BH

Burning Hearts: Eleven

Eleven

Sapphire

As night fell I lay in the ruins and looked up at the stars. They were so beautiful, I couldn't even begin to describe how amazing the sky looked that night. Staring up I did a lot of thinking, about Raie, about Eric, about everything. It was so odd the way things had turned out. I had always been so sure Raie and I would be best friends forever, but now I was sure we would never be best friends, or even friends again.­­ Soon enough my eyes began to collapse, and I gave into the tug of sleep, shivering the whole time.

"I found her, I found her!" I woke up to an unfamiliar voice yelling near me.

As I blinked and my eyes opened, I saw a man I didn't know, wearing a familiar Dartley Police Force uniform. He came over to me, asking if I was alright, but my voice wouldn't work after spending a freezing night out. I began to cry yet again as I tried to move and realized my whole body was numb. The officer scooped me up as if I weighed nothing, and took me over to an ambulance which was waiting near the fairgrounds.

Suddenly we were driving away, the siren blaring as we raced to the hospital, and at that point I really stated to panic. I hadn't been to a hospital since I was born, and I was a little afraid of it. I still couldn't feel anything except the hot tears cascading down my face. I gave into the exhaustion I was feeling and went back to sleep; either that, or I had fainted.

This sleep wasn't filled with cozy dreams of running through the hills and swimming in the ocean though, it was blank. It felt like I was falling, but I had no idea where, and all I saw was black. Every once in a while I head little whispers of a voice, or saw a tiny bit of light, but other than that, it felt like what I imagined I would feel if I was dead. I was no longer cold, but I wasn't warm either. Basically, I was nothing, simply a figure amidst a sea of nothingness, and it was absolutely terrifying.

Tash

"Her hand just twitched... She's blinking... Mum, Mum! Sapphire's awake!" I yelled as I sat next to Sapphire's hospital bed, watching over her.

My mother ran in, spilling her fresh, hot coffee all down her white linen pant-suit, and kneeled next to Sapphire. I quickly went and got a nurse, who then came in and checked Sapphire's heart rate and turned off the drip.

"Wha... wha... where am... where am I, wha... what happened?" Sapphire asked, her question barely coming out as a whisper, but we all heard as we listened intently to her.

My mother just told her not to try to talk and gave her a warm hug. Sapphire seemed dazed and completely confused as she tried to move, and was unsuccessful. Her face was pale and she was shaking, overtaken with fever. She was lucky she was still alive. After spending the night under a thin layer of snow she was lucky to come out with only a very mild case of hypothermia. Her body had gone numb from the cold, but after lying in the heavily heated hospital bed she was slowly getting her feeling back, along with a lot of pain and stiffness.

It had been a few hours since Barry, the officer who had found Sapphire had brought her to the hospital, and everyone had been extremely worried when she wouldn't wake up, even though the nurse had assured us Sapphire's coma would help her and was normal. Even Raie had been a little upset, but she didn't come to the hospital for some reason. I had been by Sapphire's side since she had arrived, so when she awoke and the nurses eventually made us leave while they did some tests, I finally went home.

As soon as I came in the door Libby rushed towards me, Raie stalking behind her, bombarding me with questions about Sapphire. I told them she was awake, and about her condition, then went up to my room and collapsed on my bed. Raie and Libby followed me up and lay down with me, and we all comforted each other, saying things like 'Sapphire will be fine' and 'She'll be better in no time', but we were all still unsure whether she would be, it had been a pretty rough night for her.