Heartlines

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Faint voices, clouded and unreal, like in a dream; lights going on, then off, then on again. I’m in motion, but I’m not moving my body. Where am I? I barely have time to think before I am gone again.

~*~

My head feels like lead, and I’m not sure if I should open my eyes. “Jared?” I whimper, a small, scared voice. Jared was there, he was there in the truck with me. “Jared?” I say it louder, remembering he had been dozing off. But it was bright now, we weren’t in a truck; and why would I be sleeping if we were in a truck? “Jared, Jared wake up,” I say in an almost normal voice. I want him to awake, to tell me what’s happening. To go check on the horses and see if –

Oh god. The horses. The truck. The crash. Oh god. Oh no.

My eyes shot open, though they protested with my swollen mind. I darted my cloudy vision around the room. A hospital, I was in another god-forsaken hospital bed. Jared was sitting in the seat next to the bed, sleeping soundly. I looked at him for a while, thinking maybe if he was okay, so was everything else. His face was undisturbed, besides a small scratch on his cheek. He had a patch on his other shoulder, showing only because he had worn a very short sleeved shirt. He seemed to be in no pain. I threw the blankets off of myself, noticing with the motion of my arm that I was hooked to an IV. “Fantastic. Nurse will have a cow if I pull this. Already had that incident once…” I muttered to myself. I decided the best thing to do would be to simply wake Jared. He would have to tell me everything. Though to be honest, part of me didn’t want to know.

I sat up all the way, crossing my legs. Every movement hurt, but I felt like if I pretended it didn’t, maybe it would go away. “Jared … Jared … Jared!” I yelled to him, increasingly louder until I saw him startle. His eyes slowly flickered open, and I could tell his eyes were bothered by the light. He must have a headache too. He turned to me slowly, completely waking up when he saw me upright. “Jared, what happened??” He looked at me still, startled, then finally made words, “Oh thank god you woke up! You’ve been out so long … I was getting so worried …” He stood from his chair quicker than I thought he may have been able to, and reached out for the hug. He was gentle, but clearly happy to see me breathing and awake. I returned the hug with as much strength as I could muster. I was definitely overjoyed to see him. I would die if …

After a decent enough time, I finally leaned back to look Jared in the eye. “Jared,” I spoke quietly and critically, “What happened? Where are the horses?” He glanced away, and I immediately felt my heart give out. It was a bullet to the chest, after multiple stab wounds to the stomach. “No … No …” Jared’s eyes leapt back to my face, more confused than depressed, “No! Kat, no, the horses are alive! They are both at my barn, they are … they are alive.” He gave a wayside nod, and I knew they couldn’t have been in the best condition. They weren’t well. They were alive. “I want to see them. I want to see Kiro. I want to see him right now,” I began to stand up, to pull the IV. Screw the nurse, yell at me all she wants. “Krista no! You need to stay! You got hit really hard, you lost a little more blood than you should have … That stupid truck run a red light. It was their fault, not yours. They hit the truck directly, exactly where you sat. The trailer would have been fine, but it … it flipped. It’s a big trailer … Anyway, nothing is broken on anybody. Everybody should make a full recovery.” He took a breath, pondering. “But … Kiro’s medical bills will be very, very expensive. He’s in a sling as we speak.” I feel myself whimper, and tears build. “Like I said, he’ll make a full recovery. He just shouldn’t be moving very much right now. At all.” I stuck my face in my hands, sitting on the edge of the bed. Tears leak out of my eyes, and I do nothing to stop them. He had to be okay. Kiro had to be okay.

I felt Jared sit down on the bed next to me, rubbing my back softly as I just sat there, weak and helpless. I could do nothing. Kiro needed me, and here I was, sitting in this stupid hospital bed. I fell onto Jared’s lap, bawling my eyes out while he smoothed my hair. “I’m sorry, Kat …” He spoke softly, letting me cry it out. After I had calmed down, I sat up and asked him of my injuries. “It was really scary, Krista. I called 911 immediately, you were completely out cold. Face was all cut and …” he had to pause, eyes gazing off into the memory. “You will be okay. You did lose quite a bit of blood, though. Your wrist was also broken again, as you can tell.” I actually hadn’t noticed the cast much. I guess I had been used to it from last time. “The nurse said you can go a day or two after you wake up. She came in just a second ago, you didn’t notice her. She’s called some people to let them know you are awake. We’ve all been worried … Your mom and brother have visited. Trina too. Everyone has been worried sick.” I looked up, shocked, stopping him, “my … my mother came by? But she left! She was gone!” He shook his head, “she came back as soon as she got the call that you were in critical condition. Drove back and got Navy along the way. She said she’d be back later tonight, but she might be here soon now that she knows you’re up.” I nodded, wondering if I was ready to see her again.

“Jared … how long have I been asleep?” He stared into me, gaining strength before finally saying, “four days and nine hours.” I was taken aback. Wow. I was only under for three days after my first accident. “And how much time of that have you spent sitting in that chair?” I pondered, just realizing that he seemed to have given me a play-by-play of each day. He smirked, gave a small chuckle, and replied with “after getting the horses settled and taken care of? Every second of every day.” He looked at me with such compassion, such care, that I couldn’t help but grab him in a hug, and it was no accident when our lips met and I found myself trapped in harmony. For a split second, the pain was gone, and everything would be okay.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps, and backed away to see who had walked in. My face went flush when I noticed it was Trina. I expected her to tease, to laugh, to jeer and say “I told you so!” But there was none of that; only a stern, angry look, while she held my jeans and shirt in hand. I was puzzled, until she finally spoke, “Now that you are awake, they allowed me to get your clothes for you,” suddenly, she flicked a neatly folded piece of paper out of one of the pockets. My blood instantly ran cold as ice, all heat falling out of my face, as I knew exactly what it was. “Kristene. What the hell are you doing with a Dressage test in your pocket?” She asked hotly, throwing the clothing on the chair next to her and unfolding the paper, “and why does it have your and Kiro’s name on it?”