I woke up to Maddie saying my name, "Alex... Alex... ALEX!"

"What?" I groaned.

"It's time to get up for school," she said, "I'm going to school today!"

She sounded so excited, "5 more minutes."

"Mmmmmmm, no," she stated, "Up. Now."

I got up. There was no use arguing with an angry Madelyn. She was stubborn when she really wanted to be. You couldn't argue with her. Don't ever try. She always wins. Then I realized Maddie was home! I didn't think that she would be back so early. I was stoked!

20 minutes later we were in Mom's car on our way to school. My car did indeed have no tires.

"Alex?" Maddie said.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Do we share lunchtime? If we do can I sit by you?" she asked.

"You can sit by me. You always can. You always do." I answered.

"Thanks."

"Yeppers."

When we arrived I helped her out of the car. There were a lot of people staring at us. I could tell that Maddie was nervous by the way she was gripping my hand like it was going to fall off and looking around at all of the new things. We made slow, steady progress down the sidewalk and up the stairs. I wheeled her chair into the school and to the office. I told them that she was back and handed them her medications. I waved goodbye to Maddie and walked out. The sooner I left the easier it was going to be to walk away. So I left right away.

When I got to my locker someone tackled me with a hug, "Alex! You're back! How's Maddie? Is she at school yet? How is she? The newspapers didn't say anything about where she was hurt. Where was she hurt? Is she okay? Is she even awake? Is she even out of the hospital?"

I turned around to see who was giving me millions of questions to answer, of course, it was Lucy. We had been best friends since preschool. She had short brown hair, green eyes, and she was short. Like ridiculously short. I could use her head as an armrest. It was kind of funny. We would be standing in the hall and you would see me with my arm on her head. She also knows how much I feel responsible for Maddie. Which is a lot. I feel responsible for everything that is happening.

"Wow, um, she's fine. She is going to school today, she broke both of her legs and got some stitches in her arm. She," I choked up, "She has amnesia."

Lucy stared at me like I was stupid, "What? That's so weird. Did I, did I hear you correctly? Amnesia? Does she remember how to do anything?"

"Yeah," I said, "She remembers some things in bits and pieces, like the other day she had a seizure and was coughing up blood and when she woke up in the hospital, they found nothing wrong, she remembered Ruby and one day when we hung out. She can do basic functions like, talking, walking, eating, going to the bathroom, and all of that basic stuff. They gave her some meds and sent her home. They said she should be fine because they couldn't find anything "medically wrong" with her. It's bullcrap. She was coughing up blood and had a seizure! There has to be something wrong." By now I was just ranting at my friend. She looked surprised. I took a breath, "Sorry. I was totally just venting."

"It's fine, we all need to vent at some point. At least it was at me and not the doctors. They would have been pretty angry," she said smothering giggles. Pretty soon we were just giggling.

We parted ways to get to class. We didn't share any classes so I didn't see her for the rest of the day. The day flew by, pretty soon it was time to get Maddie and go home. I went and stopped by Maddie's last hour class, math. She wasn't there. She wouldn't have skipped. I checked her locker, the bathrooms, the gym, the parking lot, and the office. I looked everywhere. She wasn't anywhere.

I knocked on the principal's door, "Mr. Sanchez?"

"Come in," came the reply.

I walked in. There was a man that was about 40 with blonde hair and a beard. He was tall and wearing glasses. "Do you know where Maddie is?"

He looked shocked, "She is at the hospital. She was coughing up blood again. Nobody told you?"

"No. I didn't know. I don't have my car. My mom dropped us off. I can't get to the hospital. I need to see Maddie," I said.

"I can give you a ride to the hospital," he offered. He was a family friend so I accepted the offer. He and my mom had been best friends in high school and he and his family had been coming over for a Thanksgiving leftover meal the day after Thanksgiving for years. We arrived at the hospital, I didn't even stop when I saw the nurses and doctors coming out of her room. I just ran straight into her room.

She looked pale and sick. She didn't open her eyes. There were so many wires and tubes hooked up to her. What was happening? What was wrong? I felt lightheaded and stumbled out of the room. I heard people shouting, but it sounded like buzzing to me. There were strong arms that were lifting me up and a sharp pain my thigh. My last thought was, What is happening? before the world was no more.

I woke up to a constant beeping sound. Beep....one, two....Beep.... one, two....Beep. It was beeping every two seconds. I got a good look at the room, the walls were white, the sheets were white, the curtains were, you'll never guess, white. Everything was white and smelled like ammonia, I was in the hospital. But, I was a patient. How did I get here? When did this happen? Then it hit me. I came to see Maddie and then, nothing. I can't remember what happened after I saw her. The beeping increased to every second and then to every half second as I remembered what Maddie looked like. The beeping just kept on getting faster and faster. Nurses came in and tried calming me down, that just made the beeping go faster. I tried getting up. They held me down. I was so scared, so worried about Maddie. Maddie, where was she?

"Alex? Alex, is that you?" I almost cried in relief. It was Maddie. She was okay. The beeping slowed down a lot. It went back to its comforting two-second intervals.

"Yup, itzme. I don't 'mmember what huppnd," I said. Then I frowned realizing what I said. Maddie and I started laughing.

"Wow," she said, "What did they give you? Anyway, the doctor said that you saw me, freaked out, ran out of the room, and were crying so badly you couldn't walk in a straight circle." She giggled. "Do I really look that bad Alex? You have to-"

She grabbed her head and was groaning. "My head hurts."

That was the only thing that she said before she began thrashing about while blood was seeping out of her mouth and nose. I jumped up and tried to hold Maddie down while yelling for a doctor. They came and they took her away from me. I curled up in a ball in the corner of the room and cried.

I must have been there for quite a long time because I woke up to Ruby and Lucy at my sides trying to get me to come and get some food with them. I mumbled something about Maddie but in the end, I gave up after they mentioned coffee, malts, and donuts.

"So, what happened?" Lucy questioned.

"I'm not sure. I was too scared to really process it all. It was a lot to take in. I," I stopped, "Do you know where Maddie is right now? Don't say I need more food. One of you call Jace or my mom and bring me to Maddie. RIGHT NOW!" The whole room looked at me. I blushed and stalked out of the room determined to find Maddie with or without their help. I heard running footsteps behind me. It was Lucy and Ruby. Lucy was talking to someone on the phone while Ruby was pulling my arm towards the ICU. Maddie was in the ICU. Why. Why did this have to happen to us? Why me? Why her? Poor innocent Maddie, something was wrong with her, she's in the ICU for saving a little girl. How is that fair?

I walked straight up to the desk where there was a nurse, "Excuse me, ma'am, my sister is Madelyn Wright and I was wondering if I could see her. Like, right now."

She looked at me apologetically, "Not right now sweetheart. Why don't you take a seat and wait or go home and get some sleep. You probably won't be able to see her until morning."

I looked at the nurse, turned around and marched straight back to my seat. My mom and brother showed up about 20 minutes later. The nurse brought us some blankets to use and we fell asleep waiting for the answer about Maddie. Was she going to be okay?