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— ANTHONY SWAN FELT LIKE SHIT. Simple as that. His mind was pounding, like there was something knocking against his skull and shattering his teeth. He could hear his own heartbeat, which turned out to be the horrible sound rattling around his brain.
It was that, or the familiar beeping of a heart monitor.
Behind his eyelids, he could see a bright light trying to weave its way in.
Slowly coming around, the voices around him seemed to solidify a bit more, a reality shifting into his line of sight as he forced his eyes open.
"Miss, you're going to have to leave."
"But he's my friend!" Another voice chimed. "I rode in the ambulance with him, you can't drag me away now!"
"We're only accepting family visitors right now, miss."
Anthony looked over to see Alice standing at his left bedside and talking to a nurse. Realizing he had an oxygen mask on, he reached his hand forward and grasped the Cullen's fingers weakly.
Alice gasped, "Tony!" She grabbed his hand and leaned toward him, ignoring the nurse now.
Tony used his unoccupied hand to reach up and grab the oxygen mask.
"No, honey, you need that." Alice sweetly tried to stop him, but Anthony proceeded to move it away from his face.
"Don't worry ma'am," he addressed the nurse first with a husky voice and tired smile. "She's my emotional support human."
Anthony held the mask up to his face again to take a breath while the nurse just rolled her eyes and left behind a curtain.
When Anthony glanced around he realized his bed was covered completely by a curtain.
Removing his mask again, he looked up at Alice who had switched out her hands so she could use her right hand to run her fingers through Tony's hair and move it away from his sweat covered forehead.
"Where's Bella? Was she okay?" Tony asked in a rush before placing the mask back around his nose and mouth.
Alice smiled, "Yes, she's fine, hon. She's in the bed across from you getting checked out by another nurse."
Now that his hearing was a bit better, his mind being soothed by Alice's voice, he strained to hear frantic apologizing and mumbled 'it's fine's.
Anthony sighed and let his head sink into the pillows.
"Jasper would have come too, but he has problems with blood so he figured he shouldn't risk it." Alice spoke calmly, still raking her hand through the boy's hair.
