Part 30

"Kate, I promise. I'll be alright. He just wants me to stay one more night." The doctor had done a full physical and concluded that aside from a moderate headache and some slight dehydration, I was otherwise ok. As long as I was better in the morning, I would be able to go home. And I was desperately looking forward to going home.

Kate heaved a huge sigh and looked at me with resignation in her eyes. "All right. Is there anyone you want to talk to before we all leave? The doctors are giving you special privileges since apparently you really shouldn't be alone right now."

I bit my lower lip. I had three people I wanted to talk to. But as soon as I talked to them, everything would change, and I was not looking forward to that. Not yet anyways. So I chose to focus on the other thing that was nagging at me. "Can I talk to you and Alex?" I really wanted to know what had happened after Kate had so mercilessly pushed me into the pool.

Kate gave a soft nod. "I'll ask someone to find him." She poked her head out the door and called to a nurse walking nearby. "Excuse me. Could you find Alex Gaines for us please? Marie here is wanting to talk to him."

The nurse gave me a quick look, flipped through some folders she was carrying, and then paused to read one. After about 2 or so minutes, she looked up and gave a nod, along with a gentle smile. "Of course. I'll contact the front desk; see if he's still here."

"Thank you so much, ma'am." The nurse waved Kate's thank you aside, and went to contact the front desk. Or at least I hope she did. I saw Kate turn and look at me after she left. I was sitting upright now, and had my hands in my lap. Kate looked at my position, and gave a soft, 'tch'. "You are going to exhaust yourself if you sit like this." She sauntered over to my right bedside as she was saying this. As she helped me lean against my pillows, she said, "Remember, you only woke up a few hours ago."

"Yeah, and you almost sent her back to sleep after she woke up." Kate visibly jumped, and I could see Alex leaning in the doorway. "Sorry there," he said while putting his hands up defensibly. "I didn't mean to make you jump like that. I was only stating my observations." I saw Kate's jaw tick, and the next thing I knew I was laughing so hard I hurt all over from watching Kate go after Alex, all with the one goal of trying to smack him across the face.

After I could no longer laugh, I choked out a small, "Guys, guys it hurts." Somehow, among all their ruckus, they heard me and rushed to my sides. Alex on my left, Kate on my right. They helped me calm down and breathe normally again. Finally, when the only pain left was the residual soreness I felt from laughing so hard, I told them to sit. They grabbed nearby chairs, and set them down on either side of my bed.

We all stared in silence at each other for a few moments until I heard Alex say, " All right. You asked us in here. What did want to talk about?" I forced myself to meet his eyes, and then Kate's. I closed my eyes, took a deep, airy breath, released it, and asked them the hospital-appropriate question.

"What happened after Alex pulled me from the pool?"

Alex and Kate looked at each other for a minute, almost like they were in a silent debate about whether or not to share the details with me. I watched this whole exchange like I was the human version of Donkey from the Shrek franchise.

After what felt like forever, they turned to look at me and Kate was the one who spoke this time. "According to your doctor for tonight, you should be going to bed soon. So, with that in mind, do you want the short version that's probably going to leave you with some questions, or have the long version that will answer all those questions, but leave your mind reeling?"

I didn't know how to respond to that. Of course I felt tired, and I knew that a good night's sleep was my best ticket to getting out of here as fast as I could. But at the same time I didn't want to hear this story twice. After some intense mental back and forth, I decided that it would be worth hearing the story twice in exchange for getting out of here as soon as I possibly could.

"Ok. Give me the short version now, but only because I want out of here. I know I have to spend the night, but if I can leave tomorrow, I'm gonna take it. After I'm released, I want the longer version. Got it?" Alex and Kate looked at each other again, with something like concern in their eyes. But whatever it was was gone in a second, only to be replaced with complacent resignation.

"Ok. We will tell you the short version until you can get out of here. This isn't the safest place to talk about it either." I looked at Alex, who somehow had the same look in his eyes as he did in my made-up adventure.

"Ok. So, what happened?"

"Well, I was watching some other kids who were horsing around in the pool, when I heard a shout to my right and saw you fall into the pool. I remember thinking that as long as you pushed up from the bottom, and tread water, you would be alright." As soon as he said that, my mind remembered the seemingly random instructions that had popped into my mind. Had I read Alex's mind before he physically saved my life? "When you broke the surface the first time, I thought that you would tread water. Instead, you went back under. I asked one of the other lifeguards to keep an eye on the other group, while I waited for you to surface again. I felt myself relax a little when you broke the surface, but that was short lived as you went back under almost immediately."

I could see the pain in Alex's eyes as he was recalling what happened. It was like he seemed to be reliving it. I wanted to let him know that he could stop, but he started again before I got the chance.

"I watched as every time you broke the surface, you looked more and more exhausted. Finally, after you went back under for a fifth time, I jumped in. I got to you as you were struggling to push off the pool floor again. I made sure that you were secure, and pushed off myself. When I broke the surface, I called Kate over to help me get you onto the grass. You're eyes were closed, and you weren't breathing." Alex took another breath, and I could see both him and Kate struggling with this part of the story. I took their hands, but no words would come out. Instead, I just looked at them. Then, I noticed the time. 19:55. They only had five minutes left before they had to leave! All I wanted was to know what happened next, and I was reasonably confident that they could sum up the last part of the story.

"Hey, not to be a killjoy or anything, but we got 5 minutes left. What happened next? And, you can sum it up for right now, if you'd like."

Alex gave a sigh of relief, and continued with the story. "I think I will take you up on your offer. Basically, after determining that you weren't breathing, my lifeguard training kicked in." Alex paused here, trying to summon enough courage to continue. I gave his hand a small squeeze, and nodded my head reassuringly. He took another breath and continued. "I was able to get oxygen in your lungs and restart your cardiovascular system a little, but it wasn't enough. You still didn't wake up. We called 911, and got you over here within the hour, and they were able to stabilize you. If I had jumped in sooner, maybe you wouldn't-"

At that moment, there was a hard rapping on the door frame, and a different nurse walked into the room. "It's 20:00 hours now. I'm going to have to ask you two to leave the patient. You can visit again at 07:30 hours tomorrow morning. Say your goodnights and go home." And with that, she turned on her heel and left, probably to give that exact same message to some other person visiting a patient.

"Well," Kate was saying. "You heard her. We better get going."

Alex gave a stiff nod. They both got up and stretched a little, and then they each gave me a hug. "Glad to see you awake. Hopefully, we can talk about what you remember from the experience after you're discharged from the hospital." I gave a nod of my own, and watched them walk towards the door.

After they left, I shifted around for a while until I was in a position that I could sleep comfortably in. As promised, there was one major question left in my mind from their story: was everything I went through a lie? Did none of it happen at all?