Simply Audrey

Chapter 3

Flashing lights.

That's the first thing I see.

A blur of red and blue colors gleaming brightly, so bright I can see it through my closed eyelids. The light sends a new wave of pain through my head with every flash. I try to move my hand to shield the light but I can't move. Even this tiny attempt at a gesture causes the searing pain in my chest to multiply by a million.

I force my eyes to open even though every muscle in my body is now screaming in agony.

My vision is foggy and at first I can only see blurred figures, distinguished purely by their colors. Slowly my vision begins to sharpen and I can see people everywhere; medic's running back and forth, police officers examining the scene, a body bag being zipped closed.

Another person is being loaded onto a stretcher, but I can't see who is who.

For the first time I notice a medic standing over me checking my pulse, "She's awake!" the medic calls.

I hear another person speaking into a walky-talky, "One females critical, taking her to Connecticut Private now."

I feel strong hands lifting me onto a stretcher and I feel instantly dizzy because the pain is too extreme.

Colorful dots distort my vision as I battle to remain conscious. We reach the ambulance and I force myself to keep awake, watching. They load me into the back of the ambulance and a medic brings me a mask, I try to struggle away but the restraints won't let me budge. I reluctantly breathe in the gas and lose consciousness once again.

***

I wake.

At first I am disorientated. I have no idea where I am or how I got here. But then as the fog in my mind retracts my thought's become clearer and I can hear the steady bleep of a machine next to me and a finger clip on my left index finger.

I am in the hospital.

I feel the cheap linen against my skin and cringe at the way it seems to prick into my legs and scratch at my feet. The comforter is much too hot for my liking.

I try to sit but this small movement sends pains through my chest which triggers memories of what happened in the alley.

"No!" I yell in a mixture of pain and horror.

"Darling!" I hear my mother exclaim and I wince at the volume of her voice.

I blink in the harsh hospital light and feel my mother pushing my shoulder back down to the bed, "Don't move Dree, they spent 2 hours stitching you together, you don't want to have wasted their time."

I take a while to process what she has said because the movement from trying to sit up was so agonizing that my mind once again feels clouded with drugs and pain.

"How long have I been here?" I struggle to get out.

"Five days..." Dave says, making an appearance through the door way of my private room and standing awkwardly next to my mother who is gently stoking my hair. "Should I go and call a doctor?"

"Please," I say, a new wave of pain coursing through my body. My mind is now fixated on Jenna, is she okay? Is she alive? Is she here?

I so badly want to ask but I dread the answer.

My mind buzzes, I want to know but I don't at the same time. Jenna is my life-line. She and I have been the best of friends since we met in the sandbox when we were three years old and I genuinely don't know what I would do without her.