Healing words

Thea sat patiently and looked as the nurse turned of the machine and put everything back into its place. He had already done the same to Amber, who sat on her bed, facing Thea. Amber pulled a hand through her red hair, in an attempt to make it lay backwards and out of her eyes. It was to short to hold itself together however, and soon fell back down and tickled her eyebrow. The nurse finished up, and told them that they could stay in the room a little longer to catch their breaths, before he left.

"What a weird evening." Thea said and chuckled softly. "Can't barely understand what happened."

They were alone in the room now. The others had followed another nurse, and gone to check on Katkin.

"It was a bit shitty of you guys to use or concern about your fighting against us." Amber jumped down from the bed.

Thea looked at her, as she made her way across the room, and jumped down herself.

"Yeah it was. I don't know what any of us were thinking."

"But it's all right. We're all here, together and feeling well." Amber smiled a little.

The distance between them closed, and they pulled each other in for a hug. Thea put her chin on top of Amber´s head, and smelled her hair. It smelled strongly of smoke, but somewhere beneath that, she could feel a familiar smell of her shampoo. Amber buried her face in Thea's shoulder, also smelling the smoke. They pulled away for a moment, and Amber trailed one of Thea's blonde braids with her hand. In silent, they looked each other in the eyes. Thea saw how Amber radiated a feeling of safety and home, but somehow she did not fell entirely connected to it. Amber saw the hesitation and uncertainty in Thea, and wondered why it was so hard for them to just be a steady thing. Both of them knew that they did not want to talk about this weird feeling between them, and instead pulled each other in for another hug. The physical contact was sure, it was clear, in a way that their psychological connection was not.

Thea raised her gaze towards the windows and the door out into the hallway. She saw movement behind the curtain, and just recognized a short brown haired woman and a bit taller blond man, before they showed up in the doorway.

"Shit." She released Amber and instinctively looked for somewhere to hide.

But it was way to late, her parents were already standing there looking at her, and they were not looking happy.

"Sit down." Dura said, and Thea did as she was told. "You too." She added and looked to Amber. "Your parent's have been informed about what has happened."

"I should get back to my dormitory." Amber tried to avoid the upcoming scolding.

"We'll drive you there when we're done. The director of the house knows that you'll be home late." Almund stopped her hopes of getting away easy.

"She really didn't do anything…" Thea mumbled.

"Oh so we should call her parents again then? And tell them that their daughter was in the hospital but nothing really happened?" Dura crossed her arms.

"Aren't you glad that we're fine?" Thea glared at her parents.

"Of course we are. But this is the third time in a short while that I hear that you've been involved in something. After Tristram and fighting at practice. Apparently, you need to hear that this is no way to behave."

Bree sat on a bench in the corridor. She was looking at the note again. They had just seen Katkin. She had been awake, and they had seen in her eyes that she was happy to see them. But the oxygen mask and her general health didn't allow her to have a lengthy conversation. They had all given her a small squeeze of the hand or light pat on the shoulder.

The rest had gone down to the waiting room to buy some snacks. Bree decided to wait behind, she wanted to be alone. Suddenly however, someone sat down beside her, and pulled her into a tight embrace. Bree was surprised, but quickly recognised the smell and feeling. Irma let her go of the hug, and held onto her shoulders to look at her from an arms distance. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and collected herself. When she opened them, Bree understood that the next thing was going to be way different than the hug.

"Care to explain yourself?" Irma said with a sharp voice.

"We were just gonna scare them, it wasn't meant to go this wrong."

"It's rarely meant to go wrong. What did you think was going to happen? Playing with explosives."

"We weren't just playing around, Sel told us that he knew what he was doing! I just set it up as I was told." Bree quickly realised that she just said to much.

"You set it up? I thought that maybe you were just hanging around with the wrong kids, but you were actually part of what happened?"

"I… Yes, I rigged the can, per instructions…" She lowered her voice, ashamed.

"And nowhere did you think that maybe this was a bad idea?"

"Of course I did…"

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because I like my friends and wanted to do something together with them and feel involved." Bree gained some stability back in her voice.

"If your friends blow up houses, then I think you should maybe find new ones." Irma stood up.

She looked down on Bree, nodding towards the door.

"Let's talk more about this at home."

Bree looked down at the note in her hand again. She stood up, but turned the other way, and walked into the room where Katkin was laying. Irma followed for a few steps, but stopped outside the door when she saw the sleeping Katkin, connected to tubes.

She watched as Bree slowly walked up beside her bed, and took her hand. She did not see that Bree placed the small note in Katkin's palm. She closed the fingers lightly over it, and held the hand for a moment as she looked at Katkin's face.

"Please be alright. I want you to. I need you to." She whispered.

Irma continued to watch, as Bree bent down, and placed a soft kiss on Katkins forehead. She felt sorrow grow in the back of her throat, and tried to swallow the feeling. She took a deep breath, trying not to show too much emotion, as Bree turned around and walked back out of the room. She put an arm over Bree's shoulder and held her very close as they exited the building.

Katkin stirred awake again. She tiredly opened her eyes to the cold light of the hospital room. She was alone. The last time she was awake her friends had been there. She remembered having seen them leave, but barely. She had probably already began drifting away when they left.

She turned her head, there was a vase with a small bouquet standing on the bedside table. She was unsure if they had been there before. A note was hanging in a string from one of the flowers. 'Get well soon', it said. She recognised Sel's handwriting, and figured they were from her friends. She lifted her arm slowly, to reach for the note. That was when she realised that she already had something in her hand. She lifted it close to her face. When she understood what it was, she felt herself smile. She knew who it was from, there was no doubt. Maybe she had not misread Bree's nervousness that night at all. She held the small confetti close in her hand.

A nurse entered the room, and greeted her. She read the instruments beside the bed and made an approving sound.

"I think you'll be out of here soon enough. You've been lucky." She smiled at Katkin. "I'll go and get you some food." And she was of again.