The New Girl

Chapter 26

                            Elizabeth

I look out the window in urgency as we pull up to the hospital. I freeze a little when I see the name. Mercy. The same hospital my mother took her last breath. And now it's the hospital that might take my best friend, too. 

We get in front of the hospital  and Tristan and I break into a sprint shoving the doors open to the ICU. In there we see Ryan in one of the chairs against the wall. All around I see nurses and doctors scrambling around. The hospital smells of disinfectant and rubbing alcohol, making my nose wrinkle. We run up to Ryan and he stands up seeing us. I take him in my arms in a fierce hug and we both sob into each other's shoulders. "What happened?" I ask.

He pulls back and wipes his eyes. "Her mom told me she was driving to the store and a car ran a red light and hit her." He begins to cry harder and I hug him again, rubbing his back. Ive never seen Ryan unhappy. He's usually the clown that makes everyone laugh. Seeing him break down crying makes me cry harder. I don't say anything because there is nothing to say. I can't reassure him she'll be alright, because I don't know that. All I can do is be there for him.

I let go and notice Tristan standing close to us. As soon as I step away from Ryan, Tristan steps in, to comfort his best friend.

An hour later we're still sitting in the waiting room when Mr. and Mrs. Valenti come out to us. We all stand quickly as Natalia's parents walk over to us. "How is she?" I ask them. I don't know if I want to know. It's really a toss up of what they could say. It could be great news and she's okay, but it could also be bad where she might die.

Mr. Valenti looks at us and says, "She'll be okay. They actually told us that she'll be out by the end of the day." I let out a sigh of relief. Thank god it was the first, because I don't know what I would do if it where the latter.

"Can we see her?" Ryan asks eagerly. I can tell that this new news has instantly brightened his mood.

"Of course. Just be gentle, she's still quite fragile." Mrs. Valenti says. We all nod vigorously and hurry into her room. When we're inside the room I stare for a second. She's hooked up to a machine and has an IV needle sticking into her arm, a liquid dripping from a bag at her side into her body. I can see that her body is badly bruised and her leg is in a bulky cast. I walk up to her first and wrap my arms gingerly around her. "Hey, how you feeling?" I ask.

She hugs me back and says, "I'll live." I pull back and give her a wobbly smile. I have a closer look at her now and see the small cuts and stitches around her arms and face and the heavy bruising along her chest and cheeks. 

"Nat you nearly scared me to death." I say, my tears falling again.

She pats my hand. "I'll be alright, seriously. I don't have any serious injuries besides my leg, which by the way, should be healed in the next few weeks. It's only a small fracture. Everything'll be fine."

I nod and let Tristan in.  He gives her a small hug and a smile. Finally Ryan came up to her with tears in his eyes. When Natalia sees this, her eyes start to water, too. He hugs her tightly, but gently, a contradicting action, but that's what he does. "Nat you could've fucking died." he whispered as he wept.

I turn to Tristan. "We should leave them alone" I say lowly and he nods and we creep out the door.

Tristan turns me to face him and looks at me seriously in the eyes. "Are you okay?" he asks.

I open my mouth, but then clamp it shut. I don't know if I'm alright. I mean, my best friend was just in a car accident. I mean, yes, I know she's fine and will recover within the next week, but I spent the last hour thinking she was dying! I look up at him and answer truthfully. "I don't know. It's just... a lot."