Awakened (Book #5 of the Vampire Legends) (6 page)

Rachel couldn’t
wait one more minute to see her mom. She needed to find out answers and she
needed to talk to her about the letter. She quickly ran out of her house with
the letter safely zipped in her coat pocket as she headed out for the local
hospital. The freezing cold air hit her face as she walked briskly into town.

The thought of
seeing her mom in a hospital bed frightened her. She’d never seen her in a
vulnerable state before and she didn’t know how she felt about it. To her, her
mom was a strong, fearless woman, but now she was sick, laying in a bed with
nurses and doctors around her. It was night and day to how she’d remembered her
mom.

She hoped that
her mom would be able to speak to her and she hoped she’d be able and willing
to talk to her about her grandmother’s letter. Her anxiety about seeing her mom
was rising as she neared the hospital. She stopped as she approached the
parking lot of the hospital and then turned around, and started walking away. She
couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bear the thought of her mom in the hospital. She
figured if she never saw her mom there, than it wouldn’t be real. Then, she
stopped again and turned back around and headed towards the front doors of the
hospital. She had to see her. She couldn’t live in a fantasyland anymore. She
had to get to the bottom of things and she had to see her mom, for her own
peace of mind.

As she walking in
through the large automatic sliding doors, the smell of hand sanitizer filled
the air. She looked around at the stark white walls and fluorescent lighting,
and the hustle and bustle of the nurses and doctors and they ran from one room
to the next and then back out to their stations. She stood there and watched
for a moment and then, a nurse came over to her and said, “Can I help you?”

“Oh, right!”
Rachel snapped out of it. “Yes, I’m looking for my mom.”

“Your mother,
Dear?” the nurse asked sympathetically.

“Yes, I think
she’s at this hospital,” Rachel answered.

“Well, what’s her
name, Dear. I will look her up. Follow me,” the nurse said, ushering her over
to her computer station.

“Betsy Wood is
her name,” Rachel said.

“Let me see
here,” the nurse said as she clicked away at her computer.

Rachel watched as
she scrolled up and down on the computer screen searching for information on
her mother. Then, she saw the nurses eyes open wide and then make a frightened
face.

“Yes, she is
here,” the nurse answered. “I’m so sorry.”

Rachel didn’t
know what to make of that statement, but she figured it was going to be a bad
situation when she saw her mom by the looks on this nurses face.

“She’s in room
501,” the nurse said. “It’s right down the hall and make a left.”

“Thanks,” Rachel
said, as she started in that direction.

Nobody told her
what to expect when she saw her mother for the first time and nobody could have
prepared her for what she saw as she entered room 501. Her mom lay there, under
the white hospital sheets with her head wrapped in bandages and air tubes
coming out of her nose and mouth. There were wires hooked up to her body that
poked out of the sheets and hooked up to loud beeping monitors that sat at the
side of her bed.

Rachel walked in
slowly and quietly towards her mom’s bedside. She peeked at her over the
railing of the bed and noticed that her eyes were taped shut, too. It looked to
her as if her mom were dying. A tear fell from her eyes and rolled down her
cheek, and landed on the white sheet that covered her mom. She reached under
the covers and grabbed her mom’s hand, which had an IV coming out of her wrist.
She clutched onto it, happily feeling the warmth of her body.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Her eyes quickly
focused on the monitor next to her bed as it started to beep louder and more
frequently. The line that ran across the screen was jumping up and down in an
erratic rhythm. The noises and the whole situation made her heart race and she
began to feel panicked. Was her mom dying? Was her heart stopping?

She watched as
two nurses came running into her room to examine her. They opened her eyes and
shined a flashlight in both of them watching her pupils expand and contract and
then checked each of her heart monitors to make sure they were tightly secured
to the round patches stuck to her skin.

“Is she OK?”
Rachel asked, in fear.

“Shh,” one nurse said.
“We’re checking that out now.”

“She’s never done
this before,” the other nurse said. “It’s almost as if she’s waking up?”

“Is she OK?
Please say she’s OK and that’s she not dying!” Rachel begged.

“Doctor! Doctor!”
the nurse yelled out of the room. “Hurry!”

Within seconds a
doctor came running in, wearing a white lab coat and scrubs.

“What’s going on
here?” he said, looking at the nurses.

“Look! Her heart
rate is plummeting, quick, get the AED,” the nurse yelled.

 Rachel watched
in horror as the nurse ran out and ran back in with the machine to jump-start
her mom’s heart. The noise coming from the monitor was now a continuous loud
tone and the beeping had stopped. It reminded her of when people would flat
line in the movies, except this wasn’t a movie, this was real life and it was
her mother on the other end. It was all too much for her to watch so she ran
out of the room sobbing as she slunk down to the floor put her head in her lap.

She could still
her the commotion from inside the room as the nurses and doctor tried to revive
her. She couldn’t believe what was happening and she hoped it wasn’t her fault.
She hoped that she didn’t cause this. Perhaps her mom sensed that she was there
to see her and went into shock. She felt awful.

One of the nurses
came walking slowly out of the room and over towards her computer station.

“What happened?
Is she OK? Please tell me she’s alive!” Rachel asked in fear.

The nurse looked
over at her, smiled and then said, “She is OK. The doctor will tell you more.”

“Will she make
it?” Rachel asked.

“Why don’t you
wait to talk to the doctor? He will be out in a few minutes. They’re just
patching her up in there,” the nurse said.

“Please just tell
me. I can’t wait. Please!” Rachel yelled. “That’s my mother you’re talking about!”

“The doctor will
be right with you,” the nurse said, as she turned and walked away.

Rachel couldn’t
believe how cold this nurse was to her. She’d never experienced a situation
like this before and she never expected the nurse of all people to shrug her
off like that. Sometimes she wondered about people. She couldn’t understand why
they acted the way they did sometimes. Especially in hard situations like this
one. She would have assumed the nurse of all people would have more sympathy
for her.

“Young lady?” the
doctor said from inside the room.

“Me?” Rachel
asked as she peeked her head in.

“Yes, what’s your
name?” the doctor asked.

“I’m Rachel.
That’s my mom,” she said.

“Rachel, Dear. I
haven’t seen you here before,” the doctor said.

“I’m Dr. Henley.
I’ve been working with your mom since she arrived a while back.”

“Dr. Henley, will
my mom be OK? What happened to her?” Rachel asked, with a worried look on her
face.

“She made it this
time. Thank God. Her heart had some unusual movement and it forced her heart rate
to drop drastically. We had to jump start it, and it appears that she will make
it. We will keep a close eye on her to be sure, but she looks to be doing fine
now,” Dr. Henley added.

“But Dr. Henley,
what caused this?” Rachel asked.

“I wish I knew. It
is very rare what just happened. She had been in a rater static state for
months until just now. We don’t know what set it off, but we will keep a close
watch on it,” Dr. Henley said.

“She’s not going
to die is she?” Rachel asked, with tears running down her cheeks.

“Rachel, it
appears she will be OK for now. I wish I could tell you for certain that she’ll
be OK, but I can’t. Not after what just happened. Like I said, we are going to
monitor her closely and take every step necessary to ensure that she is healthy
and on the road to recovery,” Dr. Henley said. He then looked down at his watch
and said, “I have to run to surgery now. I hope to see you around more often.”

“But…” Rachel
began.

“I have to go.
I’m sorry. I am late,” Dr. Henley, said, as he walked away down the hall and
into the operating room.

Rachel stood
there until he was out of sight and then waited a minute until she calmed down
before she went back in to see her mom. She pinched herself first to make sure
this wasn’t a dream, as it was all so surreal to her. She couldn’t understand
what had just happened to her mom to make her almost die. She couldn’t believe
she was here to witness it and that after all these months the one time
something like this happens was when she was here.

She slowly crept
back in towards her mom, who was laying still in her hospital bed. She looked
so lifeless laying there, with her eyes closed and her body motionless. Then,
she noticed that her fingers were wiggling from inside the bed sheet. Rachel
walked over and touched her hand again, and held onto it. Her mom’s hand
stopped moving and again she was comforted by the warmth of her body. She felt
lucky to feel her warm body: to feel her alive was now something she would
never take for granted again.

“Mom. Mom. Can
you hear me?” Rachel whispered.

She watched her
moms face to see if she showed any signs of life, but she didn’t.

“Mom, I’m sorry.
I hope you know I never meant to cause any trouble,” Rachel said. “I know this
is all my fault.”

She looked at her
mom’s eyelids as they began to flutter without opening.

“Mom? Can you
hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me!” Rachel said wishfully.

Rachel waited
patiently for her mom to squeeze her hand or make another motion to let her
know she was listening. Then, after a few minutes of sitting in silence her
moms hand started moving.

“Mom!” Rachel
yelled. “Can you hear me?”

Her mom moved her
hand again so Rachel could feel it.

“Oh, thank God
you’re alive! I’m so sorry this is happening. Can you speak, Mom?” Rachel asked.
“There are so many things I want to tell you and talk about. Please speak to
me!”

She waited and
then heard her mom try to clear her throat and open her mouth. She no longer
had the air tube going down her throat since they jump-started her heart. She
saw her mom’s lips move up and down but she couldn’t make out what she was
saying.

“Mom? Are you
talking to me?” Rachel asked. “What are you saying?”

She watched again
as her moms lips moved up and down. She tried to make it out and could see that
her mom was saying
I love you, Rachel.

“I love you, too,
Mom!” Rachel said back. “I love you so much! Please come back to us. Please!”

Rachel watched
her mom as she started to smile. A tear ran down her cheek and Rachel began to
cry as well. She was happy yet scared at the same time. She couldn’t help but
think she’d nearly just lost her mom forever and now, she was coming back to
her and talking. Rachel couldn’t have been happier at that moment.

“Mom, I can’t
believe it. You’re OK!” Rachel exclaimed.

Rachel looked
over and her mom’s eyes began to open wide and stare into space.

“Mom! Over here.
Can you see me?” Rachel asked. “This is a miracle!”

Rachel’s mom
turned her head and looked at her.

“How is this
happening? It’s a miracle!” Rachel repeated again.

“Rachel?” her mom
whispered. “You’re here!”

Rachel flung her
arms around her mom’s neck and gave her a big hug. She didn’t want to let go,
but she wanted to keep talking to her mom. She couldn’t wait to talk to her
actually.

“Mom, what
happened?” Rachel asked. “I’m so sorry you are here. In this place. Alone.”

“Rachel, I don’t
remember why I’m here. Do you know?” her mom asked.

“I wish I could
remember, but I don’t. Dad and Mark said it’s my fault. Because I left home,”
Rachel said.

Rachel watched as
her mom tried to remember what had happened. She could tell that she was trying
to recover the information somewhere in her brain.

“Oh. You left
us,” her mom said. “You ran away and didn’t come back.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.
I’m truly sorry!” Rachel said. “If I would have known, I never would have…”

“Rachel, the past
is the past.” Her mom whispered and then coughed.

“Mom, are you ok?
Can I get you some water?” Rachel asked.

Her mom continued
coughing up flem as Rachel handed her a glass of water.

“But I don’t
understand what happened Mom. I can’t remember anything!” Rachel said.

“There was a
girl. She came into our house in all black and terrorized the place. She said
she knew you and was going to find you,” her mom said.

“WHAT?” Rachel
said. “A girl?”

“In all black,”
her mom said again. “Ugly girl.”

“Mom? Are you
feeling ok? What are you talking about?” Rachel asked.

She didn’t know
if here mom was speaking the truth or having a delusional thought. It sounded
pretty absurd to her, but then again, a lot of what everyone had been telling
her recently sounded absurd. She wished she could remember what had happened to
her, and ever story she was uncovering was crazier than the last. She began to
worry.

“Mom, did we
move?” Rachel asked.

She figured if
she started with something small she could gauge weather or not her mom really
remembered what happened or if she was still a bit loopy.

“Yes, Dear. We
moved the other year to New York,” her mom said. “Don’t you remember that?”