Embrace Series 01: Embrace

by Cherie Colyer

  “We’re going to check at lunch today,” I answered with as much enthusiasm as I could muster before noon. “And I have Mrs. Sheppard next period; I can mention the bake sale to her.”

  Mr. Chapin called class to order, which left me to enjoy my latte and bagel in peace.

  I spoke to Mrs. Sheppard right when I got to second period. Mark was there, a little out of breath, pointing to the stool next to him. I wondered if he had run to second period to get there before I did so he could save me a seat. I sighed and sat down.

  “Are you okay?” he blurted.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I ran into Paige on my way to class. She told me about Kaylee’s car. You guys could have been killed.”

  “How did Paige know about that?” I asked. It wasn’t like Kaylee was advertising to the world that her life had almost ended the previous night.

  “I think Isaac told her. I’m not sure. Madison, that car’s nothing but a sardine can on wheels. You guys need something safer. Like a truck or a—”

  “Tank?” I asked.

  Mark looked like he might hyperventilate at any moment. “Yeah.”

  “First of all, I wasn’t in the car with Kaylee. Second, she’s fine, and Josh is going to have someone take a look at her car before she drives it again.”

  “Oh, well, that’s good.” Mark blushed, apparently embarrassed he didn’t have the whole scoop.

  I pulled out a pencil and notebook. I wanted to know when Isaac saw Paige. Here I was, falling foolishly head over heels for him, and I might not have been the only one he was dating. I reminded myself that Isaac and I hadn’t known each other long enough for me to be in love with him. No. Definitely not. I was in love with the new relationship. I had to be careful or I’d get my heart broken. And Paige would delight in seeing me get crushed. That had to be her plan, to wait for me to need Isaac so much that I didn’t want to be without him, and then she’d steal him away from me.

  Or maybe Isaac knew what he was doing. Maybe he liked to have two girls crazy about him. Maybe it made him feel superior. He had to like me, though. Why else would he pick me up for school?

  Mark tapped my arm.

  “What?” I snapped but then forced a smile. It wasn’t Mark’s fault I had issues.

  “I said that Ben and I got to school early. We checked last year’s props, and with a little paint and some twine we’ll be all set.”

  I flicked my hair out of my eyes and asked, “Twine?”

  “The scarecrow’s been decapitated. We’ll have to stitch its head back on.”

  I nodded, and because I had to get my mind off Isaac and Paige, I said, “Sarah spoke to Mr. Hoffman, and he’s giving us a great price on the cornstalks and hay, and I just asked Mrs. Sheppard about helping out. She’s more than happy to. She figures if all her classes bake cookies a day or two before the festival we’ll have more than enough for the bake sale.”

  “Great.”

  I actually welcomed the test in Foods that day. It meant I didn’t have to talk anymore and didn’t have time to think about anything but the questions.

  Third period afterward was torturously long because I was dying to get to History. I needed to talk to Kaylee. I needed her to tell me I was letting my imagination get the better of me, that Paige wasn’t waiting for me to be comfortable in my relationship with Isaac just to steal him away. I needed to hear that Isaac wasn’t a jerk. She might even know how Isaac felt about me—that is, if he’d said something to Josh, who in turn would have told Kaylee. God, this was turning into middle school again.

  I marched into History, glad to see Kaylee.

  “Has Josh said anything about Isaac?” I plopped down in the hard plastic chair and dug in my backpack until I found my History book and pen. “Kaylee?”

  Kaylee sat perfectly still, her back straight, hands on her book, and eyes on the chalkboard.

  I rested my hand on hers. “Kaylee? Are you okay?”

  Mechanically, she turned to face me.

  She was really scaring me. I inched my desk closer to hers and asked, “What is it?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m fine. What did you say?”

  But I only saw a ghost of the friend I knew behind those deep brown eyes. “Nothing. You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  Mrs. Parris told everyone to listen up, then droned on about the Civil War. Until Kaylee’s blood-curdling scream startled half the class, including me.

  “Kaylee,” Mrs. Parris said. “What is the matter with you?”

  Kaylee was crouched on top of her chair staring at her backpack, which was on the floor between us. “Get away from me!”

  “Kaylee Bishop, that is quite enough,” Mrs. Parris demanded. “Get down from there!”

  Kaylee screamed another earsplitting cry in response.

  I watched in horror along with the rest of my History class. Kaylee continued to stare at her backpack, shrieking loud, piercing screams all of Essex County could hear, and seeing something no one else did. Books, papers, and pens landed on the floor with thuds and clanks as she shoved them aside and kicked the chair away in her haste to scramble on top of her desk. The chair’s metal legs screeched as it skidded several inches across the tile, and Kaylee looked at it as if it was on fire.

  Mrs. Parris pushed her way out of the room through a throng of students who had already arrived from other classrooms. They gasped at the sight of a hundred-and-ten-pound junior crouched like a cat on top of a desk, screaming as if her life depended on someone, anyone, helping her.

  Kaylee pointed frantically at the History book in front of me, shouting what sounded like “Madison, give me the book!” but I wasn’t sure. As I watched my best friend on top of that desk, I wasn’t sure of anything.

  Paige snickered and handed Kaylee her book instead. Kaylee swatted at the imaginary fire or thing or whatever she thought was in front of her. Her short brown hair hung in her eyes. When the book slipped from her hand, she frantically looked for another. My eyes caught shy Natalie Parker’s tear-filled ones while several other students snickered.

  Emma went to hand Kaylee another book. This snapped me out of my stupor. I jumped up and knocked the book from Emma’s hands, sending it flying across the room.

  “Stop it!” I screamed to every laughing jerk in the room before facing Kaylee. With both hands held out to help her, I said, “Kaylee, come down from there.”

  Kaylee hopped on top of her desk like a frightened bird trying to escape. I was afraid she’d fall off.

  “Please, Kaylee, let me help you.” I ignored the warm tears that streaked my face and took a step closer. Kaylee’s eyes darted all around me as her whole body shook. I could hear Josh yelling for others to get out of his way.

  “Kaylee, can you hear me?” I asked. “It’s okay, I’m here.”

  Kaylee sprang backward, evidently forgetting she was crouched atop a three-by-four-foot perch. I lunged toward her, knowing there was no way I could keep her from falling, but Josh caught her and pulled her to him. His muscular arms pinned her to his chest.

  My gaze met Josh’s golden brown eyes. Fear and confusion penetrated his, as if to ask, What happened?

  “Get them off of me!” Kaylee kicked both legs. Josh held her tighter.

  I didn’t know what I was supposed to get off her, but I brushed the imaginary intruders from her jeans and arms. All the while, Josh whispered in her ear, “It’s all right, babe, I got you now.”

  Finally, I combed my fingers through her tangled web of hair, brushing it away from her eyes, and rested my forehead against hers. “You’re okay. I promise.”

  Mrs. Parris came back with Mr. Stoughton, the Economics teacher and an ex-football player.

  “You got her?” Mr. Stoughton asked, almost as if to say that if Josh didn’t, he would.

  Mrs. Parris put a shaky hand on Josh’s shoulder. “We better get her to the nurse.”

  Josh nodded. With his arms still wrapped around Kaylee, he guided
her out of the classroom. I pretended not to see the numb expressions around me and grabbed mine and Kaylee’s things before following the odd procession into the hall. The other students were back in their classrooms. The click of Mrs. Parris’s heels stopped just outside the doorway, leaving us to be enveloped in an eerie silence.

  In the nurse’s office, they tried to get Kaylee to lie down. They wanted to speak to Josh and me in private, but they wouldn’t get the chance. Kaylee trembled each time Josh let go of her. It was like he was the glue holding her together, the person keeping her from screaming and jumping on more furniture. Kaylee needed me too; she held my hand so tightly I thought my bones would break. Tears stained both our faces.

  “What did she take?” Principal Douglas asked.

  While I didn’t know what was wrong with Kaylee, I did know one thing. “She doesn’t do drugs.”

  Principal Douglas wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and sighed. “I know she’s your friend, but we can’t help her if we don’t know what she took.”

  Kaylee spoke, the first words since we’d left the classroom, only she sounded more like a parrot than a girl in control. “I don’t do drugs.”

  Josh smoothed the hair away from her forehead and kissed the top of her head. “She’s not on anything.”

  Principal Douglas pressed on. “Look at her. She’s shaking like a leaf, she’s clammy, and she can barely talk. Maybe she’s a closet addict.”

  “No. She’s not,” Josh and I replied at the same time.

  I didn’t need our principal telling me what Kaylee was; I could see for myself, and even though I knew he was trying to help, he was making me angry.

  Two men in blue EMT uniforms walked in, one holding a black leather bag. The taller of the two knelt down in front of Kaylee and shined a light in her eyes.

  “Pupils are normal.” He proceeded to take her blood pressure, which was elevated. Her temperature was normal. He stood back up. “She’s not showing the common symptoms of someone who’s under the influence. We’ll take her to the hospital. I’m sure they’ll want to do blood work.”

  I could have told them what the blood work was going to show. Nothing. Something else was wrong; why didn’t they see that?

  “I’ll get the stretcher,” the second paramedic said.

  “I can walk.” Kaylee stood.

  Josh and I followed her lead, our fingers laced through hers. She trembled. Josh switched which hand he used to hold hers and wrapped his arm around her waist for support.

  The paramedics exchanged looks. After a moment, the first nodded.

  Kaylee pulled Josh and me closer. “Don’t leave me.”

  “Never,” Josh whispered to Kaylee. Louder, he said, “We’re coming.”

  I half expected someone to tell us we couldn’t go, but no one did.

  The taller paramedic led the way out of school. His partner followed. When we reached the ambulance, the first paramedic turned to us. “You’ll have to follow us in your car.”

  Kaylee squeezed my hand even harder. I yelped. Josh placed his hand under her chin and tilted her face up to his. “We will be right behind you. I promise.”

  She nodded and let the paramedic help her into the ambulance.

  At the hospital, a pert nurse stopped us just outside of Kaylee’s examining room and asked, “You are?”

  “Her brother and sister,” I replied quickly, hoping if she thought we were related to Kaylee she wouldn’t make us stay in the waiting room. It worked.

  Kaylee’s parents arrived shortly after us.

  The whole afternoon was surreal. Kaylee kept a tight grip on either Josh’s or my hand at all times. Her eyes never stopped roaming the room. They ran test after test, but wouldn’t tell us anything. It was unnerving, so Josh and I resorted to eavesdropping on her parents’ conversation.

  “The MRI didn’t show any abnormalities,” we heard her father saying to her mother, “and the initial blood work came back negative. Her doctor is wondering if she’s having some type of post trauma from her near-death experience with the semi.”

  There was a pause, and then her mother blew her nose and asked the question that was on the tip of my tongue. “Can that happen?”

  “I don’t know,” her father replied. “The chief of medicine still believes it’s some type of drug.”

  Josh and I kept the promise we’d made to Kaylee at school: we didn’t leave her alone. We sat in stiff hospital chairs as she rested, eyes closed. For a few minutes, she actually appeared to be getting better. Then her eyes popped open, and fear overtook her face.

  “Get them off me!” Kaylee pushed the cover away from her. “Help me!”

  Josh and I brushed and patted and swatted at the unseen. We wanted to help her, but there seemed to be no way how. The doctor came in with two burly orderlies. The orderlies held Kaylee down while the doctor slammed a needle into her butt. Kaylee went limp.

  Now she was on drugs.

  After that, the doctor insisted Josh and I go home. The sedative would make Kaylee sleep. He felt that if it were something she had taken, it would be out of her system by morning. He assured us they’d take good care of her. With no other choice, Josh drove me home.

  It took me forever to fall asleep. Around two, I was jarred awake by Kaylee’s screams, only to realize it was a dream. It seemed so real. After that, I slept lightly, too afraid of what my imagination had in store for me.

  I woke Friday morning in need of aspirin and a shower, which I had respectively.

  Josh picked me up a little after eight. We had no intention of going to school.

  “Isaac said to tell you he’d meet up with you later,” Josh said. “He’s going to talk to Kaylee’s second and third period teachers.”

  I nodded. “I don’t get it, Josh. She was fine in English yesterday. What could have happened in just a few hours?”

  “I’m not sure.” Josh ran a hand through his wet mop of black hair. “But Kaylee didn’t do this to herself.”

  “You think someone did this to her on purpose? Like drugged her or something?”

  “I’m going with something,” Josh mumbled in a low growl.

  Between the lack of sleep and trying to make sense of the previous day, my head hurt so badly it was buzzing like a swarm of angry bees. Kaylee had to be better. She just had to be.

  “I’ll bet she’s fine this morning,” I said with forced confidence. “Let’s stop at the coffee house on the way to the hospital. A mocha always cheers her up.”

  We walked down the sterile halls of the hospital, armed with three large coffees and a bag of muffins. Josh and I had managed to convince ourselves everything would be back to normal. Kaylee would be sitting up in bed, smiling at us.

  We couldn’t have been more wrong. My latte nearly slipped from my grip when I saw the black straps around Kaylee’s wrists.

  A nurse, who had been adjusting the drip on the IV, whispered, “She had a slight setback.”

  “Setback?” I choked out. “What type of setback gets a person strapped to her bed?”

  Josh set his and Kaylee’s coffee on the small tray near the window. “What happened?”

  “She woke around two, screaming. When we came into her room, she was standing on the bed, hitting the wall and bed frame with her pillow.” The nurse patted Kaylee’s hand. “The straps are just a precaution. We don’t want her to injure herself.”

  So much for normal.

  I fixed the collar on Kaylee’s pink pajamas and untangled a few strands of her hair that were caught in the clasp of the onyx necklace. Josh pushed a couple of chairs closer to the bed before he leaned over and kissed her forehead. She opened her eyes and squeezed our hands.

  “Hey.” I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. “How are you doing?”

  Kaylee gave a sad sort of smile. She squeezed our hands again and closed her eyes. The beep of the heart monitor was steady. Josh and I, unsure if she was resting or asleep, talked about anything we could
think of, hoping it would bring back our Kaylee. I drank my latte, praying the caffeine would chase away the pounding in the back of my head. Josh and I picked at the muffins, more for something to do than because we were hungry.

  Her parents came into the room, carrying Styrofoam cups of coffee from the hospital cafeteria. Her mother’s brunette hair lay flat against her head; dark shadows lined her eyes. Her father’s salt and pepper hair stuck out like a shaggy dog’s. Their clothes were wrinkled. They had clearly spent the night at the hospital.

  We took turns staying with Kaylee. I preferred when she slept, and I hated myself for that, but when Kaylee was awake, her eyes roamed the room, eventually locking onto some unseen force, and her heart would begin to race.

  The doctors still didn’t know what was wrong with her. She wasn’t sick. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I did. I could feel that much.

  Chapter 7

  Searching

  IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON when Josh dropped me off at my house. I called Isaac, but he didn’t answer his phone. My dad tried to get me to join him and Chase for dinner, but I couldn’t eat. I was too worried about Kaylee.

  Saturday turned out to be a repeat of Friday.

  By Sunday morning, I wanted answers. I needed to do something to help Kaylee. So I decided to research her symptoms myself. I turned on the computer in the corner of our family room before going into the kitchen to grab a cola from the fridge.

  “Don’t spill that on the keyboard,” Dad said.

  “I won’t.”

  I twisted off the top and took a long swig while I walked back to the family room. I sat in our old swivel desk chair, pulled my knees to my chest, and waited for the computer to finish booting up. It was at times like these I wished we had a newer computer with a high-speed connection.

  I really didn’t know where to begin, so I started to type in the illnesses I’d overheard while at the hospital. Each one resulted in thousands of possible links. I quickly found which sites offered the most concise explanation of the diseases along with symptoms and common treatments; I couldn’t help wondering how doctors kept it all straight. A couple hours must have gone by, and I was no closer to helping Kaylee than the doctors were.