Boudoir Secrets

Chapter 98

Sharline tried to open her eyes but a stabbing pain forced them shut again. A cry of agony escaped her lips and someone in the foggy distance yelled, "She's alive!" After what seemed an eternity, ambulance sirens pierced the silent night and she felt, more than she heard, the commotion about her. Everything was hazy before she passed out again.

The next time she attempted to open her eyes, lights blinded her and she winced in pain. The smell of hospital was all about her and she felt safe.  No one could hurt her here.

"Can I get you to open your eyes?" a man asked softly as he lifted her wrist to test her pulse.

Ever so slowly, Sharline raised her lids, forcing her eyes to adjust to the unnatural light.

"Good. Now, can we try moving your fingers?" requested the doctor.

Once again she tried to obey and eventually completed the task, after a couple of attempts. Her voice was still locked away and try as she might, not a sound would come out.

"Try not to talk. You have experienced a great trauma and so you may not be able to talk for a while. Rest. You are safe here. If you need anything, just press this buzzer," he said, handing her a metal cylinder.

Sharline nodded, tears running down her cheeks,

"Your friend is having an emergency operation. He's had a few ruptures of his internal organs and has had serious bleeding. We will notify you as soon as we know his condition."

Sharline nodded again and this time, tears of relief chased the other tears away. She wasn't sure she wanted him dead, she still loved him but she wasn't sure she wanted him alive either.

The doctor walked away and in rushed a nurse. She fiddled with the nobs on her drip and patted her bed. She looked over the chart and administered some drug or other into the drip that was connected to her arm. Shaking her head, the matronly old maid spat, "If you young girls didn't dress the way you did, this kind of thing would never happen." Checking the charts once more, she wrote something down and walked away.

Sharline's clothing was folded on a chair to her left, that sat beneath a window sill.

Dawn.

More tears flowed as she dwelled on what the nurse said. Yes. It was her fault. She encouraged the buffoons. If only she had played nicely with Paul! She may now be home already and in Frank's embrace rather than stuck in a hospital, with no way of notifying anyone of her whereabouts.