“I was hoping you’d tell me.” The nurse walked into a little break room next door and filled a small plastic cup with water.
“I . . . I can’t remember.” Natti tried to think back. “The last thing I recall was asking Mr. Gibson for a hall pass to use the loo. How long was I out?”
“You’ve been here for a little over fifteen minutes. Gave me quite a scare,” the nurse called. “Especially when Mr. O’Keefe carried you in here unconscious.”
“Seth?” Natti asked with surprise. “Seth was here?”
“He’s the one who found you in the hall.” The nurse handed Natti the cup. “And was he ever scared too. He actually asked to be notified about your status when you woke up.”
Natti tried to scan the room, only to make her brain dizzy. It felt like a balloon bobbling inside her skull. “Where is he now?”
“Home, I suspect. He checked himself out after he brought you here. He did, however, give me his number to call him. He wanted me to contact him if and when you first woke, to see if you were all right.” She picked up the receiver and dialed.
Natti settled back on her cot, the pain of her headache draining every ounce of energy. She closed her eyes, the sounds of the hallway seemed ten times louder than normal to her ears. And from what she could tell, the nurse must have been practically deaf. The speaker’s volume was high enough that Natti could just hear Seth’s phone ringing from the other side of the room.
“How is she?” he answered in a matter of seconds.
Natti opened one eye and looked at the nurse, who gave her a sweet smile. “She’s fine, Mr. O’Keefe.”
“Her eyes? What about her eyes? Are they dilated?”
She gave an offhand laugh. “Thinking of becoming a doctor, Mr. O’Keefe?”
“Nurse Dobson, please,” his honey-sweet voice sounded strained as he spoke. “Are her eyes dilated?”
Nurse Dobson smiled. “I understand your concern. Her eyes reacted perfectly normal, Mr. O’Keefe. Though, she does appear sensitive to light at the moment.”
Sensitive, that was a laugh. It was like any amount of light that entered her eyes was a nuclear explosion. There was a sigh of relief over the line, and Natti cocked her head, bewildered by Seth’s concern.
After a long pause, he spoke again, “Does she remember anything?”
If only I could. It felt like a sixteen pound bowling ball had been dropping on top of her head.
“Unfortunately,” the nurse replied, “she can’t remember what had caused the fainting spell, but her memory seems to be intact.”
Natti could hear him mumble, unable to make out his words. Nurse Dobson looked up at her. “She’s still here if you wish to speak with her.”
Natti jerked in surprise, causing her head to pound even more. Yet before her pained brain cells could think how to react to such a suggestion, Seth jumped right in. “Ah, no. I’ll . . . I’ll let her rest. Thanks for calling me.”
The line went dead. Mrs. Dobson shrugged and hung up the phone. Natti looked at the water in her hand. She tried to focus on what happened, which made her head complain, and as hard as she tried to grasp any memory at all, the time between receiving her hall pass and waking up in the nurse’s office was completely blanked out.
A knock on the door drew her attention to her father. He strolled in, her backpack and gear already in his hands. Her father glanced at her and relief filled his face. He swooped down to give her a big hug.
“Oh thank the heavens!” He held her so tight Natti felt her ribs might crack under the pressure. “You bloody gave me a heart attack.”
“She’s doing fine, Mr. Stone. Woke up just a moment ago.”
“You all right, luv?” Her father backed up to look her in the eye.
Natti put her palm to her forehead. It felt strange. Foggy, dizzy, painful. It was like something inside had cracked open. She wished she could remember what happened. “My head is killing me,” she whimpered.
“Come on, I’m going to get you home where you can rest.” He turned to the nurse. “Thank you taking care of her.”
“Any time.” Mrs. Dobson smiled. “Let’s just hope something like this doesn’t happen again.”
***