Can a person find happiness when all they've known in life is pain?
Can a single father and his daughter show her that there is more to life than torment?
Will she be able to leave her past behind?
I force myself to open my eyes. I squint and blink, adjusting to the bright lights. What happened? Am I dead?
Oh, no, I'm just in the hospital.
My eyes hurt, my head hurts. I feel pressure on my chest that prevents me from breathing properly. I'm taking small, short breaths like when you've been running for a while and you feel like you can't get enough oxygen into your lungs.
I try to take a deep breath and end up coughing so hard it feels like my lungs will come out of my mouth. My chest hurts horribly.
Harry peeks his head in the doorway and rushes to me.
"Harry," I try to say a whole sentence but my voice is barely audible. My throat hurts when I try to speak again, it's just a wheezing sound that comes out.
Harry sits on the stool next to the bed, taking my hand in one hand and brushing the hair out of my face with the other. "Hey, it's okay. Don't talk, it'll hurt for a few days." He reaches over to a bedside table and picks up a small whiteboard and marker, handing them to me. "Leilani had this idea that you could use this to communicate while you get your voice back."
I smile slightly, taking the cap off the marker and writing "What happened?", then showing him the board.
He lets out a long sigh, looking down and running his fingers through his hair. "Leilani's school was on fire and you went in to save her. You ended up passing out from smoke inhalation." Flashes of the event come back to mind. "The doctor said your airways and vocal cords are a little swollen, that's why you're having trouble breathing and speaking." He looks at me, his eyes are sad. "You have some burns on your arms, luckily they're not bad at all."
I swallow. Is Leilani okay? I write.
"Yeah, she's okay. Thanks to you, Ava. You saved her." His eyes get watery and he tries to blink back the tears. "I don't know how I'll ever repay you. I'm eternally grateful."
A tear escapes his eye and rolls down his cheek. I wipe it away with my thumb. "I'm sorry I couldn't get you out faster, Ava." His voice is laced with regret and sadness.
I frown and shake my head, quickly writing, Harry, don't be sorry. You saved me. I show it to him and he offers a sad smile. I want to write so many things more but I'm getting frustrated that I can't write any faster and I can't say them.
He takes my hand again and kisses the back of it. "You'll be out tomorrow. I'll take you home, is that okay?" I nod and mouth "thank you". He lets me know that Aurora and Charles came by this morning and all day yesterday. "I tried contacting Evan but he hasn't called or texted back. I'm sorry."
I nod and thank him again with a smile, even though it feels like someone punched my heart.
I mean, he does have games and practices so he probably barely has time to look at his phone.
I start writing again. "Where's Leilani?"
"She's with my aunt outside, want me to bring her in?" he asks. I nod, smiling.
Harry stands up and walks outside for a couple of minutes then comes back in with Leilani. She runs to me and uses the stool Harry was sitting on to get up on the bed. She hugs me and Harry tells her to be careful.
"Ava! You're okay, Ava! I was so scared, you weren't waking up and you weren't moving and I saw you on the floor passed out and and and I was so scared I thought you died," she takes a deep breath, and tears start falling from her eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't walk out with my classmates and you had to go in, I'm sorry," she sobs, her cheeks turn red as she cries and I notice a small burn on her chin.
I hold her tight, and whisper, "it's okay," in her ear. She sobs into the crook of my neck, and I caress her hair to calm her down as much as I can.
Once she's calmed down, she lays next to me on the bed while Harry takes his previous seat on the stool. I take the boards and marker and take some minutes to write something for Leilani.
Sweetie, you don't have to apologize. I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. You're a big part of my life and I had to get you out of there.
I show her the board and she reads it. I notice a few more tears fall down her cheeks and she nuzzles her face in my arm. "I love you, Ava," she whimpers.
I kiss the top of her head and wipe her tears. "I love you more, Leilani," I say, ignoring the pain in my throat.
We turn on the TV in the room and watch some cartoons with Leilani for some time. Then, a nurse walks in and checks on me, writing things down on the clipboard and letting me know she'll be back with my dinner in a few minutes. I smile at her and Harry thanks her for me before she leaves. Leilani ends up falling asleep next to me and Harry tells me he'll take her to the car so his aunt can take her to her house.
When Harry leaves with Leilani in his arms, I change the channels on the TV and leave it on The Office reruns.
I reach for my phone and check my messages. I have some messages from Aurora and Charles saying to please text them back when I wake up, which now that I've seen them, I do. I text them back on our group chat and let them know that I'm awake and feeling like shit but still alive.
I go check my calls, just to see if Evan called and maybe Harry missed it, but I only see five calls made from my phone to Evan. I go back to my messages and see that Harry sent a few texts explaining what happened and giving Evan his phone number so he could contact him just in case. I notice that the texts have Read 8:34 PM, meaning he read them last night.
Oh.
I turn off my phone and leave it on the bedside table again. The nurse comes in and she brings me food and another tray for Harry. I thank her and she walks out just as Harry comes back in.
"She brought you some food, too," I tell him, pointing at the tray on the bedside table.
He sits on the stool and takes the tray. "That's nice of her. The food doesn't look great, though. How is it?"
"It's not bad," I shrug, taking a bite of what I assume to be turkey.
"It looks like what they serve at Leilani's school for Thanksgiving," he chuckles, scooping some of the mashed potatoes. "But it has less flavor."
I laugh and we continue eating and watching TV. The nurse comes back and takes the trays of food, checks on me some more, and I end up falling asleep a few minutes after that.
~~~
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Hola, mis amores! (I sounded like a mom saying that but idc) Here I bring you Chapter 22, (finally). I'm sorry that it took so long but I just couldn't bring myself to write anything, and I had zero ideas. I hope you enjoy it, there's not much content in it, but I'm still proud of it because I actually forced myself to write something and finished it. Hopefully my creativity starts coming back. Anywhore, I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you for being so patient ❤️ Thank you for reading and for waiting for me, y'all are the best ❤️ P.s.~ Sorry for any typos and errors ~Amy ✨
