Embrace by Cherie Colyer Page B

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