Blame The Weeds (gxg)

23

Time was water, and right then, it was a frozen lake. I was trapped beneath the ice, suspended in the cold, with nothing to do but float in the blackness.

"Last one, I promise. Tilt your head up for me, hon. Perfect. Right there." Nurse Bimal pierced her needle through the skin of my temple. "Quite the gash," she hummed, breath touching my cheek.

"Intensive care," I said. "Lukas Stefan Hoffmann. We were brought in together."

"Hon, can you tell me how this happened again?" She pointed to my head. I brought a hand to my skull—to the pounding ache.

"I fainted and... cracked my head on a rock," I whispered. Nurse Bimal swiped something cool over my wound. "I need to get to the intensive care unit."

"Remember what we told you? His parents aren't authorizing visitors."

"Parents," I whispered.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hoffmann, hon. His mother and father."

"You called them?" I asked. She fussed with a bandage and tape. "What time is it?"

Bimal stepped back, staring at me with a pinched brow.

"It's past noon." Her voice echoed inside the small white room.

Hours. It'd been hours without any word.

"I need to get to the intensive care unit," I said. Bimal frowned at my appearance—the blood that speckled the front of my pretty white dress. I didn't care. The blood was only mine.

I didn't remember getting to the hospital. Not the ride, not the paramedics. I didn't remember being checked for a concussion. But all those things had happened.

Bimal set a hand on my arm. "I still have to call a member of your family, hon. Can you give me the contact information now?" she asked. Mechanically, I rounded off my father's phone number. She thanked me and opened the door. "Come with me." I stepped off the bed, swaying on my feet. She was there to catch me, then we left.

White hallway. Left. White hallway. Right. A waiting room.

"I need to get to the ICU," I said.

"You wait here, yeah? We'll be in touch with your dad." Bimal brought me to a vacant corner of the room. "I'll grab you after," she said, and then she was gone.

I set my head against the wall, wrapping my arms around my ribs. The rest of the chairs were mostly empty, but there were a few small families with cuts and bruises. Some crying. Some sleeping.

The Hoffmanns were here in this place, and soon, my parents.

They never should have left. Any of them.

~

I came back to consciousness at the sound of Gabrielle's voice. When I opened my eyes, she was crouched in front of me in her green dress and a coat with a tentative smile. Behind her stood my father with his worried eyes trained on my forehead. Rue was at his side, touching a gold medal hanging around her neck, the cross right above it.

"Hey, honey," Gabrielle said gently. "We got a call that you'd fallen."

"You're covered in blood," my dad stated. Gabrielle turned back to throw him a look.

"She fell, Enzo."

"She needs a shower, Gabs." He adjusted the collar of his shirt. "Let's go home."

But Rue stepped forward. "Kareena, where's Luke."

Gabrielle straightened at her daughter's detached tone. "Sweetheart? What's that got to do—"