Page 27 of Reaper

Wait... Haze?

Haze.

Haze.

Smoke!

The house was on fire! The supper club!

“Shh, Honey, it’s okay. You’re in the hospital, and you’re going to be okay,” Ma says as I hear a beeping sound speeding up. I try to pry my eyes open, but it’s so hard.

“It’s okay, Honey. Rest. Your body’s been through a lot. Rest, Honey, we’ll be here when you wake up.”

I try to nod, but even that sends pain radiating through my body. A moment later, I can hear Ma and another voice, a woman, talking quietly before the darkness pulls me back under.

Blinking, I open my eyes and look around. I’m in a hospital. Why am I in a hospital?

I dip my head, but pain radiates throughout my body. Blinking away the tears, I glance down and frown when I see my left arm and hand wrapped in bandages. It’s then that I realize I can only see out of my right eye.

My breathing starts to pick up as I frantically try to remember what happened. Glancing around, I see Ma slumped in a chair as she sleeps, a thin blanket covering her. Why is she here? Why am I here? What happened?

Then I smell the faint scent of smoke. Where is it coming from?

Lifting my right hand, I touch my head, feeling bandages on the left side of my face, which must be why I can’t see out of my left eye. Then, as my hair shifts, I get another whiff of smoke. Picking up a lock of hair, I sniff it, but it smells weird. Something shifts on my face, and I drop my hair, feeling around. There’s a plastic tube going into my nostrils. Pulling it out, I once again press a lock of hair to my nose and inhale. The smell of smoke is coming from me.

My chest tightens as my memories come back to me.

Reading in bed while petting Void.

The fire.

Falling through both sets of stairs.

The beams falling on the firefighter and knocking him unconscious.

Two other firefighters lifting us both up and into the arms of more firefighters before they rush us both out of my house.

Seeing both our house and the supper club on fire.

The door bursts open and a nurse rushes in. The noise wakes Ma, who was sleeping in the chair next to the bed, as she looks around sleepily before her eyes widen when she realizes I’m awake.

“Miss, it’s okay, you’re okay now,” the nurse says as she tries to calm me down and then reinserts the tube into my nose.

“Honey,” Ma starts to say before tears appear in her eyes. She reaches forward, resting her hand on my leg as she stands and then leans forward, pressing a kiss to the unbandaged portion of my forehead.

“You’re safe now, Honey. It’s okay, but you need to keep the tube in your nose. It’s helping you get more oxygen.”

“Bu—” I start to say but then cough as my scratchy throat prevents me from saying more.

The nurse pours a glass of water. She turns toward me and holds a straw to my lips. Greedily, I drink and almost pout when she suddenly pulls it away from me.

“You can’t drink too much that quickly or else you’ll get sick. You need to take small sips.”

“O-Okay,” I croak out again and then shakily reach for the cup.

The nurse helps me hold it and when I lean back, I groan in pain at the shift. The nurse puts my cup onto a table and wheels it closer. She tops it off and leaves the pitcher on the table before looking at me.

“What do you remember?”