“Can you hear me, Miss Rogers?”
Alianna blinked up at the ceiling as she opened her eyes, an unfamiliar man peering over her, studying her face. The artificial light in this room sent a burning pain lashing through her head, and she scrunched her eyes shut once more.
“The lights,” she heard her friend’s voice somewhere nearby. “She has been complaining of migraines. Can we turn the lights off?"
Alianna heard Natasha’s hurried footsteps as she moved to a light switch somewhere, flicking it off without waiting for a response from whoever she spoke to.
There was another set of footsteps as somebody walked around whatever Alianna was lying on. Another small click sound, and Alianna opened her eyes, taking in the scene around her.
She was lying in a hospital bed. A doctor stood over her, another at the bedside table nearby. He had switched on a small side light. Uncomfortable, but not unbearable.
“It is good to see you awake, Miss Rogers. Do you remember what happened to you?”
Alianna screwed up her face. She had absolutely no recollection of how she got here. Her silence told everyone in the room what they needed to know.
“You were unconscious, Ali. We were walking along East Beach together, and then you just collapsed. You nearly gave me a god damn heart attack. That was yesterday.”
Yesterday? Alianna had been unconscious in the hospital for a whole day?
“Your friend has told me that you have been having headaches, Miss Rogers. Your general observations have so far been good, but now that you are awake, we can gathermore information – run more tests. May I ask, have you been taking any substances of recently?”
Natasha gasped next to Alianna. “Was it Max? Did he give you something while you were gone? If he has hurt you – ”
“No,” Alianna interrupted. The words came out with more of a snarl than she had intended. “Max didn’t do anything. I haven’t seen him since he brought me home, and that was weeks ago.”
“Do you feel well in yourself, Miss Rogers? Other than the headaches, has anything else been happening to you, anything that does not feel right?”
The second doctor moved around Alianna now, attaching a cuff to her arm so that he could take her blood pressure.
“I have not been sleeping very well. Nightmares. And my chest…” Alianna pointed to the centre of her chest. “My chest hurts.”
“Describe the pain for me?”
“Like something has been ripped out of me.”
The doctor, a bald-headed middle-aged man, scanned his eyes over Alianna and turned the corners of his mouth downwards in a frown.
“We will need to run some tests, Miss Rogers. Run some blood work, a fresh set of observations. Possibly some imaging and an ECG. You may be in here for a couple of days, but we need to ensure you are fit and well before letting you go home. Does that sound ok?”
Alianna turned to Natasha. “Can you take care of Shadow?”
“Girl, we practically co-parent this dog. I’ve already bought him his own stuff to keep at my house.”
Alianna did not smile, but nodded her thanks to her friend.
***************
All of Alianna’s observations, her scans, her tests; they all came back fine.
The doctors could find no obvious cause for her loss of consciousness. For the migraines, for the pain in her chest.They advised her to ensure she was drinking enough, keeping lightly active, and trying to get enough sleep. They offered her some tablets, which they said would aid her in getting a more restful night’s sleep. She was told to return to see a doctor if her condition did not improve within one week.
Alianna suspected why she was feeling the way she was, and doubted she would be seeing Rionan any time within the next week. Or the next month.
She didn’t want to contemplate the next year.
Back at home, the day was drawing to a close, and Alianna felt exhausted. Physically and mentally exhausted. Shadow slept peacefully on the sofa beside Alianna. Her dirty dishes from the noodles she had managed to force down sat on the table in front of her. Eating anything with such pain in her chest was a challenge, but the doctor was right. She did need to make efforts to look after herself. Alianna promised herself she would try harder, starting today.
Changing into her night clothes, she sat on her bed and put one of the sleeping tablets the doctor had given her on her tongue. Washing it down with a small sip of water, she allowed her mind to flicker toRionan. Wondering where he was. What he was doing. If he experienced the same pain in his chest that she did – if he had the headaches, too.
