My moms face pales over and I freeze, "are you okay? Are you feeling alright?" She looks at me, and I mean looks at me. I nod, "I think?" I shrug, although I don't know how I'm supposed to be feeling right now. I sit back down, "where's dad?" I don't take my eyes off of her. My mom smiles weakly, "he's okay, he's at work" she nods. I sigh weakly, "are you okay?" I add, worried beyond belief. My mom nods tearfully, "I'm good, baby. Just precautionary measures..." she tilts her head. She says something to the nurse before the woman disappears on a mission. What's going on?
~
Around ten minutes later, I sit up on the make shift bed and frown, making my mother shift in her seat. I look down at my arm, which is kind of numb compared to usual, and turn it over. On the inside of my arm is a bruise, a dark one, "what's wrong, Imogen?" My mom stands up. Natalie looks up from her clipboard and walks over to my tent area, "what do you see, honey?" She enquires. I tilt my arm and reveal the bruise, not even a second later, Natalie sounds her pager and a swarm of suited up doctors come rushing in, Ethan Choi being one of them...
"Nat? What's going on? What's wrong with me?" I let out a scared sob. By now my mom is trying to do all she can without leaving her space, "nat? What's happening?" She yells. A few hazmat suits enter the room before I even recognise there's people in them, "it's okay, kiddo. We're gonna take you somewhere safer" Ethan reassured me whilst nat walks over to my mother. I see my mom cover her mouth with her hands, before I'm lead away to a scene of uncertainty and fear...
I'm forced to lay down on the hospital bed in an enclosed room, on the floor above, as doctors rush around me. I look to the left to see Ethan holding an injection, "No, I don't..." I try to move away, but he places a gloved hand on my shoulder, "shhh, it's okay Imogen, it's just a light sedative that's all" he nods. I widen my eyes, "why?" By now I have tears rolling down my face. The bruise on my arm has doubled in size, it now even burns. He smiles weakly, "remember when you helped that girl this morning?" I nod in response, "well, the bacteria that was on her arm has found it's way into your blood stream. You must've had some kind of scratch on your arm, but everything is okay, you're going to be just fine" he reassures me, I'm so confused I didn't even notice that he'd given me the sedative. My eyes fall shut before I can utter another word...
~
Jays POV
I rush into med as my brother exits the lounge, "slow down, you can't just waltz right in there, you need clearance" he places a hand on my chest. I roll my eyes, "my family is in there, Will" I shoot him a small side eye. He nods, "I know, but so is the infection. Look, I'll clear you myself, but you need to be patient" he sighs. I look around and nod, "Haileys okay, she's being discharged soon" will adds as we enter a free room. I nod, "and Imogen? Is she already out?" I sit down. Will freezes, "no one told you?" He turns to face me. I stop taking my jacket off, "what do you mean? Where's Imogen?" I go to stand up. Will holds his hand out to stop me from storming out, "I thought they called you, Christ..." he runs a hand over his face.
"Will, tell me what's going on" I warn him. My heart is beating so hard, I swear it might burst out of my chest. Will nods, "she's infected, jay. She caught it at school" he sighs. My face pales over, "w-how?" I sit down before my legs fail me. Will places a hand on my shoulder, "she helped someone who was sick, the girl had the bacteria, it entered Immy's blood through a scratch on her arm" he explains. I let out a shaky breath, "please tell me she's gonna' be okay" I whisper almost. Will tilts his head, "we caught it before it could spread, she's in surgery now. Ethan said it's looking positive" he nods. I shake my head, "I knew I shouldn't have sent her to school" I look away as a guilty tear makes it's way down my cheek.
"Look, it's happened here and it's happened all over the city, there's nothing you can do to change that. We're lucky we caught it so early on, which means there's a very good chance it won't spread. I think she's gonna' be okay, jay" Will Places his other hand on my shoulder. I look down once again, "get this over and done with, I wanna see hailey" I frown. Will nods before flashing a UV light in my face.
~
Haileys POV
I'm sat on this stupid bed. Awaiting any kind of news about my daughter. I don't know where jay is, or if he even knows, and I don't know when I'll be released. Almost as if my prayers have been answered, jay comes running into the room and strides up to my cell, "hey, are you okay? Any news on Imogen yet?" He places his hand on the plastic. I wipe my tears away and shake my head, "they took her about an hour ago, I don't know where to, but Nat said she caught the infection?" I place my hand on the plastic too. Jay nods, "Will said it's Looking positive, we just have to hang tight" he sighs, and I can tell he's been crying too... "what about you? Have you been infected?" He enquires seriously. I shake my head, "no, I'm being released soon, they're just gathering the paperwork" I shrug, although all I can think about it Immy.
~
Around an hour later, me and Jay bounce up to our feet when a hospital bed is wheeled past us, although there's a plastic case surrounding the bed. We're outside of the infectious ward right now, so we're being forced to wear light PPE and masks, but I don't care. Jay walks over to the room with my hand in his own, "she's still out, and we can't remove the casing until we're certain she's clear, but she's okay" Ethan nods as we enter the room, the door closes immediately after we enter. This is terrifying...
"If you want to hold her hand, make sure you're wearing gloves before you put your hand through the gap, just for safety" Will nods as he walks towards the door, "I'll be back soon" he adds. We nod and turn around to face Imogen, and the sigh before me is horrifying, I'm speechless... Imogen, our baby, is out cold in a coffin like cage with a huge bandage around her arm and we can't do a single thing about it.
"Jesus Christ" Jay mumbles as he places a hand on my shoulder, my arm already inside the container and holding our daughters hand. What kind of world do we live in?
~
Imogen's POV
Slowly but surely, my eyes adjust to the light but all I can see is a blurry layer of plastic above me. I panic, trying to sit up as alarms blare loudly around me, "it's okay honey, it's okay... calm down. Will?!" I hear a familiar deep voice yell. My chest feels tight and I can't breathe, not until my uncle comes into the room and unzips the plastic cage around me, "nice deep breaths, immy. C'mon, it's okay..." Will helps me sit up.
My mom comes into view as does my dad, and I swear I feel the whole world start to slow back down again, "there you go..." the beeping machines fall into a steady rhythm. I take a deep breath and look up at my dad, "it's okay" he smiles weakly. I nod slowly and lie back down as I become tired again, what the hell happened?
Almost as if Will could read my face, "you had surgery to remove the small amount of infection in your arm, everything went well and you're safe" he frowns. I nod, remembering what actually happened, before I close my eyes and let out a deep sigh. My mom leans over and plants a kiss onto my head, "we're all here, you can sleep honey. Get some rest..." she wishes me goodnight and I finally feel at rest for the first time all day. At least I have my family.
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