Shattered

Chapter 5 Kristin

"Progress takes away, what forever took to find." Dave Matthews Band

Kristin was agitated. It had been nearly an hour since her parents and brother had left her room following the interrogation from Detective Jones. Bradley was somewhere in the same hospital. Kristin wasn't sure the extent of her sister's injuries, but her parents had indicated that she had a severe reaction to whatever drugs were in her system and there were some scary moments.

Both of Kristin's lower legs and ankles were wrapped from the knee down. She was in pain, but had been assured neither leg was broken. Her injuries, along with the details of the night were a mystery. The last thing she remembered was kissing Phil while sitting on his lap, consuming her second beer, after they had sex for the first time. Even the details prior to that last memory were hazy. She remembered making love to Phil, but couldn't remember how it began or any specific details.

"Hello?" she called into the empty space. There was no response. She fumbled for the nurse's button and pressed it three times in a row.

A male nurse with scruffy brown facial hair came in the room almost immediately. "What do you need, sweetie?"

"Are my parents around?"

He nodded. "They're in your sister's room."

Her stomach sank. Of course they were with Bradley. "Can I go? I just need to be with my family right now."

"Sure," he beamed waving his hand in the air with dramatic flair. "Let's just break all the rules tonight." He went in the hall and returned a minute later with a large navy blue wheelchair." He pressed a button, lowering Kristin's bed and grabbed a clean blanket from the cabinet. "Your backside might get a little cold." He opened the blanket, covering the seat, helped her into the chair and wrapped the remaining material around her small body.

He wheeled her into the hallway and was flagged down by a woman at the nurse's station. He pushed her hurriedly towards the counter. "Don't go anywhere," he laughed and quickly disappeared around the corner leaving her against the front of the counter.

There was a man in scrubs at the elevator bank pushing the down button irately. His arms were strong, his body tight, defined by the fitting scrubs that clung to his body. Kristin smoothed her hair and licked her lips. A hot doctor could improve her dismal time in the hospital.

"Excuse me?" she called out smiling.

He quickly turned around as the elevator doors opened in front of him. To her surprise, as much as his, it was Mark Harber. She could feel his steel eyes staring through her soul, before he leapt in the elevator.

"Your sister's boyfriend is one yummy guy," the nurse said behind her.

"Her what?" Kristin asked, stunned.

"Tell me that's her boyfriend. He was all holding her hand and staring at her like they shared a soul."

Kristin tugged the blanket tighter around her body, her eyes searching the hallway for Phil. If Mark was there for Bradley, where was Phil? He pushed her left, through a doorway. The room was silent and dark, except for the small light hanging on the wall over the bed. Bradley's eyes were closed, her mother draped over the lower half of her body, asleep. Her father was asleep in the vinyl covered recliner the corner, his reading glasses in his hand, hanging off the armrest. Conner was sitting on the window ledge. He peered up from his cell phone and his blue eyes locked with his sister's. The nurse wheeled her alongside Bradley's bed before leaving.

Kristin shrugged her shoulders, saddened they had all chosen to stay in Bradley's room. "Why didn't you come back to my room?" she whispered to her twin brother.