Slow Me Down

Chapter 45

Just as Foster makes it to Claudia and starts to explain himself, tires fighting against the pavement can be heard. Some couple in a fiat are bickering, headed straight towards them. Neither of them is aware of this, and both are too focused on the present conversation. Foster opens his mouth to say something to Claudia. Just as he does this, the tiny vehicle crashes into him. 

He is on the ground. His eyes are open, and his breathing is shallow. Blood starts pooling around him. The couple exit the car. The girl is screaming her head off while the boy is trying to get a hold of an ambulance. C is staring at him. She collapses to her knees next to him. Her hand searches for his. She finds it and holds on as tight as she can. She is about to lose it all. 

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Red, blue, and white lights flash in the distance. Tires screech to a halt just in front of the dying boy and the lifeless-looking girl. Paramedics load him into one truck and speed off in the direction of the nearest hospital. Another group of paramedics helps Claudia to her feet. They walk her over to a second ambulance. They check her vitals. She is okay. She is covered in blood, shaking, and unable to speak, but her body is okay.

They load her into the vehicle and head towards the hospital as well. Just in case some of her internal organs have damage. They try to ask her questions. 'What's your name? Do you have any family in the area? Do you know what happened? How do you feel?' They make it to her ears, but never further. She isn't responding. She is clearly in shock. They lay her down while they make their way closer to the hospital. 

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C opens her eyes and immediately shuts them. The harsh bright lights burn her irises. "Ow, Fuck." She sits up, eyes still closed, and feels around. This isn't her bed. The blankets are thin and itchy. The sheets are like tissue paper. The pillows are as dense as rocks. The room smells like chemicals and faint traces of some foreign metallic scent. 

She rubs her eyes and opens them again, slowly, trying not to blind herself again. She searches for anything familiar. She spots her mom in a chair next to her asleep. She isn't sure if she should wake her or just let her get her rest. A nurse walks by and checks the screen of the heart monitor. "It's good to see you up. You've been out for a while. How are you feeling?" The kind woman reaches over to check Claudia's temperature. 

"I'm fine. How long?" She mumbles, thermometer in her mouth. Her mom stirs from her sleep and opens her eyes. Shock, fear, tears, joy? What is going on? Her mom squeezes her hand, trying not to jump out of her chair and overwhelm her daughter.

"You were admitted on Friday night. It's Sunday morning now. Do you know about it?" The nurse stops, searching Claudia's eyes for any sign of understanding. 

"Know what?" C scratches her head and smiles at her mom. She feels a hollow pain in her chest. Her mouth starts to water, and she clutches her stomach. The nurse grabs the trashcan, holding it out for her. Claudia's mom pulls her hair back while she heaves into the small bin. 

"Easy now," the nurse says, rubbing C's back. C looks up from the trashcan into the nurse's eyes. "Honey, did you know that you have a fetus growing in that tiny little body of yours." Claudia heaves into the trash bin again. Once she no longer feels as if she is going to hurl, she sets the trashcan down and looks back at the nurse, nodding a yes to the question. 

She panics, she hasn't told her mom yet. How is she going to take the news? She explicitly asked us to use protection so that she didn't get grandkids. She looks over at her mom, expecting disappointment or disapproval but there is none. Her mom just continues to hold her hand, rubbing her thumb over the back of it every so often. C lays back down in bed, staring off to the side, trying to sort out the events that led her here. 

While racking her brain, trying to find answers to all of the unanswered questions she has, she finally remembers Foster. She remembers Friday night. A tear rolls down her cheek as fear and sadness fill her heart. Shortly after it's replaced with an intense worry."Where is Foster? How is he?" She shoots up out of bed. The nurse pushes her back down. 

"Easy, easy. Don't forget that you are in a hospital bed too child. If you are talking about the boy who came in before you," She pulls the curtain dividing Claudia's space from his. "He's right here. He is still asleep too. He was in bad shape when they wheeled him in. He is healing fine, but we think he might stay asleep for a while." The nurse trails off, squeezing her arm, trying to maintain her composure. 

Claudia stares at him. He has bruises and scrapes covering his arms. There are multiple stitches holding a large gash closed above his brow bone. His eyes are closed, and he doesn't look like he is in any pain. He looks peaceful. She watches him awhile longer, the nausea returning, but subsiding quickly. She holds her stomach and remembers what lead to her current situation. The father of her child is done with her. The whole school saw a compromising video of her and then Foster kissed Julia. What a mess. Instead of thinking about that, she just looks back at her mom. 

"Mom, I'm so scared. What am I supposed to do about Foster? about this?" she says as she motions to her abdomen. 

"Oh Honey. It's okay. Everything will be okay. We will figure this out. We always do. I'm here for you and Foster." Hearing his name is too much for her in this already panicked state. She just slumps over in her hospital bed, hugging herself, letting the waves of nausea come and go as tears roll down her cheeks endlessly.