It Doesn't Do Well to Dream

Chapter 9

 "She's conscious. Heart rate going back to normal levels."
Peyton kept still, although she wasn't happy about it, as the paramedics continued their assessment of her. She felt fully awake now, normal, but apparently they too had been having "trouble getting a response" from her for some minutes now. That and her heart rate had been too low for their liking.

They were pulling up to the hospital now, stopping in front of the Emergency Room doors and sliding her out, still on the gurney. And though they weren't as in as much of a rush now that she had her eyes open and was talking with them, they still refused to let her walk on her own. Hospital policy, they insisted. But Peyton didn't want to bother with the hospital at all. For some reason she really doubted they had medication especially for keeping you in your own body.

There was a shout from down the sidewalk as the paramedics rolled her into the hospital and Peyton craned her head to see what it was.

"Peyton! Oh thank God! Hey! Can you guys wait up? I'm the one who freaking called!"

Peyton grinned widely, even after she passed into the building and out of sight.

"Clara," she called back. "It's fine! I'm ok!"

It was quiet for a moment and then Clara appeared in front of the sliding doors, hair a mess on top of her head and looking generally frazzled.

"You are not!" She was glaring at Peyton as if she'd decided to go into a coma-like state just to prank everyone. "This is the second time, Peyton! Second time!" A couple of the nurses glanced at each other in what might have been mistaken as amusement. But of course that couldn't be the case, because surely they were more professional than that.

"And don't even think that you're getting off easy," Clara continued; cutting in when Peyton opened her mouth to speak. "You're parents were informed again and your family is coming up. All of them."

Peyton groaned at the news and a nurse took over for the paramedics, wheeling her out of Clara's sight and into another room to take her vitals.

They asked her the usual questions, they asked her some specific questions, and Peyton did her best to answer honestly without mentioning the fact that she literally thought her consciousness might be traveling through dimension to inhabit foreign bodies.

Given that this was the second time this occurrence had happened, and given that it seemed to imply a budding pattern, the doctor ordered for her to have an MRI scan done.

It would have been much more economical and lucrative to rent out her body to some avant-garde scientists to study, but Clara refused to let her leave without the tests being done. Clara needed to stop trying to pull rank and use her connections at the hospital before Peyton went home and hid all of her favorite books.

But Peyton cooperated with the nurses and agreed to the MRI despite what it was

probably going to do to her budget in the future and just hoped that her insurance would cover more of it than she expected.

They gave her a flimsy gown to change into and the nurse told her to make sure there was no metal on her person or it wouldn't be fun during the scan. She pointed towards Peyton's chest and canted her head briefly.

"No jewelry," she reiterated.

Peyton frowned. She didn't wear jewelry to bed. There shouldn't be anything metal on her in the first place. She brought her hand up to where the nurse had gestured and her fingers brushed over a warm metal. Her lungs seized in her chest as she hastily reached back to unclasp the necklace and hold it at eye level.