Chapter 5
When I woke up after the effects of the medication had worn off, I was surprised that I wasn't in the isolation room anymore but back in 350 under several thick blankets, a cold washcloth over my forehead. The girl with brown hair from a few days ago was sitting next to the bed reading my book on the greatest illusionist. I slowly sat up tired and worn out, right away my body which had been warm under the thick covers started shaking from the chill in the room. And I would have asked a nurse to turn on the heat if the girl, I can't remember her name and it's only been a few days since I've met her, hadn't laid a thick blanket over my shoulders.
"Ms. Naomi and Dr. Saito said that because of an infection your body can't regulate it's heat properly. They have to keep you bundled up, so you don't get sick again." The girl said putting my book down before handing me my Petite Dragon stuff animal in a smaller pair of hospital clothes. The nurses on this ward just loved to dress my stuff animal up in clothes.
"I don't understand these nurses, why do they like to dress Petite up in clothes…he's a duel monster stuff animal." I said looking over at the girl next to me, I could see that she was trying to hold in her laughter, but she was fighting a losing battle. Soon the girl was laughing that she almost didn't notice the nurses entering the room concerned, and after fifteen minutes of the girl still laughing, I couldn't help but throw a small amount of water at her as a way to snap her out of the fit. The girl was glaring at me, slightly wet and I would have started my own fit of laughter if not for the need to cough didn't overwhelm me. The taste of iron, which I had gotten somewhat used to from all the throwing up, was stronger than normal, my throat felt like it was sealing up and it was getting harder to breathe.
"Fuyuko, calm down…you need to breathe, try to take a deep breath…nice and slow." The girl said pushing her forehead against mine forcing me to look her in the eye, she kept repeating my name until I was calm and able to breathe on my own for the most part.
"Sorry…about…that." I said trying to get oxygen back into my lungs. The girl didn't leave my side until I was able to breathe properly, she actually raised the head of the bed so that I was leaning against the head which was allowing me to take in more oxygen than when I was sitting up.
"Okay Fuyuko, I'm going to get a nurse because there could be something wrong." The girl said getting up from her seat, only for me to latch onto her arm. I was scared and didn't want to be alone.
"Please don't leave me alone." I said holding on tight to the girl's arm, I was careful not to hurt her but also so she couldn't pull away from me. I could see the internal battle the girl was face before she leaned over me to hit the call button on the wall behind the bed.
"Yes, how can I help you?" The voice of a nurse said over the intercom system.
"Yes, this is Sky Zaizen in room 350 with Fuyuko Fujiki; I was told to tell a nurse if Fuyuko couldn't breathe. She had also been coughing up a fair amount of blood before she couldn't breathe." The girl said pressing the call button as she spoke into the system, I was holding her hand, so that she wouldn't try to leave my side. And I know I was acting like a little girl, but this person know my brother and it might be the only way for me to get a message to him, I couldn't let this chance slip away.
"Okay, I'll send a nurse to take a look at her. Thank you for letting us know." The nurse at the station out in the hallway said over the intercom before hanging up. I watched the girl sit back down in the chair before I finally let go of her arm, feeling ashamed of my behavior.
"I'm sorry about that." I said looking away from the girl's big brown eyes, right away I noticed her facial expression softened before she got out of her chair and sat next to me on the hospital bed the remote in her hand.
"Your brother Yusaku told me that you love blue angel." The girl said pulling up some reels of blue angel duels. I was so into the dueling that I didn't even notice a nurse enter the room pushing a cart in front of her, laden with equipment. First thing the nurse did was start by drawing my blood, thank goodness for the PICC line which meant that I didn't have to sit through the pain of the nurses poking at my arms with needles. The nurse than went about check to make sure that my airways were clear, the look she gave me was a little concerning, but I was also only noticing this from the corner of my eyes, some of the other doctors have called me paranoid about the people around me, I just call it being wary for my own safety. I however was not happy when the nurse turned off the reels of blue angel so that she could talk with Ms. Zaizen about me as if I wasn't even there.
"Ms. Zaizen did you notice anything before Ms. Fujiki started coughing?" the nurse asked crossing her arms over her chest, which was a clear sign that she didn't actually care what was going on with me before everything happened. From her attitude I got the feeling she was just like Ms. Sora. I picked up the call button that was sitting on the bed next to me, before discreetly hitting the button so that the other nurses at the station would be able to hear what was going on.
"I was laughing, until Fuyuko splashed a small amount of water, and it looked like she was about to start laughing when she just started coughing. It took me fifteen minutes to get her to calm down but even than she wasn't getting a lot of air into her lungs." The girl next me said turning slightly so that the nurse could also see me, I quickly noticed that the nurse was glaring while fighting the urge to roll her eyes. That explained everything, this nurse was most likely a friend of Ms. Sora, who was charged with attempted murder just the other day when the investigation came to a close, she was fired and will most likely end up severing time. This nurse was trying to get back at me for something I didn't even do. That was when I noticed the vial of blood on the edge of the cart, and it would have fallen if I hadn't caught it at the last second. I don't eat or drink that much so the nurses can only draw my blood even few days, if this vial had fallen a condition that the doctors needed to know about would go untreated, and that could end very badly. It didn't help that at that moment, my stomach released the flood gates and everything that had been in my stomach was soon spread out on the floor in a giant puddle. At this several different nurses rushed into the room, the nurse that was friends with Ms. Sora actually had the guts to scream at a bit of the puddle went on her shoes, it was then that I noticed that the toes of one of her feet was pointed at the door, which was a common indication that she did not want to be there. And she would have smacked me if this tall gentleman with green hair hadn't entered the room with another man. The second man looked like that teenager that almost got in trouble because of Ms. Sora.
"What is going on in here?" The first man asked putting his hands on his hips, if the girl hadn't been holding onto the back of my hospital top, I would have fallen onto the floor into the puddle of vomit. I had to push my upper body up before tapping the girl's arms letting her know that I needed her to pull me back. It took the girl and the second man five minutes to get me back up onto the bed without letting me fall into the puddle on the floor. During that time Dr. Saito and Ms. Naomi both were called up to the room, and now I was getting both concerned and anger looks from everyone but the second man and the girl next to me.
"Okay would someone like to explain what the heck was going on?" The man with the green hair asked staring down at me, while Dr. Saito was fixing my IV which had come undone from my PICC line.
"Akira, Fuyuko had caught that vial blood in her hand after that nurse knocked it off of the cart. When she was leaning forward, she got sick hence the giant puddle of vomit on the floor." The girl said explaining to the man with the green hair. I than held up the vial of blood to prove that she was correct in explaining the situation. Right away Ms. Naomi rushed forward to take the vial out of my hand not caring that she had just stepped in the puddle on the floor. The nurse who was friends with Ms. Sora looked like she was about to get sick, and I already felt bad for the nurses and cleaning staff that have to come clean up the mess I made.
"If you are going to get sick, do it in the bathroom." I said pointing at the nurse, who was the cause of this whole mess. Everyone looked between me and the woman, surprised that I would speak to someone like that, normally I was polite and curtest towards others. Even when I was dealing with Ms. Sora, I was polite.
"Fuyuko is everything alright?" Ms. Naomi asked taking a step towards me, begin careful to not set me off anymore. It didn't help that just the sound of her vomit covered shoe was irritating me to the point that I could feel my eyebrow start twitching. Right away Ms. Naomi took a step back and quickly pulled her shoes off before walking to the far side of the bed, where she put a hand on my forehead, clearly trying to see if I had a fever. I wasn't going to say anything, but Ms. Naomi's hand felt good on my pounding head, but I could tell that Ms. Naomi and Dr. Saito could already that something was wrong.
"Okay, Fuyuko what have me and Ms. Naomi told you about hiding when you don't feel good." Dr. Saito said crossing her arms over her chest with the same look she gave me every time this happened, which was every few days.
"That if I don't say anything, you won't know any of the side effects I might have. Plus, those side effects could be a part of the condition I have…I currently have a fever, my chest is tight, and I feel the need to couch frequent. Good news the need to throw up, has gone down to only once today." I said before reaching for the bucket on the table in front of me. This doesn't make me a liar because this is only the second time that I needed to get sick.
"I'll let the nurses know to bring some frozen yogurt. With the amount of acid your stomach has, that can be hard on your throat. Oh, that's right a new doctor is going to come talk with you tomorrow Fuyuko. And the results on the tests that were done on your heart should be done at the same time." Dr. Saito said being careful of the puddle, the whole time she was pulling the nurse which was friends with Ms. Sora out by her arm. I handed the bucket to the second man who was gentle rubbing my back, trying to help calm me down; the whole time the girl was holding a glass of water trying to get me to drink something so that I didn't get dehydrated.
"Sky I believe Ms. Fujiki doesn't want anything to drink." The first guy with green hair said putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. I looked over at them, noticing for the first time that the shape of their faces were very similar.
"You two are family?" I asked leaning back on the pillow with the help of the second guy. For some reason, he was being very protective of me, and I actually wasn't going to complain about it.
"Yes, this is my older brother Akira and I've heard from your brother that you have the worse time remembering names, but you can remember faces very well." The girl said smiling at me after moving so that she was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed while holding my hand, rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand. I sighed, my eyes slowly getting heavy with every passing second.
"It's alright Kiddo; Yusaku asked me to watch over you until you get better." The second man said petting my loose hair out of my face, I was out like a light before the nurse could bring my frozen yogurt. When I woke up, the second man was asleep next to my hospital bed. I slowly say up to find that on the foot of the bed was a bunch of stuff animals and notes from the different patients at the mental facility. One that stood out the most was the teddy bear holding Petite Dragon.
"Jin has not let go of that bear since he was found. Like your brother he was one of the children taken during the lost incidents." The second man said reaching past me to pick up the teddy bear, smiling sadly at the memory.
"I haven't seen my older brother in ten years. I still don't know why he had them take me away." I said curling up with my knees to my chest, I than pulled out the note from the pouch hidden on the front panel of Petite Dragon. I didn't have to look at the man's face to know he was giving me a sad look, that normally would have set me off. But I felt safe with this man, maybe it was because we both had to suffer those six months wondering if our loved ones were alright.
"Yusaku explained to me that he was suffering from nightmares and was worried that he might hurt you if something happened during the night. Yusaku told me that when you were scared or hurt, you liked to crawl into his bed, more so after the Lost incident. He was just trying to protect you Fuyuko." The second man said petting my lose hair out of my face. I looked up at him confused before looking at the note in my hand. I know it was my brother's handwriting, which hadn't changed much since we had been young children.
"I never gave up on finding him in the ten years, since we were separated. Sky must have given him an earful about me suffering in the hospital alone. I just feel so hurt that he wouldn't tell me anything. If I had known about the nightmares I wouldn't have crawled into his bed. I could have helped him." I said crying into the head of my petite dragon. Now that I know why, Yusaku had done. The next step was healing, for us both. I think that was the first night that I got a decent night sleep, petite dragon watching over me.