Chapter 19: Away from Home

(Told in Vincent’s POV)

Being almost three hours away from home, we all decided staying in a hotel for the night would be a good idea. We could have all been a little drunk and not actually realized it. Staying in a hotel would be the safest thing at this point. Luckily for us, there was a hotel only a block away.

“Let’s make it cheaper and get just two rooms. Cloud, you and I could share,” Cid suggested.
“Sounds okay to me,” Cloud nodded in agreement. “But its gotta have two beds. I’m not sharing that.”
“Aw, Mister Cloud’s not gay?” Kim pretended to be surprised, and then began laughing uncontrollably again. “Bummer!”
“Uh, well Kim and I are going to head up to our room,” I grabbed Kim by the arm and dragged her next to me. “Call my cell if you guys need anything.”
“Night you two!” Cid said as he grabbed the room key from the woman behind the front desk.
“Yep, same to you both,” I said as I dragged Kim into the elevator to head up to our room.

It didn’t take long to find our room. It was literally 5 feet away from the elevator. Trying to open the door with Kim leaning against me was a little tough however. She was actually falling asleep standing up.
“Kim, sweetheart,” I struggled with the key as I finally opened the door. “Let’s go inside, you need to lie down.”
“No, I’m not tired,” Kim tiredly slapped my arm as I dragged her inside.
“Kim, are you going to sleep in your dress? You could borrow my suit shirt since I won’t be needing it,” I untucked the bed and began to undress.
“No way I won’t sleep in this,” Kim laughed. “It’s so uncomfortable.”
“Here then. Take my shirt and go get changed in the bathroom,” I handed her my shirt and walked her to the bathroom door. “Let me know if you need anything.”

I gave her five minutes to be in and out of the bathroom. No such luck of course. I walked over and knocked on the door.
“Kim, hun,” I slowly opened the door. “You okay in here?”
I walked in to find Kim with her head in the toilet. The drinking had gotten the best of her.
“Vincent, I don’t feel good,” she cried as she began to snap back to the real world. “Where are we…”
“Aww,” seeing her like this hit me hard. “We’re at a hotel a block from Que Bueno. We decided to stay the night because we had all been drinking. You more then the rest of us however.”
“I-I’m sorry…” she cried as she struggled to stand on her own. Her dress was only half off. My shirt was sitting on the counter.
“Here hun, let me help you, okay?” I grabbed the shirt and sat next to her on the ground. She cried as I helped her change.

A few minutes later, Kim and I were lying comfortably in the hotel bed. I had carried Kim over; she was too sick to walk on her own. Her head lied against my chest as she continued to cry softly from her terrible stomach ache.
“I’m sorry I don’t have anything for your stomach, hun,” I held her hand as she lied against me. “Is there anything else I could do for you?”
“N-no…” she sobbed as her stomach growled at her in pain. “I just w-want to be by y-you…”
“Consider it done,” I kissed the top of her head as we lied together on the bed. Her body shook as she continued to cry. In less than 10 minutes, she was out like a light.

Unfortunately, sleep didn’t come to me as easily as it did for Kim. I lied awake for a couple hours, but it seemed more like an eternity. When I finally did fall asleep, I was soon woken up by the sound of coughing.
“Are you okay, Kim?” my voice shrilled as I began to wake up. “Kim, can you hear me?”
The coughing continued, but I had no answer otherwise. My heart skipped a beat as I thought of the possibility of her choking to death. I immediately stood up and grabbed Kim by the arm. I started the Heimlich, but soon realized she wasn’t choking; something else was wrong. I laid her back on the bed, and started CPR to see if it was a shortness of breath. The coughing continued still. My mind was in shambles as I panicked. I quickly put my pants on, and grabbed Kim off the bed.

As I walked into the hallway, I immediately knocked on Cid and Cloud’s room across from ours. Cloud answered seconds later. He must not have been able to sleep either.
“Vince? What’s wrong?” Cloud could sense the fear in me.
“Something’s happening to Kim,” I was short of breath. “I-I’m gunna take her to the nearest hospital. Can you get our stuff out of our room, and check us out?”
“Yes, of course!” Cloud quickly put his coat jacket on. “Get going. I’ll wake up Cid and we’ll follow soon. Which hospital are you going to?”
“The one we passed coming into town!” I said as I ran for the staircase. “Be safe!”
“You too,” Cloud quietly yelled as he rushed back into the room.