Chapter 4: "Breathe"
"NUDGE!" Iggy shrieked, rushing to the younger girl's side, completely cutting off Sarah's attempts to find words that could even start to express her horror at what she'd just heard.
"What is it?" she cried, leaping to her feet and following him.
"She's not breathing!" he screamed, splaying his hand against the girl's chest to check for a pulse.
She didn't question how he could tell, sitting clear over in the corner. She'd realized by now that this kid was special in more ways than just the wings. Instead, cold fear shot through her. This could not be happening!
"There's a faint pulse, she's just not breathing in air!" Iggy said in horror. He immediately pulled the pillow from beneath his sister's head and then tipped her head back, covering her mouth with his and forcing air into her lungs.
"Come on, Nudge, honey!" Sarah pleaded as if she knew her, grabbing the girl's hand and squeezing. "Breathe for us! Please!"
Again Iggy breathed for her then pulled away, counting in a terrified whisper. And again. And again. Then he paused to hold his shaking fingers in front of her lips.
"Anything?" Sarah asked, squeezing the girl's fingers tighter.
With tears streaming down his face, he shook his head before resuming his desperate task.
"Oh, please, God," Sarah begged, her own face moist now, "let this little girl breathe again! Don't take her away! She's just a baby! Please, please –"
A sudden shudder went through the girl's still form and then she sucked in a harsh breath on her own.
"Yes, that's it! Keep breathing, sweetie!" Sarah cried, rubbing her hand up and down the girl's skinny arm. Iggy froze, hoovering right above his sister as he listened to the sound of air once again entering and leaving her lungs.
In. Out. In. Out.
It was faint and kind of ragged, but it was there.
For probably ten minutes, neither one of them dared move, afraid the wisps of air would disappear but they held steady.
Finally, Iggy sank boneless to the floor beside the bed and it was as if something inside of him cracked. His head dropped into his hands and deep, gut-wrenching sobs poured out.
Fourteen, Sarah thought.
He was only fourteen-years-old!
Fourteen and blind, with his family dying around him.
Quietly, Sarah sat on the floor next to him and pulled his head to her shoulder. He was a foot taller than her, but he sagged against her, starved for comfort. For a long time she just sat there, rubbing his head but never saying a word, letting the sobs drain away. Eventually, he ran out of energy and tears and he pulled back, embarrassed.
"Will you be okay now?" she asked, standing and purposefully not making a fuss.
He nodded.
"Okay, stay here with them. I'll be right back."
She made it as far as the downstairs bathroom before the adrenaline of the moment drained and she was left with the realization of what had just happened, what had almost happened. And then she heaved everything she'd eaten in the last twenty-four hours up into the cold porcelain of her toilet bowl. For a minute afterward, she could only kneel there shaking.
"Are you sick, too?"
The small, scared voice coming from the bathroom door she'd forgotten to close made her head jerk around. The little boy – Gazzy – stood there, eyes wide with fear.
She closed the lid, wiped her mouth on her sleeve, climbed to her feet, pushed the lever to flush. "No, Gazzy," she answered firmly. "I'm not, I promise."
"But…you just…like they all did at first…"
"I promise I'm okay," she said again, ushering him out of the doorway. "Now go back downstairs. Put on another video, all right? In a few hours, I'll let you come help me milk, 'k."
He didn't believe her, she could tell. But he nodded and want back down the stairs to the basement family room.
And then Sarah, having made up her mind about something, grabbed her cell phone off the counter and stepped out into the backyard.
0o0o0o0o0o
"Hey, Maggie," Sarah spoke quietly into the phone when it was picked up. "Yeah, it's Sarah."
"Sarah," Maggie McLean's voice came through, and the familiar warmth almost made her lose it. She sat weakly on the old bench beside the shed. "I was planning to call you today, after I saw Linda on organ instead of you. Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sarah lied. "Sorry to bug you on a Sunday, but is Doc there?" She knew the woman would be suspicious of her short answers, but time was running out, and she also knew Maggie was discreet enough to let it drop.
"Yeah, he just turned on the game. Let me get him."
Sarah waited, her mind whirling. She knew she was breaking a huge trust, but she also knew she had no choice. While she'd been cooking the soup, she'd done some research on the 'net. A week ago, right before school let out, an email had been sent around warning of recent outbreaks on local college campuses of meningococcal meningitis. Highly contagious, fast acting, deadly. Her twenty minutes of internet surfing made her almost one-hundred percent sure there was an outbreak of it raging through her upstairs bedroom at the moment as well. And after the little girl had…almost died…she knew she had to get help. Real help.
"Sarah! What can I do for ya?" Doc McLean's booming voice broke through her thoughts, and she held the phone away from her ear slightly. The gentle giant of a man had never learned the meaning of the word quiet.
Sarah gulped, and then dove in. "Doc, you've known me since I was twelve. You were there when both Dad and Mom passed, and…I need your help. I need you to trust me on something that is so out of this world…and crazy…and the single most important thing I've ever asked of anyone." She was rambling, but she couldn't help it. Her reserves of calm were shot to heck.
"Sarah, darling, breathe," Doc's voice was calm (if still loud) and serious. "You know I trust you, girl. Now, talk."
"I've got four runaway kids sick with what I think is meningitis in one of my spare rooms and we can't take them to the hospital because they have wings – real wings – and I know you'll think I'm crazy but I'd never make this up, so please, please believe me! And…and they're dying but if I call for an ambulance they'll get sent back to hell, absolute hell, and I don't know what to do and –" A sob broke through her voice and she closed her eyes, raking fingers through her messy hair. "Doc, I need help. Please," she whispered.
There was complete silence for a long minute on the other end and Sarah started to wonder if he'd hung up on her, if she'd just lost the trust of the last bit of family she had, but finally he spoke.
"I'll be there in half an hour. Just me, I promise."
The line went dead and Sarah let the phone drop into her lap. She pulled her glasses off and rubbed at her eyes, letting the tears of worry and exhaustion flow for a few moments before slipping them back on.
Now she just had to go back in there and tell a boy who was already at the breaking point what she'd just done.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
Author's Note: I can't tell all of you how much it means to have people reading and reviewing this story! It makes my day. And please, I do love to hear from you, so let me know what you think.
I realize these chapters are getting a bit shorter. Which is weird. I usually do long chapters when I write things, but somehow this story is leading itself to shorter ones. I hope no one minds.
And one last note - I'm going to be posting another story soon as well. It's a crossover, featuring CSI NY and Maximum Ride. I'll be putting it up in the CSI NY section, but if that's something you think might interest you, go poke around my profile page and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
