The Taste of Near Death

Hospital

Azalea woke up. Her head was burning. Her back ached. Her left arm was in a cast and sling. She opened her eyes to a squinted her eyes to see a bright white room. Her eyes adjusted to see an empty hospital room. She had a monitor linked up to her, checking her heart rate.

She suddenly remembered what happened. Where is Zyler? Is the man still out there? How long have I been here? How did I get here?  She was thought. Questions clouded her mind but were cleared when someone opened the door. A young woman with dark skin and hair walked into the room.
"Hello," she said to Azalea in a soft voice, "I see you're awake." Azalea tried to sit up to get a better look at the woman but a pain shot up her back.
"Lie back down," the woman, who Azalea presumed was her doctor, said, "your spine is bruised." Azalea did as she was told and lead back down.

The woman walked past Azaleas hospital bed and over to a chest of draws. She opened the top draw and pulled out one of the tools placed in there. Then, the woman walked over to Azaleas right arm and smirked.
"Hold still."
Azalea began to panic as the woman held up a small knife. Azalea tried to sit up and back away from the woman.
"I said," she grabbed Azaleas hand in anger, "hold still." The woman brought the knife to the top of her right arm and began dragging in down. Blood oozed from the cuts she had mad. Azalea began to struggle but that only made the cuts deeper and hurt more. Azalea began to cry in pain.

Azalea woke to a white hospital room, sweating slightly. She checked her right arm in panic. No cuts. It was all a dream. The air was silent the constant beeping of the heart rate monitor. Then a woman walked in and began jotting down something onto a piece of paper she had attached to a clipboard. The woman looked similar to the one in Azaleas dream but kinder. She didn't have evil glowing in her eyes like the other one did.
"I think you are ready to have visitors, do you want them to come in?" she asked once she had put her pencil into her pocket. Azalea nodded slowly and the woman opened the door. Zora ran through the door before the doctor had even properly opened the it.

"Azalea!" She squeaked through her silent sobs, "You're okay! You're alive!" She gave Azalea a soft hug.
"How long have I been here for?" Azalea croaked.
"Just three days. You have been unconscious." Her Mum muffled into Azaleas shoulder.
"Can we go home today?" Azalea asked,
a little less croaky than before.
"No, unfortunately. You have to stay here for a few more days until the doctors say you are okay to leave." Azalea nodded glumly. She wanted to ask a thousand more questions but the doctor said her time was up and lead her out through the door.

Not too long later Zyler appeared at the door. He was crying. He walked slowly into the room.
"Sorry," He whispered, "It's all my fault." Azalea didn't know how to reply so she opened her arm, welcoming Zyler for a hug. He awkwardly walked towards her and into her arms.
"Don't be so hard on yourself." She said, "We are both okay, we are alive and that's really all that matters." She hugged him tighter.

Once again the doctor told Zyler his time was up. Before he left, Zyler placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Stay alive." (TØP REFERENCEE)

When he left, a food tray was brought in. Azalea then realised how hungry she was. She carefully sat up and ate the sausage, mash and peas.

The next day, she woke, feeling a lot better than the day before. She thought of how lucky she was to be not very hurt. When she next saw a doctor, she asked to see a list of all the injuries she had. The doctor nodded and later came back with a clipboards with various pieces of paper clipped on top of it.
The first page had notes about herself, like date of birth and home address. She ignored that page and flicked it over. The page underneath had an X-ray of both her arms. Her left arm had  been broken in two places just on the forearm. Her right arm was surprisingly clean of brakes. There were a few paragraphs underneath each X-ray explaining how they were to fix the brakes and any other problems. She found out that her right wrist was sprained but the doctors decided to let it heal by itself. It also said that her left shoulder and knee was bruised.

The next page explained her mental state. It said that she was all clear which was good. It had a lot of doctors notes on this page which Azalea didn't understand so she chose to ignore it. The last few pages were boring so she placed the clipboard onto the small chest of draws, next to her hospital bed.

Not to soon later, someone came in with her breakfast and the doctor took the clipboard.

Just before lunch Tessa came through the door after a doctor.
"Azalea!" She screamed. The doctor met her eyes and gave her a stern look. "Sorry." She whispered. She turned to Azalea and gave her a hug. "I'm so happy you are awake." Tessa broke away from the hug. "Every time I came you were asleep."
"Sorry." Azalea replied.
"It's not your fault, anyway would you care to explain what happened?"

Azalea began to explain that she had a nightmare and invited Zyler round.
Tessa gave Azalea a look.
"Azalea you have only just turned fourteen."
"God no. Not like that. Just to keep me company."
"You sure." She teased.
"Pretty sure. Anyway." Azalea carried on the story about the knock on the door, Zyler opening the door and then her running for her life before trying to escape through her window.

When the story finished, Tessa looked shocked.
"I'm so happy that you are not hurt more."
"Me too."  They hugged tightly before Tessa was asked to leave.

1049 words

*Authors note*
Heyyyy, thanks for reading this far. Also I have changed my insta name. I have changed  what it says in the previous chapter when I selfpromoed but it is now @/phandompanda
Also be sure to share this story because I feel lonely and crave attention 😂😬