Here's chapter 2!
Disclaimer: I own nothing
"Keep on breathing... go on, breath in." -"Breathe" by Superchick
The emergency helicopter arrived seconds before Daniel started coughing up blood.
The helicopter landed on the uneven ground, and paramedics hopped out of their mode of transportation as the propellers whirled to a stop.
Mollie felt relief consume her, and a smile had just started to stretch across her face when Daniel suddenly jerked in her arms.
Alarmed, she turned her head back to look at him, and he spasmed, his chest and stomach convulsing as he started sputtering. A fountain of red (in reality, it wasn't all that much, but to the panicked Mollie, there seemed to be enough blood to fill a lake) gushed out of Daniel's lips, tricking down the side of his face and forming small droplets of scarlet on her muddy and already blood soaked jeans.
Mollie leaned Daniel up, gently but quickly while trying to keep his chest as flat as possible. The blood probably meant a punctured lung, and she didn't want to risk making it worse, but Daniel had too many injuries to be turned over on his side, and as of now, his biggest risk was asphyxiating on his own blood.
More crimson dribbled out of Daniel's lips, and he coughed, the sound sounding much less choked than before, but he was obviously still in an enormous amount of pain.
The paramedics surged forward, and one gently pulled her away from Daniel while they strapped on a neck brace and placed an oxygen mask over his face.
Mollie was so captivated by Daniel's bloody, injured, and absolutely horrific appearance to notice Eric standing at top of the Quarry, gazing down in terror as his best friend was loaded into the helicopter.
"Come with me, miss," one of the paramedics said, leading her to the helicopter, and she knelt beside Daniel's stretcher, watching his chest rise and fall in a choppy and uneven fashion. Fog ghosted upon the oxygen mask with each breath Daniel released.
Keep breathing, Daniel, she thought. Please keep breathing.
The helicopter vibrated and roared as it rose above the Quarry, and Mollie kept her eyes fixed on Daniel's face as the helicopter moved in the direction of the nearest hospital. Mollie sniffled as she used her jacket sleeve to wipe the blood from Daniel's face; without the drying crimson caked against his skin, Daniel didn't look that bad. A lot of small scraps and a deep cut on his forehead, along with some bruises. With a glance at the face, now devoid of buckets of blood, Daniel looked like he'd taken a beating, not like he'd fallen over four stories.
If this had been any other situation, Mollie would've asked him what happened to his face and then either get angry (if he was beaten up) or laugh (if he did something hilarious, like tripped on the side walk). But this... this was no laughing matter.
"Mol," Daniel rasped.
"Don't try to speak," Mollie murmured before the paramedic could. "Focus on breathing. We're almost there."
Daniel couldn't nod with the neck brace, so he blinked twice before he drifted off again.
"Are you close?" The paramedic asked.
Mollie nodded. "He's my best friend."
"Good. He's going to need you now more than ever," the paramedic stated as she pressed some gaze to Daniel's right arm, and Mollie nearly vomited as she got a good look at his arm for the first time. She could see the bone!
Mollie nodded, turning back to Daniel's face as an excuse to not look at his arm.
The helicopter landed, and Mollie followed the paramedics as they placed Daniel on a gurney and wheeled him in the direction of the emergency room.
"You'll need to stay here," a nurse told her, sympathetically, before leaving Mollie standing in a mostly deserted waiting room. The few people that were there snapped their heads from the closing doors (injuries in Noble's Green were rare. For someone to be so severely hurt... it was quite the shock) to her as she avoided their eyes and lowered herself into a plastic chair.
Moments later, she heard the chair beside her creak and stared at Eric's jeans, decorated with doodles he'd done while bored in class.
"I called the others, along with your parents, Daniel's parents, and my mom. They're all on their way," Eric murmured.
Neither said anything for several long minutes.
Mollie did what she did in school. She tried to forget her surroundings, her situation, her boredom, and any anxiety through day dreaming while watching each minute tick by on the clock. It wasn't working too well because every time she tried to space out, a flashback involving Daniel would pop up or she'd spot her blood covered hands or the crimson smearing her clothes or feel the sticky tracks of dried tears on her cheeks, and her day dreaming would crumble, replaced by the reminder of harsh, cruel reality.
The sliding doors opened, and Louisa and Rose, who lived closest to the hospital, stepped inside, followed by their mother.
Rose was sobbing, and Louisa herself had tears on her cheeks; even Mrs. Rodriguez, who Mollie had always seen as emotionless except when it came to her daughters, appeared worried for her children's friend.
Louisa seated herself beside Mollie, and Rose scrambled onto Eric's lap, looking for comfort; Mollie was covered in blood, and... maybe Eric just reminded her of Daniel. After all, the sight reminded Mollie painfully of all the times Rose would crawl into Daniel's arms when she was scared or excited or just because she wanted to.
Next came Daniel's family. Ashley was crying openly while her husband tried to be strong for her, although he couldn't stop his own tears. Three year old Georgie simply appeared confused, and he sat on the other side of Eric's lap, beside Rose.
"Eric, is something wrong with Daniel?" Georgie asked around his thumb, which he placed in his mouth.
Rose started crying harder, and Eric sighed, shakily, trying to fight back his own tears.
"Yeah, Georgie," he answered. "I'm afraid so."
After Daniel's family came Rohan and his parents. Rohan's eyes were red, and tears had stained his glasses, even though Mollie had never seen her friend cry. Mr. and Mrs. Parmer looked extremely concerned for the boy who visited their house every other night to see Rohan, for the boy whose grandmother had died and they attended the funeral, for the boy that, according to their son, saved Eric and Mollie when 'they got trapped in the Old Quarry' last year (at least that was what the Supers told their parents happened).
Mollie didn't expect the door to open again, but it did, and the most unlikely people stepped through.
Clay Cudgens, Bud Davids, and Theo Plunkett.
"How is he?" Clay asked, and the Supers were shocked to hear genuine concern in his voice.
"We don't know yet," Eric stated. "What are you doing here? How did you know about Daniel?"
"There's another town on the other side of the mountain. Some person from that town was at the Quarry and posted a video," Theo said, showing them the video on his phone. "People all over town have been posting comments, asking if that was Daniel and saying how worried they were and a bunch of stuff. Imagine what happens if they put it on the news. The whole town will be visiting the hospital."
Mollie blinked. She'd never really thought about it, but Daniel was quite popular in their small town. He was the kind of kid you just had to like (except for Clay, but I didn't think he liked anybody). He was the kid that would send a town into mourning for months if he died. He was... well, kind of like Charlie Campbell had been before he moved. When his dad died, people walked on egg shells around Charlie for nearly a year because no one even wanted to risk hurting him, not even the meanest people in town (not that there were many).
The point is... Daniel was likeable and had been well known since he was the first new kid they'd had since before Mollie was born. Theo was right; if this was put on the news, which it likely would be because of the video on the Internet, the whole town would be visiting the hospital.
"Family of Daniel Corrigan?" A nurse called, and everyone stood up in anticipation. The nurse blinked in confusion before Mr. and Mrs. Corrigan stepped forward.
"Daniel will eventually make a full recovery," the nurse announced, and everyone sighed in relief. "It will be a long road, however. Daniel came in with four broken ribs, a punctured lung, a bruised back, a twisted ankle, a broken ankle, a sprained wrist, internal bleeding, a severe concussion, and a severely broken arm. Daniel's ribs should heal in six to eight weeks; we did reinflate his lung; his broken ankle should heal in six to eight weeks; his twisted ankle should heal relatively quickly; and his sprained wrist will heal in around four to six weeks. We did fix the internal bleeding. As for the broken arm, he did lose a lot of blood and snapped the bone in two; he was lucky because we didn't have to ampute as I originally thought we would have. The concussion is what we're worried the most about. Daniel is lucky he didn't crack his skull open with the hit he took, so I want to keep a close eye on his concussion. He'll need to be in the hospital for more than a month."
Mr. Corrigan nodded. "When can we see him?"
"Well, we'll probably need to move him to a bigger room," she smiled, glancing at the gathered group. "As soon as we do that, I'll come inform you."
Mollie sighed in relief, thanking God for answering her prayers, as she sat back down, trying to catch her breath. Now that she knew Daniel would eventually be okay, she could finally breathe.
Thank you, Daniel, she thought. Thank you for breathing.
Some of you may think that's a weird thing to thank a person for, but for people who have lost someone or have come close to it, thanking someone for breathing is the best thing to be able to thank a person for.
When Daniel came around, a familiar person was staring at him.
"Mol," he murmured. "What-shoo-ooing-ere?" He slurred (it was supposed to sound like what are you doing here).
"Can you try that again?" Mollie asked, politely.
"What are you doing here?" Daniel said, slowly, going out of his way to make sure the words didn't blend together.
"You're in the hospital," Mollie told him. "Did you think I wouldn't come?"
"Why am I in the hospital?" Daniel asked.
Mollie frowned at something over Daniel's shoulder.
"The doctor said he might have some memory problems," a voice explained.
Daniel turned his head and saw a boy peering back at him.
"Sammy," he muttered. "Why are you wearing your jackets? You never wear your jackets," Daniel said, lifting his arm with difficulty to point at the circular objects on the boy's face.
"You mean my glasses?" Sammy asked.
"Sammy? Who's he talking about?" Mollie hissed, but Daniel couldn't find the strength to even try to comprehend what that meant. Sammy shook his head.
"Sammy, where are the others?" Daniel asked. "Emmet and Emily always come."
"Um, they're probably just getting a drink or something. I'll go find them," Sammy offered with a pointed look at Mollie.
"Daniel, do you remember who Rohan is?" Mollie asked.
Daniel blinked. "Not realty."
"You mean really?" Mollie asked.
Daniel nodded. "Mollie, why can't I moob my arm?" Daniel said as he tried to lift his left arm.
"Doctor!" Mollie called as Daniel's heart monitor started beeping faster.
"Mollie, my head hurts," Daniel complained as men in white coats ran into the room and started shining lights in his eyes and shouting words he didn't understand.
He felt his world pitch and heard the creaking of rolling wheels as he started to move.
"Wee," he muttered, gazing blankly at the ceiling.
"Where are you taking him?" Mollie demanded from nearby.
"CAT Scan!" A doctor replied.
CAT Scan. Wasn't that a brain scan?
Why did he need that?
How'd you like chapter 2? Bye!