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Chapter 4

Ies That’s what I beca on the back of your eyelids if you press the heels of your hands against the in spaceI watched the what they were They looked like amoebasno, like Christopher’s hair, underwater in the swi pool, when theyon hi in PE? Had I fallen underwater? But I wasn’t wet At least, I was pretty sure I wasn’tI didn’t feel wet Did I?How could I be seeing Christopher’s hair underwater if I wasn’t wet? Maybe my eyes weren’t open Were my eyes closed or open? Why couldn’t I lift up my hand to feel my face and see? My hand felt so heavyI couldn’t even lift it Why was I so tired?So tired I heard voices The voices were saying things What were they saying? I couldn’t tell I couldn’t understand the? Why wouldn’t they let me sleep?Wait That was Mo Mom andwho else? Dad That was Dad Mos They wanted ?I knew I should listen to the, Frida and I always do it Eventually anywayBut I felt like I couldn’t o on sleeping foreverStill, I could hear Moency‘Em! Em, if you can hear me, open your eyes! Open your eyes, Em Just open your eyes for a minute, Em ’I knew that old trick The second she kneake, Moo to school or so for that one‘Em! Please! Please, just open your eyes ’She sounded pretty upset, though Maybe the apartment was on fire Maybe I should do what she said Just open my eyes for a second to see what she wanted‘Please, E actually I didn’t want toI wanted to doSo I tried to open my eyes I really did I wanted toBut they justwouldn’t openMy eyes wouldn’t openI heard , ‘It’s all right, Karen ’‘In cases like this,’ I heard another, unfa, ‘it’s not unusual for –’I didn’t hear the rest of what theto et my eyelids to lift I really couldn’t It was like they were made of lead, and I was just too weak to raise themSo then I tried to open my mouth to tell my mom not to cry, that I was fine, just so tired Maybe if they let me rest a little more But I found I couldn’t open my mouth eitherThat was a little scary For a minute But the truth was, I was really just so tiredit was so o back to sleep I’d tell Mo too tired to do what she asked I’d explain it all later, when I wasn’t so sleepy I needed to get y back I’d be fine with a few ed to openamoebas behind my eyelids My eyes justopenedAll by themselvesBut when they did, and I looked around, I was surprised to find I wasn’t in a swi pool, or even at home, but in a bed in a hospital roomI could tell that I was in a bed in a hospital rooht-tie, not the Navajo White I’d painted my walls back hoshell the rest of the walls in our apartment wereAnd all my posters – from the Journeyquest movie, which I know had sucked, but the posters were cool – were gone So were all my postcards from that field trip we took to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Instead, all I could see ires Wires that appeared to be co out of me They were hooked up tosoftly and occasionally et scared or anything, because sitting in a chair next to theI tried to think why I would be in a hospital ires co out of me I am actually a very healthy person and have only been to the hospital once, when I broke ’s playground in the second grade Had I fallen off so How had I ended up in the hospital? I didn’t feel hurtJust super-duper tiredBut I felt better than rey stubble all over his face, like he hadn’t shaved in a long, long time (which seeht at dinner, he hadn’t had a beard Or had he? Looking back, I couldn’t seeht? It seeo)Also, his shirt was super wrinkly and there were some stains on itThe truth was, my dad looked pretty awful I wondered why my dad would look like that I didn’t want to wake hih That see to doOn the other handI was so thirsty Seriously I thought I was going to die of thirstBut there didn’t appear to be anyone else around And it looked as if, whatever rong with iven all the tubes and wiresIf I could just get a sip of water I’d go right back to sleep, no questions asked I openedhappenedThat’s right I tried to say the word Dad and no sound at all came out of my mouth I had to try a couple more times before I was able to runt than anything else‘Dad?’Only the word sounded really strange I don’t knohy MaybeOr thirstBut -eyed ‘ErEm?’ he asked hesitantly‘H-hey,’ I said ‘S-sorry –’Except that ca with my voice?Dad seemed to think my voice sounded weird too, since, his eyes still wide, he ju, ‘Doctor! Doctor!’ and then rushed offWhich indicated to htBut I was too tired to wait around to find out how hurt Seriously, I felt evenWhich is pretty tired Probably if I didn’t stay up all night playing Journeyquest with Christopher – then have to stay up the rest of the night finishing , but I wanted to stay awake I really did I wanted to find out rong with et some water But I just couldn’t keepI’d just take a little nap until Dad got backBut of course I went back to sleep Mmm after I dropped off But I figured in a hospital they ain it was dayti in the chairily Because the truth was, I was still pretty tired ‘I don’t want to go to school today OK?’At least that’s what I tried to say I’m not positive those are the words that my mother heard, because they didn’t soundwith h, Mom flattened her hand across her mouth and started to cry That’s when I noticed she wasn’t the only person in the room besides me Behind her stood my dad and a couple of people in white coats I’d never seen beforeI figured the reason she was crying was because my voice still sounded so weird It was kind ofI don’t knowhigh-pitchedAlso, I still wasn’t sure the words I’d said made sense‘Honey,’ Dad said He had his hands on Mo at me funnylike the time I slipped and hitat in DisneyWorld, and I didn’t know it but a big chunk of my skin had come off and I

was bleeding copiously, but since it didn’t hurt I wasn’t crying or anything, nor did I notice I was covered in my own blood because I et anyway ‘Do you, uet myself into the hospital, it must have been serious‘Um, yeah,’ I said ‘You’re Daniel Watts and she’s Karen Rosenthal-Watts ’The words didn’t really co with my enunciationMaybe that’s whyI’ve never seen her cry that way before Not even at the end of the movie Love Actually, which always makes her weep like a babyI’m pretty sure Dad had never heard her cry like that before either He looked totally startled by her outburst, and kept going, ‘Karen, it’s OK ’Fortunately one of the people wearing a white coat stepped aroundand said, in a kind voice, ‘I’m Doctor Holcombe, Emerson ’‘Oh,’ I said Then I tried to clearin my throat to clear, apparently ‘Why does my voice sound so weird?’ I askedDr Holco it into my eyes ‘Are you in any pain?’ he wanted to knoasn’t sure if he was ignoring my question or if he just hadn’t understood me My voice sounded so weird, I couldn’t quite understand myselfMeanwhile, another person in a white coat, this one a lady with her dark hair in a bun, said, ‘I’le your toes for gled my toes‘What happened to er with your eyes, Emerson?’ Dr Holcombe wanted to know ‘Don’t move your head Just folloith your eyes ’So I followed his finger withjust fine now No more amoebas everywhere‘I mean, I know I’m in the hospital,’ I went on ‘But what’s with all these wires? And why doeshere,’ Dr Holcoht in aze‘Can you squeeze ins wanted to knowI squeezed her hand‘Seriously,’ I said Since Mo to help her pull herself together, I had no choice but to address my concerns to these doctors I had only just met ‘How much school have I missed?’ Because I was in all Advanced Placement classes, and it was no joke if you fell behind And then, because I still sounded so weird to et to all that,’ Dr Holcoht, ‘in tio by Eht away ‘Nohy don’t you try to get solanced at the, and looked uncoain – ‘er, at least, they will be They’ve been very worried about you, that’s all It’s quite a relief to see that you’re doing so well You can go back to sleep now, if you want to ’I was still pretty sleepy But I orried about the school thing His assurance that we’d get to all that in ti to have bucketloads of work to make upAnd how come no one would answer my question aboutsoot sleepier than ever So I closed ain, it was night-tiuy I’d ever seen inin the chair beside my bed