Page 15 of The Cruelty of Thorns

Celine visibly shuddered. “That just creeps me out. You think there are spiders like that here?”

“I’m sure whatever it is the doctor will figure it out,” I was quick to assure her.

We waited in silence after that until the door finally opened and the doctor appeared, talking to the nurse. “I’ll have a bed prepared for when she gets there.” He looked up at us and gave a sober nod before heading off down the hall. Everyone turned to the nurse.

“How is she?” Kristin asked.

“They’re sending an ambulance to take her to the hospital for treatment.”

“What kind of treatment? How long will she be in there?”

“It depends on how she responds. The doctor wants to keep an eye on her right now.”

“Does he know what caused it?” Celine asked.

“He has to run some tests. She’ll be in good hands, girls.”

“Can we see her?” Renee asked.

The nurse glanced back inside the examining room and sighed. “Just for a minute. The doctor wants her to rest.”

We crowded into the small room and looked down at Lisa lying on the cot, her complexion nearly as white as the sheet. She was barely conscious, but she managed a half-hearted smile at us.

“If you need anything, we’re right here,” Kristin assured her.

She nodded and sighed before her eyelids fluttered shut.

“Okay, girls, that’s enough,” the nurse said. “I’ll get all the information on her room number and condition from the hospital so you can visit her there.”

“Thanks, Ms. Adkins,” Kristin said as we all filed out of the room.

We were just leaving the Administration building when Ron ran up with two other guys I recognized as part of Kristin’s friend circle. The blond one I knew as Jack, and thought the brown-haired one with the amazing gray-green eyes was Toby. I had seen him with Lisa around campus and wondered if they were an item.

“We just heard,” Toby said. “Is she all right?”

Kristin repeated what the nurse had told us, including the part about getting the hospital information. “There’s really nothing we can do until Ms. Adkins hears back.”

As we were standing there the ambulance arrived and two attendants got out with a stretcher and headed past us back into the building. Toby watched them worriedly until Kristin stepped up and put a hand on his arm.

“She’ll be all right.”

He looked down at her and nodded. “I hope so. She…she means a lot to me.”

We waited outside until the attendants reappeared wheeling an unconscious Lisa on the stretcher and loaded her in the ambulance.

“I’m going to the hospital,” Toby announced, pulling out his keys.

“I’ll go with you,” Jack offered.

“That’s okay. They probably don’t want a bunch of us hanging around there. I’ll call you when I know something.”

He trotted off across campus toward the parking lot while the rest of us watched. Someone mentioned food and it was decided we would go to the cafeteria to grab dinner.

Ron fell into step beside me, surprising me. “I heard you found her.”

I wondered how he knew that. Had Kristin called everyone? “I saw her sitting on the bench and texted Kristin. She didn’t look right.”

“Lisa is usually so…vivacious. She’s the last person I’d expect to see in the clinic.”

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