Off Limits (Christoffer Schistad - Skam)

Part 18

The most striking thing Mara noticed when she woke up was that it was dark outside, which immediately led her to how long she has been out. She tried to move her head, but a throbbing pain dissuaded her from doing so.

"Argh," she groaned, and bring to move her hand to her head, but she realised she couldn't move it.

When she finally looked down and her eyes became used to the bright white light, she saw that her hand was trapped. Both her hands were trapped under her boys' head. Chris firmly gripped her right hand and he has fallen asleep on top of their joined hands. A frown twisted his attractive features as though he was having a nightmare. On the other side of her bed was William, who mirrored Chris' position. He was the first to stir and open his eyes.

His head rose up the moment he saw Mara was awake, and she croaked out a little "Sup?"

"Sup?" He asked in bewilderment, as if he couldn't believe the audacity. She had the nerve to pass out and when she woke up all she found to say was 'sup'? "Sup?" He repeated, his voice a little too high.

Mara just smiled and left him to process that she was okay, meanwhile she turned to Chris and slowly slipped her hand out from under his head and gently put her hand on his cheek and stroked it until his eyes fluttered open. He was faster than William and jerked awake, almost jumping off his chair when he saw her looking at him.

"Mara!" He cried out in relief. "Oh my god Mara, are you okay?!" He asked in panic.

"You scared the living shit out of us!" William interjected, drawing the attention back to him.

Mara wanted to laugh out of relief but her head spun a little and William and Chris suddenly began to shower her in questions, and relieved or reproachful comments; they made her swear to never do this ever again and almost drowned her in their overbearing worry, but she was so happy to see them agree on something that she simply smiled.

"Have you been crying?" She cut them off, biting her lower lip and shooting them a 'don't lie to me' look.

"No!"

"Certainly not!"

They answered at the same time, causing a fit of laughter to erupt from Mara and making it difficult even for them not to smile a little bit. The most dreadful part of this day was over. She first turned to her brother and reassured him.

"I'm fine, stop looking at me like I'm about to drop dead," she playfully scolded him. "Just tell me what happened to me."

"The doctor said you had a drop in blood pressure," he explained in a deep sigh. "That's why you collapsed, but then you hit your head on the ground and it knocked you out. You have a concussion, they didn't know when you'd wake up."

"We were ready to plant our tents here until you wake up," Chris added.

He still clutched her hand in his like it was his lifeline. Mara squeezed it to show him everything was fine now, and she felt his thumb trace patterns on the back of her hand. He looked so worried, so utterly wrecked by the idea of anything happening to her that she was brought to tears herself. But she blinked them back – now wasn't the moment.

"How long have you been here?" She questioned.

"About four or five hours," Will answered. "We never left."

"And you haven't even murdered each other!" She pointed out. "That's progress!"

"Awake for two minutes and already making bad jokes," Chris chuckled. "I'm gonna go tell the nurse you're back with the living."