The Broken Boy (AMANDA)

When I Was Awoken

*Amanda's prospective*

    It's so cold. My mind is filled with thick fog. My eyes are looking left and right. Where am I? I was alone in a room hooked up with my foot elevated above the bed I was laying on. I'm still here. At the hospital. Not out chasing my dreams. Alone.
    I look on the desk to my right. There was a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Probably some lilies and some of those weird and bright flowers you always see in front of the drug store. There was a note attached. I stretch to grab it. Ah. A pain shot up my leg. I almost got it. Ugh I can't get it. Then I saw some Bobbie pins on the desk probably from my hairstyle last night. Being the retarded desperate person I am, I open a bobbie pin and stretch towards the note and grab it with the pin. I stumble forward, but somehow regain my balance. I open the note. It was in a beautiful yet shaky form of cursive. I already knew who it was from. "Hey sorry I had to leave. Me and your friends miss you very much. I wish I could've been there to see you wake up. Keep me posted. Love u! Riley." Awe! My phone vibrates. I pick it up. Hundreds of notifications flood my lock screen. I look at the time. It's about 4:30pm Monday, May sixteenth. God, how long was I out! I open my phone and I have 15 texts, 7 missed calls, and at least 60 notifications from Instagram. I'm reading the texts and love rushes into my heart. I got a "Hey we missed you today 😢" from Matt and a "yeeeeeeeeeah wuuuuuuuuuuuuh" (it's an inside joke) from Kelsey. But then I opened a message from Riley. It was a pic of Matt, Zoe, Layla, Austin, Pricilla, Jesus, Brandon, and Jesus at lunch. This picture really made my day. That picture erased all the pain I have endured this past 24 hrs. I save the pic to my phone and text him back. "I love you guys so much and don't you forget it! I can't wait to see you and the group! Come and visit me sometime okay! I love you babe and I'll c u soon." I check my Instagram. 52 likes and 15 comments... But I didn't post anything. I go through my feed its just the typical stuff then I go to my notifications. I don't recognize the picture. I tap on it. It was of me. At the showcase. Doing the kick. I don't remember posting that! Then I read the comment. "Hey Instagram it's Riley. I just wanted to let you guys know that Amanda was onstage getting her black belt and hurt her foot and wasn't able to receive her black belt last night. She had to go into surgery and will be off her feet for about 2 months. She went through a lot last night so please pray for her and leave something nice in the comments. 😃" These comments were loooooong I got one from Sarah (Noah's mom), Vanessa, Kayla, and many more. Oh Riley. I wish you were here right now so I could hug the life out of you! I FaceTime him right then. I wait only about two seconds before he picks up. "Heyyyyyy!" "Oh my God Ry you're such a sweetheart!" "Pssssssh no!" "Shut up!" "How you feeling?" "Uh okay. I'm still a little foggy and my leg really hurts." "Awe even in pain your beautiful." "Oh please!" My hair was all wavy and sticky from my hairstyle last night and there was like no color in my face. I'm as attractive as a toad with a monster mask. "It was quiet today without you..." "Oh really how?" "Um where do I start. Talking with the group was really slow, Dillion and Kareem were kinda quiet or at least not as annoying today, and no one was there to give me a hug this morning." "Wow Dillion and Kareem actually shutting up!" "Yeah! It's not the same without you. Celine even got a good pic of that ghost and didn't want to show it cause you weren't there." "Awe! I wish I was there! I'm waiting to leave so I can see you!" "Yeah I'm trying to convince my mom to drive me to visit you." "Oh my God that would be amazing!" The doctor walks in. "I gotta go I love you!" And I hang up. "How you feeling miss Amanda?" "Good" "Yeah the surgery went very well. You should be able to go to school tomorrow and yeah." "Great!" "In about an hour someone will get you some crutches and you can get out here." "Wait that soon?!" "Yeah you didn't have any heavy Anastasia and you responded really well." "Great!" "Okay congrats and good luck!" He gives me a firm handshake and walks out.

    I'm going home... To Riley, the group... I'm still not a black belt, but I mean life is pretty good right now. I have a boyfriend that respects and loves me, friends who support me, I am truly happy, hurdles and all.
    I call Riley back. "I'm commin home Ry!!!" "Already?! They said it's okay? I don't want anything to happen to you..." "Yeah it's fine don't worry about it." He looks as he was going to say something but slumps back into his seat. "Okay... Just be careful okay. No fights." "Haha I know, as long as they leave you alone." "Eh I can take them plus they're scared of you. All you need to do is look at them to send them running." "Whatever you say." The nurse comes in again and helps me out of bed. "Sorry to go again I'll call you when I get home." "Okay love you." I blow him a kiss and hang up. I sit up and carefully place one foot on the floor. The earth starts to spin and I get nauseous. "You okay Hun?" "Yeah just a little hungover." She hands me a pair of crutches and instantly I have a problem. I situate myself and clumsily put the crutches slightly in front of me. Crash. I'm on the floor. Rrrrrrrr.... "It's okay it takes some practice." Having a giant cast on your foot makes things ten times worse, I mean I was okay with a brace, but this was a whole new animal. I try again and again. Ten minutes passed. I've gone a whole 5ft... My knees are stinging from hitting the tile and a headache from my burning frustration to get out of this cramped room. After a hour I finally make it to the elevator. I'm exhausted. I get down to the lobby and stumble into a chair and fall asleep.
    "Babe. Babe wake up." "Huh" "It's time to go." "Oh!" "Wait how did you get here so fast?!" "Fast? It's been like two hours." I look at my phone. Dang. He grabs my hand and helps me up and I fall into a hug. Fresh linen and cinnamon altoids. His warmth almost cured me completely. I reach for my crutches leaned up against the chair. "No I insist." He crouched down and signals for me to get on his back. "I got it." "You sure bout that. The nurses told me about your trip down here." "Well, if you insist." I hop over to him and make my way up his back. He stands up and I instantly get dizzy. I forgot how tall he was. I burry my head in his shoulder. "You okay?" "Yeah" I hug him tighter. He walks to the parking lot and sets me down in front of the car. "Your chariot awaits." He opens the car door and inch my way inside. I sit in the back because I can't separate myself from him. My head rests on his shoulder and my hand is interlocked with his. "Can we eat I'm starving!" Such a princess. "Yeah after we run a few arrins." "Ugh!" I throw my hair in a top knot and put on some of my moms perfume because let's face it, I was a wreck. At least my mom brought me some new clothes. Not the most attractive but they'll do. I chew some gum and doze off.

    I'm sitting in the middle of a white room tied to a wooden chair. "Hello?" No response. I hear a voice in the distance. "HELP AMANDA HELP!!!" "Riley? Riley where are you? RILEY!!!!!"

    I wake up breathing hard with tears in my eyes. Riley rubs my arm which was tightly around me and looks up from his phone. "You okay?" "Yeah just had a bad dream." "At 6 in the afternoon?" "6?" "Yeah you've been out for a while." "Where are we going?" "It's a surprise." "Ugh. Give me a hint!" "Nope!" He smiles and brushes the hair out of my face. "Go back to sleep. You need rest." "K." I lay on his chest and close my eyes. The rhythm of his beating heart soothed me to sleep. 
    Serenity. Maybe it was Riley's warmth or the drugs were finally wearing off, but sleep was peaceful this time around. No disturbing dreams or needles in my neck, just genuine sleep. He stroked my messy hair and kissed my forehead. "You ready?"
    "I wish I knew what I'm getting ready for but sure I guess." I get out of the car. The light burns. My eyes adjust to a little hair shop in Whittier. Why were we at Don's (my hairstylist)? I get my crutches and hobble to the curb and what do you know I trip... Haha shocker. Riley picks me up and brushes the dust off of me. Don greets me at the front door. "Awe poor baby! Well get you all dolled up for your big night." "Okay..." That was sudden... I look at my mom and Riley with confusion. He sits me down and sets my crutches against the wall. "So I was thinking a curly half up half down do with some braids cause I know you love those." My eyes widen. "Oh my gosh! I've never got my hair styled! Where am I going?" "I can't tell you!" "Ugh okay that sounds good." He washes my hair because he probably saw how much of a train wreck I was. The warm water felt amazing. "I heard you're a black belt now!" "Uh kinda I didn't get a chance to receive it... That's how I got this." "Oh. Well your a black belt in my book." "Thanks." His words made me smile. Those little words with such big impact. He helped me back to the chair and tells me to close my eyes. I did as told and fell into a light sleep. I'm still a little tired from my long day. "Almost done... And... The last touch... Yes!"I open my eyes to a different person. I tear up with hands over my mouth. He spins me around in the chair. I gasp to see what was in the back. A real red rose. Just like the ones that Riley gave me on Valentine's Day. "You like it?" "I'm speechless." Riley slightly looks up from his phone,"No peeking Riley!Now for the makeup." "MAKEUP!" I've never worn full makeup before. I look at my mom. She gives me a nod of approval. I mean I'm not going to complain. I close my eyes and many things begin to stab in my eyes. Tweezers, mascara, glitter. I sneeze. I can hear Riley laughing. "Oooo oops sorry." "It's okay I'm not used to all this." "Well I'm just about done. You look fabulous!" I open my eyes. It wasn't me. This was someone different. I loose it. I fan my eyes so my makeup doesn't run. I stare at myself at the mirror and look back at Riley. His eyes were about to pop out of his head. He walks over to the chair and stares at me, but with a different expression. "What?" "There's something missing..." I look in the mirror worried. "I got it!" He picks up my glasses on the counter and puts them on my face and pushes a curl off my forehead. "Much better." "Awe you two are s'cute!" I laugh. Riley kisses me on the forehead. My mom looks at us. I stand in fear. I'm busted. I mean she's probably caught a glimpse of us kissing, but this time she was staring right at us. She looks away. I'm relieved. "Thank you so much Don!" "No problem beautiful." We walk out and it's dark outside. It's about 7pm and I still have no clue where we are going. "So can you guys tell me where we're going yet!" "One more stop." "You're killing me! Rrrrrr" Riley puts his arm around me and pats my head like a little dog.