Gone: A Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Mystery

13. Nancy

"I hate hospitals," I moan.

"Too bad they like you so much." 

The voice scares me until I realize who it is. Until then I had thought my bleak, white hospital room had been empty since I woke up five minutes ago.

"You're supposed to be asleep," Joe stood and walked to my bed to tap my nose. The sunlight from the window highlights the purple bruise that sits on his cheekbone. He smiles slightly and bites his lip, a tiny idiosyncrasy that I am sure that thousands of girls have swooned over before. He looks down and his dimples appear in the corners of his mouth and my heart plays jokes with me that head was sure I was over. 

"Says the man who is supposed to be rested because he has a concussion," I counter. Machines beep. I can hear a medical cart roll down the hallway and footsteps of busy nurses.

"Eh, I don't need rest," Joe shrugs his big shoulders and his fingers mess with the blanket that is draped over me. He swags onto the edge of my bed and he absentmindedly bounces his knee against my leg. The silence in the room is enough to drive me crazy. 

"What time is it?"

"You woke up at exactly seven thirty-five in the morning." Joe winks as I roll my eyes."Now, it's seven forty-two." 

"Where is my mom? And Frank?" I push my body up and my body moans and creaks in pain.

"Hey, I am supposed to rest my head. How do you suppose I do that when you keep hammering me with questions," he teases. He pushes me back onto the bed. "Your mom is fine but the doctors kept her overnight due to her malnutrition. John and Morgan Doright are with Chief McGinnis in the River Heights Police Station and Frank debriefed the case for all of us. Esti is in this hospital and they have her hooked up on a lot of machines and are tube feeding her. Bess went home to shower and grab everyone a change of clothes about an hour ago and George is asleep in the waiting room, snoring like a dehydrated elephant."

I laugh and my rib cages sting. "Have you ever heard a dehydrated elephant snore?"

"Hey, with my job, you never know. It's possible." He winks.

I give him a long look before returning to the conversation. "How long are you staying?"

"Well, let me check my calendar." Joe pulls out his phone. After scrolling through his phone for a little and reading here and there he turns pale. Never in my time of knowing Joe Hardy has he ever turned pale.

"What is it?"

Before Joe can ever think of answering, a nurse opens the door with Frank trailing not far behind her. She immediately goes to the machines I am hooked up on and looks them over.

"You will have to leave gentlemen. The young lady needs her rest. Her pulse is too high and we wouldn't want her leaving us again."

I sit up even as Joe and Frank try to lean me back down and peer at the machine. 

"My pulse is fine!" I snap.

The lady tsks and signs. "No, sweetheart. It is too high."

"I have worked on life-or-death cases and I have checked my fair share of pulses. I am telling you that I am fine. And if you tell me my heart rate is now up I am going to laugh and walk right out of here."

The nurse gulps and shuffles from the room. I close my eyes and lay back in the bed. Joe applauds me vigilantly. I open my eyes to Frank giving him a look.

"That is one way to tell that nurse off."

Frank places a vase of flowers next to my bed and then leans down to kiss my head before sitting on the side of my bed.