The One That Got Away (On-hold and Under Editing)

❤ Seventeen - Hospitals and parental situations ❤

❤ Chapter Seventeen - Hospitals and parental situations ❤

I could smell something odd, like that certain smell that a hospital has. And I could faintly hear murmurs of different voices. Slowly, I recalled what happened. Hari getting kidnapped, me calling Aunt Karley, going to Everstone's house, the fight, rescuing Hari... Hari... Hari!

Sitting up, I tried to remain calm, but I couldn't. I couldn't because I needed to know that Hari was safe. My head spun, and I clutched it and shut my eyes since the light was too bright.

The nurse and the doctor came to my side immediately and told me to lay down. "No," I protested. "I need to know if my friend is okay. Is he okay? Is Hari okay?"

I opened my eyes, even though the light hurts. "Is Hari okay?" I asked again. The doctor looked at me worriedly.

"My friend," I repeated. "My Chinese friend. You know him? Is he alright?"

The doctor nodded and reassured me that he was fine. Relief washed over me and I obeyed and laid down on the hospital bed. "How are you feeling?" the doctor asked.

"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy," I replied.

He nodded. "Does anything hurt?"

I tried to breathe evenly and see if anything hurt. "Yeah, my ribs kind of hurt a little. But can you call my parents first?" The nurse nodded and said she would and left the room.

"Your ribs are bruised, but they should heal in about a week tops. Your jaw is bruised, too. So far, those are your major injuries," the doctor told me. I nodded and tried to focus on my breathing. If I breathed too long or too deep, my ribs and chest would hurt, but besides that, I seemed to feel fine.

Mom and dad entered the room and went over to me. They both hugged me lightly, so as not to hurt my ribs more. "I'm sorry," I told them.

Dad shook his head. "Piper Mae Everett Green, you almost got yourself killed!" he scolded me. "But what you did was brave and heroic and I cannot be more proud of you right now!"

I smiled at him. "Me too," mom sniffled. "I was so worried! You have to promise not to do anything like that ever again, Piper." I nodded and promised. The doctor left and said he'd check up on me later.

Not too soon after, Peyton and Katie arrived and started gushing about how I had to promise not to do anything like that ever again and I told them that they shouldn't worry since I already did promise that to mom and dad.

After a while though, they started crying. "Hey, you two. Don't cry," I told them.

"P, you scared me to death! I thought I was going to lose both you and Hari," Katie sobbed.

"You're my only sister!" was all Peyton said. After a while, all of us decided to just laugh it off and eat some crackers.

"How's Hari?" I asked.

"He has a couple of bruises here and there, but he's fine all in all. He's still sleeping right now, though."

"And Everstone?" I asked.

"Yeah, the son of a gun got arrested. Turns out he's an addict, and he hired some henchmen to go kidnap Hari. He hid him in his basement-latch thing and had hired a look-alike to run away with a Hari look-alike just as the police pulled up at his house," Peyton explained.

"And so Aunt Karley and her crew followed suit when he was actually just in his house. The neighbors heard your scuffle inside and called the police, and when Aunt Karley got a word of it, she went directly back to Everstone's house."