Remember Me??

Bright Lights

I woke up to bright lights. Brighter than any lights I was used to. I squinted my eyes and looked around searching for something familiar. The light filtering through the slits that were my opened eyes was causing a horrific headache. Still I kept my eyes open. I couldn't see anything but white, it was all so white. 

Maybe I've gone to Heaven I thought to myself. That must be it. I've died and gone to Heaven.

 At first, I felt a surge of pure joy, the only things I've ever really connected Heaven with were Her  and dying. I would be with her again, and  for good this time if I were dead. 

Why does it hurt so bad then....Shouldn't it be peaceful? 

More of my senses were coming back to me slowly. 

Beep, Beep, Beep... what is that?  Beep, Beep, Beep....

I tried to raise my head but only succeeded in releasing a pained moan. My hearing was slowly becoming more acute. I could hear wheels scraping the floor. And....the breathing? Yes, someone was breathing. I wasn't alone. 

 I'm not dead

"Hiya, sweetheart!" a cheery voice from beside me sounded. "How're you feeling?" 

I tried to speak but nothing came out. My throat was too dry. The nurse seemed to have noticed because she turned away for a moment and when she turned back, she was holding out a styro foam cup full of water. 

I took a sip and then a gulp after realizing how parched I was. 

"My names Stella!" The nurse said, smiling down on me. She had bright red hair that fell into waves and sea green eyes. "Do you need anything, honey?" 

I sat up slightly, as best as I could anyways, and I looked around the room. I couldn't find him. "Where's  Shane...?" I moaned. Immediately the nurse's cheery face fell into a mixture of sympathy and sadness. "Where is he?" I croaked out, my voice cracking. 

"Can I get you anything to eat?" She asked, avoiding my eyes and my questions. "How are you feeling? Do you need some more pain medication?"

"I want to know where Shane is." I persisted. I was feeling lightheaded and dizzy from all the pain and I could feel a coolness in my arm, as the narcotics they were flooding my body with, ran through an IV. The nurse must have hit the morphine button. 

Stella gently pushed me back down and smoothed my hair from my forehead. "You look tired, hon. Why don't you try and sleep and maybe when you wake up you'll feel better and you'll be ready for some food." 

Her persuasion wasn't heavy,  but it was enough while mixed with the narcotics to push me to sleep. I closed my eyes ever so slightly, narrowing them only a bit.....and I slid once more into darkness. 

                                                                                           ******          

It must have been several hours later that I came to. I was still in the same white, bright room. No one was in my room this time and while I shook off the grogginess plaguing me I tried to get up and take a look around. I swung my feet over the edge and was caught short when I went to stand because of the IV in my arm. I rolled my eyes and huffed as I perched on the edge of the bed, deciding I would have to settle on doing my scanning and snooping from bedside.

A TV set on mute hung from a corner. The news channel was on. A story seemed to be brewing and it was a good one. I turned to the bedside table in search of the remote and un-muted it as the TV reporter was saying:

"....In further news, earlier tonight there seems to have been an accident. A young man, and woman were driving when they were hit by a drunk driver." The reporter shook his head and tisked into the micro-phone. "Luckily," he continued, "both victims were wearing their seat belts, and the First Responders on the scene were able to get them out of the vehicle and off to a hospital while they were still alive."  

Pictures of the scene were displayed on the side of the screen. I gasped. They were showing pictures of two teenagers being wheeled into an ambulance and a picture of the totaled truck was below those. 

It was Shane's truck. Images flooded my mind. Memories of the accident were crashing through my brain. I cried out and threw a hand to my head. The steady beeping of the machine monitoring my heart sped up. Beep, Beep, Beep! It must have alerted the nurses, because they came in two at a time circling my bed. A pair of hand pushed me back down to my bed, while another pair checked my Iv and secured the rest of the tubes and wires connecting me to the machinery.

A tall, dark haired male was at the foot of my bed, checking my charts. He was clearly in charge. He was barking command after command and the nurses complied shuffling around my bed fulfilling his demands. 

Images were still swirling through my head, surrounded with sounds now. I remembered hearing the tires screeching as we were hit. My head hit something hard and I felt warmth beginning to spread from that area. I winced as I realized my hand had found a bandage wrapped around my head. I recalled the scraping of metal, followed by my endless screams, shrouded by Shane's reassurances.  

The dark hard man was standing above me now. "Keep her stable!" he shouted. "You're going to be fine, sweetheart." He promised me quietly. He held a flashlight to my eye, waiting for a response. I gave it to him, and his smile was all I needed to see to feel safe. 

He pocketed his flashlight and turned back to his fellow nurses. "She'll be fine. I want an eye kept on her at all times, though." They nodded and left the room one by one, until the red-haired nurse from earlier was all who remained. 

She came to the side of my bed and smiled at me, "You sure gave us quite a scare, darling. " I didn't respond but she continued talking anyways. I had slid my eyes closed again, by this time and assumed she thought I was asleep. "The doctor has given us strict orders to make you a priority. He hates seeing you, kids comin' in here like this. I think he was afraid you'd slipped into a coma like your friend. I do hope he wakes up. I bet you do to." She had taken to stroking my hair, I couldn't move or respond in any way. All I could think was, Shane was going to die. It must have been worse than it had looked. I internally cringed as an image of him last night, flashed across the forefront of my mind. 

The medicine was being pumped into me again, I was going to kill these nurses if  they didn't let me stay awake for more than a few minutes the next time I woke up. 

The last thing I heard was the cheery nurse talking to herself. "I'm pretty certain, your friend will wake up though, hon." 

I hope. 

A/N: I know I've taken a break. A long one, too. I was inspired to write on this story again, and I'm working on other stories for the 'Just Write It' contests. I unpublished this formerly, because I was unhappy with the content. I hope it seems better now than it did, and I hope you enjoy. Comments and votes would mean the world to me! Thanks so much! 

Forever and Always, 

~*XOXO MDC*~