I'd Kill You First: when bad meets bad

Chap. 37

SODA:

I woke up.

But my eyes wouldn't open.

My arms wouldn't move.

My lungs wouldn't work.

Aching pain, dull but present, filled my senses, making me grimace. I couldn't remember where I was. How long had I been asleep? What was that funny smell? This didn't feel like the sheets of my bed back home. I wasn't at home...

"I think she's waking up!"

My heart skipped a beat, and the room went silent as something off to my left beeped out of pattern in an annoying way.

"Don't freak her out," another voice scolded, but I could hear something like anxious hope in their tone.

"Go... go call Keenon, he would want to be here."

"Do you think that's best? All of us being here at once?"

"Oh... I don't know..."

"Should we just get the nurses and let them handle it?"

"Not a chance. She'll freak out if she doesn't recognize anything."

"Her hand is moving, Matt."

"That's because she's waking up, Brody," came a sarcastic reply. I wanted to smile so bad, but it wouldn't work. Matt was here. When had he come to town? And why was my brother here? I thought he was on the coast...

Who's Keenon?

I tried to shift my weight on the bed but pain shot through me and I winced, making the room go quiet.

"Call him, now."

That was Brody. I knew his voice anywhere. Who was 'him'?

"Alright, but you know how he's been lately."

"I know, Matt! Just freaking call him!"

I yanked my eyes open at the yelling and blinked once, then twice.

A hospital.

Why was I in a hospital?

No. I can't be here. What happened? Where am I? Why am I hooked to tubes and machines? I'm fine! I have no reason to be here!

I looked at Matt and felt my heart clench. He looked plain awful. He had rough stubble covering his jaw and his eyes looked worn and hollow. He no longer stood tall and proud, his shoulders sort of slumped and defeated. But most of all, his beautiful blue eyes had lost their shine. My beautiful, spirited fighter. What happened to you?

I looked slowly over at Brody and almost sobbed. He had dark circles under his eyes and stubble like Matt's. He hung limp where he stood with his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. He looked old and tired, but it was the frown lines on his face that disheartened me the most. Where had my happy, joking, go-lucky big brother gone, and could I please get him back?

Before anyone said anything, the door opened to my room very slowly. After a minute of silence, a tall, muscular, handsome guy with piercing green eyes and a strong jaw cautiously stepped in. We locked eyes instantly, and I could practically see his heart pounding in his chest from where I was. He licked his lips as if his mouth had gone dry and his eyes darted around the room before he looked back at me.

"Soda?" He said so softly I barely heard it, and I frowned. I didn't know this man. How did he know my name?

"Princess, look at me."

After about a minute of trying not to panic, I obeyed and looked up at Matt, who was staring at me with his ever calculating eyes. We held eye contact for an eternity, something Matt always did with me when he wanted to figure me out. After a long while, his eyes widened ever so slightly, not enough for most people to notice, but I caught it, and he gulped. Matt was afraid? My Matt was never afraid of anything. What changed?

He looked over at the other two men in the room and shook his head with a devastated expression. "She... She doesn't remember."

The room remained silent, and I just didn't understand what was going on, but my throat wouldn't allow any words out. I couldn't ask anything. I was stuck.

"Wh-what?" The man by the door mumbled, eyes boring into me like fireballs.

"She doesn't remember?" Brody repeated with a confused edge in his voice. "How did that even happen? What doesn't she remember? Does she know who I am?"

Matt looked pained, afraid, and confused as well as he shrugged, then looked back at me. "Soda, I know everything hurts, but I need you to help me for a minute, okay baby? Look at the man to your right. Do you know who that is?"

As stiff as my neck was, I looked over at Brody again and managed a slight nod. I watched him visibly relax and sigh with relief.

"Okay," Matt said, so I looked back at him. "Do you know me?" I could feel the tension in him from where I was as he asked, so I quickly nodded. He let out a breath and gave me a small smile. "Thank God."

Both men looked over at the one still frozen by the door and Matt asked, "Do you know him?"

I furrowed my brows. Was I supposed to know him? Did I know him and not remember, like Matt said? How could I remember Matt and Brody and not this man?

As my silence wore on, the man at the door paled steadily, swallowing harshly every ten seconds or so while uneasily shifting his feet. I had to finally shake my head at them, frowning as I did so.

Everyone seemed to just freeze.

"You- you don't know Keenon?" Matt stuttered out, a look of shock and something like panic on his face.

I shook my head once, eyes looking this Keenon over. Nothing about him was familiar except his green eyes, but not even they brought up a memory. I simply didn't know him.

Holy... I didn't know him... And I was obviously supposed to know him... Why didn't I know him? How much had I forgotten? Why was I even here? Why couldn't I remember?

I felt my heart squeeze painfully, and the machine to my left starting beeping faster. I didn't remember.

Matt was the first to react. "Get the doctor, Keenon!"

The man by the door broke from his daze and bolted out the door. I felt my head pound. I didn't remember.

"Soda, baby, take a breath, please, it's gonna be okay."

I looked at Matt, but the expression in his eyes didn't match what he was saying. He was scared.

The door flung open and people in white ushered the men out of the room, much to my great distress, and began touching and poking and speaking to me. I flailed against their arms, catching one in the face.

"She's gonna hurt herself!" one of them yelled, "Sedate her."

"But she just came out of the-"

"I said sedate her! It will all be for nothing if she re-breaks that leg."

Something stuck me in the arm, and I floated back into black clouds.