Without a Trace

Chapter Two

I wake up in what feels like a bed, but it also feels unfamiliar.  I open my eyes and realize that I'm in a hospital room.  There's an IV attached to my wrist.  My mom sits in a chair next to the bed.   When Mom sees that I'm awake, her face lights up.  

"Willow!"  she exclaims.  "You're awake!"  I smile weakly.

"Hi, Mom."  She wraps me in a hug and I wince from the pain in my side.  

"I was so worried." she says when she finally releases me.  "You've been asleep for three days."  I stare at her in shock.

"Three days?!"  I exclaim. "It was that bad?"  She nods.

"They weren't sure if you would wake up or not."  She gets up from her chair.  "I'm going to go tell the nurse that you're awake."  She leaves, and I'm left alone in the room.  I suddenly feel vulnerable, being in a hospital bed.  I try to sit up, but my side hurts too much.  Suddenly, Haden walks in, holding two coffees.  When his eyes land on me, they widen, and he smiles.  He quickly places the coffees on the table and hugs me.

"Willow!"  He releases me after a moment.  "You scared the crap out of me, you know that right?" I laugh.

"Sorry." I joke.  "Next time I'll try not to get stabbed."  He rolls his eyes.

"Only you would joke about that." he says.  "How are you feeling?"

"My side hurts, but other than that I'm fine."  He suddenly looks ashamed.

"I'm sorry."  I look at him, confused.  What was he apologizing for? "I should've gotten there earlier.  If I did, you might not have gotten stabbed."  I shake my head.

"Don't blame yourself, please." I say.  "If you hadn't gotten there when you did, I could be dead.  You saved my life."  How ironic would it be to die in a cemetery?  Haha.  Sorry, I joke when things are tense.  Coping mechanism. My mom walks in with a nurse.  

"How are you feeling, Willow?" the nurse asks.

"I'm fine." I answer.

"She's lying."  Haden says.  I glare at him.  "She just told me her side hurts."  

"I'll give her some painkillers."  The nurse says, starting to fill the IV bag.  

"I'm fine!" I protest.  "I don't want them to fall asleep!"

"You need to rest." Mom says.  I feel my eyes already becoming heavy and tired.  

"Not tired though..." I mumble, and the last thing I hear is Haden laughing before I fall asleep.

The hospital lets me leave two days later after making sure there are no complications.  Of course, during those two days, I was questioned by the police.  They told me that they would let me know if they find anything on who did this to me.  

"I still think you should be resting."  Mom says as I eat breakfast.  It's been a couple of days since I was released from the hospital.  I had decided to go to the coffee shop and ask about the guy who had stabbed me.  Mom thinks that I shouldn't leave the house yet, and I haven't even told her the real reason I'm going out.  If I did, she would tell me not to look into it because it's too dangerous.  She thinks that I hanging out with Haden.  

"Mom, it's been a week.  I'll be fine."  I get up and kiss her on the cheek.  "Love you!" I leave before she can argue with me anymore.  As I walk down the street to the coffee shop, I think about the guy who had stabbed me.  He said that he wanted to 'scare her'.  Scare who?  And what does it have to do with me?  I enter the coffee shop.  There's a girl with blonde hair standing at the front counter.  I approach her.

"Can I help you?" she asks, with a bright smile.  

"I actually have to ask you about somebody." I answer.  I give her a description of the guy who had attacked me.  "Do you know anything about him?"

"Weren't the police asking about him too?" she says.  

"Yeah." I say.  "He's a suspect in a case that they're working on."  I don't feel like telling her the entire story.  Luckily, she doesn't ask.

"I don't know that much about him." she tells me.  "He only got a job here a few weeks ago.  I think his name is Zane?  He said that he moved here from Idaho but didn't say anything about why."  I nod.

"Okay thanks!"  I turn around to leave and come face to face with Haden.  Shit. 

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" He has a stern look on his face.

"I was just getting coffee." I lie.  If he knew what I was doing he would flip.

"Really?" he says, not believing me.  "Then where's the coffee?"  

"Already finished it."

"Why are you up here then?"  

"I was getting another one?"  

"Willow."

"Haden."  

"What are you actually doing here?"  I don't know why I bothered lying to him.  He knows me too well.  I don't answer him.  Instead, I start to walk out of the coffee shop and towards the cemetery.  "Willow!  Wait!" he calls from behind me.  I stop for a second, waiting for him.  "What are you doing?" he asks once he's caught up to me.  

"I need to find who did this to me." I say as we start waking again.  "I need to know why."

"Why don't you leave it to the police then?" he says.  "Willow, you already got stabbed.  Who knows what could happen if you looked into this more."  

"I don't care."  I reply stubbornly.  A thought had occurred to me at the coffee shop, but I'm not ready to tell Haden about it yet.  Finally, we're in front of the cemetery and I walk towards Emma's grave.  "The scene of the crime." I joke, but Haden doesn't laugh.  

"This is stupid.  You're gonna get yourself killed."  I turn toward him, tears in my eyes.  He doesn't understand how important this is to me because I haven't told him about what I thought about this yet.  When he sees my eyes watering, the stern look on his face turns into one of concern.  

"Haden, I think this might have something to do with Emma."  His eyes widen.  

"What do you mean?"  I tell him about Zane asking if I'm Emma's sister and then saying that he needs to scare 'her'.  

"What if the 'her' is Emma?" I finish.  "What if Emma's still alive?"