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“Can you open your eyes for me?”
Kameron squeezed her eyes shut, then tried to open them. She let out a low moan. Her head was three times its usual size. There was a hand on her neck, and another on the side of her face.
The voice asked again. “Hey, sweetheart I need you to open your eyes for me. Can you do that?”
Kameron tried. Some light got through -- a too-bright, blurry flash of green. She grimaced, and the movement caused hot pain to radiate through her head.
“Nice job, sweetheart, nice job. Now, I wanna shine a light in your eyes, just for a second. Can you help me do that?”
Kameron pressed her lips together, bit down on the insides when the benevolent woman forced her lids apart and shined a blindingly bright flashlight directly into her eyes. Kameron felt tears leak out.
A hand rubbed her shoulder. “You did great, hon. Really great.”
Kameron searched for the woman with an aching arm. “Who are you?”
She caught Kameron’s and held it between both of her own. She rubbed circles on the skin beside Kameron’s thumb. It was soothing. “My name’s Asia. What’s your name?”
“Kameron.” Her mind was going soggy. The pain was making it hard to focus. It was everywhere, but it was also missing in places. Like, she felt her head, her arm, shoulder…
Asia pressed down on her shoulders when she tried to sit up. “You can’t move, okay, Kameron? Not yet. The ambulance is on its way but until then we’re gonna stay right here. Can you try and make a fist for me?”
She tried, but it hurt, and there was definitely something missing. Kameron’s heart rate was increasing the more she took stock of what she couldn’t feel. “Where-- why, why can’t I feel…” anything below my collarbone?
Asia again rubbed her shoulder, only it wasn’t as comforting now. “You’ve been in an accident,” she said. “And you’re hurt. Just relax until the ambulance comes. But keep talking to me, okay?”
Kameron tried to open her eyes again. “Where…”
Asia sounded like she coughed, or maybe stifled a laugh. “So, funny that. Uh, we’re in Sandy’s Sandwiches.”
Kameron squeezed her eyes shut again. “What?” Faintly, Kameron thought she heard a siren. Though it was hard to tell what with the high-pitched ringing in her ears and the feeling of cotton balls stuffed in her skull. “What are… why are you..?”
Asia chuckled. “I ran down for a sandwich before my lab today.” She pushed hair away from Kameron’s face. Her cool fingertips felt nice on Kameron’s hot cheeks and forehead. Asia’s voice got softer and closer. “Thanks for giving me a reason to ditch.”
Kameron tried to swallow, only to retch. Asia must have moved quickly, slowly, gently turning Kameron’s head to one side. Kameron’s neck burned. Asia wiped up her chin and nose.
“Sorry,” Kameron croaked.
Loud, vibrating footsteps approached. The sirens were all of a sudden right there. Asia said letters and numbers Kameron didn’t understand and a clip was attached to Kameron’s pointer finger. She was being moved, and she tried to open her eyes again but it was much, much too bright and too loud and she was crying and Asia, Asia, Asia, I want Asia.
---
Two days later, Kameron woke up in a hospital bed. Someone was squeezing her foot. She recoiled.
“Mornin’ sunshine,” said the nurse. Everything was blurry, so she blinked more. It only helped a little. The nurse did that thing with the flashlight in her eyes and oh boy was Kameron tired of that. She scowled.
“You remember the accident at all?” asked the nurse whose name tag Kameron couldn’t read.
She fished around in her soupy brain. “S...sandwich... place.” Her voice came out croaky and the words burned her throat.
The nurse nodded (probably, Kameron still had trouble seeing). She confirmed that Kameron had been injured in an accident where a driver plowed straight through the storefront of Sandy’s Sub Shop on the university campus. She’d been studying at a table in front of the window when it happened. Thrown from her booth (miraculously having avoided shattering her spine), toppled over a table ( lots of bruises), landed on her right arm (broken in 3 places), skidded on the floor (fucked up her face, chest, and forearms). Hit her head at some point, because she definitely had a concussion and a brain bruise that they’d have to keep an eye on. Already Kameron was growing tired and headachey, so her nurse (who turned out to be named Louisiana, but went by Lou) offered her something to help her sleep. Kameron took her new BFF Lou up on her offer, but not before asking about Asia.
She couldn’t explain in time before the drugs kicked in why she wanted to talk to Asia, because her brain was full of cotton and sludge and she couldn’t remember but Asia was important …
---
The next time she woke up, she was alone. Or. She thought she was alone. She didn’t see Lou, or any other nurse. She still couldn’t see in any detail, and lights were still too bright. But as she tried to let her eyes adjust to the light, there was movement in the corner. And maybe that brown cabinet in the corner wasn’t a cabinet. “Hello?” Her voice was sad, croaky. But it did the trick.
The cabinet was a woman, and her head snapped up, tossing dark hair out of her face. She had been looking at her lap; whatever it was she put it to the side and stood up, walking over to Kameron’s bed. “Hey… welcome back. How’re you feeling?”
Kameron didn’t recognize her face (she hadn’t seen it before and she still couldn’t see it now), but it was the voice, the voice which assured her everything would be okay. And tears started coming out.
“Oh no, honey, are you in pain?” Asia worried, pulling tissues out of somewhere, mopping up Kameron’s tears like she had days ago. Or was it weeks?
“Not, I mean yeah, but…” Kameron shook her head as much as she could. She searched for Asia’s eyes. They were a blur of black and white and brown, but Kameron was certain she was looking in the right place. “Thank you.”
Asia let out an ‘aww!’ and leaned forward. Kameron was glad Asia could work out how to hug her without hurting her. She sorely needed it.
“Did you make it up?” asked Kameron after they parted at last.
“What's that?”
“The lab,” said Kameron. She had the sense that Asia was staring blankly at her, probably worrying about her mental state, but she insisted. “The lab you were gonna miss ‘cause of taking care of me.”
“Oh!”
Kameron winced.
Asia cursed and lowered her voice. “I completely forgot. But yeah, I emailed that instructor and I’m making it up Saturday. I think.”
Kameron got quiet. “And… what day is today?”
Asia didn’t miss a beat. “Thursday. The accident was Monday. They just today let you out of the ICU.”
“Mm,” said Kameron, because she had nothing else to say.
“You’re gonna have some badass scars to show off,” said Asia.
Kameron smiled. The thought of showing off scars, maybe making them into tattoos— shit. “My tattoos.”
“You have tattoos?”
Kameron’s blood pressure increased. She heard the difference in the machine. “I paid seven hundred dollars for a sleeve, if it’s fucked up—“
“Okay, okay, I get it. Which arm, this arm?” She pointed to Kameron’s arm, hidden in a giant black and white cast. Kameron nodded (well, barely, but Asia got the idea). Asia went over to the wall, picked a clipboard out of somewhere, rifled through pages. “Okay, so it looks like there were some open fractures, mostly in the wrist area. How far did the sleeve go?”
Kameron relaxed slightly. “Almost to the wrist.”
Asia pointed to her own arm. “So like to here?” She moved her hand to a different point on her arm. “Or to here?”
“Uh…can… can you… come a step closer?”
Asia had done so before Kameron could finish her sentence. “You having blurry vision?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s normal with concussions. It’ll resolve itself with rest, which you should be doing anyway.”
“Don’t leave me.”
Asia stilled, and Kameron got the feeling she was smiling. She took Kameron’s not-as-injured hand in between both of hers. “I’ll be right here.”
Knowing that Asia was watching over her, Kameron got the best sleep she’d had in weeks.