TROUBLE MAGNET - Completed

Chapter 3 - Day From Hell

Chapter 3 - Day From Hell

Once we arrive at the hospital I'm wheeled into the emergency ward where I am instantly engulfed in the overwhelming smell of antiseptic. They lift me from the stretcher up onto a cold bed in a big room with five other empty beds. A no-nonsense nurse pulls a curtain around my area for privacy and leaves a hospital gown for me to change into. It takes longer than I think it should and I have to keep dropping my head down to allow the spinning to slow to a tolerable speed.

The nurse has no patience and ends up not so gently helping me into the banana yellow gown. She quickly folds up my clothes and places them on the little bedside table. She helps me up onto the bed and then leaves without a word.

I carefully crawl under the cold, cotton sheet and tug the thin blue blanket up to my neck. I try hard to hold off another round of dry heaves. I still can't get warm and so can't stop shivering. Broom Hilda - the nurse comes back and draws three tubes of blood from my right arm and then puts an IV in my left. I ask her if she knows where Trace is. She doesn't know who I'm talking about, but says she'll see if there is a Trace out in the Waiting Room.

A few minutes later she comes back with Trace in tow. She directs him to the only chair in my curtained off area. He sits quickly and looks relieved to be out of her way. When the nurse finally leaves, I glance over at him feeling a little shy now that I am laying here wearing only a thin fruit-colored gown. I figure the bright hospital lights aren't doing me any favors either. I clutch my hands together nervously. He must think I'm such an idiot.

He nods his head at me and says, "Hey."

"Hey" I answer back softly, clutching the blue blanket close to my chest. "I'm so sorry Trace for dragging you into all of this," I confess quickly, not being totally truthful, because I can't imagine being here without him.

"Don't worry about it," he says as he shrugs his shoulders.

Now that he's sitting this close and I'm actually looking at him from an upright position, I have to admit he's very handsome - like stunningly so. His hair is dark and shiny and just the perfect amount of messy and his teeth are so white in comparison those dark locks... and oh, good grief he's caught me staring. I flick my head away but not before catching Trace's devilish little half smile.

My eyes move to the lovely water stained ceiling above my bed, effectively allowing my blush-inflamed cheeks to calm - not really a good look on me. After a few minutes of silently wringing my hands together, Trace clears his throat; an obvious sign that I'm boring the hell out of him. I realize I have to come up with something to say, before things get too awkward. "Ah... I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get home," I groan, perhaps a little too dramatically. "When my Ma finds out about all of this...," I point my finger at myself and make a little circular motion to the room around me. "Mmm..," I moan again for effect. Then for good measure I add, "This has truly been a day from hell." Okay maybe a little over the top.

"You call your mother 'Ma'?" Trace's asks me with his eyebrows raised.

Really? All that moaning and groaning and that's what he comes away with? I let out a big sigh. He must think I sound like some small town hick. "Yeah ... I do call her 'ma'. I know it's weird." Normally I'd defend my habit of using unique nicknames, but I'm just not up to it.

"It sounds kind of Hillbillyish, that's all," Trace says bluntly. His right sneaker taps to a silent rhythm.

"It's not Hillbillyish," I insist. "I just like to be different." I see his eyes narrow, but instead of going into more detail, I lay back, re-examine the water stains and decide to let it go at that. No way am I telling him what I call my father or my brother. "Do you have any sisters or brothers," I ask hoping to change the subject.