Silent Love (Published)

Chapter 2

 I can't sleep. The bed is uncomfortable and I keep waking up every time I hear voices or footsteps walking past my room. I didn't have any privacy at all as nurses walked in from time to time to check on me. When I do manage to get some sleep, I have reoccurring nightmares of not being able to talk ever again. I wake up a few times crying to myself.

When the sun peeks its way through the blinds in the early morning, I knew it was pointless in trying to get back to sleep. The meal lady comes in wheeling her cart around seven, placing my breakfast on the table before moving onto the next room. I sit up; moving the table closer to me to see what was for breakfast. I could smell the scramble eggs before I even took off the lid. With the eggs was a tub of yoghurt, a slice of toast with small tubs of butter, strawberry jam and peanut butter, and a cup of orange juice. The drink was the first thing I grab for, my throat dried from not drinking all night. I open it, the bitter and sweetness of the juice instantly soothing my throat. I start on the eggs just as Dr Sharland walks in.

"Good morning, Ruby," he says cheerfully. "How are you this morning?"

I look around for my whiteboard and grab it from the bedside table, writing on it. Tired. I had trouble sleeping last night.

"Well, that's no good."

How are you today?

"I'm good thank you."

I had reoccurring nightmares last night where I wasn't able to talk ever again. I draw a sad face at the end of the sentence with a tear.

"Dreams like that are normal, especially when something like that is on your mind constantly throughout the day. What about the accident? Did you have any dreams about it last night?

I shake my head as I wrote. No, I haven't. I only had the ones about not being able to speak.

"Well, when you do start having those dreams, you most likely won't see the full impact of the accident. I'm not exactly sure how the accident occurred, but I was informed it was a head on collision. So in your dreams you may see the vehicle coming at you."

I nod slowly. I picture for what I thought the accident might have been. I imagine another vehicle colliding with ours. The front of our car is a total wreck, smashed in at the bonnet, glass everywhere, and my family's bodies slouch in their seats with their seat belts strapped around them. My parents' faces buried in the airbag. I then wonder why I was alive and not my family? Why didn't I die with them?

How come I survived and they didn't?

Dr Sharland takes in a deep breath before exhaling slowly. "Ruby, I don't really know. That I can't explain. You were just lucky, I guess. Anyway, finish your breakfast and then I will come back so I can introduce you to my wife."

I smile, and he returns it before leaving to allow me to finish my breakfast. Once I finished, I take notice of the bunch of pink lilies in a vase on the bedside table that I hadn't notice being there before. I get up to see who they were from. A note was there with a message from Kailani and Lex, hoping the flowers would cheer me up a little with everything that was happening. I smile at their message. They must have brought in while I was asleep.

I walk over to the window and glance outside, where it was sunny. There wasn't much of a view, just the car park and houses across the street. I stand there for a few minutes before I walk back to my bed and sit down, waiting for Dr Sharland to return.

I reach for the remote beside the bed and switch on the television, which was mounted up on the wall in the corner of the room. I flick through the channels to see what was on, but there was nothing interesting. I settle on a cartoon with a kid name Ben fighting aliens. I wasn't so into the cartoon, but I watch it anyway.