Ascension

Lorelei

Before we left the Darkness I had left the group to grab a box that I had packed. I had gone through all my stuff that they managed to save and dumped it all into a box. This box is all I have left of my old life and I am not losing it. For this very reason I had almost missed the jeeps. I got into one and made sure Elijah wasn't going to be in it. I just don't think I can deal with him right now.

I spent the next five hours trying to forget the deep pain in my chest. As time went on it started hurting more and more until I was basically in tears. When we finally get to the city I find somewhere to sleep. In the morning it still hurts. I am worried now about the pain in my chest. It has been getting worse and worse for the past few hours. The walk to the hospital was a blur. Then I run into who I wanted to see.

"Tori." I gasp in relief.

Some of the tension in my chest relieves but not a lot. Tori pulls me into a long hug.

"Lorelei. I was worried about you." She tells me.

"Tori I missed you." I say into her shoulder.

She takes me in for a minute.

"Lorelei are you okay?" She asks me.

"No. My chest has been hurting and I can't breathe very easily." I sob.

"Lorelei come here." She leads me into a room.

She instructs me to lie down. I do and my breathing hitches a little.

"Slow deep breaths." She tells me in a calm voice.

I try in vain to keep my breathing even and deep but they end up uneven and shallow breaths.

"I'm going to give you an X-ray to see if there is anything going on in your chest." Tori informs.

She hurries off the the X-ray machine to set it up. Sage walks in and takes in my injuries.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with your sling or brace?" Sage asks me.

"No. My chest just hurts." I try to keep the quiver out of my voice but it's not working.

"Hmm." Sage thinks.

He places his hand on my chest where my lungs would be.

"Breathe deeply in." He tells me.

I do and the pain becomes sharp. My breath becomes shaky again.

"I'm going to put pressure on your chest and your job is to tell me if the pain changes." He informs me.

He presses down and the pain doesn't change.

"Did the pain change?" He asks me.

"No. It still hurts as much as it did before you put pressure on it." I assure him.

Sage thinks for a minute. Then Tori walks in.

"Excuse me Sage this is my patient, go find another one." She poked.

It sounded playful so I smiled. He rolls his eyes and gets up.

"Come here Lorelei. I'm giving you an X-ray."

I get up and immediately get light headed. I sway a little but then balance myself. We walk down the hallways and into the X-ray room. I sit down and she gives me a harness type thing to put on.

"It keeps you safe from radiation." Tori tells me.

She puts me into the machine and it doesn't hurt when they take an X-ray of me. I do feel a little claustrophobic but that is normal. My breathing hitches again. After what seems like a long time I get pulled out of the machine. A nurse leads me back to the hospital room and I lie down once more.