the person drifting away, she had frantically jumped in and grabbed whatever she could, but she noticed now that the person's face was mostly in the water. Oh no! She turned the person around quickly, hoping to let him breathe again. However, she was so startled when she saw the face that she almost lost her grip.
It was a woman with a dreadfully pale skin, horrible bruises, swelling and some dried blood still partially on her face. Jill felt herself shaking in fear. She wanted to scream, cry and run away, but she couldn't will herself to let go. Whether she was paralyzed with fear or whether she felt that she was this woman's only chance of survival, she did not know, but she knew that she could not let go.
"H- he- hello?" she tried talking to the woman. She tried poking her shoulder a little bit, but the lady did not move. "Can you hear me?" she asked a little louder. Still, she got no response. Lucas, hurry. Please!, she pleaded in her head.
"Jill!"
She looked up quickly and saw her brother running towards her and Lucas not too far behind. She felt her tears starting to fall.
"Jules! Jules over here! There's- there's a lady that fell from the waterfall! I don't know if she's dead, but she won't answer me!" She was so glad to see her brother and her best friend again and all she wanted to do was run to them.
Jules jumped into the water and quickly took the lady in his arms and carried her out of the water. Jill held onto the hem of his shirt and followed him closely. What had frightened her even more was the look on his face when he saw the woman. She couldn't tell if he was afraid, horrified, angry or worried. She just knew that he was frowning and was extremely focused on the woman.
Once out of the water, he laid her down on the grass and checked her pulse.
"Is she dead?" Jill asked cautiously. Jules didn't seem to hear her. Lucas was standing beside her and held her hand tightly. She knew he was afraid by what he saw. She had been through the same shock after all.
Jules waited a few seconds with his fingertips on her neck. Suddenly, he put both hand flat on the middle of her chest and started doing compressions. Jill and Lucas stood on the side staring in silence, afraid to disturb any of Jules efforts to save this lady. Jill could feel her heart beating rapidly and her muscles tense up.
After what seemed like an eternity, water started to come out of the lady's mouth. At first, it was little by little, but the more Jules pressed down, the more water came out, until the lady started coughing the rest out. He stopped the compressions and waited for her to cough out the rest on her own. Jill and Lucas ran over to the lady's other side, watching in amazement.
"She's alive! You saved her Jules!" Lucas exclaimed.
"Wait," he held up his hand to tell them to keep quiet.
They watched silently as the woman took deep breaths mixed in with coughs. All of a sudden, she started coughing out blood. Jill was so startled that she jumped back.
"Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?" Jules asked her loudly, but gently at the same time. He gently tapped the side of her face that wasn't injured. "Can you open your eyes?"
The lady made a sound in her throat, but no word came out, only more blood. Jill saw some movements under her eyelids and so did her brother. She's waking up!
"Hey! Open your eyes. Try to open your eyes." Jules kept on encouraging her to open her eyes. It was obvious that the woman was trying to respond. After a few more tries, she cracked her eyes open. "One of you, go tell granny and Dr Wilson we have an injured person coming in. Tell them to get ready! Tell them it's very serious! Hurry!" Lucas immediately started sprinting back towards the camp.
Jules talked to her and tried to get her to respond, but she didn't do anything. Her eyes were unfocused and only stayed open for a few seconds. After she shut her eyes, her body started trembling and having spasms.
"Damn." Jules picked her up gingerly. "She needs emergency care immediately. We need to bring her to granny and Dr Wilson before it's too late. Let's go!"
Jill followed closely behind him as he walked as fast as he could back to their camp. The lady in his arms was limp, with her arms and head hanging down gracelessly. She's so white. It wasn't long before they met someone at the outskirt of their camp. It was Lucas' dad and he offered to take a turn carrying her, but Jules refused, saying that she was in a fragile and critical state. All three of them headed quickly towards granny's medical tent.
Apparently the news had spread like wildfire. Lucas had come back in panic, getting many people's attention and everyone soon told the other person beside them until the whole camp knew. The good thing was that granny's tent was ready to receive the patient. Dr Wilson and granny were in front of the tent, so was Jill's mother, granny's best assistant.
"Oh dear!" granny exclaimed when she saw the lady in Jules arms. Dr Wilson's expression was grim. "Quickly! Bring her inside. Put her down on the table."
Jules did as he was told. He set her down gently on the operating table while Dr Wilson, granny and her mother ran about getting more things ready. It was clear that they hadn't expected their patient to be in such a serious condition.
"Granny! Please save her!" Jill pleaded loudly, standing near the tent flap. Her grandmother only seemed to realize that she was there for the first time.
"Jillian! Leave this tent now. This is no place for you. Jules, bring your sister outside and wait there."
Her brother held her by the shoulders and was pushing her out.
"Mom! Granny! Dr Wilson! Please!" she cried again.
"Jill, you have to wait outside. Granny and Dr Wilson are very busy right now. You can't disturb them. They will do their very best to save her and I'll be helping them. Okay?" he mother talked to her calmly.
"Come on Jill. We have to wait outside," Jules urged her. Jill relented and let herself be brought outside the tent.
"Jill!" Lucas was by her side. All the kids and many adults were standing around the tent when they came out. "Is the lady going to be okay?"
I don't know. She felt everyone's eyes on her, but before she could answer, her brother spoke up.
"Mom, granny and Dr Wilson are doing their very best to help her. We won't know until they're done." He bent down, looked at her in the eyes and said, "but have some faith. Granny is the best healer I know and a medical alchemist, mom's the best assistant and Dr Wilson is a very skilled surgeon from Central. Believe in them." Jules smile reassured her.
"Jill, Jules, are you two alright?" her father came through the crowd.
"Dad!" Jill ran to him and hugged him tightly. Her father was a tall and strong man and was also the leader of this caravan.
"I heard you found a lady in the river? Is that true?"
"Yes! I saw something fall down from the waterfall and Lucas and I looked around and saw a body floating in the water. She was about to drift away so I jumped in to keep her there while Lucas ran to call for help," Jill explained quickly.
"I see," her father patted her on the back while she stuck to him, "you did a good thing. You might have saved this lady's life." Despite the overwhelming events that have just occurred, Jill let a smile creep on her face, happy from her father's praise.
"Dr Wilson, granny and mom are in there with her right now. We won't know the outcome until they're done," Jules said.
"Alright. Everyone, don't clutter around the tent! Even if you stay here, we won't know until one of them comes out," he father said out loud. Everyone listened and spread out. Some adults ushered their kids away.
"I want to stay here," Jill said stubbornly. Her father sighed and kneeled down in front of her.
"I knew you would say that. It might be a long time before someone comes out," he told her gently.
"I don't care. I'll wait. I was the one who found her so she's my patient too. I want to be the first one to know when someone comes out." Jill crossed her arms and sat down on the grass directly in front of the tent with a stubborn frown.
"Fine. You can stay, but you have to be quiet. Mom, granny and Dr Wilson need to be very concentrated to work well."
"I know. Don't worry. I'll be so quiet they won't even know I'm here." She heard her father get back up and walk away with her brother. A few seconds later, she felt someone sit down quietly beside her. She didn't need to look to know who it was. That person's presence was one that she could sense anywhere.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Lucas asked in a whisper. Jill's face fell and she looked down.
"I don't know. You saw how she was coughing out blood. That's never a good thing. She might be bleeding somewhere inside."
"Yeah," Lucas agreed in a sad tone. "We're not like fishes so it must hurt a lot to fall down from a waterfall. What do you think she was doing there?"
"I don't know. Maybe someone pushed her down. I don't think anybody would want to try going down a waterfall on their own."
"Yeah."
They stayed quiet for a while. She'll live. I know it.
"Granny is the best healer in the whole world. She teaches everyone and has a lot of experience. She can even use her alchemy in medicine so she's way better than the average healer," Jill started out of the blue. Lucas listened to her in silence. "Mom learned from her so she's also really good. She just can't do alchemy. Dr Wilson does many surgeries and he used to work in the trauma center back in Central right? He should know exactly what to do to save her."
"Yeah, it's the perfect team. You can't find any group that's better than them. She's lucky to have them. I'm sure she'll live," Lucas said hopefully. I hope so.
Both of them waited in silence. They only shifted positions to find one more comfortable. When it was supper time, Jules came to bring them two bowl of fish stew.
"Any news?" he asked as he watched them eat with hunger. Jill swallowed before answering him.
"No. It's already been four hours. When do you think they'll come out?"
"The lady was very hurt Jill. There must be a lot to do to fix her up. I think it's going to take some more time."
Jules was right. They waited for another three hours before they started to get sleepy. This time, her father was the one who came to see them.
"Kids, it's getting late. You two should be getting ready to go to bed."
"But no one came out yet," Jill retorted.
"If we go to sleep now, we'll miss them when they come out," Lucas also joined in.
Her father sighed and sat down beside them.
"How about I wake you guys up when someone comes out?" he offered.
"Last time you said that we woke up in the morning," Jill said angrily and her father looked away in guilt. I won't trust him for something like that ever again! Liar!
All three sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Oh!" Jill was up on her feet when she saw the tent flap move. Her father and Lucas, who was starting to drift to sleep, followed suit. She waited anxiously in front of the tent and moments later, her mother emerged.
"Mom! How did it go? Is she going to be okay?" Jill asked frantically, rushing towards her.
"You two are still up? You should be in bed already." her mother gave a stern look to her father, who just hunched his shoulders.
"Mom, you didn't answer me. Is she going to be okay?" Jill insisted. Her mother gave her a small reassuring smile and caressed her head.
"She's alive right now, but she's still in a critical condition. We'll have to take turns watching her throughout the night. Hopefully she'll stabilize soon."
Dr Wilson came out and she immediately went to see him.
"Dr Wilson? Do you think she'll stabilize soon?" she asked.
"I hope so Jill. But I can't guarantee anything right now. Anything can happen, so we'll just have to wait and see. Your granny's in there right now with her. She wanted the first watch." He patted her shoulder and smiled at her.
"See Jill? I told you she was in good hands. Now it's time for you two to go to bed. Lucas, go to your tent now before your mother comes out to look for you," her father said.
This time, they both returned to their tents without any more fuss. Jill went to brush her teeth and change before going to bed. She heard some rustling and saw her mother kneeling beside her.
"Mom, what happened to her?" she asked in a whisper.
"I don't know darling. We won't know what happened until she wakes up and tells us that herself." Her mother stroked her hair.
"Was she bleeding inside? She coughed out blood after Jules got the water out of her lungs." Her mother seemed to hesitate a little bit.
"Yes, well, she had some broken ribs so the chest compressions might have punctured her lungs, but it did save her."
"Jules made her bleed?" Jill was horrified by what she had heard. We actually made it worst?
"No, it wasn't his fault. He did a good thing. It would've been far worse if he didn't do that because the brain needs oxygen and is she wasn't breathing then it could've impaired her brain functions. We don't know how long she hadn't been breathing so hopefully her brain isn't damaged."
"What else?"
"Go to sleep Jill. It's too late now. I can tell you the rest tomorrow." Her mother tucked her in before leaving.
I have to make sure to ask tomorrow.
Jill was roused from sleep by low voices in the room behind the curtains of the adjoining tent. She instantly became alert when she heard parts of the conversation and quietly inched closer to the flap and listened.
"I don't know. Her internal organs were severely damaged. The pressure from the fall must've crushed them. Honestly, it's a miracle she's even alive right now." Jill heard her mother say with a hesitant voice.
"The question is, how did she end up like that? There aren't any villages or towns in the proximity of this river, so where did she come from?" This time it was her father. They were talking in hushed voices so Jill really had to strain her ear.
"I have a feeling someone forced her into the river. Her body was covered with bruises and cuts. They were all clear signs of violent abuse. I think someone must've tried to kill her. Poor girl."
Jill's eyes widened and she immediately jumped out of bed and came out of her room.
"What do you mean someone tried to kill her?" she asked loudly.
"Jillian! Quiet!" her father said harshly. Her brother had also been there listening to the conversation since the beginning. She looked accusingly at Jules and pouted angrily at her parents. "Jill, don't talk to anyone about this," her father continued more softly, "we don't know her situation yet and we don't know how serious it is, so we should not spread any rumours. I will tell everyone not to talk about it too. It could put her life in danger again and maybe ours as well." Ours as well?
"What do you mean? How can we be in danger too? We saved her didn't we?" Jill asked slowly.
"Well, like you heard. Someone must've tried to kill her and we've saved her. We don't know who tried to do this to her, but if they knew about it, they could try to come for her again and that could put our group in danger," her father explained patiently.
"Dad, I think we should get moving soon. It wouldn't be good to stay here too long then," Jules added.
"Yeah, I know. It's alright because it won't change much in our schedule. We'll just be leaving one day in advance."
"What is this now?" someone said as they came into their tent. It was her granny.
"We were just saying that we should be leaving soon. Hopefully tomorrow morning," her father informed his mother.
"Hmm. That's a good idea. Dr Wilson and I decided on another thing too." They all looked at her expectantly. "We'll send off a group in advance with Dr Wilson to head straight for Central with the woman."
Jill saw everyone in the room look at her with surprise, clearly wanting to ask a ton of questions, but they remained silent as they waited for her explanations.
"As you all know, any normal person would not be alive after falling down from a waterfall. But somehow, this lucky lady survived and we are determined to let it stay that way. My alchemy and Dr Wilson's skills and experience were able to get her out of a critical period, but it's not enough as it is. If she is to survive, we need more sophisticated and professional medication and equipment. The best place for that is Central, where they have the most advanced trauma center and intensive care unit. Dr Wilson's know many great doctors there and is ready to make the trip back with her. All he'll need is one or two other people to accompany him and to help with the transportation."
"I'll go," Jules said immediately after she was done speaking. Jill's breath hitched and she felt a rush of adrenaline.
"Me too!" She yelled out quickly. Her parents whipped their heads toward her with a disapproving look. "I was the one who found her! And we're all going to be in Central in the end anyways. I'll just be there earlier than you guys. Jules will be with me too," she defended her decision.
"Jill, you'll only get in their way. Their purpose is to get to Central quickly so the lady can be saved. That means there's going to be a lot of long, non-stop travelling. Just stay with us and, like you said, we'll catch up to them in the end, maybe a week later, that's all," her dad said sternly.
"No. I refuse. I will go with them. I won't get in their way and I'll do everything at their pace," Jill retorted stubbornly. However, seeing her father's unyielding look, she changed her expression to try to tug at his compassion. "Daddy, please. I promise to behave and to listen to everything they say. I just want to make sure she lives. It would be so sad if something were to happen and I never got the chance to see her one last time." The single tear that fell down gave the final blow.
She saw her father struggle internally. It'll work. It always does.
"Fine. You can go, but only if you behave and do not cause any problems for them," he said in defeat. Yes! Her mother huffed at him, clearly aware that her daughter had played him once again.
"Don't worry dad. I'll take care of her," her brother added. Jill and Jules were close and he would always try to help her whenever he could and when he thought that she wouldn't get into any sort of trouble.
"Thank you so much daddy!" she hugged him tightly around his neck. "I'm going to go pack now!"
She darted back to her room and packed what she thought would be necessary for the trip. She didn't want to pack a big bag since she knew they wouldn't have that much place to carry things. We'll have a wagon to transport the lady and I'm sure it'll be full of medical equipment.
"Don't pack too much Jill, unless you want to carry something heavy all day." Her brother peeked his head inside her makeshift room. "The rest of the caravan will probably meet up with us after two weeks, so mom and dad will bring you the rest of your stuff then."
"I know. I'm just bringing my small bag."
"Don't forget to pack some extra underwear," Jules teased her.
"I know that!" Jill yelled and he left with a loud laughter. How old does he think I am?
When she finished gathering everything she thought she needed, she ran outside to find people bustling around, getting them ready for departure.
"Jill! You're leaving?" Lucas came running to her. She could see the panic and the longing in his eyes already.
"Yeah. I'm going ahead with them to bring the lady to a hospital in Central so she can get better treatment. Don't worry, we'll meet up again in a week or so," she reassured him. She felt guilty for leaving him behind, but she knew they would never allow him to come too. Just getting permission for herself had been an effort already. The thrill and excitement had made her forget to tell him about this news.
"That's not fair. I want to come too." Lucas was pouting and Jill knew exactly how he felt.
"Sorry Lucas. My dad won't let you come. I had to beg him to let me go with them, so I doubt you'd be able to convince him." They both knew she was right and Lucas gave up hope instantly.
"Just make sure to tell me all about it when we catch up with you in Central. You better tell me everything."
"Yeah, I will, promise."
"And make sure you look after the lady. Make sure she lives," he said with determination and worry.
"I'll do my best to watch over her." I can't guarantee anything though. Nobody can.
"Jill!" her brother called her over.
She ran to him, through the crowd of people who had gathered.
"Are we going now?" Jill asked excitedly.
"Yeah soon. Will and aunt Claudia are coming with us too," he said. Will was around the same age as Jules and one of his close friend. "You can help aunt Claudia and Dr Wilson whenever she changes the lady's clothes and bandages, but only if they ask for your help." Jill nodded her head vigorously.
"Clear the way!" she heard her granny shout. A path had been cleared and moments later, her father and Dr Wilson were coming through slowly, carrying the lady on a stretcher, being very careful not to move her too much. It was the first time that Jill saw her again after having found her in the water. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't really remember how the lady looked like because she had been so shaken and afraid that she had unconsciously avoided staring at the lady's face too much.
The lady's face was ashen pale, glistening with sweat in the sun. Other than a part of her face, Jill noticed that the rest of her body was mostly covered in bandages. Her head was also wrapped and so was the left side of her face. Jill felt a shiver run up her spine and cold sweat starting to form. Her excitement had vanished all of a sudden, taken over by a new kind of fear.
Her eyes only left the body when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw her mother looking down at her with concern. She understood her mother's worried look and turned around to hug her.
"I'm going to protect her and make sure she lives," she said, with her face buried in her mother's dress.
"I know you will. Aunt Claudia will need your help to change the bandages and apply fresh poultice. I told her you were very capable and willing to help her." Her mother smiled down at her, making her smile back.
"I know how to do that. You taught me a long time ago."
"That's right. Be very gentle and careful with the lady." Jill nodded.
She walked with her mother to the large wagon with a white canvas roofing. They had already settled the lady inside and presently, granny and Dr Wilson were examining her carefully one last time. She saw granny emerge and talk to aunt Claudia, giving her instructions. When everything was ready, they all said their goodbyes and left on the dirt road. The rest of the group had another city to stop in to make trades and then they would come straight to Central to rejoin them.
Jill, Jules and Will walked beside the wagon with a normal pace. They had two horses to pull the wagon, but they couldn't go too fast because of the bumps it would cause. Dr Wilson was afraid any sudden movements would affect the lady's condition, so they treaded at a normal pace.
"What are you thinking about Jill?" Will asked her. He was standing at her right, while Jules was at her left. She looked up in surprise to see him with a concerned smile. She looked back down to the ground, ashamed to have worried them.
"I'm just scared for the lady," she said after a while. Jules put a heavy hand on the top of her head and rustled her hair.
"Don't worry. She's in good hands. We'll reach the next town by evening and then we can take a train to East City where we'll make a transfer and take another one to Central."
Jill walked on for another hour before she got tired and rode in the back with the lady and aunt Claudia, while Dr Wilson sat in the front with the reins. She crawled inside carefully and sat beside aunt Claudia, facing the sleeping body.
"Is she okay?" she asked in a low voice. Aunt Claudia looked at her sympathetically.
"Yes, her state hasn't changed since we left." Jill was relieved to hear that.
"When do you think she'll wake up?" Before aunt Claudia could answer her, she heard Dr Wilson from the front of the wagon through the open flap.
"Not anytime soon."
"What? Why? How long does it take?" Why does it take so long? For as long as she remembered, all of granny's patients woke up in a day or two, or maximum three days, even if they had pretty serious wounds.
"Calm down Jillian," she frowned when she heard him call her by her full name. She preferred her nickname and she would always glare at anyone who called her by her full name, except for her parents and her granny. "She has a head injury. We don't know if it was from the fall or before that, but she had some internal bleeding. We've controlled it for now, but we put her under medication to keep her in an artificial coma-"
"What! Why would you do that?" Jill screeched. By then, she was leaning out of the rectangular flap, with her head right beside the Dr Wilson's. He cringed and jumped at the sudden noise in his ears and chuckled lightly when he saw her wide eyes.
"Calm down Jill. Let me finish explaining." When he saw that she kept quiet, he continued. "Like I said. We're keeping her in an artificial coma so her brain can heal and recuperate. It would be more dangerous if she woke up after a head trauma. She needs to rest for a while to allow her body to work on fixing the wounds."
"Do you think the bleeding affected her brain functions at all?" Jill asked.
"I don't know. We'll have to wait for her to wake up when it's safe. If her brain has been deprived of oxygen for a while, it could have affected some parts, but we won't know until she wakes up."
Jill went back in to sit beside aunt Claudia, who looked at her worriedly. What if she doesn't remember who she is or why she ended up in the water? Jill sat still, disturbed by the news. She looked at the lady's sleeping face with sadness and pity. I hope you get better and wake up soon, she wished.
They stopped at lunch time to let the horses rest and eat. They all sat under a tree to eat something and after that aunt Claudia and Dr Wilson went into the back of the wagon to change the lady's bandages and to check her condition. Jill sat by the tree, eyes glued on the wagon, longing to go see but restraining herself with all of her willpower.
"Jill!" she heard aunt Claudia call for her. In a split second she was up and running to her.
"Yes!" she said when she climbed in. Aunt Claudia gave her a bag of herbs.
"Could you help me crush these leaves to make a new poultice? Do you know how?" she asked gently.
"Yes." The two of them were busy crushing the leaves while Dr Wilson took off the bandages and examined the wounds. Jill had to concentrate on her task but she couldn't help herself from staring wide-eyed at the black bruises and the angry red wounds underneath the bandages after Dr Wilson had washed away the old poultice. Her breath hitched in her throat and she felt dizzy. She looked back down quickly and focused on her task.
"Good, no infection and the inflammation is also not too bad," he said.
"That's good. Granny's mix of herbs have the most potent anti-inflammatory effect," aunt Claudia said back. Jill felt proud of her grandmother and worked even harder at making that poultice. When it was properly applied and bandaged, they continued to travel.
Jill hadn't realized, but she had fallen asleep some time in the afternoon and the next time she woke up, it was already nightfall and they had stopped outside of a train station. She peeked out from the front flap and looked around. Jules and Dr Wilson were nowhere to be seen, but Will and aunt Claudia were standing by the horses. She stayed in the back of the wagon, determined to protect this lady if anything happened.
After a while, she heard some voices talking outside the wagon.
"How did it go?" Will asked.
"We're good to go. I contacted the hospital and they know we're coming and are preparing to receive us when we arrive," Dr Wilson said.
"We've got our tickets and we have a bed for the lady. It's an express train to Central. We'll get there in about ten hours," Jules added.
"What about the wagon?" aunt Claudia asked.
"We'll leave them here in the care of someone my father knows and when the rest of the caravan passes by, they'll pick it up then. I already told my father about this before we left," Jules explained. They rarely took the train because they usually travelled in caravans, with many wagons and animals. It would be too expensive if they had to take the train every time they needed to get to another city. It took longer by foot and by horse, but it was more pleasant. The rest of the caravan would take another week before they reached Central.
She heard movements and seconds later, the back flap was open and Jules peeked in.
"You're awake," he stated, "We're preparing to get on the train now." He helped her down the wagon, handed her her backpack and some other things for her to help carry. The others came to stand beside him, waiting for him to fish out their bags. Aunt Claudia and Will carried most of their luggage, while Jules and Dr Wilson prepared to carry the lady out of the wagon on the stretcher.
Luckily, this was a small town and the train station was almost deserted. Seeing that they were carrying an injured person on board, the people working in the station guided them carefully to their seats and made sure they had everything they needed. They thanked them for their help and settled in their seats. The compartment they were in was devoid of any other passengers.
"Jules, I'm hungry," Jill whispered to her brother. He smiled at her and looked through their bags, rummaging for the one that contained their food supply.
"Anybody else hungry?" he asked. He handed a sandwich to each person and they all ate in silence until the train blew its whistle, signalling their departure.
Jill paused in the middle of a bite and quickly looked out the window. Her curious look turned into delight as she saw the train move away from the station and slowly picking up speed.
"Wow!" It's so fast!" she exclaimed in admiration. Dr Wilson chuckled.
"First time on a train?" he asked her.
"Yes!" She turned to face him. "I'm sure you've travelled a lot by train already, right?"
"That's right. I've travelled to many places around Amestris, going from one place to another, learning the traditional medical practices until I met your grandmother and decided to stick with your group of travelling merchants to learn more from her."
"And did you learn a lot?" she asked after forcing down another bite of her sandwich.
"She enlightened me," he said fondly. "I can say that she has been my best teacher up to date." Jill smiled with pride at the mention of her grandmother's knowledge.
The next few hours, the fours adults engaged in light conversation, while Jill stared out the window, lost in her own thoughts. When it was too dark to see anything outside, she looked back to the sleeping lady in front of her. Jill, aunt Claudia and Dr Wilson were seated directly opposed from the bed, while Will and Jules sat on another bench behind them.
As she watched the sleeping lady, she noticed sweat beads forming on her face. Is she hot? She looked to her side and saw aunt Claudia writing in her notebook and Dr Wilson sleeping. Slowly, she inched forward and extended her hand towards the sleeping figure. She lightly touched her palm to the lady's forehead, only to pull her hand away like it's been burned.
"Aunt Claudia, I think she's having a fever. She's really hot," she said urgently to the woman sitting beside her. Aunt Claudia immediately shook Dr Wilson awake and then proceeded to feel the lady's temperature herself.
"What is it?" Dr Wilson asked anxiously.
"She's having a high fever." Aunt Claudia was presently measuring her temperature and when the numbers came out, she said, "39.5°C"
Jill didn't really know how bad it was, but from the looks on the two adults and their agitation, she supposed that it was pretty severe. She sat back in the corner of her seat, a little frightened, not knowing what to do and not wanting to get in their way.
"Damn, we don't have a cold compress or anything." He looked around quickly. "Cold water then. Can someone get us very cold water?" he asked out loud. She was about to volunteer, but her brother was already up and down the corridor, so she sat back down.
They had removed the blankets from her body and were doing everything they could to cool her down. She saw Dr Wilson prepare a syringe with clear liquid inside and give the lady a shot in the right arm.
"This should help a bit, but I don't know how effective it'll be. We can't let this fever get any higher then it is. If not, it could cause some permanent damage to her brain," he said in a low voice to aunt Claudia, but Jill overheard it. Dr Wilson's face was grim and pensive. Not a good sign.
She knew what they were afraid of. If the lady's condition continued to deteriorate, they only had so much to work with that they most probably wouldn't be able to help her if it got any worse. If only granny was here. She'd be able to help her with her alchemy. However, her grandmother was elderly and couldn't move around too much. Just travelling with the rest of the caravan was tiring for her sometimes.
Jules came back with a basin of ice cold water and aunt Claudia dipped a cloth in it to lay it across the lady's forehead. The moment it touched her skin, Jill saw goosebumps appear on her skin and a light shiver. Aunt Claudia and Dr Wilson proceeded to apply more cold cloths across her chest, her arms and her legs. After a few minutes, the cloths were dipped into the cold water again, wrung out and put back to the same place. They checked her temperature regularly and noted a little decrease.
Dr Wilson sighed restlessly and looked at his wristwatch. "Six hours. She needs to last another six hours until we arrive." No one said anything, but they all knew these next six hours were going to be dreadfully long.
"I think we should give her a name. We can't keep calling her the lady," Jill said out of the blue.
Everyone glanced at her and considered her idea.
"I guess that's true. But we don't know her name," Will said.
"Well, since we won't know her real name until she wakes up, then I should give her a temporary one," Jill stated.
"Why you?" Jules asked dubiously.
"Because I'm the one who found her."
"Then what do you suggest we name her for the time being?" Dr Wilson asked her.
"I got the perfect name. We should call her miss waterfall." Everyone looked at her with blank faces. "What? It's the perfect name for her. It's where she came from."
They all laughed or chuckled, which Jill did not find very amusing.
"Jill, that's not a name for a human," Will said after he composed himself.
"I know, but we can't give her real name for a person because maybe she won't like it when she wakes up. We should name her miss waterfall because it'll be easy to change to her real name once we know it. If you give her a human name, you'll get used to it and it'll be hard to change," Jill argued. None of them could really see the logic in her explanations, but they accepted it anyways, for she was starting to get upset and they didn't want to make to argue over such a trivial matter.
A few minutes passed and she felt her eyes droop heavily, making it harder and harder for her to stay awake. She didn't know when she fell asleep, but she woke up sore and aching from having slept in an uncomfortable position in the corner. She looked around her in a daze and saw that Will and Jules were sound asleep on the bench behind hers. Aunt Claudia was also sleeping, although it didn't seem to be as deep as the two guys, while Dr Wilson was awake.
"Did her fever go down?" she asked quietly.
"A bit, but she still has a fever, although she's out of the dangerous zone now," he said after being startled.
Miss waterfall did seem to be resting a little bit better. Jill tried to go back to sleep, but she was uncomfortable and restless.
"When will we be arriving in Central?" she asked after a while. It was still dark outside and she couldn't tell what time it was or how long they'd been travelling.
"In an hour," Dr Wilson said calmly after checking his watch. Jill shot up and her eyes were suddenly brighter. One hour? Dr Wilson chuckled at her sudden change of mood.
"Can you keep an eye on miss waterfall for me? I'm going to make a phone call to the Central General Hospital. If you see any changes, wake aunt Claudia up." Jill nodded and watched him leave.
She leaned in close to miss waterfall's face and whispered, "we're almost there. You'll be in good hands once we get there. Dr Wilson says he knows some great doctors in Central and I'm sure they can help you get better."
When Dr Wilson came back, she immediately asked about his phone call.
"They'll be waiting for us at the station with a team and an ambulance, ready to transport her to the hospital." Jill's face brightened at the good news. By then, she was already fully awake.
"Do you know who'll be treating her?"
"One of the doctor in the team that's meeting us is a good friend of mine and there's also my teacher at the hospital that will be waiting for us. He's the best doctor you can get."
Jill was relieved to know that miss waterfall would be in the care of the best doctors in the country. By the time an announcement was made, saying that they would arrive in ten minutes, it was early dawn and the sun was just starting to rise. They came to a slow stop at Central's train station, which was the biggest one she had ever seen. Due to the time of the day, not many people were up and about, so it resembled the deserted station they had departed from.
They all gathered their bags and luggage, but before they touched miss waterfall, Dr Wilson waved to a group of people on the platform from the open window.
"Dr Carson! Over here!" he called them over. Jill saw another man signal to other people and they disappeared somewhere.
Seconds later, a tall middle aged man came onboard towards their seats. She knew he was Dr Carson, since he and Dr Wilson shook hands and hugged each other right away. Without wasting time, Dr Wilson showed him their patient and Dr Carson's expression changed. Will and Jules offered to bring her out on the stretcher. Very carefully, they got her off the train and onto the platform, where an ambulance was waiting in front. The two other people who had been with Dr Carson were waiting for them and opened the back doors when they arrived. Once installed in the truck, Dr Carson's two assistants sat in the front while he and Dr Wilson went in the back.
"We'll meet you at the hospital later. We'll look for a place to stay first to drop off our bags and luggages, then we'll head to the hospital," Jules said. Jill pouted in frustration behind him. I want to go with them! However, she had promised her dad that she would behave and listen to her brother, so she decided to keep quiet.
They rode a taxi to an inn and got themselves two rooms. Everyone took their turn washing up and changing clothes before heading downstairs and grabbing some breakfast to go. They arrived at the Central General Hospital an hour later. The place was huge and they weren't quite sure where to go, even with the directions from the front desk. Apparently, they had rushed her into the operating room upon immediate arrival and there was no news of her condition since then.
When they finally the operating room, they sat down on the chairs aligned against the walls of the corridor. Jill ate and slept some more, since she hadn't gotten much sleep on the train. She was woken up by a gentle tap on her shoulder by her brother. They were all standing up, with Dr Wilson coming out of the pair of doors.
"Dr Wilson!" she exclaimed and ran up to him. He was still in his scrubs so she didn't touch him. "How is she doing?"
"She's still in there. Dr Carson, Dr Paige and I are doing our best to complete the operations that your granny and I couldn't do in our tent," he told them.
"How's her condition though? Do you think she'll make it out alright?" aunt Claudia asked.
"Hmm, we're doing our best to fix her up, but we won't be able to make a full assessment of her condition until she wakes up," he said regretfully. "I should get back in there to help them out. I just wanted to see if you had all arrived and give you some news."
Jill felt like they had been waiting for an eternity. She fell in and out of sleep and would have completely lost track of time if not for the clock on the wall. She sighed heavily and stared pensively at her feet. Why is it taking so long? What if something went wrong? She was feeling restless, but as she jumped up on her feet to relieve her pent up energy, the two operating doors opened and she gasped in surprise.
She was so happy to see Dr Wilson coming out, holding onto the end of a rolling bed, with Dr Carson on one side and an older man on the other side, who was probably Dr Paige. Dr Wilson gave her a small reassuring smile as he caught her eyes and saw her fierce questioning look.
"The operation was successful, but she's still in critical condition. We'll have to keep a close watch on her for the next 24 hours and hope that she stabilizes more." They all nodded and followed close behind as the doctors wheeled her to a private room.
Jill saw a panel on top that marked 'Intensive Care Unit' and swallowed nervously. So she's not out of danger yet? The doctors and nurses were in the room installing machines and tubes around miss waterfall, while the rest of them waited outside, observing everything through the large glass windows.
"Do you think she'll make it through?" she asked out loud to nobody in particular. Her brother looked down at her with sad sympathy.
"She's survived up until now. She's strong. We have to believe in her." He drew her close to him and she relished the warmth of his body, for she was feeling inexplicably cold. The only thing that she understood from the machines was the line and the spikes shown on one of the screens. Her heart is beating strongly.
She heard the doctors introducing themselves and talking to her brother, Will and aunt Claudia, but Jill was only focused on the pale sleeping figure in the other room. Other than her polite bow at their introductions, her face remained glued to the glass.
"When she felt a presence beside her, she asked without looking up, "what are we looking out for? I thought the operation was successful? Is something else going to happen to her?" Luckily for her, it was Dr Wilson who was standing beside her.
"We're watching out for any signs of relapse. It doesn't happen that often, but it can. We have to monitor her vital signs until she is stabilized. After the first 24 hours, the risks of relapsing decreases tremendously, so if she can make it through, then I would dare to say that she would recover." Jill acknowledged silently. Her heart was beating loudly and faster than usual when she realized that these next 24 hours were going to be dreadfully frightening.
Jill was determined to wait those 24 hours, but she found out that waiting was extremely exhausting. When it was late morning, the hospital was full of life, with doctors, nurses, patients and family members bustling around. Someone always brought her food and it was only then that she realized she had been hungry. When nighttime came, she was consumed by fatigue and yawned non-stop.
"It's time to go back to the hotel Jill," her brother told her.
"No, I want to stay here to keep a watch on her," she protested tiredly.
"Dr Wilson will call us if anything happens. You haven't had a good night sleep yesterday so you need one tonight." Jill pouted, but knew he was right. She was awfully sleepy and had no energy to fight back.
She stood up slowly and walked out of the hospital with the three others, dragging her feet behind her. However, once she got in the taxi, she was asleep in seconds and her brother had to carry her to bed.
The next day, she was woken up by aunt Claudia.
"Wake up Jill. It's time to go to the hospital." She quickly got ready and, like yesterday, they grabbed a breakfast to go and headed to the hospital.
When they arrived in front of miss waterfall's room, Dr Wilson was just coming out.
"Ah, there you are!" he said to her, beaming. Seeing his positive expression, she released a little sigh of relief. "Good news, her state did not change throughout the night and she has high chances of stabilizing."
"Really? Is she going to wake up then?" Jill asked eagerly. Dr Paige came out of nowhere beside her and patted her gently on the shoulder.
"Now, it's still a little early to say that, but it does appear favourable. Hopefully, she continues healing at this pace."
Now that Jill knew she was out of the danger zone, she was a little less worried for her. In the afternoon, they all went into town to buy some supplies and some food and snacks, since the food in the hospital was really expensive and not very tasty. With her stabilized state, they allowed themselves to roam around the city for a few hours every day.
After four days, the doctors finally decided it was a good time to slowly take her off the medications that were keeping her in a state of artificial coma. Jill leaped with excitement and joy after hearing the news.
"So when the medications wear off, she'll be able to wake up?" she asked them.
"Yes, that's what's supposed to happen," Dr Wilson said. She didn't like the tone of his voice and the word 'supposed'.
Frowning, she asked, "what do you mean supposed? Could something else happen to her?" Why are there so many complications? Is it that hard just to wake her up?
"I told you before that we deliberately put her in that state to let her brain heal properly because there was bleeding inside and she might have had an injury. We've made scans and saw that the bleeding had stopped, but we can't foretell the extent of her injuries for sure. We'll have to see when she tries to wake up," Dr Wilson explained to her. She frowned at him in denial, but kept her mouth shut. They know better than I do. I hope nothing's wrong with her.
So she trusted them and waited patiently like they did. The next day, she stayed at the hospital the whole day, watching the doctors, the nurses and patients come and go.
"Why is it taking so long for her to wake up? It's been a day already and nothing's changed," she said out loud in confusion.
"It's because it takes time for the medications to leave her body. When they're eliminated, then she'll slowly be able to wake up," aunt Claudia answered her with an amused smile. "You're excited aren't you?" Jill smiled shyly. "When she wakes up, you can tell her that you were the one who found her and saved her. You can also know her real name instead of calling her miss waterfall." Aunt Claudia and the two guys chuckled.
"Yeah and I'll ask her for her story and how she ended up like that."
"I think you should wait and let her tell you when she's ready. We don't know what she's been through and you don't want to put pressure on her to tell you something that she's not ready to share," she explained. Jill thought about it and nodded.
They had waited all day to see any changes and it was starting to get dark outside when her brother suggested they go eat something outside before heading back to their inn.
"But what if she wakes up during the night?" Jill asked anxiously.
"Then we'll be able to meet her tomorrow. The nurses and doctors will take good care of her," Jules said with an air of authority, knowing his little sister would retort sharply if he had said it gently.
Jill pouted and went to stand in front of the big glass windows. She knew they'd wait a few more minutes to let her be satisfied because nobody called her back. She stared hard at miss waterfall, willing her with all her might for her to wake up or do something.
Then, suddenly, she saw a little movement. She gasped lightly, not sure if it had been an optical illusion, and brought her face closer to the glass if it was even possible. She focused hard for any small movements and after a few seconds, she saw it again. Her eyes widened, but she didn't move yet, wanting to confirm it once more. There it was again, little twitches here and there.
"She moved! She moved!" Jill exclaimed, looking back quickly at the others, "Dr Wilson! She's waking up!" she practically yelled in the hallway.
Her brother, Will and aunt Claudia were by her side, trying to see for themselves if it was true. When they all saw what she had seen. They smiled and also looked around for one of the doctors. Dr Wilson and Dr Carson arrived first and they watched them go inside from the window.
Jill watched with great attention as they called her, checked her vital signs, touching her at different places to stimulate her consciousness. However, her smile faltered when she saw Dr Wilson's confused look. Miss waterfall's little movements had turned into an uncontrollable shiver. It was so severe that Jill saw her shake from the window. She couldn't hear, but she saw the doctors giving out orders and people rushing around. When Dr Paige arrived, miss waterfall's temperature had risen to a dangerously high temperature. Ice packs were brought in and medication was administered through her intravenous tube.
Jill was watching in a frightened trance and only came out of it when the head nurse closed the blinds inside, giving her a stern, but concerned, look.
"Jill, go sit down," her brother told her. He held her by her shoulders firmly and led her to her chair. She looked down at her shaking hands on her lap and tears streamed down her face. "It's okay Jill, she's in good hands." She cried silently in her brother's embrace.
"Poor her," she said when she was confident enough to speak normally, "it must be so hard for her. She must be suffering. What if she wants to wake up but can't? Oh, poor her." Her brother didn't say anything, but rubbed her back to comfort her. "What if she can't wake up soon? We won't be here for much longer. It would be so sad if she woke up with nobody around to support her."
They waited in silence for almost and hour before the doctors came out. Jill looked up in despair, but was too afraid to ask them anything.
"She's stabilized again. It seems it was too early to wake her up," Dr Paige said.
"Why was she shivering so much?" Jules asked.
"We believe that the part of her brain that regulated the body temperature is damaged, so her body was not able to control the temperature properly and quickly raised it to a dangerous level. We were able to stabilize it with ice until we could put her back into a coma. We'll have to do more scans tomorrow to confirm our hypothesis. One thing that's sure is that her body wastes too much energy trying to produce heat when it shouldn't be and that'll prevent her body from healing properly," Dr Paige explained.
Jill looked down sadly. So she's not able to wake up? She didn't remember how the rest of the night went by, but they all ended up back at the inn.
"Jill, don't think too much about it. Sleep well. Mom, dad, granny and Lucas are going to arrive tomorrow," Jules said to cheer her up. She smiled sadly at him and nodded. It took a long time for her to fall asleep, but she did and it was a restless one.
She was happy to see her parents and her best friend the next morning, but her energy was not the same. She knew her brother and the others had already explained everything that happened, because her mom came to hug her and comfort her when she saw her. Lucas, on the other had, still wanted her to tell him everything, so she did. He was just as sad as she was when she finished. Granny was busy with the doctors, so she didn't get to see her immediately.
Jill tried to cheer up by touring the city and playing with Lucas and their other friends, but in the end, her thoughts always came back to miss waterfall and it saddened her once more.
"Why did you name her miss waterfall?" Lucas asked her suddenly.
"Because that's where we found her," she answered directly.
"But that's not a name. It's so silly."
"At least we know it's not a name. We don't want to be calling her someone else's name." Lucas made a funny face, but didn't want to argue with her because he knew he'd lose.
A week had passed quickly without any changes in her condition and she knew they would only stay for a couple more days. The whole caravan had to continue on their journey to visit the rest of the cities in Amestris and then head to Xing before the weather started to turn cold. Her father, being the head of the group, couldn't stall any longer even if he wanted to because he was responsible for all the other merchant families. They also didn't know how long they'd have to wait for her to wake up, so they would have no choice but to leave.
On the day of their departure, Jill felt heartsick while spending her last day staring at miss waterfall from her chair across the hallway. Will you ever get better? Will I get to meet you one day? Jill decided that if she wasn't going to be there when she woke up, then she'd write her a letter of introduction. Writing this letter made her feel so much better and less sad to leave. At least she'll know that someone wished for her to wake up when she wakes up.
"Dr Wilson!" she called when she saw him walking in the hallway. "Can you give this to miss waterfall when she wakes up?" She handed her letter to him and he smiled at her.
"Of course Jill. I promise I will," he said sincerely.
"Thank you. Promise me you'll do your best to treat her."
"I promise. I'll do my very best. Now, you should get going. Everyone is getting ready to leave and I'm sure your family will be looking for you very soon. I was just heading there myself."
She walked out of the Central General Hospital with Dr Wilson for the last time and left with the caravan after saying her goodbyes to everyone she knew in Central. Jill watched the city fade away into the distance, her heart heavy with regret.
A.N.: Surprise! New passing character! Can you guess who miss waterfall is? Quite a ridiculous name lol. I hoped this chapter was okay, but I can already predict the disappointment in the lack of information and advancement in the storyline haha! I have foreseen the rest of the chapters and how this story will end so I just have to write it out soon :) I hope you guys continue to support this story and I promise not to disappoint with the future chapters. Till next time.
P.S.: No chapters for July! :0
D