Calamitous (Kaylor)

13

Karlie was shaken awake the next morning by Martha. She was used to getting a little more sleep than she had last night, so her brain felt a little foggy, but as soon as she realized that she was on the floor of a cell her mind cleared and she sat up quickly.

"How's Taylor?" she asked, peering around Martha to look at the bed. She could see only a little blonde hair; it looked like the girl had burrowed into the blankets.

"Who's Taylor?" Martha asked, confused. "Did you have a weird dream?"

"No, no. Catastrophe's name is Taylor."

"Did she tell you that last night?" Martha looked impressed. "Look at you, getting to know her."

"To be fair, she was super high when she told me," Karlie admitted. "But she made me promise to call her by her real name from now on."

Martha led her over to the bed and pulled the blankets back from around Taylor's head. She didn't respond, and Karlie felt her heart skip a beat. What if she died after all that? Martha soon put those worries to rest, though.

"She's doing a lot better today. Temperature's down, and so is her pulse. She's better hydrated, and I don't think we'll need to give her any more fluid if we can get her eating and drinking this morning. I'll have to give her some more antibiotics, but I think she's out of the woods. I'll let her sleep a little longer; fighting an infection takes a lot out of you, and if she was up talking to you last night, she's bound to be exhausted."

"Yeah, she was a real chatterbox," Karlie laughed. "I've never seen her so...open. I guess we can blame it on the meds."

"Not entirely," the nurse said. "You know what they say, drunk people tell the truths that they're too scared to say when they're sober."

"I guess so."

"Did she say anything interesting?" Karlie thought over the conversation. Taylor had been pretty out of it, but one thing stuck in her mind.

"She thought her mom was here with her," she said. "And she said that she needed me to know her name in case any relatives ever came looking for her." Seeing Martha's sad expression, she continued, "Oh, and apparently you're the only one who can call her 'Honey.'"

Martha chuckled. "What can I say? Blondie is a little attached to me." Karlie scoffed and the nurse added, "Don't worry, Karlie. I'm not going to steal your girl." The indignant expression on the detective's face made her burst out laughing, which woke Taylor.

"Would you hyenas quiet down?" she groaned, shooting them a bleary-eyed glare. Martha and Karlie looked at each other.

"Aaannnd she's back," Martha said with a giggle. Taylor huffed and tried to push herself up, wincing as her back spasmed.

"What the hell happened?" she muttered, finally succeeding in sitting up with Martha's assistance. She leaned heavily on Martha's shoulder, unable to keep herself upright. Karlie found herself, irrationally, a little jealous of Martha.

"You got a killer infection," the nurse explained. "We pulled a piece of glass out of your back that somehow was missed the first time. You're lucky to be alive, honestly." Taylor blinked, her expression giving nothing away.

"I guess I should thank you, then," she said at last.

"Don't thank just me, I only did the medical work. Karlie's the one who insisted that you needed help and forced herself in here to check on you. Her and Lily. You'd never have lasted the night if they hadn't." Karlie blushed slightly as the blonde swung her head in her direction.

"Thanks," Taylor mumbled. The detective nodded, unsure how to respond.

"Well," Martha said, eyeing them both, "I'm going to go look for some food. We'll try something easy, like yogurt. You want anything, Karlie?" The tall girl shook her head. "Okay, you stay here so they can't yell at us for not 'guarding' her."