Beneath the Red Sand

17 || Chapter Seventeen

I awake to bright white light. Someone strokes my hair with strong yet gentle fingers.

"Kassi, honey, wake up," the voice says with a hitch that breaks in a sob.

"Come on, sweetheart," a deeper voice says. "Open your eyes. Come back to us."

"Come on," the first voice says, "Don't leave us. Please don't leave us."

Awareness rushes back to me. "Mom? Dad?" I try to say, but all I manage is a groan.

I'm lying on something firm but not too hard, a light sheet over my body. A mask covers my face. I groan again. "What happened?" My eyelids flutter open, and my parents' faces swim into view, concerned but smiling in joy and relief.

"Oh, Kassi, thank God," Mom says, squeezing my hand.

"You gave us a scare there," Dad says, squeezing my shoulder.

"What do you remember?" Mom asks, her brow furrowing in worry.

"Umm..." I say, "Gasping for air. I couldn't breathe—"

Then it all comes rushing back to me--the cave-in, being trapped after Ian left us, Noah running out of oxygen...

"Noah!" I gasp and try to push myself upright, only to collapse back onto the bed when my arms give out.

"Over here," he says, and I glance over to find Noah lying in a hospital cot right next to mine. Fluorescent lights, piercing white, stream from the ceiling directly overhead, and I want to close my eyes again. I don't, though, because I want to see my parents and Noah.

"You're alive," I breathe. He grins and gives me a thumbs up.

"He'll be good as new in a few days."

"Emelia?"

She smiles. "You remember me." Today, her hair is done in a smooth, dark bun.

"As if I could forget the nurse who stitched me up after the shuttle crash."

"Told you I'd be seeing a lot of you. Looks like I'll be seeing a lot of you both." She pats my hand and checks the monitor displaying my vitals.

"Ha, ha," Noah scowls. "Seriously? I have to stay here the whole weekend?"

"What about class?" I ask. "When can I go back?"

"Relax. You'll both be fine to go back to training when classes resume on Monday. It's the weekend, honey," Mom says. "Your job now is to rest."

"Weekend? How long was I out?"

"It's Saturday already. You were out most of the night last night and all today through this evening. A few times there we thought we lost you," Dad says, his eyes red-rimmed and showing his exhaustion.

Oh, I think. Oh. I could have died.

"I want you to know something— if I had died, I would've been okay. If anything does happen, and I go out saving a life, then I'm okay with that," I say.

Dad rubs his wet eyes and gives me a small, proud smile. "We were so scared for you, but honey, we're so proud of you. It — it was wrong of me to bring you both here, you and mom, to put you in that position."

"We both chose to come with you, Dad. We understand the risks."

"Honey, don't talk like that," Mom says. "We're all going to be fine. We want you to be careful. Are you sure this excavation team is what you want? It's so dangerous! You could have died during training. Who knows what's waiting out there when you go on a real excavation?"

"Mom," I say. "I still want to do this."

Dad nods. He opens his mouth to speak, to say that he'd rather me not go through with this I suppose, but he closes his mouth again, keeping his silence. I give him a small smile of gratitude for letting me go through this. If I can't make a career in ballet, this is what I want for my life.

"Visiting hours are over," the nurse announces, glancing at the clock. "I'll give you a couple more minutes."

"Honey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom. All I need is to get some rest."

"Thank heavens you're still with us." Mom gives my hand a final squeeze. Dad pats my leg and puts an arm around mom. As they turn to go, they both glance back at me. I raise my hand in a wave, but it's harder than I expected--my limbs don't seem to want to cooperate. When they leave, I let my arm drop back onto the bed. I'll regain my strength after some rest.

"Thank you," Noah says, "for saving my life."

"Of course. What else could I do?" Even my cheeks hurt from smiling, but it's my next thought, not this, that causes my smile to drop. "I can't believe Ian left us. How could he do that?"

"No,  Kassi, he did what I asked. He knew he needed help to get me out, so he was looking for another strong guy to lift me because he didn't believe the two of you could do it together. You're strong, but you are kind of tiny."

"And you're a big guy," I grin. "So he got us help, even after he threatened to kill us?"

"Oh,  he still says he'll kill us if we tell anyone."

"Yeah, sure. He got help so he wouldn't get thrown out of training."

Noah scowls. "Kassi, don't say that. You don't know him like I do, okay?"

"Okay," I say. "Sorry — I mean, the way he's been acting —"

"Don't judge him, okay? You don't know what his life has been like. You wouldn't understand."

"Then help me to," I say. "I mean, are you guys going to be friends again? And I should at least know a little about him if I am going to try to be friends with him, too."

"It's up to him to tell you if he wants you to know. Can you accept that I'm not going to be the one to share his personal business?"

"Of course, you're right. I shouldn't have asked you to—"

"Okay, good," Noah says. "I'm so glad you're alive, Kassi. I went through hell and back, watching them work over you while they tried to resuscitate you. You flatlined three times, and twice it didn't look like you were going to come back to me."

"Don't, Noah. I meant when I said to Mom and Dad. Anything happens, I'm okay with that. It's a fact of life here that stuff can go wrong and people can get injured or worse."

"Yes,"  Noah says quietly, frowning. "Well, we lucked out this time."

"So what happened?" I ask, to change the subject.

"Well, they got to the simulation projector and cut it off in time. Another minute, and maybe neither of us would've survived."

I'm not letting my eyes drift closed. I don't want to sleep, but I can't fight the wave of exhaustion washing over me.

"Let's get some rest. Sleep well, Kassi."

"You, too, Noah."

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Author's Note: Welcome to my new follower and readers, and I hope you enjoy this latest installment of Kassi's story! Thank you all so much for your comments and votes, and for sharing this story! You all are awesome! <3