Chapter 33: Rescued at last


     "Damn it, it's starting to rain!" cried Taylor angrily. "Why didn't
we rent a normal boat? What possessed us to get a raft?"

     "No clue..." Nathan said.

     "We're never going to find her!" complained Taylor. It was a
familiar song. 

      Nathan looked hard up ahead. "Then why do I see another raft up
there?"

     Taylor looked to where Nathan's gaze stayed. "You're right! Do you
think that's Jenn?"

     Nathan gave him a weird look. "How many other people do you think
are on rafts in the rain? Of course it's Jenn!" 

     The two paddled and paddled until they were up next to the raft.
"What the hell did you do to her?" Taylor said in surprise.

     "She threw up and passed out," Giovanni said simply. "She's been
throwing up more than a bulimic the whole time."

     Of course, I didn't expect to see Taylor or Nathan when I woke up.
So I tripped out and fell into the water when I opened my eyes. Somebody
grabbed me. Nathan.

     "Oh my god, you're here!" I cried weakly and I felt myself ready to
be sick again.

    "Yeah, I am, Jenn. Are you okay?" I was shaking by that time,
chilled by the water I had fallen into and the water that was falling on
my face.

     "It's so cold, and I feel like I'm going to be sick again," I said.

     "God, again?" said Giovanni exasperatedly.

     Taylor turned to him with fire in his eyes. "You better shut the
hell up over there!"

     "Taylor, calm down," Nathan told him and I was confused. Why was
Taylor here? And why was Nathan treating him like an old friend?

     "How far are we from Johto?" asked Taylor.

     "Quite a distance away. It'd probably take another day by raft,"
Giovanni told him and that's when Nathan started to panic.

     "But Jenn's sick and it's raining and that'd not going to help!
What have you fed her?"

     "I was supposed to feed her?!" Giovanni cried and Nathan turned
pale.

     "You haven't fed her in the two days you've kept her? She's in an
awful condition and that's not going to help! Oh crap, what are we going
to do?" He would've been pacing if we were on land.

     "Why didn't we call the police?" Taylor asked in a panicked tone.
"We're all going to die!"

     I turned to the side of the raft and threw up again.

     "Nice one there, Taylor," Nathan said sarcastically. He reached
into his backpack to grab something that turned out to be a blanket.

     He draped it over me. "Get some rest..." he started but I didn't
hear everything else he was saying. I think I heard 'I love you' but my
hearing was off and I didn't trust myself to believe it.

                       *****

     I awoke to sirens and somebody lifted me up. I opened my eyes to
see a doctor in uniform. Somebody had called the police. We were
leaving, perhaps for Lilycove. 

     I drifted back out of conciousness and when I awoke again, I was in
a bed. I opened my eyes a little bit and saw the hospital. But to
doctors were coming owards me so I closed my eyes and faked sleep.

     "She had an allergic reaction to chloroform. And she's dehydrated.
The boys said she hadn't had anything to eat in the two days either."

     "And she was sick for the whole two days? She's lucky to be alive,
going without treatment for as long as she did."

     "Yes, she is. If she had been found any later than when she was,
she more than likely would've died." That scared me a lot. For the third
time, Giovanni had almost killed me.

     "Can I come in?" somebody interrupted them. I could tell by the
voice that it was Taylor.

     "Of course, but she's sleeping at the moment," one of the doctors
said.

     Taylor sat down and the others left. I opened my eyes. "Hey there,"
he greeted me.

     "Hi."

     "They put Giovanni in jail, so he can't come after you anymore."

     I smiled weakly. "Why did you decide to help me?"

     "Because I wanted you to forgive me somehow. I tried to get out of
this whole Team Magma thing, I really did, Jenn. I tried to do it for
you. But Maxie threatened to kill my mom, and that's why I'm here in the
first place."

     "I never knew that," I told him.

     He smiled at me, not a happy smile, but a sad one. "There's a lot
you don't know about me." He looked older than fourteen as he said that.

      "Do you know when I can go back to travelling? I need to get to
Mossdeep."

     "You ARE in Mossdeep, Jenny. But the doctors said that they can let
you go in two days."

     "But that's two days before my birthday!" I cried.

      "I know it is, but why don't you get some rest? I'll come by
later."

     "Okay," I agreed.

     "Bye, Jenny." And he walked out. If he had't changed things when he
saved Nathan from Maxie, he had sure as hell changed things by saving
me.