Page 77 of The Spider Queen
After a few swallows, I turned my head, signaling I was finished. She set the cup down and then drew up a chair to my bedside. “Do you know what day it is?”
I didn’t answer.
“It’s Tuesday, and you’ve been here since Saturday.”
“Saturday?” I whispered. There was only blankness in my mind. Four days of nothing. “How did I get here? Why am I here?” I looked down at my wrists. “Why am I tied up?”
The doctor looked like she was debating what to say for a moment before deciding to answer. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
I thought back as far as I could. “I think I was having trouble sleeping. I took half a sleeping pill I was prescribed…but it couldn’t have knocked me out for days though, could it?”
“That’s doubtful.” She leaned over and rested her elbows on her knees, her eyes on mine. “Poppy, your cousin came home a few days ago and found you in an altered mental state.”
I frowned. “Altered? What does that mean?”
She took a steady breath. “You were singing.”
“Singing?”
“In your sleep. Singing something completely nonsensical.”
“People talk in their sleep all the time,” I protested, “but they’re not taken to the hospital and—” I looked at my wrists.
“She was worried for your safety. She says you haven’t been sleeping and you haven’t been acting like yourself. You’re here because she couldn’t wake you, Poppy—”
“How did I get here?”
“She and her boyfriend brought you to the hospital—”
Boyfriend.
“I need to call my boyfriend, Hunter,” I said. Panic surged inside of me again.
“Your cousin has already called him,” she assured me. “But I think it’s best if you rest now.”
“I don’t want to rest!” I yelled, fighting against the restraints. “I want to get out of here! I want to go home!”
The doctor called for a nurse, and a moment later a plump brunette came into the room. She injected something into my IV and a few moments later, lethargy settled over my body.
My senses went foggy, words faded to a dull murmur around me, and my eyes drifted shut.
Oblivion came once again.
While I was asleep, the sun had shifted in the sky and was leaking dying rays through the blinds of the hospital window.
I swallowed a few times, trying to coat my dry, chalky mouth.
My eyes ached, like I’d been staring at a computer screen for hours. Which was strange considering I’d been passed out for who knew how long?
“Do you want some water?”
I turned my head to see Anita rise from the chair next to my bed and reach for the pitcher. She didn’t wait for me to say yes or nod. I doubted I had the energy to do either of those things anyway.
She brought the straw to my lips, and I drank greedily, not stopping until I’d finished every last drop. When I was done, I leaned my head back against the pillow.
“More?” she asked.
“No,” I croaked.
