Zoe’s POV
The world was swallowed in darkness, no light in sight. It was suffocating. I could hear a beeping sound somewhere not too far away. I flexed my fingers and felt them move. I searched through the dark for light again and slowly my kids started to open. Light flooded in, blinding me. I groaned as I tried to turn my head away from the light. Pain tore through me with my attempt. My head was pounding and my throat felt like it was someone else’s. I tried again to open my eyes but even slower this time. The illumination was slightly more bearable now. My eyes watered from the stimulation. I closed them again and tried using my ears.
The beeping around me was now closer, it was coming from behind me.
Where was I? Why did my whole body ache as I walked through hell? Then it flashed through my head. The fire, the smoke, mum, Andy… It hit me too hard and I suddenly found it hard to breathe again. I had really walked through hell but where was everyone? Did they all make it? Why was it so quiet everywhere? I attempted to open my eyes again and despite the brightness that threatened to make my brain implode, I did it. I took in my surroundings. Everywhere was white and clean looking. I was in a hospital. Without turning my head, I looked around to find nobody else.
I tried getting up but my body groaned in resistance. I felt cold and hot at the same time. I tried to access my body and looked down. My legs were wrapped in bandages from the toes to the knee. My arms also had heavy bandages. I probably looked like a mummy.
The door finally swung open and in walked a nurse. She looked pleased to see me staring straight at her. “You are awake,” She walked to me and did something to the IV connected to my arm. She walked out again and when she came back, she did so with a middle-aged man with thinning hair.
“Can you talk?” He asked
I nodded slightly.
He walked up to me with a little flashlight. He flashed it into my eyes and started to ask me questions. “What is your name?”
“Zoe Carter,” I croaked
“Your age?”
I gave him what he needed and they took my vitals. Before they left, “Where are they? My family?”
The doctor gave me a light smile that exposed nothing. “They are alright but they cannot see you right now.” He answered.
“Is it bad?” I asked, my heart was running a marathon.
“They will be alright dear and thanks to you your little brother is still with us.” He supplied.
My eyes blurred with tears from emotion for the first time and not from stress. Regina and mum got out ahead of us so they were definitely in a better condition. “Thank you,” I said
“You are welcome dear,” He told me as he left with the nurse tailing him.
A while later, the same nurse opened the door and peeked in, “You have a visitor,” She told me, “She’s been here for a while but she’s not sure you want to see her.”
She? I wondered who it could possibly be. My thoughts immediately went to Sandra. “Tell her to come in,”
The nurse did as I had asked and soon Sandra opened the door to my room. She halted at the entrance, not daring to take another step. Her hair was rough and she looked like she had not slept in days. It made me wonder how long I had been unconscious.
I smiled weakly at her and gave her the confidence to walk towards me. “Zoe…” Her voice cracked a bit as she stroked my hair gently. “How are you feeling?”
“Battered but good,”
She chuckled a bit and her features became solemn again. We were both quiet as continued to stroke my hair, her eyes downcast. “I know that this will never be enough after all that I have done to you but,” She looked into my eyes. “I am so sorry,”
I gulped in a bid to make sure she would hear me. “I forgive you and I understand that you must have not really had a choice but…” I coughed but continued. “Can you tell me something?”
“Anything,” She promised.
“Did you ever see me as a friend? Why didn’t you come to see me?”
“Of course I did!” She almost shouted. “You were the first person that made me feel like I was worth their time and energy, you saved my sister.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I am so sorry, I was such a coward for not coming to see you but Louis…”
“Louis? What did he do?” The mention of his name put me on edge immediately.
She gulped, “He told me not to come to see you or he would let the girls know that I was on a scholarship.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked, confused.
“I don’t know…”
The door suddenly swung open and it almost fell out of its hinges. “Zoe…” Regina entered the room and called out my name with a ragged breath.
She had bandages on her body but her injuries did not look as bad as mine. She sprinted as anyone with injuries would to me and hugged me as best as she could without making me grimace in pain. “Thank God, you are okay, I thought you would never wake up.” She said in relief against my hair. She was weeping quietly into it.
This was the most emotion that I had ever gotten out of her. “Where are Andy and mum?” I asked.
I felt her body shudder at my question, she pulled away. She looked away from me and my heart dropped at the possibility of what might have happened. The doctor had lied to me.
“Zoe," Her tears fell faster. "Mum and Andy are gone."
YOU ARE READING
Craving For Her
Romance"You are nothing but a whore like your mother!" He had snarled and left her with crutches in the rain. That was the last thing he had said to her years ago. Now she was back in his life as his secretary... or was she? **** After a high school relati...
