(Malory)
When I wake up, a nurse is standing at my bedside –collecting rubbish from the table beside me and tossing it into a bin.
The nurse turns and offers me a smile.
“You’re awake,” she says. “Wonderful. How are you feeling?”
I nod.
“I’ll remove the oxygen mask. Let’s see how well you’re breathing on your own.”
She does this, and I inhale deeply before letting out a long exhale. I sit up.
“Your friends brought you here. Said you blacked out after training. Maybe you should take it easy a bit. Training is only effective when you don’t overwork yourself. You’re quite a determined athlete if you’re training so hard around this time of the year,” she tells me. “It’s frightfully cold out to be willingly running.”
“Are they still here?” I ask.
“I’ll go check,” she says. “One of them was still in the waiting room, last time I was there. I’ll be back.”
She leaves, and I look around the room.