Beyond the Sun

09

Waking up wasn't meant to be this hard. Even at the best of times when she wished to sleep, Annie still managed to wake up regardless. Yet as her mind caught up with her, she finally remembered what happened. And with that sudden realisation her eyes snapped open, only to shut again when she was blinded by white. She groaned and reached up with heavy arms to place her hands over her eyes.

"Annie? Darling," she felt the bed dip slightly by her side, Annie blinked behind her hands. Slowly she removed them and looked to the fuzzy face leaning close to her. It took her a while, but eventually her eyes focused. Her eyes widened as she looked at the tear filled gaze of her mother. "Oh, thank the Lord!" Rebecca called out quietly while placing a hand to her shoulder and leaning forwards to kiss her on the forehead. "I've been so worried!"

"And dad?" Annie's voice sounded utterly alien to her. Speaking was a general struggle. Her throat was constricting, it felt like she had to force her voice out.

Rebecca's face fell. "He's...he's going to be here soon, Annie."

"He's still working then." She said bitterly, though with her current problems it sounded more like a growl.

"Darling, do you remember what happened?" Rebecca decided to opt out of talking about her husband and Annie's ever disappearing father.

"The bus...it crashed, and... I hit my head a few times..." Annie struggled, Rebecca nodded slowly. "And... Clark...Clark!" Annie said urgently while trying to shoot up from the bed, she got a hand placed against her shoulder and she was pushed down again gently. "Is he okay?" Though from what her fuzzy memory recalled, he was far more than okay. "Is everyone else okay?"

"Calm," Rebecca said when she noted her daughter's breathing becoming slightly heightened. After a few moments, it returned to normal. "He's fine. Everyone else is too, just a few bangs and scrapes."

"Pete?"

"He's in another room. But he's fine too." Rebecca smiled and smoothed Annie's hair out of her face as she looked up at the ceiling with confused eyes.

"How long have I been out?"

"About four hours." She answered honestly while Annie's dark eyes flicked over to her. "The doctor was waiting for you to wake up before coming in. Though I did get told the gist of what's happened. I'll go find him, okay?" Annie merely nodded and watched as her mother moved away from her side.

She shut her eyes and sighed heavily. Her head hurt so much. She looked back to the door when a man came in along with her mother. "Annie, I'm Doctor Weaver, how are you feeling?" The doctor was a rather tall person, tall and lanky with dark curly hair and sharp green eyes. Yet, he seemed to give off this peaceful aura which caused Annie to relax slightly.

"My head hurts, really bad."

"You've got a concussion, you hit your head if not once, then twice. The pain will probably be around for a little while, but we can counter that with painkillers. Though, you may also feel other side effects from the concussion; such as feeling sick, being dizzy, so take walking about slow, okay? You may also feel a little tired at times and have a headache, but these are all normal things which go with a concussion. There's nothing to worry about. If things get worse, come back, and we'll see what we can do, okay? You'll have to stay in overnight for observations, but if you're fine tomorrow you'll be discharged."

Annie merely nodded at his words, it all sunk in to a point and then she just zoned out slightly. Watching as Doctor Weaver and her mother left the room, she groaned and placed a hand against her head. Did hallucinations count as a side effect too? She was darn certain she saw Clark pushing the bus up and out of the water. That's not something thirteen year old kids can do, right? Annie wasn't an idiot, she knew he was strong, but he wasn't that strong. As far as she knew, no one on the face of the planet was.