Chapter 22: Tachycardia* lingers

Hikaru quickly opened her eyes at a loud beeping. She just looked around for a moment; afterwards, she sat up with a swift movement. She was lying on a hospital bed, an EKG* measuring her heart activity. It seemed to be normal; her heart was beating regularly. But she didn't like it. She saw her jacket and her top on a chair next to the door; yeah, she realized that she had many wires on her. She had one at each ankle, one at each wrist, six on her chest (yeah, you could guess she had just her bra on her chest) and one on her abdomen, where the others were originating from. Those were wires from the EKG.

There wasn't anyone in the room, just medical things. She moaned and removed the wires on her wrists, then those on her chest and then those at her ankles. Lastly, she removed the wire on her abdomen. The EKG measured a last atrial* heartbeat, then it kept beeping in asystole*.

She got up, took her clothes from the chair and put them on. "Okay... Where am I?"

You had a bad day, didn't you?, a strange voice replied to Hikaru's. She startled and looked around for who was talking. All she realized what that it was a female voice, but there wasn't anyone there.

"Who are you?" she asked doubtfully.

You don't have to know. Just a friend.

"O...kay... And what do you want?" Hikaru continued. But before the voice could answer, she sighed heavily. "Yeah, I guess that's just what I deserve. I'm the sad, broken-down girl with the boy who died to protect her because she found an impossible, unreal thing and made all the drama with the mercury and plutonium and uranium... and now I guess I'm also going insane."

You surely do.

"Do you know where we are?"

Somewhere far, the voice answered.

"So I'm insane." Hikaru concluded.

Yes.

"And you're the God of my imagination." Hikaru concluded again, nodding her head, tightening her lips.

Yes.

She sucked in her breath, then scooted it away, putting her arms akimbo. "And why am I here?" she started, "Why are you here? What the heck is going on here?" The voice kept silence. Hikaru puffed and left the room, finding a big and empty hospital hall, filled with medical things. She let her arms down and puffed again as she turned to right and walked on the middle of the hall. She walked slowly, carefully. Actually, it was the hospital where Kyoya was brought, but it was frozen. No one was there, and the silence was terrifying her.

"Why the f*ck isn't anyone here?" she asked the voice. After Hikaru ran out of patience because the voice kept silent, she stopped walking with one last heavy step. "Okay, I understand!" she yelled in exasperation. "I'm guilt. Guilt follows me everywhere! But please, say something!" she begged.

Silence for a moment. You cannot do anything, the voice finally replied.

She sneered, even if she was agreeing with voice's opinion. "Yeah... Maybe. Do you know where Kyoya is? Where's his patient room?" Hikaru questioned, glancing at the ceiling. After she realized that the voice isn't gonna answer, she continued walking. "You really wanna annoy me, right?"

Exactly. He suffered at that. They used CPR* and gave him epinephrine*. It hurt him, the voice said in defense. Hikaru puffed for the second time.

"This hospital is huge, man! There are six floors and about two thousand patient rooms! I'll go insane until I'll found his room! Please, tell me!" Hikaru begged at the ceiling, but also peering around desperately.

Who cares? You faced ten floors in your journey for money.

"Oh, shut up!" she retorted on a bored tone. 'She knows too many things about me.' Hikaru thought, but she didn't realize that the one whose voice belonged to could hear her.

I know everything about you. I'm in your mind permanently. I hear and see everything.

"You should be by my side." she scolded. "You're me. You're all I am and all I ever was."

Yeah. You're right. I'm just like you. So don't expect from me to be kind with you when you're not the kindest person.

"Who says I'm not kind?" Hikaru argued on a revolted tone, this time stopping walking to stare at the ceiling.

He says.

"Who's he?" she asked confusedly. The voice stayed silent. "Who's he, tell me!" she yelled this time desperately. Still quiet.

She sighed while realizing that she'll get no answer. "I'm sorry." she muttered.

That's a step.

"A step to what?" No answer. She sighed again and continued her way. "Stop being a shrew and tell me where he is."

I told you already.

Now it's Hikaru's turn to be quiet. "I'm sorry... and ready to do something. Alright?"

Alright.

"So..." she started, "What do you want me to do? Cut my wrists? Stay without food for a week?" She shrugged. "Pay twenty-five cents for every breath I take?"

I want you to realize.

"F*ck you with your realizing!" she yelled as she suddenly stopped her way. "F*ck you with your realizing! That boy died and now I'm in my imagination, talking to the walls. Literally! That boy died, and you know what? He died because of something that it's almost impossible in this life! I mean, look at this... She found an eleven-year old girl who is accomplice to an illegal thing with drugs and... mercury and radioactive things and... She didn't announce the police and now they came to kill her because they realize she could... chirp. It's unfair, unreal and..."

Pathetic, the voice completed before Hikaru found her words. She nodded her head and agreed.

"What were you trying to do...?"

You should stop this childish and preppy... thing.

She laughed. "If I'd have the power to stop it..." she dreamt, sighing... [thinks] dreamy.

You don't have the power to stop it.

"I don't." she admitted.

But... You should have told police. That was your mistake.

"I know. That was my mistake."

Congratulations. He also says this.

"Who's he?" she asked even more confusedly. The voice kept quiet until Hikaru realized something. She sighed briefly and slowly turned around, like it was time to face the music.

Kyoya was staring at her with an indifferent expression from the other part of the hall; actually, between them were about ten yards.

He is he.

He shoved his hand into his pockets and turned around before she could do something. Actually, she wasn't surprised or shocked. She responded him with the same eyes. She followed his moves as he was walking away.

"He died. He died because of hypovolemia*. Why is he here?"

Before anyone could answer, a bright, dazzling light covered everything.

"Wake up, Hikaru! Hikaru! What happened?" Madoka's voice called at her. She quickly opened her eyes and sat up. She peered around for a moment before she realized she was lying on the floor of the hospital.

"What's going on?" she asked sleepily, scratching the back of her head.

"You've fainted. I found you here unconscious." Madoka explained. Hikaru nodded her head vaguely and stood up. Just afterwards she remembered what happened. She widened her eyes and ran towards the stairs.

"Hikaru! Where you going?" Madoka called for her and chased her.

Finally, arriving where she wanted, at Kyoya's patient room, she entered. All the doctors were hurrying and spinning around him. He was still unconscious, but the EKG was screaming, instead of the asystole continuing line, there were many twisted U lines; the length of time between them was less than a second.

"He's in VT*!" someone shouted. She also heard someone talking about 'tachypnea*' and things like that.

Okay, for those who don't know, here are the explanations for the * marked words

*tachycardia = a heart rate* that exceeds the normal range (when heart beats excessively rapid, faster than normally; for resting adults and teens, it is more than 100 heartbeats per minute)

*heart rate = the number of heartbeats occurring within a length of time (expressed as beats per minute [bmp])

*EKG = electrocardiograph – the apparatus that represents heart's activity on a screen

*atrium = one of the two upper chambers of the heart; it takes blood from the veins and pumps it into a ventricle*

- the right atrium takes deoxygenated blood from the superior and inferior vena cava and the coronary sinus and pumps it to the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve;

- the left atrium takes oxygenated blood from the pulmonary veins and pumps it into the left ventricle through the mitral valve.

*ventricle = one of the two lower chambers of the heart; it takes blood from one of the atria and pumps it into the arteries*

- the right ventricle receives deoxygenated blood from the right atrium via the tricuspid valve and pumps it to the pulmonary artery through the pulmonary valve and pulmonary trunk.

- the left ventricle gets oxygenated blood from the left atrium through the mitral valve, and pumps it into the aorta* through the aortic valve.

*artery = blood vessel in circulatory system

*aorta = the largest artery in human body

*asystole = the state when's no heart activity; asystolic is called someone who is legally dead

*CPR = cardiopulmonary resuscitation = emergency procedure to revive someone whose heart has stopped beating; it involves clearing the airways of the person and alternating heart compression

*epinephrine = a synthetic form of adrenaline; often used as a drug in medicine for cardiac arrest (Kyoya had cardiac arrest)

*hypovolemia = state of low/lack blood volume; decrease of blood plasma (plasma = the colorless, yellowish part of the blood, with no red cells) – more simplified: when you lose much blood, more than a half. That's hypovolemia.

*VT = ventricular tachycardia = tachycardia which originates in ventricles

*tachypnea = rapid breathing (more than 20 breaths per minute)

(from the previous chapter) *to defibrillate = to stimulate one's heart electrically; it involves applying an electric shock to the chest (sometimes directly on the heart), to restore a regular heartbeat after an irregular one