Better Now~Cassy Callum

Better Now


My eyes fluttered open to the white sponge painted hospital ceiling. For a few seconds, I felt numb. After a moment, my body regained feeling, and I felt the wooden arm of the padded chair sticking into my side. My bare shoulder itched from the imprint left by the woven cushion of the chair. I slowly sat up, taking in my surroundings. My eyes stopped dead center of the room. I remembered now. The tunnel, Lisa collapsed, the ambulance, the hospital. I had refused to leave her side. I remembered sitting in that chair until I fell asleep around midnight. I stared at Lisa. Once again, she looked helpless, broken. I had stood by and watched while one sister slipped away from me. I would not make that mistake again. I ran to the edge of Lisa’s bed. Her eyes were shut.
“Lisa wake up. Come back.” I said loudly. “I won’t lose you.” She fought my grip and I let my hands drop. She was alive. She sat up in the bed.
“Cassy, wha-” before she could finish, I embraced her tightly. I had not lost another sister. Not today. She hugged me tightly before letting me go and asking questions.
“Cassy, what happened?” She asked. “Why am I in the hospital?” She turned her head, taking in the room. “Why are you here? Where’s mom?” I thought about these questions for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell the whole story or just answer her questions. I decided the whole story would be best.
I took a deep breath and began. “We were in the tunnel, and you collapsed.” I swallowed, remembering her crumpled body laying so helplessly on the ground.
“Go on.” She encouraged.
“I ran to tell mom, but she was at work, so I called her cell phone.” I continued. “When she answered, I told her that you had collapsed outside. She came home right away, and then I led her out to where you were, and she tried to wake you up, but you wouldn’t move, and you were breathing really heavy. She called 911, and they sent an ambulance to come pick you up. When we got here they ran a bunch of tests.” My eyes threatened to overflow as they had when I had watched them connect wires and machines to my still motionless sister. “The doctors said it was a seizure. They said you had to stay overnight, and when mom tried to tell me to go home, I wouldn’t let her.” I looked up at her. Her eyes were watery, and her hand was covering her mouth. “I wanted to stay with you.” I finished.
“Oh, Cassy…” She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my neck. “You didn’t have to stay here for me.” She whispered. I pulled away slowly.
“I know. I wanted to.”
“Where’s Mom? She didn’t leave you here alone, did she?” She asked.
“She went to get something to eat, I think” I answered. Fear shone in her eyes and I heard her breath catch. “What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“You said it was a seizure.” She paused. “Do they know what caused it?” I wished I could’ve given her a different answer. I shook my head, and my lip trembled. She sighed. I touched her shoulder and she brought her head up to look at me.
“It’s gonna be okay.” I said. “Don’t be scared, Lisa. It’ll be okay.” I embraced her once again. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t shaking. She was just holding me.
Mom walked in, and we both looked up.
“Oh good, you’re up.” She said cheerfully. “I brought you some coffee.” She set a blue-grey tray on the table. There was a plate of food and a steaming Styrofoam cup on it. “How are you feeling?” She asked, handing Lisa the cup.
“Pretty good.” She glanced over in my direction. “A lot better now.” She added, smiling. I smiled back. I turned and went to sit back in my chair.
“Well, that’s good.” Her smile remained plastered on her face. I looked at her suspiciously, aware that there was something she was not telling us. I phrased my question carefully.
“Did the doctors find out anything else?” I asked, catching her off guard. She whirled around to face me and I saw the look of temporary fear written in her eyes. She sighed.
“Yes.” She turned to Lisa. “They found out what caused the seizure.” She looked back at me, checking for a reaction. “They’ve diagnosed you with MIND BODY CONNECTION. It means you have an exceptionally strong connection between your body and your mind. You were so stressed, that your body reacted with the seizure. They recommended you see a counselor for the next couple of weeks, and they prescribed some medication to help with they seizures. The doctors do say that the seizures are likely to continue if we don’t do anything about them.” Lisa set the coffee back on the table. She took Mom’s hand in hers.
“It’ll be okay. I’ll go see the counselor and everything will be fine.” She patted Mom awkwardly on the back. Mom turned to face me.
“Come on, we need to get you home.” She said, waving me toward her with her arm.
“No. I want to stay here with Lisa. I wanna stay with her until she’s better.” I clung to Lisa’s arm. She looked down at me.
“Go, Cassy. You don’t have to stay here for me. I’ll be fine. And you need your rest.” I nodded.
“Fine.” I followed Mom reluctantly to the door. Before I shut the door behind me, I turned to look back at Lisa one last time.
“I’ll be fine.” She said. I believed her.