Chapter Nine : Stethoscope
Amara's breathing became steadier as the moments passed by. I could feel my eyelids gain weight and the events of the day were finally catching up to me.
My fingers remained around her wrist, in an effort to monitor her heart rate. She had lost way too much blood and would be in and out of sleep for the next couple of days, possibly even weeks. Her leg wasn't fractured. Surprising from the amount of wood that had supposedly fell down onto her, but I assumed she might have moved out of the way just in time, but not quite timely enough.
My case and hers was laying on the ground across from us in the infirmary, but I didn't have the energy to sort through my belongings. I had opened it to reach inside for two shirts, one for me and one that I pulled down over Amara's dust-cloaked and blood-soaked clothes. It acted like a small baggy dress but I knew that the Island would soon become colder.
The fire that they made outside was slowly seeping heat through the wood of the cabin. In my head, all of us would only last a few weeks here. If hunger and starvation didn't get to us first, there are plenty other ways we could crack under the pressure of survival. Today was a win, none of us were hungry from having been too exhausted and after Amara's accident, nothing else life-threatening happened. I didn't even know how I helped this girl in front of me. Genetic short-leash goals, my ass.
I knew Amara from around campus. Although, from the way she looked at me stepping off the boat, she had never seen my face before. I had seen her a handful of times in the coffee shop besides the medical science library. So I was mostly puzzled when she came out and introduced herself alongside an English major. Maybe she walked halfway across campus for the marvelous coffee. But fuck. If I thought she was stunning from behind a glass window, it was nothing compared to her being mere inches away from me.
The wind blew in from the cracks in the barred holes around the sides of the cabin. Amara's hair tousled and splayed around her cheek. It hadn't been too cold that night. "God's Little mercies," my mother would say. I can almost hear Piper's voice responding with, "well, tell him if he can't make them bigger, he can keep em'."
I reached down and pushed her hair away from her cheek, letting my fingers trail her along her cheekbone. I swallowed down and moved my fingers up to the edge of the cut on her head. It was bandaged but aa little blood seeped through the cloth. Her skin was so soft, way too soft. I was always told that I needed to have steady hands if I wanted to be a surgeon, it was never a problem until now. Until I lightly moved the pads of my fingers along Amara's face and focused on her breaths.
Her eyes fluttered and I inhaled sharply. I reached for the bowl of fresh water that Harvey brought down. When he gave it to me, I could have collapsed on his arms from the relief of having a source of fresh drinking water inland. The body can go three to four days without hydrating. If we didn't have water, we'd have to wait for it to rain and learn how to make a filtration system, but a fresh stream was truly a big mercy. Even Piper wouldn't argue about that.
I saw her eyelids waver before her pupils focused on the roof above us. I had another leaf-bowl next to the one with water in case she felt nauseous.
"The sky fell," she whispered.
I mean...
"Hey, Amara," I murmured down to her. Her eyes moved to mine and she scowled. They traced my face and I was almost too scared to ask her the next question. "Do you know where we are?"
She closed her eyes and her frown deepened. "The sky fell...why is the sky falling now?"
What? Oh, shit.
"Amara, a part of the roof collapsed on top of you. You're undergoing a minor concussion." I didn't want to bring up her leg just yet. "Do you know we are?"
She began to nod, then more fervently, "Avis Caveam"
It felt like my heart started beating again just from the pure comfort of knowing she was starting to remember. "Would you like some water?" I finally asked after a while.
She nodded and moved to go up, but I reached out and gently stopped her, "wait let me help you, you need to take it easy." I put my arms around her upper back and she winced at the movement but sat up partially. I kept one arm around her back and reached down for the water with my other. When I went to give her the bowl, she was staring at something else.
Her leg. Fuck.
"Amara, what do you remember from earlier today?" I didn't know how to deal with the repercussions of a concussion. Suddenly, all the theory from pre-med was nothing when affronted with the real thing.
"How long?" she ignored me.
"Till?"
"Till I can move."
I sighed and put the water bowl on her bottom lip. She didn't move to hold the bowl but parted her lips slightly so I tilted it and let the water coat her mouth before she started taking gulps down. I sat the bowl down and then let her go back into a lying position.
"You're going to find it hard to do much with the stitches in because they aren't real stitches. You also need to make every effort not to come into contact with a lot of things on this island because it could lead to an infection. You'll be able to walk with discomfort after a couple days but with the amount of blood you lost, you're going to be in and out of consciousness for a while." I didn't want to lie to her so I wasn't about to start then. "Your body needs to recover, Amara."
She looked at me then. Moments passed by as she looked straight at me, inside me. After a while, her gaze was too intense and I coughed and looked away. When I looked back at her she had a sad smile on her lips, "Thanks, doc."
My mouth curled up slightly. I nodded once.
Her eyes were now roaming the expanse of the infirmary, my mattress, taken from the boys bunker was laying a few inches away from her. She understood that meant I would be staying with her but didn't say anything about it. In a way, I was grateful. I needed her to comply with me for a couple things, especially when it came to her well-being.
"This place feels haunted, it practically smells like death," she whispered and just to ice her cake, a loud wind howled outside.
I moved to lie on my bed but I took her wrist into my hand again. She frowned but then I joined my index and middle finger and placed it on her pulse. It was an explanation enough that she flushed slightly, her tan skin regaining some of its color. Her arm was stretched out the side of her mattress but so was mine. Neither of us said anything about it.
"Don't worry about it," I smirked. "Piper walked in earlier and all the ghosts walked out. Turns out even the dead are afraid of her."
She laughed softly before grimacing in pain. She took her other hand and moved to touch the bandage on her head. She groaned and let her hand fall back down. I wanted to tell her that it would be okay. That we'd make it through this. I'll try my best to take care of you, Amara. I promise.
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Kitkat