Chapter Twelve: Cocoon of Skin & Bones



Brian starred, for what seemed like a lifetime, at the figure crumpled on the floor below him. Reality hauled him back and he reached quickly for the phone and dialed 911.

A calm lady answered, inquiring what service he would like.
“Uh ambulance” Brian stuttered, kneeling down beside Piper, he looked, but there were no signs of blood, like her earlier attempt at killing herself. Hurriedly Brian explained to the lady what had happened, he’d come home and stumbled across an unconscious Piper.
“Is she breathing?” the lady questioned, assuring Brian a dispatch was already on its way ETA –10 minutes
Brian placed his first finger and middle finger onto Piper’s neck. Her skin was cold and clammy, and almost a very pale white. There was no pulse. He looked to see if her chest was moving – it wasn’t
“No, I don’t think so, oh god” he cried, his hands shaking furiously with shock “Do you know CPR? We’re going to need her breathing again. How long has she been out?”
“Uh, I don’t know how long, maybe a coupla hours” Brian cupped his forehead
“Do you know CPR sir?” the lady repeated
“Uh, I think so”
He fumbled with the phone before stabilizing it to his ear with his shoulder
“Turn her to the side, legs tucked underneath” she paused
Brian did just so, moving her body with frightful ease – she was so small.
“Check her airway, make sure nothing’s blocking her throat”
A single finger slipped gently into her mouth. It was considerably dry for a place that usually holds a lot of moisture. There was nothing blocking her airway.
The lady down the line quickly explained the rest, 1 breath to 5 heart pumps. Brian’s mouth wrapped around Piper’s, his eyes staring into her closed, unmoving ones. He took a breath through his nose and forced it into her mouth. Then as he’d been taught so long ago in high school, he placed the palm of his hand onto her chest, just below the middle point of her ribcage, which morbidly enough was easy to spot. He worked for 2 minutes but to no avail. “It’s not working” he cried down the line “Oh god, Piper, please, god wake up” he muttered to whoever was willing to listen.
“The ambulance will be there shortly”
Brian heard the sounds of the approaching ambulance as the words came from the lady’s mouth. He thanked her abruptly then hung up and raced down stairs to let them in.

The room was soon filled with 3 paramedics, 2 working on Piper and one trying to assertain what had happened. Brian paced around, his eyes locked over the paramedic talking to him and directly on the 2 working on Piper, so far they’d gotten her breathing and were loading her onto a stretcher.
“I don’t know what happened, I came home and she was just lying there, Oh god” Brian spoke, shaking his head sadly “Will she be okay?” the questioned was directed to one of the men that carried her from the room.
“All we can do it hope”

They bundeld her into the back of the ambulance, one paramedic with her, and Brian beside. The rush to the hospital was fast and the rush through ER, even quicker.

Brian was left to pace around the halls, his heart ripping through his chest, he felt a surge of pain sweep over his body, his heart muscle clenched tightly, like the fist of a boxer. A nurse asked him a question, but before it registered he collapsed into darkness.

Brian awoke slowly. A nurse stood beside him in a pristine white uniform.
“You alright sir?” she questioned, with a thick Latin accent
“Uh, yeah” Brian mumbled
“Your blood pressure is very high, its possible you had a very mild heart attack”
Brian blinked twice, after his operation he was told stress or distressing circumstances could trigger such a thing, but he never believed it would actually happy, he’d been so healthy for years.
“I came in with a girl, Piper Charmers. Is she okay?” he questioned, he’d worry about his own problems later
“I’ll check for you”
He went to sit up, but she pushed him carefully back down “You rest” she ordered with a smile.
He slammed his head down onto the pillow, closed his eyes and prayed Piper was okay.

Only about 5 minutes had past until the nurse came back into the room. Her face was somber, a sad expression haunted her face.

Brian sat up, his eyes watering over.
Please god, don’t let her be dead went over and over in his head

“Piper came out of ER a few moments ago” she paused stepping closer “She swallowed a lot of sleeping tablets, but she’s doing okay”
Brian wiped his wet eye quickly.
“But, she’s not conscious. The amount she took put her into a coma, it’s not life threatening, but there are always possibilities something could go wrong, I thought it best to be honest with you”
Brian nodded, taking in what she’d said.
“What kind of odds are we looking at?”
“She ingested what we think was a whole bottle”
Brian nodded, the bottle was new when she’d taken it, and empty when he got there.
“The chances are slim” she sighed “Her heart is failing due to her weight and-“she paused “condition, so I would say a 40% chance” she bowed her head “I'm sorry”
Brian fell back down onto the pillow, his stomach wrenched with nausea, he suddenly felt like he was going to loose her and that was a feeling he couldn’t endure.
“I need to contact her parents” he said grimly
“I’ll have someone bring in a phone, you rest” she half smiled as she walked from the room.

Another nurse, younger this time, plugged in an older looking phone and handed Brian a phone book. He ignored the book and called directory.

The Charmers Kentucky residence wasn’t hard to find at all, and as the phone line rang Brian wondered what he could possibly say to a women that had been counting on him to protect her daughter.

The conversation was heart wrenching. Leah had at first been silent, obviously shocked by the news, then hysterical, praying to god, as Brian had done, that he save her daughter. She thanked him grimly, and said she would be on the next plane out, he offered to pick her up from the airport, but she coridually refused. Brian replaced the receiver and sunk down into the bed. He was hooked up to a machine he knew all to well, a heart monitor the beeped slowly proving to anyone that cared, that he was still alive and breathing.


~The Next Day~

Brian pleaded with the nurse to detach him from the machine and, perhaps against her better judgment she did, though Brian was firmly instructed to see a doctor. He promised he would then went directly to the room where Piper was.

The room was on the 5th floor, a peachy colored room that differed from the plain white walls in most hospitals. A single bed sat in the center of the left wall, a meter or so from the large double window, which looked unable to open – a precaution many hospitals had done after patients decided to en their own lives from those very windows. The curtains were open, shining a bright morning light across the lino floor. The bed itself was surrounded by softly beeping machines and contraptions. And finally his eye was drawn to the tiny figure drowning in the white hospital sheets. Her hair was mattered, her face pale and unanimated, her lips were dry, chapped from the continuous throwing up she’d endured. Her shoulder peeked out of the oversized hospital gear. Her shoulder blades protruding out, a thin layer of skin the only thing covering them. He fell onto a chair across the room from her and felt his heart bleed, he knew by the soft murmur of the machines that she was alive, but the picture before him looked deathly – like she was already dead, her sprit had already departed leaving a cocoon of skin and bones.




Chapter Thirteen
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