Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Friendship Runs Thicker than Blood ❯ The Whole Truth ( Chapter 7 )

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE WHOLE TRUTH

When Seda woke up after her fainting spell, she had a headache so bad it made her nauseous. She quickly used her healing skill to take the headache away, but a slight throbbing remained. She didn't sit up just yet; she was hungry, but she had to have a good excuse before she even thought about going near Leo and Sira. They would be wondering about what happened.

“I'll tell them I just spiked a fever,” she muttered. “That'll work.” She carefully got out of bed, not wanting to provoke the dizziness that had been a constant annoyance for the past week and a half, and changed her clothes.

When she got to the kitchen, Sira and Leo were sitting in the living room. Sira was on the computer; Leo was watching TV. Both stopped what they were doing when Seda entered and looked hard at her.

“Are you going to tell us what happened last night?” Sira demanded.

“I'm not even awake ten minutes and you're grilling me,” snapped Seda defensively. “Let me get breakfast, at least.”

“Being rude won't stop me from making you explain yourself,” Sira shot back.

“I just had a fever, all right?” said Seda, exasperated. “I had a fever yesterday, I went to the store anyway, and it spiked when I teleported back. That's all, nothing more. Now can I eat?”

“You could have just said that in the first place,” Sira said sullenly.

“Stop it,” Leo told the girls. “Stop fighting.” The two girls looked away from each other. Sira went back to reading; Seda finished pouring her cereal and sat down to eat.

“Sorry,” Seda muttered to her bowl.

“Likewise,” Sira told the computer screen. A frosty silence, broken only by the TV and the sounds of the keyboard, descended on the ground floor.

Later, while Sira was in the shower, Leo turned off the TV and came to sit next to Seda on the sofa, where she was curled up reading a book.

“What's really going on?” he asked her quietly.

“I told you, I just had a fever,” Seda told him, not taking her eyes from her book.

“That's not all,” Leo insisted. “I carried you up to your room. You said, `I'm scared. Help me,' while you were still unconscious. Is that normal?”

“Yes. People hallucinate when they have fevers, Leo,” Seda told him.

“Something else is going on here,” Leo said. “I know it, Sira knows it, and you know it. I'll let it drop now, but you're going to tell us eventually.” He turned the TV back on and returned his attention to it. Quietly, so quietly he wouldn't have heard it if he hadn't been paying really close attention, he heard Seda say:

“You don't wanna know.”

He chose not to comment, either to her or to Sira. The rest of that day was a quiet one. Sira and Seda barely spoke to each other; Seda spent most of the day in her room, and Sira was mostly involved in reading fanfiction on the computer. Leo stayed out of their spat; he had no wish to earn the ire of either of his friends, both of whom could easily injure him. They all went to bed early, though lights burned in their respective rooms well past midnight.

 

Sira woke up at an absurdly early hour in the morning by an irregular thumping noise. She groaned and put her head under her pillow. A split second later, she realized that the noise was coming from Seda's room and bolted out of bed.

She burst through Seda's door without knocking. She was glad she had. Seda's whole body was jerking uncontrollably. Her eyes were open and full of fear.

“Help!” she shouted. “Can't stop je—” she was cut off by a horrible gagging sound. Sira leapt to the bedside and seized Seda's shoulders to try to lessen the violent movement.

“Leo!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping her voice reached the basement. She was about to shout again when he burst into the room.

“What the—” he began, still sleep-disoriented, but Sira cut him off with an order.

“Hold her legs still!” Leo obeyed. The two of them struggled to keep their friend still as Seda tried to control the convulsions. All the while, each of them had fearful thoughts. Leo was terrified because he thought Seda was going to die, which was a horrifying prospect given his feelings about her. Sira was also afraid that Seda would die, and that she wouldn't get a chance to apologize. Seda was scared because she couldn't control her body's wild movement, much as she tried.

An undetermined amount of time later, the jerking grew less violent and then stopped altogether. Leo and Sira stiffly released Seda and plopped down on the floor, panting. Seda was also breathing heavily.

“You're lip's bleeding,” Leo observed. Seda reached for a tissue and held it to the wound.

“Must've bitten it,” she said.

“What was that, anyway?” Sira demanded. “It had something to do with your fainting spell too, didn't it?”

“I just lost control of my motor functions,” Seda explained. “I don't know why.”

“Come on, Seda, you're a lousy liar,” Sira told her. “You've been acting strangely for two weeks! Just tell us what's wrong. We can help.” Pain flitted across Seda's face.

“No one can help me,” she said gravely.

“Just tell us already instead of being all fatalistic!” Leo ordered.

“Fine. Here it is: I'm dying,” Seda snapped. Her friends stared blankly at her, uncomprehending. Tears began to pool in her eyes. “I've been hiding it for two weeks now. My powers are frying my brain. The human brain isn't designed to function at a hundred percent. Mine is slowly burning out. I'll live for maybe another two months.” A single tear escaped her eye and flowed down her cheek. More clung to her eyelashes, but didn't fall.

Leo and Sira sat in silence. What could they say to that?

“You should go to the hospital,” Leo suggested at last. “Maybe they can help you.”

“No!” Seda said stubbornly. “If I do that, the FBI will be all over me and carting me off to a research facility in a heartbeat! I'm damned if I'll spend my last two months hooked up to wires twenty four-seven. Besides, medical equipment has unpredictable effects on my powers.”

“But—you'll die,” said Leo blankly.

“Everyone dies eventually, Leo,” she told him in a strained voice. “I'm just going to die sooner than usual, that's all.”

“Stop it,” said Sira. “Bad thoughts. We're going to take you to the hospital whether you like it or not. Besides, if we just let you die it would be manslaughter and the FBI would still be after us. What would we say to your parents? And do you really think your friends would just sit around and watch you die?”

“If you respected my wishes, yes,” said Seda. “You can't take me in against my will; I still have powers. I'll write a last letter, then, to put you two in the clear. I'll write to my parents, so you don't have to tell them anything. I'm not going to the hospital and that's final!”

 

In the next two weeks, Seda tried to continue as usual, but now that Leo and Sira knew about her condition, her weakness became apparent. Fixing a meal or walking up the stairs exhausted her; she couldn't even play a full game of foosball. If she used her powers, she would fall asleep soon afterwards.

Two weeks after her admission to her friends, she became too weak to get out of bed. Seda being Seda, she tried to get up even when she felt so weak. Leo, who was in the kitchen at the time, heard the thump as she fell. He ran upstairs to find her sprawled on the floor, a bleeding gash on her forehead.

“Seda!” he called, but received no reply. He lifted her carefully and deposited her back in the bed, then got a towel from the bathroom and pressed it to her head to slow the bleeding.

Sira came into the room at that moment.

“I heard—” she began, then saw the blood on the floor. “What the hell happened?”

“I'm not sure,” replied Leo. “I came up when I heard the noise and found her on the floor with this.” He indicated the wound.

“I'll go get ice,” Sira said, and left. Leo had managed to control the bleeding by the time she returned with a plastic bag of ice and some paper towels, but it had not stopped. Sira put a paper towel over the gash and placed the ice on top of that.

Instantly, Seda jerked upright. Her eyes were wild and confused.

“What—? Where—? How did I get here?” she sputtered, looking from Sira to Leo, plainly disoriented.

“You must have fallen out of bed,” Leo told her. “You hit your head. Can you heal yourself?” Seda's gaze locked on him somewhat blurrily.

“Yes, that's what it was,” she murmured. “I was trying to get up, but it was hard. I'm too weak.” She looked scared at the idea.

“Seda, heal yourself already, god damn it!” Sira told her. She blinked up at her friend, seeming to take a moment to process the command, then closed her eyes. The gash on her forehead slowly stopped its sluggish bleeding and shrank. After a moment, Seda sagged back against her pillows, weariness etched on her face. There was still a roundish scar on her forehead.

“We should really take you to a doctor,” Leo said. Seda's eyes flew open.

“No!” she exclaimed, her voice harsh. “No doctors! We're being pursued by the FBI, remember?”

“But you're sick,” Leo protested.

“I'll live, for a little while at least. Things will be easier for you two once I've kicked the bucket, anyway. You can go home and not worry about baby-sitting me. I'm sure that will be a wonderful change for you. Now, get the hell out of my room,” she ordered. It was the rudest she'd ever been to them. In shock, the other two backed out of the room. The door slammed behind them. Neither chose to comment on Seda's bitterness and hurtful words, even though both were saddened by it. They had a bigger worry.

“I'm afraid she won't even live two months,” said Leo, “but she does have a point. I did assault a Fed. Maybe the hospital isn't such a great idea after all.”

“She can't get out of her freakin' bed!” Sira reminded him. “Is that normal, Leo?”
“She says she'll be fine.”

“She said that to get rid of us. She's obviously lying. Two weeks ago, she told us she was dying, remember? You like her; you should be more concerned for her well-being!”

This statement was true, but Leo couldn't bring himself to say so. Instead, he went to the basement and turned on the big TV. Sira went into her room to read and to listen in case Seda needed her.

 

Seda's condition steadily worsened over the next few days. Four days after her fall, she couldn't even sit up unassisted; in the next three days, she could barely move at all. To her great shame, after another three days she couldn't even feed herself. Sira (or sometimes Leo) had to cut up her food and feed it to her, or hold a cup to her lips so she could drink.

On the eleventh day after her fall, Leo was helping Seda to sit up when he noticed that her body felt really hot. He put a hand on her forehead.

“Hey!” she protested weakly. He ignored her.

“Sira!” he called. Sira stuck her head in the room. “Feel Seda's forehead. I think she's got a fever.”

“What am I, a baby doll?” Seda tried to grumble, but it came out as a whisper. Her friends ignored her as Sira put the back of her hand on Seda's forehead.

“She surely does,” she said. “That's it. I'm calling an ambulance.”

“No!” Seda croaked feebly. “You can't. Feds would be all over us and besides, no one can find this house but us.” She coughed weakly.

“Leo, outside. Now,” Sira ordered. She followed him out into the hall and closed the door. “We have to get her some kind of help,” she whispered hotly.

“She doesn't want us to,” Leo hissed. “Would you go against her wishes?”

“If it means saving her life, yeah!”

Leo opened his mouth to speak, but a hoarse croak from the bedroom made him turn around sharply and fling the door open. His blood froze.

Seda was convulsing on the bed, her neck rigid, her whole body jerking wildly. Leo and Sira raced to the bed and tried to hold her down. It was much worse than the seizure two weeks ago. Seda wasn't conscious this time, and the convulsions were more violent.

“We have to call an ambulance!” Sira insisted. Leo couldn't argue; he just nodded.

“After her seizure's over,” he said heavily.

Abruptly, Seda stopped convulsing. Her whole body went limp; the sound of her breathing returned, but it was shallower.

“Can you carry her?” Sira asked in a hushed voice. Her face was white in fear. Leo nodded. “We'll go to the neighbor's house and call an ambulance.” Leo nodded again and gently picked Seda up, cradling her close to his chest. Her cheek rested against his shoulder; he could feel the heat of her skin through his shirt.

“She's so skinny,” he commented mournfully. It was true; Seda had lost all of her excess fat and her bones were starting to show. “I'm scared,” he admitted to Sira. The look she gave him told him plainly that she was scared, too.

The quickly went downstairs and outside; fortunately, it was early evening and lights were on in the house next door. They ran up to the house, and Sira knocked on the door.

“Oh, my,” said the elderly woman who opened the door. “What happened?”

“We don't know,” Sira said, letting her real panic leak into her act. “We were on our way to the store and she just collapsed! Can we use your phone?”

“Of course, of course!” said the woman, standing aside. “You can put her on the couch in there, dear,” she told Leo, pointing. “The phone's in the kitchen. Follow me,” she ordered Sira. The call was placed quickly, and within minutes, Seda was strapped to a gurney and hooked up to an IV in the back of the ambulance, which was rushing to the hospital. Leo and Sira sat in the back with the paramedics, doing their best to keep out of the way.

“How did this happen?” asked the woman who seemed to be in charge. Leo and Sira looked at each other; both of them had red eyes, though neither could recall having been crying.

“She's been—well—not quite right for weeks,” Sira said. “She didn't tell us for a long time. I think it's been over three weeks since big things started happening—seizures and stuff. She's been too weak to get out of bed for eleven days.”

“And the fever?” asked a man.

“I only noticed it today,” said Leo.

“Why did you wait this long to take her in for treatment?” the woman asked, sharply but not accusatorily.

“She wouldn't let us!” said Sira, her voice cracking. “She insisted we not take her to the hospital!”

“Why?” the woman wondered.

“We ran away from home,” Leo offered. Seda would not thank him for telling the whole truth, and he would be arrested if he did. Either that, or the paramedics would think him crazy. It was simpler to abridge the truth. “I think she didn't want any of our parents to find out and get mad.”

“Are you related to her?” asked the man who hadn't spoken yet. Leo and Sira shook their heads.

“We're her best friends,” Sira explained. “She was having trouble at home, so we helped her out and we all ran away.”

Whatever the paramedics thought of that, they kept it to themselves. The ambulance had arrived at the hospital, and doctors were busy giving orders and taking Seda into a trauma room.

“What's her name?” one of them demanded of Leo.

“Seda,” he told the doctor. They reached the destination, but the doctor stopped Leo and Sira before they could go in.

“Are you family?” he asked. They both shook their heads. “Then I'm sorry, but you can't come in.”

“But she's only got us, here!” Leo protested. The doctor gave him an understanding look.

“I'm sorry, but it's hospital policy. You can look on from the window, but you can't come in. I'm Dr. Jemissy. I'll keep you posted. What are your names?” They told him. “I'll keep you posted, Leo and Sira.” He went into the room.

 

Leo and Sira took his advice and went to stand at the window. Seda was now on a hospital gurney, wearing a hospital gown. Her black hair was fanned out on the pillow; the dark frame it provided made her face look dead white in comparison. Then the doctors began to put tubes in various places in her body: her mouth, her arm, her hand, and her nose. One of the nurses was drawing blood; Sira had to look away. Then they scanned her head; something they saw sent them into a new, more frantic flurry of activity. Seda's gurney was rolled away through a different door. After a moment, Dr. Jemissy came out to talk to them.

“What's wrong with her?” Sira demanded, her voice rough. She was in no mood to be polite.

“Many things. The most serious—well, two things are the most serious. Firstly, her brain is swelling. That's why we wheeled her out of there in such a hurry: we need to put a tube in her skull to stop the swelling. Second, her major organs are starting to fail: that would be her heart, lungs, and liver. You may have brought her in just in time. We've got her on medicines and machines that while help, but I must warn you: There is some risk that she will never wake up again, or never be able to lead a normal life. There is also a very tiny chance that she won't make it through alive.” Sira gasped and grabbed Leo's arm tightly enough to bruise; tears sprang to Leo's eyes. “Her odds of survival are very good,” the doctor hastened to assure them. “There's a good team working on her now. We'll have more for you in a couple of hours. You would be more comfortable in the waiting room, or maybe at your house?”

“We'd prefer the waiting room,” Leo said quickly. Dr. Jemissy nodded.

“Follow me, then,” he said. He led them through a short but confusing stretch of corridors and opened a door. “There are vending machines and restrooms down the hall,” he said, indicating the proper direction. “Someone will be back to update you within the next two hours.” He nodded to them and left, closing the door behind him. Leo and Sira exchanged wide-eyed glances. Both of them were thinking the same thing: what if Seda didn't make it through alive?