Lacuna ¹

55

Amélie's eyes fluttered open, familiar bright lights, and white walls caught her vision. She squinted through her blurry vision as the bright room was too much. Once her eyes had begun to clear her hearing began to come back, she no longer heard the ringing in her ears. Instead, it was the loud beeping of the heart monitor that was by her bed. Next to come back was the feeling of the needle with a drip in one arm while the other had another drip, pumping her with blood that she had lost, the feeling of the two needles made her wrists itchy, but she knew better than to pick at it. She could feel her body surrounded by the familiar itchy fabric of the hospital gowns.

It felt like deja vu.

She turned her head to the left, greeted by the sight of a worried Charlie. He was sitting in his police uniform, buttons were unbuttoned, and some part of the uniform were discarded. His face was pale, very little colour in it while his eyes had dark underbags and they looked puffy, like he had been crying, his hair was no better as it was scattered in every which way and looked like it hadn't been washed in a few days.

He looked horrible.

Tears couldn't help but make their way to her vision as she looked to her Uncle. The only thought that ran through Amélie's mind was 'I had made him like this'. "Z-zio..(U-uncle..)"

Charlie's head snapped up at the sound of his neices hoarse voice. His eyes met hers, and he couldn't hold the tears in any longer. Tears fell from his eyes in waves. He reached out to softly grab her left hand in his large ones. He held in softly. "Oh mia cara nipote! Tu sei sveglio! Grazie agli dei sopra! (Oh my darling neice! You are awake! Thank the Gods above!)"

"Z-zio (U-uncle)," Amélie repeatedly whispered, as if she couldn't believe she was back with him again. Many tears escaped her eyes as well.

"Ero così preoccupato (I was so worried)," He whispers out, kissing the back of her hand softly as if thanking her for being alive. "Pensavo che non ce l'avresti fatta... le infermiere avevano le loro preoccupazioni (I thought you wouldn't make it....the nurses had their worries)"

"Acqua.. per favore (Water..please)." She gasped softly, as her throat was dry and hoarse, making it painful to speak.

Charlie nodded, immediately grabbing a plastic cup and filling it up with the water from the tap in the bathroom. Filling the cup halfway. He was quick to come back afraid to leave Amélie alone in the room. Once he made his way back over to her with the cup of water, he held it to her lips, letting her take small sips only. Once she signalled that she was done, he placed the cup on the small desk next to her hospital bed. Charlie quickly grasped her hand in his again, as if she would disappear if he didn't.

The quiet was nice for a moment. Amélie's brows furrowed, her mind still in a daze. "Q-quello che è successo? (W-what happened?)"

Charlie closed his eyes for a moment, as if reliving the moment he got the horrific call about his beloved neice in hospital. "Carlisle mi ha chiamato dall'ospedale, ha detto che hai avuto un brutto incidente che includeva... Bella. Ha detto che dopo che ti avevo chiamato per informarti di quello che aveva fatto tu l'hai seguita cercando di convincerla a tornare a casa. Hai scoperto che stava in un hotel a Phoenix, l'hai inseguita e l'hai sorpresa mentre saliva le scale, le hai preso il braccio per farla finalmente parlare ma lei... ti ha spintonato, forte. Sei caduto dalle scale schiantandoti contro una finestra ma Benedict è riuscito a prenderti prima che cadessi. È rimasta ferita solo la parte superiore del corpo, in particolare l'addome, dove c'era un pezzo di vetro conficcato (Carlisle called me from the hospital, he said that you had been in a bad accident that included..Bella. He said that after I had called informing you about what she had done, you went after her, trying to convince her to come back home. You found she was staying in a hotel up in Phoenix, you went after her and you caught her going up the stairs, you caught her arm to finally catch her to talk but she....she shoved you, hard. You fell down the stairs crashing into a window, but Benedict managed to catch you before you fell through. Only the top part of your body was injured, especially your abdomen. You had a piece of glass lodged there)"