A Search For Ida

Chapter 5

The next morning Cecelia woke up next to her father at the hospital. He was in bed and still unconcious. She looked at the clock and it was 7:29 a.m. and way too early for her to be up. The hospital was very quiet and filled her with a sense of forboding. Her father's heartbeat was slow and steady. That hopefully means that he is better or at least stable.

Several minutes later one of the nurses came in to check on him and didn't seem to notice Cecelia. I wonder what she's thinking about. I mean she sees all of these ill people everyday and probably has seen at least one or two die. She loks as if she doesn't even care about dad. Hmm... strange, Cecelia thought as she inspected the nurse looking to be only several years older than her.

When the young woman turned around she jumped as if not knowing Cecelia was there. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" Cecelia blurted as the nurse started to scurry away, scribbling on her clipboard. "Please! Can you tell me anything about my father? Is he going to be okay? What happened?"

"I'm sorry but the doctor will be here at nine and you can ask him then." She seemed a little tense. Wonder who pissed in her cheerios this morning? She giggled at her own joke when she heard an odd moan coming from her father's bed.

"Kim?" She rushed over to his bedside but by the time she got there he had fallen into unconsciousness again.

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Ida woke up a little later than usual, the fight with Cece had really exhausted her. Plus she stayed up half of the night thinking about what had just happened and trying to think about what she would say to Cecelia the next time she saw her.

Was it really true though? Did Cecelia, her Cecelia, really mean what she said? Maybe it was just the fact that her dad just went through who knows what and her mom left them (at least that was what Ida had heard around the school). Or maybe she really did mean it.

Really she did kind of have a point, though. But that wasn't right; how could she have talked to me like that and insulted my mother?! When it was her father's fault anyway.

Even after thinking for so long, Ida still hadn't come up with the right thing to say to Cecelia. Ida hadn't left the hospital the night before. She didn't really know why but after the fight happened and Cece went to her dad's room, Ida stayed in the waiting room and slept in one of those chairs that turned into a recliner or bed-like thing. She looked at the clock, 9:07 a.m. She had slept in fairly late but oh well she needed the rest.

Ida got up and went over to the front desk to ask where Lark had been placed. Before she muttered the question a man in scrubs shuffled down the hallway. "That's the doctor, he's headed up to see the man and young lady you were with last night. You'd better hurry and catch up with him if you want to hear the verdict," She had said as if reading Ida's mind.

"Thanks," Ida muttered.

She scurried up behind him and followed quietly.

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There was a knock at the door. "It's Doctor Chopra, may I come in?" a voice announces. When he entered he looked rather tall and scrawny for someone with a PhD. His skin was a rather caramel colour and he was most likely in his mid-to-late forties. A rather odd looking man.

Cecelia immediately started asking all of the questions that she had asked the stuck-up nurse earlier and more although she hadn't noticed until then that standing behind the distant doctor was the same girl who she had just been fighting with the night before. She was genuinely surprised when Ida stepped into sight and almost didn't notice the reserved doctor speaking to her.

"Last night we were doing some testing on your father to see what could have caused him to fall unconscious and we have determined that this was not self-inflicted and that he had suffered from a cerebral aneurysm. That meaning that your father had a weak point or damaged part in an artery in his brain. Mr. Taylor appears to have high blood pressure that his doctor may have not detected and the building of his blood pressure caused stress and swelling among this weakness in his blood vessel causing him to have seisures and fall unconscious.

"We think that he may have been going outside for what ever reason and the fits started which cause him to fall into the pool. Luckily though, we caught it before it was too late thanks to you two bringing him here in time. Your father would have died if it weren't for you; you guys saved his life." Instantly relief flooded over both of the girls although the tension in the air was still thick.

Cecelia turned around and grasped her father's limp body in a tight embrace and whispered, "You're going to be okay... we're going to be okay."