‘Walkie Talkies?’ I asked the next morning at breakfast. I was just in time to reach for what’s left of the fried eggs and scooped them on a plate. John is behind me in the line, talking to the lady behind the counter filling the empty trays.
‘Yeah.’ Cameron said in front of me. His plate was already full as he tried to squeeze in some more ham. ‘You and Elaina carry one, just like us. And if there is any problem or you just want to talk then just press the button.’
I wasn’t so sure about the idea of him waiting for a call 24/7. And what if I accidentally press the button and said something weird? I asked Elaina who was fine with, because that meant there was another source that she could use to contact John. I eventually gave in and it was fine with us, until a couple nights after when Matt and Cameron started creeping us out by reciting famous lines of horror movies into the Walkie Talkie. But we’ll get to that later.
We all gathered back at our table and feasted on the delicious food. I thought of my mother who would rather stay in bed than make my breakfast. I was mostly the one who was making breakfast for her.
‘Kate, you still want to go to the beach in a bit?’ Elaina asked.
The beach, immediately I thought of the hot sand and cold glistering water. A nice feeling filled every corner of me. Elaina was as excited as me, yesterday when we arrived even though she was tired, she talked nonstop about the beach. Even in her sleep it haunted her, she mumbled words like seabirds and ice cream. I assumed she was talking about the beach.
‘Definitely.’ I said.

‘The beach?’ Cameron said. ‘I want to go too!’ His eyes shined like a puppy.
‘Sure you can.’ Elaina said while pinching his cheek pretending he’s a baby.
‘Thanks mama!’ He said playing along. Their acting had us brought to laugh when the waitress came to fill our cups.

An hour later after spreading layers of sunscreen on our bodies and assembling our swimming equipment, which wasn’t much, we headed to the beach which was right across the street. Elaina laid out her blanket between John and me, who was already asleep listening to music. When we asked why he couldn’t sleep yesterday, he answered that Cameron and Matt were talking too loud about cars and other subjects, most of which he blocked out because they were either to disgusting or just disturbing. When Elaina crept next to John who had put his arm around her, I focussed my eye on the seaside. I noticed Matt and Cameron who had already taken good use of their swimming goggles. Matt dived continuously and only came up for air. After a while I was getting worried, as I didn’t see him coming up anymore, that he had drowned. But he suddenly came up again when I was sitting up getting ready to save him. I subtly tried to lie down and close my eyes, when I felt drips of cold water hitting my face. I open my eyes and found Matt standing over me. His wet hair pushed back.
‘Come and join us!’ he said enthusiastically, pushing his hair back again.
‘Oh, I don’t’
I wasn’t able to finish my sentence because Matt already pulled me towards him and ran to the shore, his hand in mine. I felt my temperature cooling down quickly when my feet came in contact with the cool water. Cameron, who was too busy following a colony of fish around, suddenly shouted a couple metres away from us:
‘I found something!’ He turned around and had a large red crab in his hand. He looked happy until the crab took revenge on Cameron by pinching him in the nose. Cameron screamed in pain and released the crab. We swam towards him and noticed his nose was bleeding. That’s what you get for messing with crabs, I thought. I was prepared to say it out loud, but for some reason I kept silent. After a couple of minutes of treatment by one of the nurses who was sitting under a tent that read Medical Emergencies, Cameron had a bandage, with dolphin designs on them, covering his wound. Not that Cameron being pinched in the nose by a crab was an emergency, but it was the only place we could find.
John and Elaina who had woken up from their nap to hear the ‘shocking’ news went for a swim, along with Matt. I had to stay with the ‘wounded,’ in case his wound got infected or something. He rested his head on Elaina’s bag, his head was turned towards me. When he closed his eyes, his unicorn tattoo took my attention again. Without thinking, I found myself going over the outline of his tattoo with my finger; I only noticed what I was doing when his eyes stared at me. I turned away from his look.
‘Sorry.’ I say embarrassedly. He however didn’t say anything. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on other subjects. He called my name softly to find out if I had fallen asleep, but I ignored it. Suddenly I felt his presence was closer. His hand lifted over me and softly stroked my almost dried hair. His touch calmed me down and I let him continue until I couldn’t feel his hand anymore.
‘What are you doing?’ I heard Matt say. I tried to keep faking my sleep as I heard them talk.
‘Nothing.’ Cameron said, somehow something in his voice didn’t seem convincing.
‘You told me you would keep your distance.’ I tried to follow but I don’t understand what Matt meant by that last sentence.
‘I know and I will. I promise.’ Cameron responded. Then I felt Cameron’s presence move away and when I opened my eyes, both were gone.

*
After a couple of hours, we walked on Ocean Drive Street, passing several restaurants and after a few discussions on where to eat we found a restaurant we all agreed on. John was talking in vivid detail on something that happened to him on summer camp, everybody was paying attention and laughing at times, but I however kept drawing my attention to what happened earlier this morning. What were Cameron and Matt talking about? And how am I involved in this? Those questions have been playing over and over in my head. If only I could just ask them right now.
‘Let’s go to a club tonight. I found a really nice one, nearby.’ Cameron said, making me jump back to reality.
‘Aren’t we under age? We’re only seventeen.’ Elaina said.
‘This is where I come in.’ He pulled out a number of cards and laid them on the table.
‘Fake IDs?’ Matt said, as Cameron passed them around. ‘Are you sure we’ll get in like this?’
‘Definitely, I use mine all the time with my brother.’ Cameron said.
Not a surprise, I thought. All of us hesitate, we knew we would try to make the best of this trip, especially Matt, but we weren’t sure that breaking the law would be the best idea. Eventually everybody gave in, being reassured by Cameron’s experience, except for me. Cameron looked at me, and said:
‘What about you? Are you in?’
I hesitated. Even if it worked for Cameron doesn’t mean it will work for us. And I’ve never been to a club before, and there are reasons. They’re too loud and you’re surrounded by drunken people who smell terrible and vomit, then again this is only based on what I’ve been told by some girls in my class.
‘Alright, I’m in.’ I said, noticing that I had not said anything for a long time since he asked me. ‘But the second someone vomits on me I’m out.’
‘Promise.’ Cameron said excitedly.
It was only three o’clock when we decided this so we had plenty of time to hang around. But when the time came, Elaina was stressing on what to wear and ran around our room looking for different things at the time.
‘Calm down, Elaina. You’re not getting your picture taken for the local newspaper. It’s just a club.’
‘What are you wearing?’ She asked, completely ignoring my comment on her attitude. When I point at the clothes I’m already wearing, she gasped. ‘You’re going to just wear shorts and a t-shirt? Unacceptable, come here.’ She handed me one of her dresses. And quite short and black. It was strapless and had a belt around the waist. When I refused, she made me wear it anyway. I put it on and when she saw me. She looked at me so proudly, as if I was her creation. She gave me some black heels, which were a little high for me but after a couple of test runs in the hall, I was able to maintain my balance. I wanted to share my victory with Elaina but she was too busy, drying her hair. I walked around a little more when the door of the boy’s room swung open. Cameron walked out, with a simple shirt and denims, which where even lower then when I met him. He placed his sunglasses on his head, to take a better look at me.
‘You look amazing. I didn’t expect this to be your style.’
‘It’s not. Elaina forced me into this dress.’ I said.
He laughed, though as soon as John came out of their room, his laugh was disturbed by someone else’s. Cameron and I are both confused and wait till John has finished rolling around dying of laughter to ask what is going on.
‘Matt…He.’ The laughter caught up with him again and it took another minute for him to get back to his senses. ‘Just look.’
Cameron stepped into their room and then into the bathroom. I however was not so sure if I wanted to see. Then a loud scream comes from the bathroom, Cameron I assume.
‘Your hair!’ he shouted. I finally walked in as well as I was not in the mood to wait another minute.
I walked into the bathroom and the shock was so great that I accidently slipped on a towel and fell on the ground of laughter and in front of me, an unamused Matt. He tried to cover up his hair with a towel but a couple of hairs sprout back out, making the problem still visible. He tucks back parts of blue hair and tried to defend himself. That’s right, blue hair, supposed to his blond hair.
‘John! You won’t get away with this!’ he said. He walked over me, towards John who still hadn’t recovered. The noise awoke Elaina from her personal bubble and she too was shocked to see Matt, who is running after John though the corridor. An old woman, disturbed by the noise opened the door ready to explain, but didn’t notice that they were running right towards her. John who wasn’t looking what he was running at, bumped right into the door. His head made an unbearable sound, loud enough for us to hear who were far away from the incident. Matt was unable to retrieve himself to prevent from doing the same and walked right into John. The woman chuckled evilly and said:
‘That’s what you get for waking me from my sleep!’
John was left with a cut on his forehead, much larger than Cameron’s little dispute with the crab. From this we all concluded that Florida definitely does damage to you: Cameron who fought with a crab, John that was injured by an old lady and Matt who well, changed his style. We went to the welcoming bar to ask for some bandages for John’s cut, which later was treated by Elaina. We sat down and silently observed the ocean. The moon was already present but the day was not over for most people. We saw a group of young people passing by. They were all dressed up and ready to go out on the town. We all glared at them jealously, because we wished that was us. One girl noticed and told everyone to quickly hurry up to get out of our sight.
‘So what do we do now?’ Elaina asked. ‘Should we still go?’
‘I’m not going out like this.’ Matt refused, trying to cover his blue hair.
‘It’s going to be dark in the club anyway. They won’t even notice.’ She said trying to reassure him.
‘They will notice you from far away.’ I said, before noticing that won’t help him at all by the stares on people’s faces. ‘Sorry.’
Matt crumbled up in his chair, and it becomes silent again, until Cameron stood up.
‘I’m hungry.’ He said. We looked up at him, confused by his comment. ‘Let’s go eat, there’s a Burger King five minutes away.’
Since there was nothing else to do, we all agreed except for Matt, who was still worried that the colour of his hair would steal away everybody’s attention. It took a couple of minutes to convince him that there were so many weird people in Miami that they won’t even notice. When we arrived, we stuffed our stomachs with as much as we could eat from onion rings to chocolate cakes. When they gave us the bill, Cameron took out John’s wallet and gave some money to the man behind the counter. John immediately protested.
‘Payback for changing the shampoo with hair dye.’
I couldn’t help but laugh when John saw how much we spent on dinner, anyway he deserved it.
As we walked back, Matt and I were at the back. I tried to keep my comments to myself but as soon as Matt noticed, he sighted and said: ‘Go ahead, as if our vacation isn’t ruined already.’
‘Don’t beat yourself up Matt, this is just making it more exciting.’ I said.
‘Not for me.’ He said annoyingly.
I laughed and patted him on the back. He looked at me before grabbing me in piggy back position. I scream out of surprisedness and laughter, as he carried me increasing his speed to break up Elaina and John so we could get through. I looked back to see their jumbled faces and notice one not as surprised but sad. It were Cameron eyes’ that gave a sign of melancholy before turning away from me. Why was his expression so unhappy? I wondered as their bodies started to disappear from my sight.

Miami is known for its sunny skies and beaches. That is why it has so many tourists in the summer, because there you can a have a care free vacation. It was also mostly why we chose Miami to expect no rain, not even a cloud. But three days into our vacation, a drop of rain landed on my forehead. The rain came crashing down and it stayed, for four days. We spent the first three days doing nothing, staying in the hotel watching the movies Matt brought, eating junk food. Though we were supposed go out or lie on the beach, it didn’t really seem to matter to us, yet it mattered to Matt. He was dejected when the weather forecast suggested a minor tropical storm was going to hit Florida. And after John had pulled a little trick on him, the storm suggested the end of it. I tried to cheer him up to lift his spirits, which worked for a while. The boys joined us in our room as Elaina and I were not very fond of their way of tidying their room.
After noticing all the snacks were gone, Cameron suggested he and I would get some more from the grocery store which was close to the hotel, but Elaina was worried. She thought that it was not a good time to go outside because of the storm. Cameron assured her that we would be safe and that he would bring his cell phone in case something happened. He took his phone out of his pocket and noticed it had no service. Probably due to the storm, I thought. Then I detected the Walkie Talkie on the nightstand and suggest we take on of them instead. Then they would finally have a use, instead of saying famous horror lines in the middle of the night. We took the elevator and arrived at the entrance of the hotel. Outside, the rain combined with the wind causing some palm trees to wave heavily back in forth. The sight of weather, made me reconsider going outside.
The man behind the counter stopped us. ‘You can’t go outside sir. The weather is not safe.’ He said.
‘We’re just getting some refreshments; it will only take us a couple of minutes.’ Cameron said back.
The man hesitated, and then finally told us to hurry. He opened the door for us letting a strong wind come inside. I looked at Cameron, who was still standing strong, so he noticed how worried I was.
‘Don’t worry.’ He said, as he took my hand and we proceeded to step out into the raging weather. We covered our faces with our remaining arm and walk at a fast speed which eventually turns into running. I kept hold of his hand as we passed a few people who were trying to escape the rain. Soon the streets were empty and we were the only ones going against the storm. The grocery store was about to close as we arrived at their front doors. Cameron asked if we could quickly get some things and the owner let us in, saying we had five minutes before she went home. I couldn’t help but notice the storm worsening as Cameron hurriedly gathered some snacks. We paid and were quickly back outside. Cameron held the bag closely to his chest trying to get the water from entering inside. He offered his hand though I refused, telling him it’s alright. He didn’t protest as there were other things to worry about. I was right behind him when a large board saying “Welcome to Miami Beach” enlarged the distance between us, making me fall backward in order to escape the large obstacle. Cameron looked back as he heard my scream. And hunched down to help me back up again. My eyes must have shown a sight of fright as he asked if I was alright. I mumble a word that was close to yes and took his hand. He proceeded to hold my hand as we ran back to the hotel. Though as we stood in front of the doors, we were locked out. I bang on the door and shout so they let us in, but no one answered. The drapes were shut, making it impossible to see inside. The man must have given up on waiting and closed the doors. Cameron was frustrated, as was I. That was probably the first time I had been so angry at someone.
‘We need to find shelter.’ He shouted as the wind was so strong and loud it made it impossible to hear each other.
I heard a large noise which was becoming louder every second. I turn to its point of origin and notice a large brick flying towards us. I turned to Cameron to warn him but my screams didn’t seem to help him as he collapsed against the doors as the brick hit him in the head. I bent towards him, screaming terrified for his safety. What do I do? What do I do? Is he still alive?
‘Cameron! Cameron!’ I shout. Every cry became louder as he didn’t respond. I banged on the door once again demanding for an answer. And then it hit me, the Walkie Talkie. I hurriedly look in Cameron’s jeans pockets and sighed in sign of relief as I see the small device. I shivered as the cold rain soaked my clothes. I pressed the button and said: ‘It’s Cameron! He… He got hit in the head by a rock and we can’t get in the hotel!’ I wait for an answer but nothing came. I worriedly pressed again while saying ‘Hello? Elaina! Matt! Are you there? Please help us!’ After a couple of seconds wasted on waiting for an answer, I decided to continue Cameron’s plan. I threw his arm around me, letting his weight depend on me. I placed his cap over his head, to minor the rain from coming in his wound. The blood is flowing at a faster rate and I tried to stop it. I started to freak out again when I notice my hands where completely covered with blood.
‘Kate?’ I heard a familiar voice say. I quickly began to notice how familiar the voice was. I look behind me, though there is no one. ‘Kate!’ The confusion made my voice sound panicky.
‘Matt!’ I shouted through the storm. Again, no sight of him anywhere and then I understood where it’s coming from, the Walkie Talkie. The connection must have been restored. ‘It’s Cameron, he’s unconscious.’
‘What? Where are you?’ he said worriedly.
‘In front of the hotel, they won’t let us in!’ I shout into the device.
‘I’m coming, Kate’ Matt said as the connection broke our only way of communicating with each other.
I let my feet collapse onto the ground while holding onto Cameron, who has somewhat remained consciousness. His eyes are half open as the blood dripped down to his cheeks. I carefully turned his head towards me and saw that he was in pain. I panicked again. He grabbed on to my hand and squeezed it hard, to try and reduce the painful shocks coming from his head. He tried to say something that was unclear. I tried to calm him down.
‘You’re going to be fine. Matt is coming and he’ll’ Cameron starts to loose grip of my hand and his eyes start to close again. ‘No, Cameron. Stay with me!’ I said. I didn’t know if it either was the rain or tears that were rolling down my cheeks.
The doors are struggling to open and through a couple of push, Matt flew through. He looked at my hands, shocked at the amount of blood and then focused on me. At the sight of his appearance, I set release of my worries and ran into his arms.
‘Cameron…Brick...’ I was so happy to see him that the words were flowing out of my mouth so fast that I forgot to put them in a sentence.
He shushed me while letting his fingers run through my hair, and I felt calm again. Then I suddenly shifted back to reality and pushed him back. I turn to Cameron who was still unconscious. Matt helped me carry him into the reception. I recognized the man behind the counter, and I glared as soon as our eyes crossed. It was because of you that he is this way. He picked up the phone, and dialled 911. For some reason he had service on his phone, while we didn’t.
‘Cameron?’ Matt said repeatedly while trying to wake him up by shaking him back and forth. There is no answer. I let myself fall down in the nearest couch. I tried to erase the blood stains from my hands onto my wet jeans.
The rest of the day seemed to be a blur. An ambulance arrived shortly after the call made by the receptionist. They let Matt and I ride with them to the hospital. The ride was dangerous and risky, as the wind often pushed us from side to side. I held on to plank that was holding Cameron. The men inside the ambulance were constantly checking his blood pressure and heart rate. They told us there was a slight chance the large brick that had hit him caused a serious concussion. Nothing they said made me more confident that he would survive. The hospital was about ten minutes away. When we arrived, they wouldn’t let us any further than the waiting room, which made us both frustrated but we could only hope for the best. We sat in the waiting room for nearly two hours already; we kept quiet and stared at the door that said “Authorized Personnel Only,” waiting for someone to come out.
‘He will be fine.’ Matt said to reassure me, he must have recognized how I was feeling at this moment. ‘Thanks to you.’
I didn’t understand how I saved him at this point. The only thing I did is shout and panic, and let’s not forget it was my fault that got him in this hospital anyway. If I had just screamed louder than he would have seen the brick coming at him and we wouldn’t be in this mess. The one we should be thanking is Matt. He was the one that answered my call and opened the door.
‘Don’t you want to wash that off?’ He asked. It wasn’t until then that I noticed my hands were still covered with Cameron’s blood, only now it was dry. I stood up and told Matt I would as I walked to the bathroom. When I applied the soap to my dry hands, I noticed how horrible and washed off I was. My clothes, still damp and my hair tangled. At this point I didn’t care how badly I looked.
When I walked back to the waiting room, I saw Matt discussing Cameron’s condition with a doctor. He looked relieved, and at the sight of this, a smile appeared on my face. I joined the conversation reassured, and heard the last couple of words the doctor said before saying: ‘Would you like to see him?’ I directly respond, and he guides us to his room.
Cameron was lying on a typical hospital bed with a bandage covering his forehead. He had remained consciousness and was happy to see us step inside his room. Matt closed the door behind him. Cameron laughed as he said:
‘I told you we should have gone to California instead.’ His voice was shaky as he wasn’t recovered yet. His comment makes us both laugh, thinking the old Cameron was still with us. Matt jumped on the seat next to his bed and shared the heroic details of his saving. But Cameron doesn’t seem to be all that interested, as he was looking at me. And I looked back and then my memory jumped back to earlier in the accident. When he remained conscious and he tried to say something to me that I wasn’t quite to clear on because I was too busy trying to save his life. Back when he held my hand so tightly and now the words all suddenly made sense to me. He tried to save his energy to say: “I like you.”

Matt and I stayed at the hospital throughout the storm. From outside of Cameron’s window we could only watch it pass by. Streets started to flood, houses started to break down. Elaina and John were able to join us the day later, luckily unharmed. The hospital was built especially against storms likes this so we knew we were safe. Elaina, John and I got a room, though Matt preferred to stay with Cameron. The rooms started to fill up with injured escapers that were rescued in the streets of Miami Beach. Luckily the storm only lasted a few days before it passed to other parts of Florida, before relocating in another state.
After the storm had passed away from Miami Beach, things started to clear up again and the normal life people once lived started to recover. Cameron had to stay a few days in the hospital for medical reasons. Dr Fell, a miracle worker had been taking care of Cameron throughout his time at the hospital. He was a very optimistic man and said that Cameron would be healing quicker than he was thought to be. We visited him regularly, actually it was the only thing that we did because there was nothing else to do.
At our visit to the hospital, the TV in the waiting room was turned on. Cameron was still sleeping so we had to wait there. The news reporter informed us that this was not just some tropical storm but a hurricane. Not only did it destroy most of natural wildlife and cause damage up to 2 billion dollars, it had so far killed nine people in Miami Beach. Nine innocent people, whose families still can’t overcome the loss of their relative. Nine lives that were lost, some drowned, some lost and were claimed to be dead. One family went missing yesterday, but the news reporter claimed they were found and rescued.
Ever since I saw that news report, I’ve been having nightmares. They were always about the same thing. Cameron dying, I helpless and scared, though this time Matt didn’t storm out of the hotel door and Cameron never made it to the hospital. In every dream he died in my arms and confessed his love to me using up his last breath. I woke up screaming with sweat dripping of my face. My shouting woke up Elaina through the process and every time made her even more worried. Though I told her to keep it secret, as I didn’t want to make anyone worry. It scared me how much I reacted on this. Why was I so afraid of losing him?
Even though the storm had started to clear, sometimes a small rain storm hit Miami Beach, nothing as dangerous but it made people worry that the storm might come back. It was reported that hurricane had directed its way towards the US and had done a lot of damage to Louisiana and Arkansas. It came as a shock to Elaina as Arkansas was her home. Her grandparents still lived there when she moved to North Carolina with her father. When she heard the news, she contacted her father to see if he heard any news, but he was clueless as well. Who knew that this hurricane could do so much damage?
‘Yahtzee!’ Cameron shouts, claiming his victory.
‘Not again.’ John said, collecting the dice. Yahtzee was the only game available at that time, as the other games were taken by other patients who were clearly as bored as we were.
I left Cameron’s room to get something to drink when I notice another rain storm had hit Miami Beach. The hospital was in a busy state as another group of survivors were found. Two men in scrubs were guiding an injured woman into the ER. When they passed me, I got a look at her face. It was covered in blood and she had a large piece of wood stuck in her stomach. And then I suddenly remembered her. She was staying at out hotel with her husband, I wonder if he made it. Dr Fell comes running passed me and met another doctor at the entrance of the emergency room. They pull out a man from the ambulance who was passed out and his head was cracked open. I tried to recognize him under all the blood but he wasn’t that woman’s husband. I walked around the hospital only to see people in panic, with injuries and terror in their eyes. I saw a child crying in his mother’s arms, a teenager kissing his loved one before she is pulled into surgery, a woman saying her last goodbyes before they took her husband to the morgue. Ten, I counted.
As I walk back to Cameron’s room and find it empty, except for its original occupier, Cameron. It was already too late for me to back away as he saw me. And the tension rose in the room as we exchanged hellos, because of what happened yesterday. This was the first time we had been alone since then and for some reason I started to think that he forgot what he said before he passed out. I sat down on the couch and started reading a magazine. Silence filled the room again, the same silence we shared on the night when we had only met.
‘Matt went to go find out anymore updates on the hurricane and Elaina and John are taking a nap next door.’ Cameron said to spare the time of me asking.
‘Alright,’ I said, ‘how are you feeling?’
‘Better, my head is hurting much less.’ He responded. There was a pause for a moment as I wasn’t sure to say next. ‘Have I thanked you yet?’
I look at him confusedly. He seemed to be surprised when I asked him: ‘For what?’
‘For saving my life.’
I look back at the magazine, to avoid contact when I said: ‘Don’t, because I didn’t save your life. Thank Matt.’
‘What are you talking about? If it wasn’t for you then he couldn’t have opened the doors to let us in. You and only you saved me.’
The guilt and anger ran through me and I suddenly lost it. I threw the magazine on the ground. ‘Stop it! Stop saying that I saved your life because I didn’t! It’s because of me that you’re here! So don’t thank me just yet.’ I sat back down and started to calm down. When I looked at him, I just noticed what I had done. I had screamed right at him about something that I so badly wanted to keep to myself.
‘Kate. This was not your fault.’
I lost it again. ‘Yes it is. If I only had spoken up or pulled you away, then you wouldn’t have gotten hit!’
‘But I’m fine now.’
‘But you could have died.’ The rush of feelings all became too much for me as I thought back to how I felt then. My sight became blurry as I felt tears running down my cheeks. Great, I thought, how embarrassing. He pulled me closer to him and squeezes my hand just like when he tried to tell me his feelings. He kissed me on the cheek, almost so close to mouth that I thought he was aiming there.
‘I’m sorry I made you feel this way.’ he said softly, ‘It won’t ever happen again.’
This was the first time I had actually felt reassured on something after the accident. I tried to cover up my tears with my remaining hand, to not come over as so emotional because I am pretty sure my little breakdown said otherwise. He was about to say something when Matt barged in, immediately we broke apart and tried to act normal which Matt seemed to believe. He told that there was no further news except for that there was a body found crushed under a car and what made it worse was that she was expecting. Twelve, I counted.
The next day was spent not as unproductively as the day before. We were all awake at eight in the morning because of the news report. It had appeared that the so far death count in total is up to 800 people, most deaths occurred in Louisiana. It appeared that the storm was much worse for them as they were not well prepared in this type of field and the cities affected the most were instantly underwater. All this news did not give a better point of view on Elaina’s grandparents. John did his best to console her but at times she just needed to be alone. After the report, Cameron got a call from his parents back in North Carolina who were worried about his conditions as they were only updated yesterday. He seemed to be glad to talk to his parents as he was smiling constantly. Matt told me later that day that he is really close to them, closer than anyone else. Which I found was pretty lucky because not many children have such a tight relationship with their parents as he did.
‘Hey look.’ Matt said, just as Cameron finished his conversation. He pointed at the room across from us. We were able to look inside as we both had windows. As soon as he pointed it out a man came in with a large cake with five lit candles. He placed the cake on the table in front of his son. The family gathered around the birthday boy and the woman next to him, who I assumed to be his mother, suggested he blew out the candles. ‘Glad they’re making the best out of this situation.’
We all observed the cutting of the cake and as soon as the boy dug his fork into his own piece, John asked: ‘Where did they get the cake?’
This question made us all ponder and look for an answer as we knew there wasn’t any time for the father to go to the grocery store right around the corner to get his son a birthday cake. After a while we give up looking for the answer and Cameron suggested another round of Yahtzee, which we were all so bored of. But after a little convincing, it ended up to be a competitive match against John and Cameron. Elaina sat next to John rooting for him. She looked happier which made me happier because she needed every little help to get through this mess. I decided to get out of the room and spend my time wondering the halls as usual. This time I got an unexpected companion.
‘So this is what you do when you suddenly disappear.’ Matt said.
‘Yeah, it’s my only way to escape unending rounds of Yahtzee...’ I said.
‘So then what do you do?’
‘I observe,’ I responded, ‘You see that woman there? She had to get surgery and hasn’t woken up since yesterday afternoon. Her husband is still missing just as her son, a 6 year old.’
‘Wow.’ He added, before we silently carried on to the next patient I had observed even more than the previous. After I shared information on almost every patient in the hospital he said, ‘Can you believe it that two weeks the only worry I had in my head was about a football match? And now, we got injuries and health insurance to worry about?”
‘Yeah, I can’t believe it either.’

*

‘Guys! Guys!” Cameron shouted excitedly as he saw Matt and I entered his room. ‘I have the most amazing idea!’
‘Oh no you don’t, the last idea got my hair to turn the same colour as the sky. It’s bad enough that people stare at me, it is worse at night when I can’t even see the top of my head.” Matt confirmed. This had started John to chuckle, which was not so appreciated.
‘No this time, nothing could go wrong.’ He said.
‘So what is it then?’ John asked.
‘We should organize a party.’ The idea of it turned the room quiet.
‘A party? I don’t think it’s a time to celebrate Cameron.’ Elaina said not so amusedly.
‘It’s not just for us. It’s for everybody.’ The looks on our faces made Cameron understand he had to explain more clearly. ‘After the hospital closes, and there are no more patients to be treated, we have a party. There’s food and drinks, balloons and I’m sure there is a speaker somewhere.”
After thinking it through, it didn’t seem to be such a bad idea. It could help people relax and enjoy some music. After Cameron succeeded to convince each one of us, we asked Dr Fell to help us out. He was particularly fond of the idea so told us he would ask the head of the hospital to support our statement. After an hour of waiting, the head of the hospital gave us permission to have the party tonight and got his staff started on it immediately. A little later, the word was being spread around that there will be a party starting at seven o’clock in the lobby and all around the hospital. Cameron was so proud of his investment in this gathering that he practically hugged John so tightly he couldn’t breathe. But the fact that he almost murdered John didn’t matter to him because we were finally putting the missing pieces back together, and that party was needed to complete the puzzle. One of the other reasons that we needed a little perspective in this situation was for Elaina. While we were helping with decorating the canteen, she received a call from her father and was told her grandparents didn’t make it. It brought her immediately to tears. Cameron was there to hold her when she first heard the news. When Matt went to find John, Cameron let John take his place to comfort her. The fact that she was in pain again reminded me of her mother’s death a couple years ago, and how I wasn’t there for her just as how I’m acting now. That is because I don’t know how to handle a situation like this, meaning what do you say without making it worse and how do you put some perspective back into her life? I am too cowardly to take a step forward, and every day I remind myself of that.
Finally as the clock struck seven, the music started to play and the first dancers where spotted dancing in the corridors. People started to communicate as the first cups of hot soup were passed around. It was only an hour ago that Elaina had heard of the news, but soon she too was showing her moves. John must have said something that got through to her. I was looking for Dr Fell to thank him for making this possible when I spotted a blue head in the background. Matt, I thought, the blue dye was still visible but some hairs started to turn its original colour. I wanted to shout his name though held my scream back because I reminded myself that I’m in a hospital surrounded by sick people. So I started to wonder the halls again. I passed John and Elaina, who were only paying attention to each other, and made my way through the other dancers to the hall I wondered around the most. I passed the women who was in a coma and noticed she woke up. I walked by but then walked back. I figured the least she could deserve is a fresh cup of tea. When I gave her the tea, she was so thankful; it appeared I was her first visitor, so I stayed for a while. She was hurt in multiple places, though she remained optimistic, ignoring the odds. She had a great sense of humour and she was very considered. Twenty minutes through my visit, a doctor entered the room and told her husband was found a little while ago and was admitted in a hospital nearby. She was so happy, she hugged me tightly, me, a stranger she had just met. I let her sleep it off and continued to wonder the halls, until I was eye to eye with Cameron. He seemed to by getting better. We walked back to the dance floor when he said: ‘Want to dance?’
‘But you’re not healed yet.’ I said.
‘Ah screw the doctors, I need some action.’ He said as soon the song ended and was replaced by a lively song sung by Hot Chelle Rae. He asked again and I took his hand.
The crowd started to become more energetic and we followed. I hadn’t danced for a while now and it took me a while to get in the zone. It was a nice memory to remember and definitely one not to forget. We made our way to John and Elaina and had a dance off, showing our best moves. After having lost to John, we danced for another hour, making the best of what we had. Matt joined us later and like that we forgot that we got hurt, that we lost people dear to us; we just danced.