Bennett The Brave

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Bennett, honey, wake up," Mom's voice seemed to come from another time and place. A shimmering cloud of silvery static, sort of like what you see on the television when no channels are coming in, rose from my consciousness. Blinking, tried to raise my head from the pillow, only to be greeted with a sickening wave of nausea. I flopped back down, wondering why I was in bed to start with.

"What happened," I groaned, "I feel awful sick."

"Stay quiet a moment," she said soothingly, "I think you must have fainted. Your father and some others helped carry you to your bunk." I moaned as I remembered what happened and a fresh wave of heartache washed over me.

"Oh God, Mom," I choked, "Garrett's dead."

"Shhhh," she hushed, "Garrett is not dead Bennett, but he's badly hurt and he's very cold. The doctor is with him now and is trying to stabilize him so we can get him to a hospital." My heart leapt and I sat up abruptly, much to my stomach's distress, but I didn't care.

"Really?" I gasped, "he's not dead?"

"Yes, really," she nodded, "his is very sick, but for the moment anyway, he is still with us."

"Oh thank God," I cried against her shoulder, "when I saw him, I thought sure..."

"I know dear, " she comforted me, "I know." She brushed my hair from my eyes and rubbed my temples for a moment, it felt amazingly good. I closed my eyes and asked,

"How long was I out?"

"Not long, my dear, perhaps a few minutes."

"Can I go see him?"

"I don't know honey," she said, "what say we go find out." I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, I felt a little wobbly. After a deep breath, I steadied myself and followed Mom down into the great room. Neal came rushing over but pulled up short, trying to read my expression. I smiled weakly, he grinned back. In that moment, I wanted to just bear-hug him, but we stood awkwardly apart; neither one of us wanting to seem foolish in front of the others.

"You okay?" Neal asked softly.

"Yeah," I muttered, "I'm good." Mom mussed both our hair and gave a little chuckle.

"Wait here a second, Bennett," she said, "I'll go find out if you can check on Garrett." She slipped into Garrett's room. I stood there, looking after her for a few minutes, before my father came out and walked over to us.

"I'm sorry Bennett, the doctor is still working, we shouldn't bother him."

"Dad..." I said, crestfallen, "... please? I won't get in the way, I just want to see him. Please?" My father considered it for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay, you and Neal can come in, but stand against the wall, and don't interfere. Okay?"

We both nodded and followed him toward the room. My mother met us at the door with a very perplexed look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Dad asked her.

"I'm not sure," she said in quiet concern, "I don't understand all this stuff, but the doctor is taking his clothes off."

"What?" Dad's eyebrows shot up, "You mean Garrett's? We cut those off already."

"No, no," Mom interrupted, "HIS clothes, the doctor. He said something about having to warm Garrett up. He's going to get into the bed with Garrett."

"I guess that makes sense," Dad shrugged, "I have heard people of doing that to transfer body heat."

"Naked?"