The heartbeats

Chapter 1

>Abbie:

Today is my birthday, I am finally 18 years old. I wanted to go out with my boyfriend, Christian, and my friends but I ended up going out with my parents. This is my last night as a teenager and I want to spend it with my parents. I have all my life to go out with my friends when I don't know how many years I have left with my parents so I enjoy it as much as I can. My parents promised me that it will be the best night we will spend together. I think they intend to keep their word because we just arrived at the nightclub. Great!
"Beautiful?" I'm looking at my parents,
"happy birthday, you're finally 18 years old" my mother told me,
"you grew up so fast" my father kisses me then he continues "but you will remain our little girl".
My mother looks at him, smiles at him and then places her hands on mine "until eternity".
My tears are starting to appear but I hold them back. "We love you more than anything in the world darling", they told me together, my father wipes the tear that escaped by smiling at me his famous little smile, which I think is my mother's favorite.
"Come my pretty, we're going to dance" my mother grabs my hand and without even realizing it I'm on the dance floor. We dance, again and again, each of us has a smile on her face.
"Do you allow me to dance with you ladies?" Finally, my father decides to join us. I think he was staring at my mother's beautiful smile and her beauty.
"Of course, my love!" My mother answers him by kissing him.
Christian comes to mind, I have always wanted a love story like that of my parents. They fell in love with each other in college, they encountered a lot of problems with my grandparents that I don't even know since they decided not to talk to my parents anymore if they got married. And it's the same for the rest of the family, but my parents have always talked about them, in the good sense of the word. But they chose to get married anyway. They dance together and I look at them. They look at each other, their look is full of passion, love, happiness. Their gaze is so powerful that we can believe that a star will be born. They have finished dancing, my father holds my mother's hand by one hand and mine by his other hand, he makes us dance for a good time. I bring them closer to me "I love you too", they kiss my forehead in turn.

I'm lying on the floor. I don't see them anymore. I don't hear them laughing anymore. I can only hear the beats of my heart that are gradually weakening. A few seconds later, I wake up in the hospital. My chest hurts a lot and I can't remember what happened last night. A nurse ended up coming,
"you woke up, great, I was starting to worry"
what? Why? Since when have I been here? Where are my parents?
"Why? And where are my parents?" I whisper.
She takes her time before answering me, her gaze stresses me, it is filled with pity, and worries. She decides to answer me,
"Well, about three days ago, we brought you here, with a bullet in your body, this bullet was close to your heart, we were all surprised that you were still alive. The doctor will talk to you later. And because of the meds you slept for three days," she ends.
It explains why my chest hurts but not why my parents are not there. I ask her again, but she immediately answered me,
"when you arrived, we were told that two other people were also touched but they couldn't do anything for them".
The pain in my chest accumulates, it doubles or even triples. My breathing is accelerating. Tears are starting to flow by themselves,
"you... you are... sure that... that... are my par... parents?" I ask with a breaking voice. I can barely speak.
"Your parents are Daniel and Hailey Ridley, aren't they?" I cover my face with my hands. My voice breaks completely "yes" I whisper.
"All my condolences, I will leave you alone for a while," she told me before leaving the room. I keep crying, it's been three hours now and my tears are still flowing. The nurse resurfaces, she gets closer to the infusion foot and... and, nothing more, I fell asleep, I presume.

I'm starting to wake up. An elderly man, wearing a doctor's clothes, stands in front of me,
"Hello Miss Ridley! How are you?" He asks me with a very wide but sexy smile on his face.
"Mhmm" I mumble, I can't speak under the effects of sleeping pills. The nurse enters the room with a file in her hand, she lends it to the doctor who I still don't know his name and then stands next to the bed.
"Your constants are good. But there are things that will have to be avoided for your health and that of your heart" he tells me by raising his eyes from this file and placing it on the table, he continues,
"you must not expose yourself to cigarette smoking, in other words carbon monoxide or any other product that can contain this chemical material because it will affect your breathing which will have consequences on your heart" for that it's easy, I don't smoke and I hate it,
"you must also avoid physical exertion because it can lead to an opening of the injury or other much more serious accidents than this can occur. So for the sake of your heart avoid physical exertion, carbon monoxide, anything that can harm your breathing and of course alcohol," he ends.
I have been dancing since my childhood, dancing is my whole life. How am I going to stop?
"Oh yes, I almost forgot, I will prescribe you medication, you can take them when you leave the hospital tomorrow," I expire and thank him.
He comes out of the room and slams the door behind him. Wait what? Am I going out tomorrow? I plunge my head into my pillow by closing my eyes.
"We opened your mobile phone to contact one of your family members but we found none, so we contacted the last person you spoke with. And she will be there in a few moments," the nurse informs me before going out.

———————————————————————————
Don't forget to comment and vote !!