My mind raced all over the place, trying it’s best to make sense of everything. I was always so careful. How could this have happened?
My thoughts were interrupted as the door to my room slowly came open. A friendly and very welcome face peered into the room.
“Thank goodness! You’re awake!” Alice cried out, coming to my bedside in a flash. She carefully leaned over and embraced me, careful not to disturb the IV in my arm.
“How long have I been out?” I asked her, immediately coughing as my voice came out harsh and grating. I’d been too busy thinking about the fire to notice how raw and dry my throat was, or even the slight burning in my chest.
Alice handed me a cup of water, bringing the straw to my mouth and helping me sip at it slowly. Relief was instant as the cool liquid flowed down.
“Don’t talk too much. You had really bad smoke inhalation and it’s gonna take a few days for that burning sensation to go away,” she told me softly. “To answer your question, you’ve been out for over a week. When they brought you in on a stretcher…” her voice trailed off. I could see her eyes glossing over, so I reached out and clasped her hand with mine.
She took a few shaking breaths then continued. “I was so scared, Soph. We had to sedate and ventilate you because you had some serious respiratory distress. Then Dr. Wright had to do some debriding on your legs, which took hours. Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been and you won’t need any grafts. But they are third degree burns with some bad bruising. Your hand has a bit of second degree and should heal up pretty fast though, but you’re going to have to rest for a while.”
I nodded along at her explanation, happy that even though it was third degree, it wasn’t too terrible. Things could have been so much worse.
“Thank you,” I whispered to her. “For being the one to do my aftercare. Are my patients okay?”
She smiled and walked around to check on my vitals. “They’re in good hands. All of us have pitched in to take over your rounds while you recover. You just worry about healing, okay?”
I sighed and snuggled back down into the bed. “The pain is starting to get worse in my legs,” I informed her, knowing she’d need to hear it.
“Good thing you’re due for another round of morphine,” she replied, filling a syringe with the medicine and injecting it into the port in my hand. “Just get some rest and I’ll be back.” She leaned over and hugged me one last time. I was so lucky to have such an amazing friend. I was in great hands.
Without hesitation, I let the morphine do its job as a cooling sensation filled my veins and calmed down the pain that had begun to throb along my legs. In a matter of seconds, I was out once again.
For the next day or so, I was constantly in and out of sleep, doing my best to fight through the pain in-between medications Alice and the other nurses on staff would administer.
On day two, I woke up to a variety of flowers in vases placed on a table against the wall opposite my bed. Most of which were from many of my coworkers and even one from the fire station who’d been there to rescue me. The last bouquet, which were sunflowers, my favorite, didn’t have a name. Alice had read the card, which simply stated‘Get Well Soon’.I wasn’t sure who had sent them, but I was grateful to everyone who had thought of me. I lived such a quiet life, so it was kind of wonderful to know so many were worried.
However, there was one person I still hadn’t talked to since the fire. Kaden. Alice had kindly informed him of what had happened while I was ventilated, but he wasn’t able to make the trip to see me. I understood, knowing his wife could go into labor any day now, but I knew he needed to hear from me.
Alice had allowed me to borrow her cell phone, since mine had been destroyed, after I was finally able to stay awake longer than just a few hours. He picked up on the third ring.
“Alice? How’s she doing?” His panicked voice answered. I hated how worried he sounded. Kaden rarely showed his emotions, which meant this had taken a huge toll on him.
“Hey big brother. It’s me.”
Kaden let out a large sigh. “Jesus, Soph. I’ve been losing my mind thinking about you. Are you okay?”
I grimaced. Maybe I should’ve asked Alice to keep him more up to date. “I’m sorry I couldn’t call sooner. I didn’t want to accidentally fall asleep on the phone with you so I waited until I was feeling good enough to call.”
He was silent for a moment, then, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d lost you. If Darren, Porter, and Alden hadn’t called me regularly I would’ve probably gone out of my mind.”
My nose scrunched up in confusion. “Who?”
Kaden let out a soft chuckle. “Yeah, you probably wouldn’t remember them. They were Duvall’s and Torres’ boys, Dad’s friends on his fire crew. They used to come to the cookouts all the time, but I guess you were pretty young to remember. Anyway, they’re the ones who pulled you out of the fire. Darren said you weren’t breathing so he did CPR on you to bring you back. They’ve been calling up there to check on you for me.”
Again, confusion filtered through me. I had no idea who he was talking about. But what he said clicked. I did remember hearing my name being said and that hand that had held onto me. The three silhouettes. They were the ones I saw in my haze.
“Wow. I had no idea. I thought Alice was the one telling you everything.”
“Nope. She gives me the major details, but your day-to-day recovery has been them.”
That explained the flowers from the fire station. I had thought it was something maybe they did for all the people they saved. Turned out they were friends of my brother and had been checking on me. I wonder why Alice hadn’t said anything.
“So, what are you going to do once you’re out? You know you can come stay with us for a while. Heather would love to have you here to see the baby when she’s born.”
It was a wonderful offer, and I truly did want to be there to meet my new niece, but I knew how much work it was to take care of someone with burns as extensive as mine. There was no way I’d put that on Heather with a newborn or my brother who had to work to provide for his family. No way.
