The Accident: A Josh Hutcherson Story

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Once he started speaking, Josh started slowly recovering in small ways. The day after he said Ella's name, he managed to clench his hands into fists. About three days after that he lifted his whole hand off the bed and was able to hold it there for over a minute. He was even able to write out what he wanted to say on a notepad Beyon provide. They were little things but little things that all contributed to recovery.

Ella was making her way to the hospital, her motorcycle laboured with more of her stuff. She was practically moving into Josh's hospital room and, as his carer, she could stay even after visiting hours. Thankfully, Connor was due to arrive back in LA the next day. It was about time Josh got to see at least someone from his family.

"Me llamo Ella," she said to herself as she walked. "Me llamo Ella." She was practicing her Spanish, wanting to test out a theory she had about Josh having a thing for Spanish girls. "Como estas? Como estas?" Learning another language was frustrating and the knowledge that it came easily to Claudia made her get more and more annoyed.

Everything would be so much easier if it was Latin. All Josh had to do was get a couple of drinks in her and she'd spout Latin like a fountain.

It was Easter soon and, even though she didn't know if he celebrated that sort of thing or not, Ella wanted to buy him an egg. She parked by a nearby shop and went to see if they were selling eggs yet. She hadn't been expecting such a wide variety when she entered, since there was still quite a few weeks left, but the first shelf in the shop was filled to the hilt with eggs. 

"Holy shit," she muttered to herself.

It took forever to decide which egg to get him. She wanted to buy the right egg, not some cheap half price Cadbury and Nestle thing. If only they sold eggs that came with those little cups of cinnamon rolls. Josh loved those. Then it hit her, she could make an egg like that! Buy one of the Cadbury or Nestle eggs and some of the cinnamon rolls, get a basket and some straw, and put it all together in a small decorative craft.

Sometimes she surprised herself with her genius. 

She bought ten cinnamon cups and a Cadbury Mini-Eggs Easter Egg (no reasoning for her choice except that she wanted the mini eggs packet for herself). All she had to do now before Easter was track down a basket and some straw.

When she exited the shop, Ella felt like something was wrong. She hurried to her motorcycle and examined the vechile thorougly, checking for damage or interference. There was nothing she could immediately notice but something didn't sit well with her. But something was definitely wrong, she could feel it coming. But she didn't know what.

She got onto Joshua and rode to the hospital, trying to ignore the feeling that something bad was going to happen. When she arrived, she hid her Easter goodies deep at the bottom of her canvas bag so Josh didn't see them too early. 

It was getting more and more difficult to climb the hospital stairs and Ella found herself using the lift more often than not. It made her feel ridiculous, since she wasn't a senior citizen, nor was she injured, so every time she took the lift she felt like she was just being lazy. But it was getting harder! It was like the baby was trying to steal all the oxygen from her lungs.

"Hey Josh," she said breathlessly as she entered his room. Even going down the corridor was frustratingly exhausting. Josh smiled and gave her a small wave. Ella sat down and sighed in relief. "How are you?"

Josh wrote on the notepad that always lay underneath his hand. "Good," he wrote. "You?"

"I'm the same," Ella sighed. "Your handwriting's improving."

"You think so?" he quickly scribbled.

"Yeah! Look at it!" she said, picking up the notepad and holding it in front of his eyes. "See? Lovely."

When she put the book back under his hand, Josh wrote, "How's the traffic?"

"Eh, alright. Same-ish really."

"How's my baby doing?"

Ella looked at her stomach and shrugged. "Same old same old. Not much activity really. Although they're killing me, I can barely walk now-a-days." She pointed at the massive bump. "I mean, look at the SIZE of me!"

Josh chuckled. "You're not that big," he wrote. 

"Don't even start. I'm not blind," Ella scolded. She grinned and leaned back tiredly. "Oh god, I'm tired." 

Josh tsked. "I wish I could help you," he scribbled. "I feel so helpless."

"Hey, don't worry," Ella said. "Trust me, I know you're doing what you can." She paused. Something was stirring inside her. "Okay, that feels weird."

"What does?"

"There's a weird stirring in my stomach. Like when you drink too much too fast and you can feel it moving around inside you . . ." Ella trailed off, laying a hand on her stomach, frowning in confusion. 

"Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure it's no-THING!" Ella yelped as a slash cut up inside her, agony spilling out like water spilling from a glass. Oh god no, don't let it be. Not yet, not when Josh was still in this condition. She wasn't ready for it. She wasn't ready at all.

"Ella, what is it? What's wrong?" Josh speedily wrote.

"I think I'm going into labour!"