Everblue

Chapter 28 - Ash

ASH

 

"Ashlyn, please wake up, sweetie."

My mom's voice bounced inside my tired brain. Everything ached. Beyond my closed eyelids was a bright light, too bright for me to want to look at.

"Ohhh," I moaned.

I brought my hand to shield the nuisance and found something taped across my skin, hindering me. Beeps and other whooshing noises coupled with the antiseptic smell were more hints we weren't at home.

"Mom?" I groggily choked out and opened my right eye a crack.

"Oh, my heavens." She grabbed a hold of my tethered hand. "Yes, honey, I'm here."

I looked around the strange space, apparently a hospital room. My weighted body felt detached as I attempted to sit up. "What happened?"

 "Just lie still," Mom said and put her hand on my shoulder. "You apparently had an accident and fell into the lake. The Ranger found you before it was too late and brought you to the Forest Ranger Station. They were able to warm you up and stop the bleeding until the ambulance could arrive."

"Bleeding?" I reached down to my leg and felt a mountain of gauze.

"Yes." Her hand trembled. "You're going to be okay though. They've patched you up. You're good as new."

"New?" I mumbled. I felt nothing of the sort. Thrown out of a moving car and run over was a better description.

"Look who's awake," a blonde nurse in pink, Hello Kitty patterned scrubs said as she pulled back the curtain and walked into the room. Before I could answer, she popped a thermometer in my mouth and replaced the bag of fluids running down a tube into the back of my hand. She checked my temp reading, wrote something in my chart, and smiled. "Very good. How do you feel?"

"Tired."

"I bet. You've been through a lot, but the fast work from the Ranger gave you the best chance for recovery."

"Ranger?"

Fuzz lined my brain and impeded any memory beyond my excursion to the island. The past came in short movie clips: the coffee can of treasures, rowing back to shore, the bitter wind, the picture floating into the water. I never wanted to be that cold again. For the first time ever, water terrified me. With a vacant expression, I looked toward Mom.

"You fell into the lake, sweetie, and cut your leg pretty badly."

My hand went to my mouth to hide my embarrassment. Then I froze. The warmth of my lips felt different—tingly somehow.

"I remember," I mumbled, part in acknowledgement and part to make sure I hadn't been dreaming.

"Where did you manage to fall in, honey?"

My gaze met hers. Worry stamped unforgiving grooves into her skin, creating small fissures. Gray hair mixed with brown lined her temples like weeds in a pristine lawn. What if something bad had happened to me?

I glanced down and played with the tape on my hand. "I don't know . . ."

My nurse gave Mom a reassuring look. "Well, you're almost back to normal. I'll give your doctor an update. Maybe you can go home today. How's that?"

Mom sighed, the kind that sounded like a huge boulder had been lifted from her chest. I willed the nurse to stay, but she squeezed my blanketed foot and walked out the door instead.

Mom kept looking at me with her deep blue eyes, her powerlessness threatening to choke me. I almost burst into a monologue of a million sorrys when my nurse came back in the room. I held my breath.

"I almost forgot your lunch." She put a cafeteria tray on my bedside table.

"Thanks," I mumbled and decided to wait on spilling the truth of what happened. My stomach hurt from hunger and I lifted the lid covering the plate. Palatable fragrances of macaroni and cheese, and steamed broccoli hit my nose. At least the food looked better than the bland cafeteria crud they fed us at school.

"I'm... I'm going to go call your father," Mom said and left the room.

I nodded, wanting to be alone. My guilt would keep me company.

While I ate the first couple of noodles, my brain fought to remember the details of what happened to me after I fell into the water. A Ranger dragged me out of the lake? How could that be? I'd been so far from shore. The memory was there, murky like the bloody water I'd almost drowned in. Blood. That's right, lots of blood. I'd heard a voice. A male voice . . . like Fin's. Only melodic. And a light—a beautiful light. An angel?

A knock at the door interrupted my brainstorm.

"Uh, sorry to intrude. I just got off work and wanted to stop by."

I smiled at the graying gentleman in front of me. He wore a button down shirt and dark green slacks. A gold park emblem on his lapel tipped me off.

I set down my fork. "You're the guy? The one who saved me?"

"Well . . . not really, Miss. Someone brought you into the back room of the station without my knowledge . . . and left. I called the ambulance once I saw your condition. I wanted you to know. They deserve the credit."

Apparently, I wasn't the only one with amnesia.

"Oh?" His version of the scene ran through my head and I pressed my lips together. They tingled again. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Good day." He tipped his hat and left.

Mom passed him on her way back in the room.

"Was that the—?"

"Yeah." I shoved a peach into my mouth, unsure how to explain what his role was in my daring rescue. "He's the Ranger."

"I wanted to thank him." She darted back to the door and scanned the hall. "Sir? Sir!"

"Mom!" I called out, hoping to stop her before she made a fool of herself. I tried to get out of bed, but my leg protested in pain, forbidding any sudden movements. "He doesn't want the attention, Mom!"

She didn't come back—her voice echoing down the hall. I slapped my forehead.

What a mess.