Things Heat Up
Prue quickly falls into the familiar pattern of slumber. Her
dream is dark and fuzzy-like the old horror films she used sneak out of bed and
watch. A figure appears. It begins to walk towards her. She can tell at an
instant by the way he walked, by his familiar shape- it is her dear Andy. He is
shouting, but she can't make out the words.
As Andy approaches, she can start to make out his words and the
concern in his voice. "Prue, you must wake up! Please Prue, leave this dream!
It's the only way to save you." He pauses, knowing the right words to get
action. "It is the only way to save your sisters."
Suddenly fire rips in front of Prue's eyes. It hits Andy
squarely in the chest. He screams – an ear-shattering piercing scream that Prue
never hoped to hear and never will forget. Andy burst into flames. He shouts one
last time "Go, Prue, please go." Then it was over. Andy disappears.
Prue is crying, long passionate sobs. "No Andy, please
no."
Behind her she hears a growl as a voice mockingly taunts her,
using the words that she knew her Andy would use, "Not my beloved Prue." A voice
so sinister it sends a chill down her spine. She pivots around rapidly to see
it. From it fingers- if they could be called fingers- she sees rays of fire. The
rays come toward her. She quickly puts up her arms in an X-shape to block them.
She focuses with all her strength to move them away with her eyes. But the force
is too strong. The rays hit her arms with such pain that her knees buckle and
she pitches forward and screams.
She awakes a few minutes later, thinking that the pain must have
been so great she lost consciousness. She looks down at her arms. They are
severely burned and blistered. The pain is so great – it shoots down her arms
and radiates to her chest and finally all over her body. Unable to stand, she
rolls over on her side. Looking up the figure begins to looms closer. Her
stomach is churning as she becomes ill from the fear and the pain.
Phoebe and Piper run into to Prue's office to find her lying on
the floor. Rushing to her, they both fall on their knees.
Phoebe stammers, "Is, is she dead?"
Piper feels Prue's neck for a pulse. "No, I think she just
fainted. Phoebe, go get some water and something to make a cold
compress."
Piper reaches down and touches Prue's shoulder. She begins to
lightly shake Prue. For the first time, she notices that Prue is sweating and
shaking at the same time. More concerned, Piper starts to shake Prue harder, but
Prue fails to respond. Piper start to scream, "Prue wake up! Oh Prue, what is
happening to you?" Realizing that somehow Prue's very life depended on her
waking up, Piper screams to Phoebe' "Phoebe, come here quickly. Help me with
Prue!"
Racing over to her sisters, Phoebe asks frantically, "What's
wrong?" Looking down she sees the horror in Prue's face. Prue screams and her
eyes bolt wide open. "Sh, sh, sweetie, we here," Phoebe starts to comfort Prue.
Phoebe embraces Prue and starts to slowly rock her back and forth.
Prue stops screaming. There is pain all over Prue's face and she
is winching as if every movement is hurting her. Even the gentle warm touch of
her sister seems to cause great distress.
Piper continues trying to comfort Prue as one comforts a small
child or a hurt animal. "What's wrong, Prue? You're okay, we're here with you.
Nothing is going to hurt you."
Seeing that her embrace is hurting her sister, Phoebe pulls away
from Prue. As she does, she notices that she is covered with blood- Prue' blood.
She sees the source of Prue's pain- the horrible truth of what was wrong. Prue's
arms were horribly burned. Blood was oozing from Prue's seared flesh as her skin
bubbled up.
"Prue, what happened" Phoebe asked again, not really expecting
an answer.
"I don't know" Prue meekly replies as she is hit with a spasm of
pain. So weak, she loses consciousness again,
"Piper, help me get her up. We need to get her to a hospital and
quickly. Phoebe and Piper gently lift Prue up by her shoulder and they leave for
the hospital.
The Promise
At the hospital, Phoebe and Piper are waiting in the Emergency
waiting room. Phoebe is pacing endlessly back and forth as they wait. "Phoebe,
sit down, please. Your pacing is making me nervous and it isn't helping Prue any
either." starts Piper.
"You know we are lucky we made it to Prue when we did. I can't
bear to know what would have happened if we hadn't gone to Bucklands. It would
have been my fault."
Phoebe starts verbally beating herself up again.
Piper interrupts her. "No. It is your fault. Don't talk like
that. It is the fault of whomever, whatever is after Prue. I only wish, we knew
how Prue is. I'm beginning to worry."
At any other time Phoebe would some light sarcastic comment
about how surprised she was that Piper, the worrisome middle sister, was
fretting again. But in her anguish all Phoebe could do was feebly agree. "They
have been with her a long time. I wish they would come out and tell us
something."
Neither Phoebe nor Piper spoke for a while. Both sisters sat in
silence waiting and thinking about how bad their sister looked when they arrived
at the hospital. The color had drained from her face and she was unconscious.
A voice interrupted their thoughts. "Phoebe, Piper Halliwell?"
The doctor who had rushed Prue into the emergency room was calling their
names.
"Yes" they both echoed in unison.
"I am Dr. Andrew Middleton. Please come with me to my office. We
need to talk." He continued.
Piper and Phoebe followed Dr. Middleton into his office and sat
down on two leather chairs, waiting for the news they were dreading.
"Your sister has suffered severe burns to at least 50% to 70% of
both hands and arms. They will need to be grafted. There are also less severe
burns on her shoulders." Dr. Middleton paused. Both Piper and Phoebe knew that
he was holding the worst back.
"There something else, the burn to her right arm was very deep-
almost to the bone. It destroyed muscle. It appears that it has caused severe
nerve damage," he finished.
"What does that mean for Prue? Piper asked.
"Quite honestly, Ms Halliwell, I don't know. From the extent of
the damage, it appears that your sister is unable to use her right arm."
"You mean she will never be able to use her arm?" Piper
continued.
Whether she will ever be able to use that arm again, I can't
tell. Perhaps after extensive therapy and retraining, she may be able to regain
limited use of that arm, perhaps 20% or so." Dr Middleton gave his final
verdict.
"If anyone can do it- it would be Prue. Can we see her?" Phoebe
finally asked.
"Yes, you can see her for a short time. She is very weak and in
a lot of pain. We have her on painkillers and have given her something to sleep.
Piper and Phoebe got up and started to leave.
"Thank you" Piper and Phoebe both stated in unison as they
opened the door to his office.
They found Prue, lying in the dark on her bed. Her arms were
covered in protective wrap. Approaching closer, they could hear her softly
moaning. Her face was contorted in pain.
Phoebe put her hand on Prue's hair and gently strokes it. "Prue,
honey… its Pheebes and Piper. It okay, nothing is going to hurt you now. We're
here."
Prue's eyes open weakly, trying to focus on her sisters.
Squinting through the pain, Prue looks up. Her mouth is moving, but she is so
weak that her sisters can not hear her.
Piper comes to the other side of the bed and putting her head
down close to her sister's mouth she listens. At first what she heard did not
make sense. Then a little louder and more determined, Prue whispers that one
word again. "Andy". Exhausted, Prue sinks back into her restless sleep.
"What did she say?" asked Phoebe anxiously.
Turning to Phoebe, Piper weakly answered. "She said Andy. What
does he have to do with what has happened? And what do you think happened to
Prue?"
'I don't know. I know I wouldn't want to go through what Prue
went through. We have to find out what happened. We can't let her suffer any
more." Phoebe proclaimed adamantly.
"We will." stated an equally determined Piper. "We will. I will
do everything in my power to make sure nothing harms her again."
"I second that, Phoebe said as she leaned over and hugged Piper
tightly.
Reaching down they each took hold of one of Prue's hands. Thus
making their own silent pact that they would be there to help Prue anyway they
could, no matter what they had fight or what they had to encounter. For the next
hour they sat in silence as they both watch Prue sleep.