I am not wasting any time chatting about how much I love you people. Here is the chapter you guys have been waiting for (only for a few hours)!
Through hours of horrible nightmares and vivid pains throughout all of my body, I finally came to a shivering stillness. The drugs must have started working because I didn't feel, see, or hear anything. I guess that was a good thing, but replacing my pain was a feeling of dread. What happened? Am I dead? Is my baby dead?
Some part of me was grateful that I wasn't awake yet, because I was too much of a chicken to know what happened. The other part of me wanted to wake up so I would know if my kid was alright. I wanted to hold him, and be close to Peeta, but I don't even know if he is alive. Heck, I don't even know if I'm alive or not.
I felt a slight tugging somewhere in the vicinity of my stomach and a sudden rush of vertigo, making the world swoop around me (although I couldn't see anything). The rest of my body's feeling was retrieved and I felt somewhat rough material at my fingertips.
I pried my eyes open. It took a few minutes to come into focus, but eventually the dizziness faded and the images around me sharpened to clarity. The ceiling above me was textured and off-white, surrounded by peach-colored curtains. The walls were littered with strange machinery and beeping screens.
Stiffly, I turned my neck to my right and to my relief Peeta was kneeling next to my bed. He was holding my hand and was staring off into space on the opposite wall.
"Peeta?" My voice was barely audible through my scratchy throat. "Is he okay?"
Peeta glanced over at me and sighed in relief. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"
"How come you always do that?" I groaned, frowning at him.
"Do what?" Peeta played all innocence, which annoyed the heck out of me.
"Every time I wake up from whatever, you don't answer my questions and act all weird." I looked him straight in the eyes (as well as I could, seeing as how my eye muscles weren't totally in my control yet) and I asked him in a clear voice, "Is he alive?"
Peeta, for once, smiled at the question. "Yes. Yes it is."
I felt the enormous weight of anticipation lift off my chest and be replaced by relief. "Is he beautiful?" I whispered.
"I don't know." Peeta stared back off into space. "I wanted you to be the first one to see him."
"Bring him to me." I begged. "I want to see him."
"I can't." Peeta stood up and gently replaced my hand back on top of the blankets.
"Don't go, Peeta!" I said frantically, trying to grab onto his hand, but missing by a few inches.
"The doctor wanted me to tell him once you woke up. I wasn't even supposed to be the one to be here when you woke up, but they made a rare exception for me." Peeta kissed my forehead before ducking out the door.
I watched miserably after him. Peeta just left me laying here in the hospital, after I had my child cut out of me, and he didn't have a single word to say. I closed my eyes again and fought away anger at Peeta.
"Are you awake, Mrs. Everdeen?" Dr. Longarden's voice came from across the room.
I cracked my eyes opened again and sniffled. I hated everyone right now and Dr. Longarden was definitely not one of the people on my "not hated" list.
"How are you feeling?" Wrong thing to ask, doctor.
"Why does everyone ask that? Would you people just STOP asking me that?" I felt anger bubble inside of me and I sat up. "You know what?" I said the doctor, trying not to let my voice rise any higher than it already was. "I don't need doctors. You all are telling me what to do and ever since I found out I was pregnant, you have been in total control of me. That isn't going to happen anymore." I reached over and ripped the IV out of my left hand. I ignored the lack of hair surrounding where the IV was, and grabbed a tissue to staunch the bleeding.
Dr. Longarden held out his hands as if to stop me and looked concerned. "Now, Mrs. Everdeen, that needle was in one of your major arteries. You can't just rip it out or you'll be in danger of bleeding to death."
"Oh, I can't rip it out?" I said in fury, standing up, facing the doctor. I held my bleeding hand out to him. "I JUST DID!"
In desperate attempt to rein me in, the doctor looked to his side and slammed his fist against the "Press for Help" button.
"I want to see him!" I cried, running at the doctor as if I actually thought I could knock him down and run for it. Silly me.
The door burst open behind doctor Longarden and two doctors came in. I said "came" but what I really meant was "ran-in-and-held-me-down-on-the-bed-to-stick-a-needle-full-of-clear-stuff-in-me-until-I-passed-out-again".
The next time I opened my eyes, it was clear what the doctors had unwillingly drugged me with was something really strong, because my eyes refused to focus and my limbs felt as heavy as sandbags. I lifted my hand (or tried to), and found it was once again stabbed with an IV, but a metal band held both of my arms securely down. I groaned.
Immediately, there was a doctor that swooped down on my right and took my vitals. I grudgingly opened my mouth so he could stick his rubbery thermometer under my tongue.
After all of that was done and everything was recorded on a wooden clipboard, I opened my mouth again and managed to control my throat muscles enough to say, "Can… I go see him now?"
The doctor smiled lightly at me. "It's a girl."
I felt myself laugh a little, and even to my own ears it sounded very drugged. "A girl."
"I'm afraid there is a note here…"The doctor put his finger on a spot on the countertop, "…that says Dr. Longarden wants to wait until you are stabilized and the medicine has run its course. We don't want a heavily drugged 17-year-old stumbling around the hospital looking for her first-born."
I giggled, but then suddenly stopped myself. Why should I be giggling about this? There was nothing to laugh about.
"Do you want me to get Dr. Longarden in?"The other doctor asked me as he typed on the computer.
"Why would he need to come?" I asked in a slightly slurred voice. Wow, it was sounding like I really was drunk.
"Your wrists are bleeding."
I looked quizzically down at the metal bands, and, sure enough, it appeared as though I was pulling on them so tightly that I had actually managed to cut the skin of my wrists and a dot of blood was visible on the edge of the cuff.
"He can get you more medicine."
"No more medicine!" I cried, straining on my metal bands more. "I'm fine."
The doctor smiled again. "Give it an hour. Then we will see if you will be well enough to get up."
The next hour was agonizingly slow and painful. I was jittery and on edge the whole time, routinely asking the current doctor there if I could go. Little by little the heavy medicine wore off and I was getting more aware and impatient of things by the second. Finally, roughly an hour and thirteen minutes later, the doctor checked my vitals again and said, "You seem stabilized enough, but you have to promise not to rip your IV out and run around the room again, okay?"
"Okay!" I sat as still as I possibly could as the doctor inserted a little key in each of the metal bands and they opened with a loud clack. They unscrewed one end of my IV and taped it against my arm out of the way.
"You aren't able to walk a whole lot right now, so a wheelchair is going to have to do." The nice doctor dragged out a fold-a-wheelchair from under the sink and unlatched it so where it was suitable to sit in.
I wiggled around in the bed until the doctor put his hand in the crook of my elbow and helped my into the chair. My knuckles latched around the arms and I wanted to scream to the doctor, "Faster, faster, FASTER!" But the chair kept on wheeling as slowly as humanly possible, but I had to keep my promise not to hop up and run around the hospital like a loony.
Finally, the chair wheeled to a stop in front of a door, and to my surprise, Peeta was leaning against the wall, waiting for me. At least, I think it was me he was waiting for.
When Peeta saw me, he hopped off the wall and came over to me. "So I take it you didn't bleed to death?"
"Hey that wasn't my fault!" I said defensively, laughing. "I was on drugs."
"I know. Shall we?" Peeta took my hand and opened the door to who-knows-where that was in front of us.
The doctor wheeled me in, Peeta at my side, and I had to admit what I saw frightened me. The room was full of metal contraptions and in the very center, was a rectangular column made of glass halfway up. There were plastic circles in the glass on each side, with little tubes running inside of the column connected to different bags of fluid.
Inside the glass, was my baby.
Dun dun DUUNN! Hehe I ended it right before we got to see the kid. Anyways, I hope you guys liked this chapter. It took long enough! I am doing well, typing as fast as ever, but not fast enough! I will try to get the next chapter soon. Love you guys!