Normal Coyote

Chapter 8

I held my mother’s hand as her eyes started to flutter. She’d been unconscious for 2 days now, I hadn’t left the hospital. Alex, Braeden, and Hayley had all visited to keep me company and given me clothes and food. I was too scared of what she might say when she woke up to leave her bedside. She knows what I am now, or at least part of it.

“Mum?” I said quietly, leaning closer to her. She looked at me, and then her eyes opened wide, her whole body tightened, and she started to move.

“Get… away… from… me…” She said, in between short breaths and movement.

“Mum, it’s me. Aliyah.” I said, trying to remain calm, if she got any hint that what saw was true, she would never look at me the same again.

“You’re… not… my… daughter…”

“But, mum, I am your daughter, Aliyah.” I started to panic.

“You’re… a… monster…” She said, with a look of pure fear on her face. I could sense that she was absolutely terrified of me.

“Mum, we can talk about this, you were just hallucinating!” I shouted, panicking as she started to shake uncontrollably. “SOMEONE! HELP!” I yelled, she was having some sort of attack. 2 nurses rushed in as quickly as possible, one putting an oxygen mask on straight away and the other holding my mother down. A doctor then rushed in with a syringe full of clear liquid. Once the oxygen mask was on, the first nurse helped the other in holding my mother still. The doctor pushed the syringe into my mother’s arm. Her body released. My head spun.

I woke up to the sound of beeping in my ears. I slowly opened my eyes to see bright and plain whiteness. I felt drowsy. I could hear footsteps coming from outside what must have been a hospital room. Something was attached to me, a tube into my hand.

“Aliyah?” It was a familiar voice.

“Alex.” I breathed and relaxed. I slowly turned my head towards where I heard his voice. He was sitting on the chair next to my bed. I suddenly remembered. “Where’s my mother?” I said quickly, panicked. The last thing I remembered was the doctors rushing in to help her when she had some sort of a panic attack. But that didn’t answer the question of why I was now in my own hospital bed.

“Ali. Calm down. She’s going to be okay.” Alex said softly, standing next to my bed and holding my hand gently.

“But where is she? When can I see her? What happened to me?” I said, trying to stay as calm as possible. My mum hated me. she was terrified of me. 

“She’s in a separate room down the hall from you. As far as I know, you shouldn’t have to stay in here too much longer, just until you recover from passing out. At first, the doctors said you had a small concussion from hitting the floor, but then after little while any sign of it was gone apparently.” He said, sounding calm but confused.

“But then can I see her?” I asked again.

“Ali... you mother is on life support.” His last few words hit me like a punch in the stomach. Wasn’t it just a simple panic attack? Even a seizure? Surely the doctors could have taken care of it. My head started to feel light and dizzy again. I gripped Alex’s arm tightly.

“Alex. You need to give me my phone. Now.” I said, as loud and strong as I could.

“Ali? Are you awake?” Braeden asked when she first picked up the phone.

“Yes. Very much awake. My mother knows about me, well kind of...” I trailed off.

“What? Hang on, are you feeling okay? Alex told me that you passed out.” She spoke quickly, clearly sounding stressed.

“I’m fine, I healed from a concussion but I still feel a little light headed. Anyway, when I first found my mother, I immediately started to take her pain. My eyes glowed and she saw the blackness of the pain flowing through her veins into mine.” I said, quickly. I had to tell Braeden as fast as possible. Luckily Alex had gone downstairs to get himself some lunch giving me a little time to call her.

“Oh no. How are you going to explain that?” She didn’t sound as worried as I thought she would be.

“I have no idea. But I need to see her, maybe if I take some more of her pain she’ll wake up.” The idea of taking more of her pain scared me. I would have to make sure she and anyone else didn’t see me, and I would also have to be careful because taking too much pain was dangerous.

“No, I really don’t think you should be seeing her right now, especially because of what happened last time. Let’s use the time we now have to think of a way around this.” She sounded convinced at her own plan, but I wasn’t sure I was just yet.

“Okay, I’ll call you later.” I hung up quickly just as Alex walked back in. He was holding a milkshake.

“Your favourite.” He said, smiling. He walked over to me and gave me the spearmint milkshake.

“Thankyou. I said, trying to sound tired. There was no way he was going to find out about me too. 

“So who were you talking to?” He asked, sitting next to me on the bed holding my hand. I looked up at his dark brown eyes and was lost for a second.

“Just Braeden. So did anyone tell you when I can leave yet?” I asked, calmly, even though I was bursting to get out of here.

“Yes actually. They said they were going to send a nurse in here very soon to give you your last check-up. If that all goes well, they said you could go home straight away.” I sighed with relief after he finished. I couldn’t wait to get out of here. I had to tell Thomas about everything.