Where the Truth Leads

Chapter 16: Life Saver

PARKER's POV

Forcing my eyes open, I had to double check that I wasn't dreaming. I pinched the side of my leg as hard as I could before finally speaking.

"Aero?"

She laid on a hospital bed next to me, her hair short, blonde, and tied back. She was half tucked underneath blankets, the top part of her hospital gown showing.

I looked down at my own arm which had an IV sticking into it, with a plastic clip on my finger wired to a beeping machine. I brought my arm up to feel the oxygen tubes that stuck into my nose and took a deep breath.

Aero's eyes stayed closed as I looked around the room. As I tried to lean forward, a stabbing pain in my side stopped me from moving. I yelped out in pain, as quietly as possible, and then lifted my gown to look. A giant bandage covered my side so I peeled back on of the corners to reveal giant, black stitches. I pressed in back down to keep myself from gagging.

I looked down at the side of the bed and pressed my thumb down on the call button. After about a minute, a woman opened the door to our room.

"Welcome back, Mr. Carlton!" She greeted with a big, closed smile. One second later Cole appeared behind her holding a bottle of water. He pushed passed her and rushed to my side.

"What the fuck happened?" I groaned.

Her face shocked by my profanity, she cleared her throat and answered, "You experienced Kidney failure. Luckily your sister arrived just in time to save your life."

I looked over at Aero and then back at them.

She came to save my life?

"I suppose you don't remember anything from the last couple of days?" Cole asked.

Couple of days?

"What do you mean? How long has it been?" I asked confused and concerned.

Cole raised his eyebrows and said, "You collapsed two days ago."

"I've been out for that long?" I scoffed surprised.

A smile crossed both of their faces as the doctor said, "Actually yesterday you were awake for a while, but you were on some pretty strong pain meds."

Cole leaned forward and laughed as he said, "You don't remember? I'm never gonna forget you trying to go through each letter of the alphabet naming a childhood celebrity crush!"

I closed my eyes and cringed.

He grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Some of us are trying to sleep, you know," Aero groaned next to me.

I turned my head to look at her as she slowly sat up.

"So you're gonna be fine, you just need to rest for a while longer. You're lucky you had a twin so close." The doctor said before leaving the room.

I looked back at Aero. She had bags underneath her eyes and let out a big yawn.

Cole stood up quickly and said, "I'm gonna go see what the cafeteria has for lunch."

He smiled at Aero and then headed out the door.

"Aero, I'm sor-"

"Let's not do that whole thing, ok?" She interrupted me. "Apologies are cringey."

I smirked a little. I figured it was a 'I forgive you' forget about it, not a 'lets pretend I'm not here" forget about it.

"Fine,'' I agreed. "So where is the man in question? Or was he too good to come?"