“Hey, Ty. There’s still no change with her if that’s why you’re here. Her bro has been asking questions non-stop since he woke up late last night.”
“Thanks, Harry. Let me know when…if…”
“Yeah, man. I will.”
“Momma…?”
“Harr? Did she just…?”
“Yeah…she just talked!”
“Daddy?! Garr?! Mommy?! DADDY! MOMMY! GARRETH!” she started screaming her family’s name repeatedly. She could hear footsteps coming down the hall and a commotion in a room close by. The footsteps were heavy. Like boots running with lead soles.
“Natascha! Nat! Nattie!” someone, Garreth, had heard her and started shouting for her.
She opened her eyes, no longer struggling to open them. What she saw threw her for a loop.
She saw two figures standing by the doorway gawking at her as if she had three eyes.
Reflexively, she pulled the bed sheet up to her chin for fear it was one of those embarrassing ‘I’m naked in school’ scenes.
One of the men was wearing glasses and had a geek-ish look to him. It wasn’t the glasses it was just how it looked to her. He had black hair and deep brown eyes but looked to be average height. It was hard to tell with the other man standing right next to him. This other character had to be at least 6’2”. He was muscular as well. And his eyes, thought Natascha, he has such beautiful hazily brown eyes. They look like the kind of eyes that could see right into your soul. He had dark, golden hair and was quite tan.
The next thing she noticed was the room, although she stayed acutely aware of the muscular man’s presence in the room. It was light and bright. The walls were a beige color. She also noticed she was the only one assigned to this room.
After that, she heard the ‘beep’ of the heart rate monitor that was attached to her right index finger. That’s when she saw the cast. It was a light purple color and as she went to touch it, she saw the cast on her left thumb. She also had an IV near the crease of her right elbow. Confusion flashed through her mind and across her face.
The hospital gown she wore was puke green with tiny, dull, pink polka dots all over it. She saw bruises over what little skin on her legs showed and an ace bandage on her left ankle.
Someone came rushing in. They had a slight limp, like he’d been in an … accident. That’s right. Mom and Dad were dead. She'd forgotten. She’d been hoping it was just a bad dream. .
“Nattie! Are you okay? Nattie?” It was Garreth, her brother. He had a row of stitches across his forehead and a few butterfly bandages. He rushed to the bed with super human speed, grabbed her gingerly by the head and turned it so she was looking right into his eyes; right into the eyes of her brother. She’d taken her parents away from her innocent brother.
She couldn’t find any words. He was at her side and then the two men were on the other. She cringed away from them, going to the only one in the room she knew, the only one in the room she knew she could trust and count on.
Her brother hugged for the first time in who knows how long. She didn’t know what the date was.
“Garr…mom and dad, they’re gone. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t been so annoying, if I hadn’t said what I said they would still be here and we wouldn’t be in the hospital.” She choked up. She couldn’t speak anymore.
