Home H.S

Chapter 39: Fade to Black (Pt.2)

  It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again  

Times like these - Foo Fighters

MY EYELIDS FELT heavier than usual as I slowly opened my eyes. There was a continuous beeping that certainly annoyed me. I tried to move in my bed searching for Harry's body heat like I always did but when the IV stretched with my movement, everything came back to me. Every noise, every overturn, and every spin. I physically felt I was still inside that damn car. Every single inch of my body was in pain. I softly moaned in discomfort and within seconds I felt Harry's scent in the air as his body hovered over me, his lips pressed to my forehead.

"Rest baby, everything is okay," he whispered before kissing my temple softly, "I love you."

I could sense someone else was in the room, but I couldn't be bothered to open my eyes fully. All I wanted to do was sleep because the minute I was awake the noises in my head wouldn't leave me alone.

I recall waking up several times during that night, all of them to find Harry sleeping beside me, sitting on a chair while his head rested on my bed as close to me as he could.

The sun was shining brightly up in the sky when I finally blinked my eyes open and found the same nurse that I had met the day before during my admission to the hospital. She was giving her back to me; her brunette hair was pulled in a tight braid and her blue scrubs looked tidy and unwrinkled. While quietly humming a song, she turned around to change my IV bag and found me fully awake.

"It was about time, doll!" She warmly exclaimed, "everyone is so anxious to see you..."

I tried to smile politely but couldn't, my eyes traveled to her shiny golden badge and saw her name was Rose, "Where's everyone?" I croaked.

"I kicked them out to get you cleaned and comfortable," Rose explained, "had to fight your boyfriend, though, he almost pulled a tantrum when I told him he had to leave your side."

The hint of a smile curved in my face, the first I could register ever since I raised my eyes to look at Jill after she suggested I should marry Harry. Since I saw the black SUV approaching. Since nightmares and movie scenes I shot while doing fiction became a raw reality. 

I cringed and squeezed my eyes in response to the continuous firing of images in my head. Rose must have sensed it because she placed her hand on my shoulder comforting me, "He has been by your side ever since you left the OR...I haven't seen someone as afflicted as him in a long time, he's a keeper, doll," she nodded. 

"I'll call them in now, okay?" She inquired and I weakly nodded in response.

Seconds later I saw Harry, Nick, and Lena nervously entering the room. It was my boyfriend who approached me first, touching and kissing me delicately as if I was made out of crystal. His eyes puffed and swelled. Lena and Nick stood next to each other at the end of my bed, visibly concerned.

"Baby, thank God!" Harry repeated in between unintelligible mumbling and soft kisses.

My right arm felt stiff and odd, but it was only when I looked down that I realized I had a cast on. I couldn't identify a part of my body that didn't ache or felt inadequate. It was as if I had become a very uncomfortable guest in someone else's body. That couldn't be me.

"I want to go to the bathroom," I announced, realizing I didn't remember going since before the accident.

"I'll call the nurse to bring the bedpan," Lena suggested making both men visibly uncomfortable.