Our Bittersweet Lives

[four]

"Taegan! Taegan! Get down here now! What's taking you so long? Dinner is ready! It's getting cold!"
Shouts my mother from downstairs. Her voice sounds far away and muffled. I'm slipping away, I can feel myself distancing from my body. I'm going into shock. How can I be coughing blood?
I hear footsteps on the stairs, I see Judy burst into the bathroom, I see her eyes register the blood, and I see the bathroom floor and then I see nothing but darkness.

When I open my eyes, I'm lying on our brown leather couch in the sitting room. Everything is a bit fuzzy. There is a bowl next to me, which seems to be full of sick...
Was that me? Quite possibly. My mouth feels dry and has a disgusting aftertaste in it, so probably. I turn my head to look at the coffee table and see a glass of water. I gratefully reach out and pick it up, and the cool sweet water passes my lips and soothes my throat. When I've finished drinking, I swing my legs around and go to stand up from the couch.

Ok. Bad idea. Nausea suddenly grabs me and I reach for the bowl just in time. Right. Let's not try that again. I lay down again and open my mouth,

"Judy? Mantha?" I call, but it comes out as more of a raspy whisper.

Judy comes straight in, as if she was waiting outside they door. "Taegan. Oh, thank goodness you're awake. You had us all so worried! I think you have a concussion from when you hit your head on the bathroom tiles. Samantha is trying to persuade mum to let us take you to hospital. For some reason she keeps saying that you're fine. I think it must be trauma. Anyway, somehow we will get you to hospital. We have to sort this out."

For one hopeful minute I think that she is talking about the coughing blood, and she somehow knows about the shortness of breath and fatigue. But then Judy goes on,

"Concussions can be really serious, and we need to get it checked out. We don't want any lasting damage done to that pretty little head of yours, do we?"
She smiles at me, but suddenly her face is swimming before my eyes. Now she has two faces, they keep crossing, merging, and I have an awful headache all of a sudden, and then...

****

This time when I open my eyes, my eyes are too unfocused to see anything, but I can smell the overpowering stench of chemicals and antibacterial sprays.
I'm in the hospital.

I drift in and out of consciousness, I can't seem to keep my eyes open, and I have a horrible pounding headache which is not helped by the blinding white lights.

Eventually, I open my eyes for real and see a kind man's face peering down at me.

"Ah! Taegan! You're awake. Good. Now, we need to do a few tests on you, but my team and I are fairly certain you have a quite severe concussion. Am I right in believing that you knocked your head quite hard?"

I nod, and then wince. That hurt.

"Oops. No nodding." Says the doctor. "Just give me a thumbs up or thumbs down, ok? By the way, my name is Dr Warren Hunt, but just Doctor or Dr Warren will do." He smiles at me and I smile weakly back.

"Now, Taegan, these tests won't hurt at all, and I just need you to co-operate so that they can be over as quickly as possible, ok?"

Thumbs up.

"Great. First, I need you to look at me in the eyes..."

After Dr Warren has decided that, yes, I do have a concussion, and I've given him the details of my fall backwards, inside out and upside down (minus the coughing blood because my mum was in the room - I just said I lost my balance), Dr Warren dismisses us. Before we leave, I ask to speak to him privately. I really want to get this coughing blood, fatigue and shortness of breath sorted out. But my mother drags me away, saying that "he is much too busy, Taegan dear", and she uses her public, 'oh so perfect mum voice' which means I'm going to get a lecture when I get home.

I'm basically not allowed to do anything at all, so I sit in my bed and call Kate, then Regina, then Zoe and Kyra and finally May. Fortunately, I only have to wait a week before going back to school, but that's a week without my best buddies. I don't know how I'm going to survive. Kate and Regina both ask if I asked about the shortness of breath and coughing fits. I'm silent, and it tells them all they need to know. Kate just sighs, and Regina gives me an earful. She vows that she will take me to a hospital as soon as I'm allowed out again.

Days crawl by as I lay in my bed, doing practically nothing. My friends come to visit me when they can, but as it's nearing exam season, they're pretty busy.

Saturday. I'm finally allowed out of the house again. The girls and I have  arranged to meet at the local Ben and Jerry's for a celebratory milkshake each this morning. Whenever us girls go out, we have this thing we do, where we dress up much too fancily for just a cafe but we dress so we each 'feel pretty'. It's our thing.

I shower first, then grab by dark wash skinny jeans from my cupboard. I put on my baby pink lace top, and then choose my pink ballet flats to finish off the outfit. I twist back the front pieces of my wet hair, then pull the rest of it into a low bun. My matching pearl earrings and necklace and I'm done. With my wallet in my hand and phone in my back pocket, I head out the door and walk for 15 minutes into town to Ben and Jerry's. When I walk through the brightly painted door, I see the girls sitting around a table by the window. I rush over, overjoyed to see them all together again, and hug them each in turn with one of my mega bear hugs. Then I sit down and we just talk for ages. At some point the waitress comes over, asks us what we want and we all order. The milkshakes come, and we keep chatting while slurping away. I've never had such a great gossip fest in my life. Suddenly Regina gets a text, causing her phone to light up. We all glance over, see the numbers at the top of the screen at the same time, and all gasp. We've been here for almost 4 hours! And it's 12:45! And Saturday is the day most of us have afternoon jobs! Starting at 1! Oh boy.

We all slap our money on the table, jump up and leave at a run. I run all the way to Sunnyside Day Care and get to the doors just as the town clock strikes one. Phew. I made it. I rest my hands on my knees, panting, as I catch my breath. The pain in my chest is back but I am determined to ignore it. After about five minutes I can breathe normally again. I don't know what took so long. I look up.

The room is empty. Completely empty. I mean obviously it has the furniture. But there are no people to be seen.

I check the date. And realise that there isn't any day care today.

Oops. I knew that. Totally. Not.

I'm still tired, so I lay down on one of the blue sofa chairs to relax. I take out my phone and start sorting through my photos, deleting things I don't need. My eyes start to droop, and I do my best to stay awake but I'm just so tired...

****

"H-hello? Can...can I...have the police...yes, there is a strange girl in a private property building..."

Oh fudge. I'm in trouble.

I open my eyes properly and see Matilda, the mother of one of the children who comes to Sunnyside, standing by the window, on the phone, running her hand through her hair. I jump up.

"Matilda! Stop! It's me, Taegan! I..."

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" She screams. She whirls around, recognises me, blushes a deep beetroot red, and hangs up on the police officer after saying "n-n-never mind, officer...", mutters a quick "sorry" to me, and then scuttles out of the door.

After she has left, I wait about ten seconds, but then I can't contain it any longer. I burst into laughter. I laugh so hard tears start coming out of my eyes. Oh, her face!
I grab my phone to text the girls, but as it turns on I see the time. 7:12pm.

I was supposed to be home three hours ago. Oops.

I'd best get a move on.

I'm so so so so sorry it took me forever to update. I swear I will be quicker next time. I hope you enjoyed :)

~Tiff xxx