Her Road|Book 2|

Day 39|II

The downside of being in hospital: time. Well, time with your thoughts.

Obviously, I had no phone or anything but if I did, I doubt I'd be on it. Doctor Megan had made it pretty clear that the subject Harry would cause me some sort of stress which could worsen my condition. It was ironic though, since now I was only thinking and worrying about him.

It was a bitter pill to swallow. Having the memory of the amazing, unsuspecting date I found myself on but not what happened and what got me there. But the real pill was the thoughts of not having done enough. Did I worry about him? Stress about him? Did I help? Did I somehow cause this? So many questions with zero answers.

Even worse, no one would tell me anything. I didn't expect anything from my parents in the first place though.

One good thing was my friends coming to visit. Annabeth, Cass, Shana, London and even Bran. Jessica. All visited to make sure I was okay and doing better. Not well. Better. It wasn't something I was expecting.

I had had friends back in Charringfall but, excluding Célia, it was... Superficial. All about the vibes and having fun. Nothing really too deep and too personal but this was different. They all knew me. Maybe not deep in my history or something like that, but definitely in feelings and connection. In such a short time, we'd spent lifetimes together.

"You were told not to speak about Harry?" It sounded like a sentence but I was asking a question.

Annabeth nodded. She looked a lot like my parents, tired. Dead on her feet. I couldn't tell if that was for me or Harry.

"We're all worried about you. Obviously. No use making it worse." She smiled, trying to be reassuring.

I sighed and played with my fingers. "Doctor Megan. Is that a townie thing or you actually know her?"

"Both." She answered.

I stared up at the ceiling, running each memory through my mind, when Doctor Megan walked in. Harry holding my hand, the rush of the vehicles as they passed on the strip, the warmth from the old lanterns strung up on the trees.

The good doctor looked around the room, her short hair whipping about. "Your parents not here?"

"My mom went for some food." I answered automatically, having answered almost every question anyone had up until then automatically. "My dad went home for clothes for both of them. Neither want to leave my side again. At least, at least not for long, anyways."

She nodded before walking out again. She shortly returned with a wheelchair and a nonchalant look. "Let's take a walk."

So long as we were breaking the rules safely, I bet she told herself. As long as I didn't move or exert myself in any way, Megan was fine with chucking her title away.

The hallways blurred together. The flat, strangely blue tiles passed under my wheelchair's wheels. We must've been on a high floor as whenever I was able to, I took a peak out to the night sky of Ridgeway through a patient's room.

Finally we reached a room and my heart sank slowly into the darkest of places. My hand immediately pressed against the window as tears streamed down my cheeks.

This room had a massive window with two neutral curtains pushed open, in case the patient needed privacy. For now though it was a quick access for doctors and nurses alike to do a quick checkup on Harry.

He laid perfectly still, leads leading to the IV and other machinery, a tube in his mouth. The fluorescent lighting highlighted his pale, deathly figure. A blue hospital blanket was wrapped tightly around him but provided no warmth to me. I could see there was something large underneath it too, possibly a cast or something supporting him. The worst was the collar around his neck.

"Harry..." I choked out. All the guilt from before piled on but there was more, from another source.

The urgency in his muscles, emptiness in his angry gaze, the little thunders that ran out as my body was thrown side to side. I gripped my head as it all flooded back.

"We had to put him under, understandably." Megan explained, not even gazing in my direction. Only in his. "Considering he just got out of the hospital for a head injury."

The image of the ugly wound flashed through my mind. It made it even worse as I shut my eyes. How could I be so selfish? To not even think of him at all during everything? How could I lay for a day and forget that he had just gotten out of the hospital?

"Alice." Megan's hand rested on my shoulder as I forced my eyes open, her face the picture of genuine sympathy. "It's okay. Life isn't a fairytale. We are selfish beings... In terrible situations we can only worry about what we can control. I don't blame you and I know he won't."

"How do you know? What I'm thinking, what he'd think! I just- I just..." My eyes moved back to him but she stopped me.

"I know because it takes something pretty horrible and amazing to worry about anything but yourself." This time she looked at him as I stared at her, trying to figure out what she meant. "To have been through that and survived. Lived to tell the tale."