Читать книгу The Cork Chronicles - Paige Hartwick - Страница 2

Kyra woke up to a siren that seemed to be piercing her skull. She looked around her, but nothing looked familiar. As she came out of the groggy haze, she realized that someone was talking to her. Then it hit her, she was in an ambulance…

“Good, you’re awake! Can you tell me your name?” The paramedic asked.

“Kyra Walsh… What happened?! Why am I in an ambulance?” She asked as she was starting to panic. She was trying to calm herself because the faster her heart raced, the worse the pounding in her head got.

“Try and stay calm. We were told that you had collapsed and hit your head after an altercation at your job. Does any of that sound familiar to you?” It felt like his eyes were looking into her soul. It was probably from the head injury and slight amnesia, but the paramedic seemed strangely familiar. He looked like he might be close to her age, but it was hard to tell. He had light brown hair that was just long enough to fall in his eyes. Those eyes were the brightest green she had ever seen. He seemed like he was tall and very athletic. She shook off the feeling and pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

She shook her head because the last thing she could remember was cleaning the bathrooms at work. After that it was nothing but blackness. She could feel the memory, but it was just barely out of reach.

“Well since you know your name, maybe you can answer a few medical questions for me? Any history of blackouts or seizures? What about anxiety or depression?” The tone of his voice made her stomach do a flip. It felt like they were two old friends that had known each other their whole lives…

“As far as I know, no seizures, but I was diagnosed with severe anxiety when I was twelve. I’ve never blacked out from it though, just major dizzy spells.” Kyra felt like she really needed to remember what had happened… The ambulance suddenly stopped and the doors were being opened. They were at the entrance to the emergency room. The paramedics wheeled her in to the ER, and for the next several hours, Kyra was poked and prodded by a revolving door of nurses and doctors. Then it was time for her MRI…

Kyra had never had an MRI before, but she had seen enough doctor shows to know that people with claustrophobia hated it. She made sure to let her doctor know so he could have one of the nurses give her something to help her relax. The nurses wheeled her to imaging and helped her into the machine. Kyra’s palms were sweaty and her heart began to race. There was no way she was going to go through this ordeal again, so she closed her eyes and took a few slow, deep breaths.

“Okay Kyra, try to stay as still as possible. It’ll be over before you know it, just try to go to your happy place,” the technician said through the speaker.

“O-okay…” Kyra replied in a shaky voice. The machine started up and she was startled by the whirring, clunking sound. Kyra focused on the pattern of the sounds and took slow, even breaths to keep herself calm.

After a few minutes she started to feel a little drowsy, but she needed to stay awake. As a coping method, she started watching Mulan in her head. Mulan had been Kyra’s favorite movie growing up because she wanted to be brave and heroic just like her.

About halfway through the movie, the machine started to power down and Kyra instantly relaxed.

“Are we done? Please tell me we don’t have to do it again…” Kyra asked.

We’re all done! Your nurse will take you back to your room now. The neurologist will come talk to you as soon as he can go over your scans. It shouldn’t take too long, maybe an hour at the most,” the technician informed her. She was so worn out that she was looking forward to getting back to her room and taking a nap. But, as her luck would have it, her family and a cop were waiting for her out in the hall.

“Kyra Rose Walsh! What on earth happened? Your boss called us saying that you collapsed and had been rushed to the hospital!” Kyra’s mom, with her fiery red hair flowing down to her waist. She looked like a wildfire- like she was ready to burn the world down to find out who hurt her daughter.

“Excuse me, ma’am? I need to speak with Ms. Walsh and get her statement while the incident is still fresh in her mind.”

“Um, officer?… I can’t remember anything. The last thing I remember was cleaning the bathrooms at work, then waking up in the ambulance. The doctor said that it might be stress induced amnesia, but he wouldn’t be sure until my scans came back.” She started to slur her words and it was becoming really hard to keep her eyes open.

“Ms. Walsh really needs to rest now, officer. Would she be able to wait to give her statement? She might be able to remember more once she’s gotten some sleep,” Kyra’s nurse told the officer. By this point, Kyra was so exhausted that her whole body was hurting and she felt like throwing up. Before she could even try to say anything, everything went black.