Falling in Love...with a Murderer

Chapter 7

The man sat, distressed on his torn up couch. His elbows rested on his knees while his head rested in his hands. He shoved his hands through his hair, pushing it back as a sob rippled throughout his body. He shook his head as he finally looked up, revealing his dark brown, puffy eyes.

"What are you doing here?" He suddenly asked, with a deep voice. There was no reponse to his question. "I said...What are you doing here?!"

I sat up in the bed, gasping for air, my body drenched in sweat. I didn't have too much time to think about the dream, seeing as how the pounding in my head interrupted my thoughts. I winced when I touched my head, feeling a large lump on the right side of my temple. I looked around, noticing I was in an unfamiliar room, and as I looked down, I noticed I was wearing clothes that I know were not mine. A heart monitor was beside me and I automatically groaned as I realized I was in a hospital room.

"She's awake!" I heard the shrill, high pitched voice. I looked up, expecting to find my sister but instead found Conner.

I rolled my eyes as I rested my head against the wall. "Conner, I know it may be hard for you, but please refrain from screaming like a girl. My head is killing me."

Conner quickly hurried to my bed, a look of awe on his face, and I was quite surprised when he didn't attempt a comeback.

"What's wrong with you?"

He shook his head. "You wake up in the hospital with me screaming like a girl, a giant lump on your head, and me also not insulting you, and you ask what's wrong with me?"

I looked around, as if it was obvious because, yeah. I really did ask that. "Yeah."

He shook his head as he leaned against the bed frame. "Carter, you don't get it. You smashed your head against the shower wall when you fell. Not only that, but you almost drowned. The doctors..." He took a shaky breath before continuing, "They said you should be dead. We were all terrified and when we found out you were in a coma, we were just as scacred because they said you might be braindead."

I raised my eyebrows in shock. "How long have I been out?"

"See, that's the thing, Carter. The chances of you ever waking up, especially so soon were so little--"

"How long?" I asked, impatiently.

He just stared at me with a serious expression, something I wasn't used to seeing from him. "You were only out for five days."

Five days? That was it? How is that possible?

"Do you remember what happened? How you fell?"

I thought back to when I was in the shower and immediately the scene of Miranda shoving me into the wall flashed into my mind. I gritted my teeth in anger before I spoke. "I was just trying to make the water warmer when I leaned over and slipped on the rug." I shrugged, forcing a smile. "Oops."

Conner just stared at me with a look of fear as soon as Caleb and my mom ran in. "Oh, honey," My mom said as soon as she reached me. "I was so worried." I noticed there were tears down her face.

"Mom, don't cry, please. I'm okay."

She put a hand to her mouth, trying to hold in the sobs that were close to spilling out before she spoke. "Honey, you just don't u-understand..."

"Don't you dare do that to us again, you hear me?" Caleb asked me, giving me a smile, trying to add some humor to the situation, but I could still see the worry in his eyes.

"Yes, sir," I muttered before giving a smile in return.

"Carter?" I looked up to see a doctor with white hair and a clipboard walk in the room.