It's closing in on three am when Carter finally cracks her eyes open. The whites are bloodshot and she feels like shit. Her hand reaches up, feeling a mask on her face. She goes to pull it down but someone grasps onto her wrist, stopping her. She slowly turns to them, seeing Pierre standing over her.
"Leave it on until you feel better," he orders.
"Sit me up a little," she requests, he voice coming out dry and raspy.
Oscar presses the button on the side of the bed that sits her up. She puts her hands to her head, realizing that her hands and arms are wrapped up in bandages. She turns her head to Yumi and makes a gesture like she's drinking. Yumi nods and leaves the room to get her something. Once Yumi's out of the room, she turns to Pierre and Oscar.
"Do you know why you're here?" Pierre asks.
She nods, remembering waking up and thinking it was too hot in her room. She went to get out of bed to turn on her air conditioning but was greeted by a wall of flames wrapping around her bed. She tried to smother the fire as much as she could with her blankets but there was only so much she could do before the smoke knocked her out.
Oscar sits down on the edge of the bed and wraps his arm around Carter. She leans into him, shaking her head. Yumi comes back into the room with a nurse. Oscar, Pierre, and Yumi all slip out of the curtain while the nurse works with Carter.
"Should we give Jade a call?" Oscar asks. "You know, since she's awake now."
"I mean Jade's probably asleep by now. I'll text her but I doubt we'll hear from her for a couple hours," Pierre suggests.
He pulls out his phone and opens his conversation with Jade.
Pierre: Hey Jay. Carter just woke up and she seems to be doing alright but it's kind of hard to tell. Nurse is just in there with her now. I'll text you when we know literally anything else.
He clicks send and watches as the message tries to send for a few seconds before failing. He raises an eyebrow and tries again, getting the same result.
"Huh, that's weird," he mumbles, pressing send a third time. "Why won't this send?"
"Maybe she turned her phone off," Oscar suggests.
"It's more likely that it died and she hasn't noticed," Yumi scoffs. "She and Hensley might be together right now just trying to comfort each other."
The nurse leaves Carter's little room so her friends go back in. She's more upright, the mask replaced by nasal prongs, and drinking water.
"This is so fucking stupid," Carter scoffs, sounding better but still not great.
"How you feeling?" Oscar asks.
"I'm fine. The nurse mentioned that they're probably going to transfer me up to the floor sooner rather than later but I think it's all bullshit. And you, get over here and give me a fucking hug. You scared me."
Oscar approaches her and sits at the edge of her bed, pulling her into a hug. She rests her face against his chest, clinging onto his shirt.
"Don't you ever fucking do that again," she snaps. "Don't you dare end up in the ER again."
He laughs and slowly releases her. She leans back into her bed, crossing her arms. She slowly turns to Yumi.
"Hey Peaches, do you know why a fire broke out in my apartment? Police say anything? Something about this feels off."
"Jesus Christ, Lovie," Pierre laughs. "You know you're in the hospital, right? You can take thirty seconds to not try and pin this on someone."
"It's just smoke inhalation and first degree burns. I can talk, swallow, and I'm not coughing. I feel fine for the most part. If I'm careful, I'll be fine. So what happened?"
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The Girl In Apartment 13 | Apply Fic
Mystery / ThrillerThere was an apartment building in the centre of the city, two blocks away from the university. Because it was so close to campus, it was common for college students to rent apartments there. But Apartment Thirteen, there were rumours. People were a...
