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Chapter 6

When I openeddown at uy passed out in a subway car, covered in my own vomitWhen she saake, she jumped about a mile back and stared at me ide, terrified eyesI‘What’s wrong?’ I asked her My voice still sounded weird – all high-pitched and sort ofI don’t know Girlie, or so on my face?’I lifted my hand to feel my face But all I felt was smooth skin Which waswell, unusual I do the best I can, of course, but let’s just say I couldn’t i I’d been in the hospital, le bump Which was a miracle in itself‘What –’ I broke off Man, e It had been a while, I realized, since I’d had anything to drink In fact, I was drying up with thirst Maybe that was it Maybe I just needed to drink so?’‘W-water?’ Frida stammered ‘You want s-soh to try to sit upBiglike crazy Also, all the wires connected to ainst the pillowsNot to mention, my head kind of throbbed when I tried to lift it‘I don’t think –’ Frida looked horrified – ‘I don’t think you’re supposed to try to get up yet ’‘I kind of got the e,’ I said I reached up to touch one of the wires and found that it was only attached topress-on nails, I peeled the sticker off, along with the wire No pinging H that,’ Frida said, her gaze owlish‘It’s fine,’ I said, pulling off more stickers Of course, I had no idea whether or not it was fine I just didn’t want to be attached to machines any more Why should I be, when I felt fine? Ihead Oh, and the parched throat‘Is there any water around here?’ I asked Frida ‘Does my voice sound weird to you?’But Frida just stood there, looking like she was about to cryAnd for the first ti blow-dry Her hair was a ulf her pale, tear-stained face She didn’t have any ht of Teen Chic, she had on one of Mom’s old sweaters and a pair of herthe roses from Gabriel Luna, which I saere still on the -sill, though they were a lot droopier than before, and that extremely odd visit from Lulu Collins – disturbed me I mean, Frida has been scrupulous about her appearance sincewell, her whole life I can’t re out over a blackhead, much less when she last left the house withoutlike death warmed up‘Hey,’ I said ‘What’s the matter with you? You look like somebody just told you American Idol is fixed Which I’m pretty sure it is, by the way ’‘I’ Frida blinked a few times And an actual tear slid out from beneath one eyelid ‘I just can’t believeit’s you ’‘Well, of course it’swith ht she spent way too h ti bookseven comic books But still This was ridiculous She looked likewell, as Lulu would put it, crap ‘Who else would it be?’So about that questionReally crying‘Hey,’ I said, concerned ‘What’s wrong?’‘Well, well, well, look who’s up,’ boo both of us I turnedinto the room, followed by my parents Both of them smiled when they saake‘Sheshe wants so wide-eyed as a rat caught in the headlight of a Number 6 train‘I think we can safely accommodate that request,’ Dr Holcombe said in a cheerful tone ‘Go and ask the nurses for a pitcher and a glass, will you, Frida?’Frida, looking relieved to have an excuse to get out of my room, skittered away Meanwhile, Dr Holcombe found some of the stickers – the wires still attached – that I’d pulled off Heone and placing it gently back on et ahead of ourselves You’re still a very sick girl ’‘I don’t feel sick,’ I said ‘Except for my head My head hurts But just a little ’‘That’s to be expected,’ the doctor said, still ot to rest ’I looked at reed with the doctor Because he had to be exaggerating Since I felt relatively all right I mean, if I was sick, wouldn’t I feel worse?But Mom and Dad both looked pretty worried‘You should do what Dr Holco’That was probably true But still‘I don’t understand,’ I said ‘What’s wrong with ot you on some pretty heavy duty medications,’ Dad said in this weirdly cheerful tone Kind of like he didn’t actually feel cheerful, but someone had told him to act that way Around me, anyway I don’t knohat made me think of that, but once the idea occurred to ht,’ Dr Holco pretty cheerful hi you off some of those s Well, thathownot to lance at the sill told me not all of it had been inelse‘How long?’ I asked‘Until we can start cutting back on yourthe machines next to my bed ‘Well, that’s hard to say—’‘No,’ I said ‘Ihave I been in the hospital? How much school have I missed?’‘You don’t need to worry about that, Em,’ Dad said, in his fake-cheerful voice ‘We’ve talked to all your teachers, and –’They’d talked to all my teachers? They’d been to my school? Oh my God Why couldn’t this part be a hallucination, and not the part where Lulu Collins thought she was ?’ I repeated,a little‘Not long at all,’ Dr Holcombe replied ‘Just a little over a month ’‘A month!’ I tried to sit up, but of course all that happened was that thenuts – especially the heartabout all the work I was going to have to make up Plus, I felt dizzy And not just at the prospect of all the ho meIt was of course at this point that Frida decided to walk back into the rooed fro all the co I was having some kind of attack‘Is she – is she –’ Frida stood there, bug-eyed and sta down onup ‘Es to worry about than school right now ’Was she kidding? What could be onna be held back!’ I insisted ‘I’rade!’‘No, you aren’t,’ Moive her so o ho up Does this roo a little ‘Let’s take it one step at a ti lady Frida, co at me like I was so the glass of water she’d poured with a tre hand‘H-here,’ she saidI lifted ain, as I did so, the g

lalued over my bitten ones ‘Thanks – and for the ive you a ht,’ I said I took the glass But because I wasn’t allowed to sit up, it wasn’t easy to drink from it Also, so down ownWhich just made me madder than ever ‘What the—’‘No,’ Dr Holco up the worst of it with his own handkerchief ‘See what I s one day at a tiain?’I really was parched I nodded, and this tiet the cup to my lips, and the water – the coolest, most delicious water I had ever tasted – own‘There now,’ Dr Holco to tackle some food soon?’Just the word food erly, and Dr Holcombe looked pleased‘Frida,’ he said to et so, E,’ Mo a little, the way it always does when she’s about to say soht, Em?’‘With a chocolate-chip cookie on the side,’ Dad said, looking a little more like his normal self, and not Fake Cheerful Guy‘Is that what you wantEm?’ Frida askedExcept, weirdlyit wasn’t‘Sure,’ I said Because I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t wanted ice creah, that ‘Sure’ turned out to be the right thing to say Because for the first time since I’d woken up and seen her, Frida smiled Tentatively, but still It was a sht back,’ and took offWhich was pretty strange in itself I mean, as the last tito fetch and carry for me told me way more about how hurt I must be than my dad’s fake cheer or my mom’s teariness‘So what happened?’ I asked when Frida was safely out of earshot ‘Why am I here? Was there an accident? A subway accident?’Mo?’Going to Stark’s? Gabriel hadSo about those words seemed to tickle my memory, but when I tried to rerasp ‘We don’t have to talk about that now,’ Dr Holco you better ’‘I know,’ I said ‘But I meanI’ve been out of school for a ?’‘The, er, accident didn’t cause the coently ‘Dr Holcombe placed you in a chemical coing you slowly out of it over the past few days, to see how you were doing ’‘Well,’ I said ‘What part of ood Except for my head And my voice Do you hear hoeird my voice sounds?’My mom and dad looked at Dr Holcombe, who said to me, ‘Well, Emerson, the truth is, your injuries were, in fact, extremely severe We used a special technique we’ve developed in order to save your life, since the type of injury you suffered is, in fact, fatal ’I blinked at him ‘But I’m alive ’‘Because the procedure worked,’ Dad explained‘Worked isn’t the word for it,’ Dr Holco excitedly behind his plastic-fralasses ‘Your recovery up until now has far, far surpassed our expectations We certainly didn’t expect you to be speaking, much less for you to possess any sort of motor skills, until many days from now, if not weeks But like with any risky medical procedure, no one can be one hundred per cent certain of the outcos – like your voice, for instance, which you already ht not seem the same as they did before your accident—’‘That’s why it’s very important that you do what the doctors and nurses here tell you,’ Dad said‘Such as, don’t take off your sensors,’ Dr Holco it to my temple‘And no homework,’ Mom said She’d recovered herself and wiped the tears from her eyes Now she attempted a smileand didn’t do a half bad job at it ‘Understand? You need to concentrate on getting better first Then we’ll worry about what’s going to happen with school ’‘Fine,’ I said, glancing fro for so on Why were they treatingbetter? Who did they think they were kidding? Why wasn’t anyone levelling with me? ‘ButI’ve really been in here a month? Can I at least call Christopher and find out what’s happening in school? Hehow I am I’m his only friend, you know’But no one exactly rushed to get me a phone Instead everyone said I needed to rest, that Christopher was fine and that they’d get me my laptop (my other request) soon And Dr Holco some of my more intrusive and bothersome wires (not all of them, it turned out, were attached to a sticker Some of them were attached to needles that went UNDER et rid of those, in addition to the ones that pinged so noisily every tiot back withme less like a hospital patient and a littlethe ice creae, whipped cream and nuts – on the bed tray one of the nurses had set up in front of me Next to the ice cream lay an enormous chocolate-chip cookie – the kind I used to eat four or five of a day, if I had the ary stuff into my mouth actually made me feel a little sick Which eird, because normally dessert is my favourite meal of the dayStill, everyone – Mom and Dad, Frida, Dr Holcombe, three nurses who had wandered into my room and the orderly who had been in my hallucination (because it had definitely been a hallucination No way had Lulu Collins been in , no less) – see for htI could I lifted the spoon and dipped it into the bowl Then I brought it – carefully, re what had happened with the water – tobite‘Mmmm,’ I saidEveryone in the roohed The orderly high-fived one of the nurses While I took a really fast gulp of water Because all that sugar? It tasted totally gross toto me? Since when did I hate ice cream?What had this doctor done to me?Fortunately no one noticed Everyone chattered away about how great it was that I wasand all, but ht have ress fro from? What had happened to me? Which part of me was hurt?And what exactly was this ‘procedure’ they’d used on inning to notice that sos were different than they’d been before the accidentAnd not justice crea so far was how the people in my own family acted around meas if they didn’t know meAlmost as if – and I know it sounded crazy – but almost as if I was someone else