Chapter 5
"That's us!" I shout as I practically leap to my feet and walk over. I look back to see Tyler following right behind me.
The nurse sighs. "I wish I had better news," she says. "We've warmed her up, she's at ninety-eight degrees and she's not responding to any resuscitative measures. The doctors are asking for you to come in and say your goodbyes before they…pronounce her."
My heart plummets. My chest already starts to heave as I look at Tyler whose eyes have already grown red. He takes my hand and squeezes it. "Do you feel like you can go in?" he asks.
"I have to," I say, blinking back tears. "Let's go." The nurse leads us back down a white hallway and into an exam room. I step into the room and gasp. Avi lays in the bed with a tube down her throat and several monitors attached to her. A nurse stands behind her as he squeezes air into her lungs from the bag attached to her tube. Her skin matches the white sheets and the consistent drone of the heart monitor echoes through the room. It's…it's a flat line…this is it, I think to myself. I feel myself start to hyperventilate as I stand at the edge of the bed and gently clutch her ankles. "Try again," I whisper.
A doctor in the room shakes his head, "We've done everything we can-"
"Try. Again," I say in a firm tone. "Just one more time." The doctors look between themselves as they prepare the medication. I look up at Tyler who puts a hand on my shoulder. I bow my head. God…if you're there, please do something.
My head jerks up at a beep from the heart monitor. The flat line slowly starts to create the normal up and down pattern as regular beeps echo through the room. "That's…that's a rhythm," one of the doctors says. Another doctor leans over Avi with his stethoscope and listens before nodding.
"She's alive?" I ask, trying to not let my hopes rise too high.
"She's alive," the doctor says, giving us a smile. I hear a sob escape Tyler's chest as I turn around and grip him in a tight hug.
"Are you going to sit there all night?" Tyler asks as he walks back in with a bag of chips.
"Until she wakes up anyway," I say. "She needs to not be alone when she wakes up."
"You remember what they said, right?" Tyler asks concerned. "We don't know what kind of brain function she will have. She may not even recognize us or be able to talk or anything like that."
"I know," I say shaking my head. "But I'm believing for better. She's alive and breathing on her own. I think I've earned the ability to hope just a little." I feel Tyler's hand on my shoulder.
"Will you at least eat a little something while you're waiting?" he asks as he drops the chip bag into my lap.
I roll my eyes, "You don't have to keep hovering, you know."
"Says the one who had the nurse ready to admit you because your temperature was so low," Tyler says almost sternly. "I need you to be a little less stubborn if you want me to stop hovering."
"I can't promise anything," I say as I eat the chips. Tyler rolls his eyes and reaches down to steal a chip. "So you want me to eat and now you're going to steal my food?" I say rolling my eyes.
"I did buy them you know," Tyler says with snark. "What kind of brother would I be if I didn't steal one?"
I roll my eyes again and shake my head. He goes to steal another one and I jerk away before freezing at the sound of a moan. "Did you hear that?" I ask, abandoning the chip bag and moving closer to Avi. "Avi, can you hear me?" I ask. I hear another moan escape from her throat. I look back at Tyler who scoots closer too. "Can you say anything? Let us know that you hear us?" I ask anxiously.
Avi slowly cracks her eyes open. Her eyes hazily study us for several silent seconds. Finally, she takes a breath and says, "Hi."
"Oh my God," I say excitedly. "Hi! You know who we are?"
Avi nods. She clears her throat as she mumbles, "How could I not?"
I feel tears fill my eyes again but for the first time not in pain. I reach down and wrap my arms around her. "I thought we lost you," I whisper through my tears.
"You can't get rid of me that easily," Avi says softly.
"And you used our Voice," I say. "You talked to us through the Voice when you were calling for help."
"Is that what that is?" Avi asks. "I don't know how it happened, I just thought it and then you guys responded. I was thinking I was imagining things but it just seemed too real. And there have been times I have felt things you two have or it's seemed like you two might have been sharing thoughts from time to time so I thought…maybe it was real."
"Well, it is definitely real," Tyler pipes in. "No one has been able to use it except for the two of us. I guess that makes you an official Ronan sister." A huge smile grows on Avi's face as she looks between the two of us.
"Now, what exactly happened tonight?" I ask, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"I was just starting to unpack when this dark…figure appeared," Avi starts. "It almost seemed to make the whole room dark and that's when I took off. I ran out onto the deck and everything still seemed to be a cloud of darkness around me and I couldn't see. So I just found the stairs and ran as far away from the house as possible until everything cleared and I could see again. By the time I could, I was already on the ice. And in my desperate attempt to get back on land, I fell through the ice."
I looked at Tyler who returned a concerned look. "What did this figure look like?" I ask nervously.
"He was in all black," Avi says. "He seemed to even have a black face but he had two tiny white eyes and a super creepy smile."
I look back at Tyler. "That almost sounds like…"
"The Mad Hunter," Tyler finishes in the Voice.
"The what?" Avi asks through the Voice.
"Oh boy," I chuckle, "this will take getting used to." Tyler and Avi chuckle. And as Tyler begins to explain to Avi what the Mad Hunter is, a looming feeling settles in my chest. I turn around, feeling as though something is watching me. The corner brightens as I stare at it and I furrow my brows in confusion. I try to push it to the back of my mind as I focus on my brother and sister in front of me. But that looming feeling continues to linger.