Through Anything, Part 7

Through Anything, Part 7

Setting: Franky's room in the Penguin Band's Igloo
Date: July 25th, 2011
Time: 9:12 PM PST
(Point of View: Franky)

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I rolled over in bed. It's too hot in here, even without blankets. My head hurt and I was sweating. I was used to the feeling by now; I'd had it every night since Cadence got shocked. It usually took at least an hour for it to go away enough for me to get to sleep.

I had gone to bed early. The guys were all in the living-room watching some TV show. They had kind of accepted that I didn't want to talk right now.

Even though Cadence was improving, it was still scary. Sure, a 17% chance is better than 9%, but it's less than a fifth of a chance. If you roll a dice with 5 sides, the chance that it's going to land on the side you want it to is 1 in 5. Which really isn't that big.

This isn't like me. I'm usually an optimist. Why am I being so negative?

Someone knocked on my bedroom door. "Buddy?"
"Huh?" I asked.
"Can I come in?" It was Stompin' Bob.
"Why?" I asked.
"I... I just wanna come in."
"Sure, come in." I sat up.

He came in. "This will be quick, okay?"
"S-sure..." I said, as he closed the door behind him.
"Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah."

He sat down on my bed, raising an eyebrow. "Really?"
"I'm fine."
"Franky, you do this to me. If you wanna talk to me, you can. Consider it me repaying you for talking to me."
I shrugged. "I'm okay, really."
"Really?"
"Really."

He sighed. "I know you're scared."
"I am." I don't like it when he does this. I feel like an idiot complaining to Stomp, because he has a lot more to deal with than I ever will.

He leaned back on the headboard next to me, putting a flipper around my shoulder. "I don't know why they don't let you go there after visiting hours. I mean, they're for, like, real visitors. You're not a visitor, you're as good as family to her."
"I... I told them that..."
"So why..." He sighed. "What if I pretend I'm her brother? Is it convincing?"
I laughed quietly. "Not happening."
"Rockhopper's red. I can pass off as his son."
"Just because he's red doesn't mean you seem like you're related to him."
"Yeah, I know... Sorry, getting all the bad ideas out first."

We both laughed.

"Maybe sneak in," he suggested.
"No way. That's crazy..."
"How long did they say until she's ready to leave the hospital?"
I gave him a look. "You think they'd know something like that? It's quite obvious that they all think she's gonna..." I trailed off, shaking my head.
"Assuming she... doesn't."
"Like, two weeks, I think."
"That's not bad."
"Yeah. As long as she... doesn't."

I leaned on his shoulder, sighing. "I don't know what's gonna happen."
"Me, neither."
"I wish I could be there."
"I know you do."
"Can I call them?"
"At 9 at night?"
"They're up all night there. They're crazy."
He laughed. "Yeah, they are. But I'd just wait until tomorrow if you're gonna confront them about the visiting thing."
"I hope she gets better."
He rubbed my shoulder. "We all do."

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The next morning
Time: 7:41 AM PST

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"Hi, guys!" I said, coming out of my room. G-Billy and Stompin' Bob were at the table. "Why are you up so early?"
"Who, me?" Stomp asked.
I nodded. "Yeah." G-Billy's always up early.
"I'm going with you."
"You... you are?"
"Yeah. I wanna help you with the visiting issue... Maybe we can even convince them that she's my sister."
G-Billy raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"
"Oh, nothing. Franky and I were plotting last night," he said.
G-Billy grinned. "You're not her brother."
"Yeah, we were just trying to come up with excuses for Franky to visit her when it's not a visiting time..."
"Uh, okay. Not gonna work."
"It was just an idea." Stompin' Bob got up. "Are we going now?"
"Sure." I nodded. "We'll be back... I don't know. At some time," I said to G-Billy. He grinned, waving as we started for the door.
"See y'all later!" he called, and I opened the door. I went outside, and Stompin' Bob followed.

It was chilly out. I zipped up my green hoodie and looked over at Stompin' Bob, who had put on his gray 'Penguin Band' hoodie over his black t-shirt.

"It's cold," he remarked, looking around.
"Yeah," I said. "It is."

It was summer and it wasn't usually this cold out. But then again, it was early. On a regular summer day I wouldn't be outside until at least 9, if that. By then, it's much warmer.

In the summer, there's a thin coat of ice and a few inches of snow on the ground since Club Penguin is, after all, a giant iceberg. There's always snow here, just a lot less in the summer.

The ice crunched underneath our flippers as we went along the path, passing a lot of igloos.

We waddled in silence all the way to the hospital. They knew me, but Stomp had only visited once or twice, and they didn't really know him.

We got 'visitor' badges, then went over to the elavator.

"I hate elevators," he said as I pushed the second-floor button and the doors closed.
"Why?" I asked as the elavator started rising.
"I don't know. Because they're sketchy."
I grinned at him as we arrived on the second floor. "Um?"

We stepped out into the hallway.

"I don't know."

I started down the hall and he followed me. When we reached room 24, the door was open and there were a few doctors in there. I sighed, stepping to the side.

"We might have to wait awhile, Stompin' Bob. This happens sometimes. They don't let you in when they're performing a test like that," I said.
"Oh," he said, joining me on the side of the door. I let out a breath, starting to shake a little. Why were they in there? What were they doing to her? Was she okay? I had so many questions for them right now.

I rocked back and forth on my flipper as a doctor came over and closed the door to her room.
"No-" I started, but he closed it too quickly and didn't hear me.
"What?" Stompin' Bob asked.
"Nothing, I just... really didn't want them to close that door," I said.
"Oh," he replied.

I played with the sleeve of my hoodie, pulling it up and down my flipper nervously. I wanna see Cadence. Let me in!!

I realized I was shaking really badly. Stompin' Bob noticed, and lightly touched my flipper.

"Buddy, you're okay. She's okay," he said to me.
I nodded. "I'm s-sorry, St-Stomp, I'm just n-nervous, I g-guess."
"Why are you sorry?" he asked.
"B-Because I'm n-nervous."
"That doesn't make sense."
"I know. I-I don't m-make sense when I-I'm n-nervous."
He sighed, smiling kindly. "Buddy, they're just doing a test. It'll be over before you know it."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive."

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About an hour later
Time: 9:01 AM PST

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"Before I know it, huh?" I asked Stompin' Bob as we sat down in the waiting-room.
"Sorry, buddy. I didn't think it was gonna take this long."
I sighed. "It must be serious."
"Can't we ask someone what's going on?"
"Not unless we can find Tristen."
"Is that her nurse?"
"Yeah."
"Well, where would she go?"
"Right now, she's probably in the room with all those doctors."
"Oh."

I was shaking again, and this time it was worse due to the fact that they had made us come to the waiting-room. I got the feeling this was going to be a long test.

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About 10.5h later
Time: 7:34 PM PST

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Cadence let out a yawn, looking over at me. "How do you stay here all day and not get bored?"
"You do," I pointed out, rubbing her flipper lightly.
"Yeah, but you have a choice."
"I don't in my mind."
She smiled, looking up at me. "Aw."
I smiled, too, leaning down to her cheek and giving her a soft kiss.

It was about a half an hour before visiting hours were over, and Stompin' Bob had left about 2 hours ago. Now it was just Cadence and I, with Tristen sitting off to the side. She tended to leave us alone unless she had to say something.

"Tell me more about that test," I said to Cadence.
She shrugged. "It was... I don't even know what it was. They checked my burns, checked a bunch of statistical stuff, calculated a bunch of stuff... My survival chance went up again."
My face lit up. "To what?"
"24 point something percent."
I beamed. "Oh, Cadence, that's awesome."
She smiled. "I know."

"I have a question, Tristen," I said.
"Yes?" She looked up from her pad of paper she was writing on.
"How long do you think until she'll be out of the hospital?"
"Um... assuming that nothing goes wrong, maybe about two weeks from now. She won't waddle again until September, though."
Cadence cringed. "September what?"
"September... I don't know the exact date."
"So she'll be in a wheelchair?" I asked.
"Yes," Tristen said.
I nodded.

I took Cadence's flipper with both of mine, and we sat there for a few minutes. Then, all of a sudden, she jumped. "Youch."

"What?" I asked, pulling my flippers away from her. Am I hurting her?

"Ouch." She closed her eyes. "Owwww. Tristen. I'm getting one of those sharp pain moments that the doctor talked about."
Tristen got up off her stool. "Where?"
Cadence squeezed her eyes shut. "My hip."

"Owww," she said.
"What sharp pain moments?" I asked, as Tristen shook her head.
"No time to explain right now," she said as Cadence reached for my flipper and squeezed it REALLY tightly. It didn't exactly hurt, but she squeezes my flipper when she's in pain, and if she was squeezing it this hard then she must've been in a lot of pain.

"It's alright, it's alright," I said as Tristen picked up the phone in the room to call for a doctor. "It's okay, Cadence."

I was telling her it was okay.

But the look on Tristen's face told me it was not okay.

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