Seven Weeks

Chapter 1: Hungover

The first thing I felt when the fogginess subsided from my conscious was that my head was pounding.

Like the-morning-after-drinking-your-body-weight-in-vodka pounding.

Of course, my first reaction was that this is exactly what happened. That I went to a crazy party on a Saturday night, probably drank half the party's supply of beer - I did tend to do that a lot - and now I'm hungover, five seconds away from barfing up last night's dinner.

However, the nausea that usually accompanied the headache was long gone.

Completely confused, I tried to open my eyes to assess the situation, only to find out that I couldn't. I couldn't open my eyes. In fact, I couldn't even move.

After struggling for a few minutes to just wiggle my toes at least, my breathing picked up as panic set in.

Worst case scenarios started erupting in my head. What the hell happened to me? Am I paralyzed? Or... Oh god, did I die? I'm too young to die! There's so much I haven't-

Suddenly, loud beeps penetrated the silence engulfing me. My headache increased by a tenfold as the thumps of heavy shoes grew louder and louder.

"Her heart rate is picking up," a deep voice called from my left.

"Her Co2 levels are dropping," another voice, slightly higher, yelled from my right.

Before I could wonder who these people were and what they were blabbing on about, I felt a coldness seep through my veins, immediately extinguishing the fear that had sparked inside me.

The sound of the voices grew distant as I started to relax along with the incessant beeping.

"Does she have any family?" I made out as the sounds grew foggy.

"Not any that want to be here. Her mother is in Europe at a conference. She said she had too much work to do, and couldn't leave."

"Not even when she heard her daughter was..."

I tried desperately to strain my ears to finally find a clue as to what happened to me, but I was thrust into darkness once again.

Fate really wasn't on my side today.

***

"...I'm just so worried."

My mind cleared again as someone's soft crying became audible.

"I-I don't know what I would do without-" the voice cracked as emotion seeped into it.

I know that voice. It's the same voice that's comforted me through my ex-boyfriend cheating on me, and the voice that cheered alongside me during every pep rally.

Charlotte! I wanted to shout.

I felt like screaming at every sob that escaped her. I'm right here. I'm okay.

Although, I didn't know if I was okay, or if I ever would be okay. I just felt this overwhelming urge to comfort her. Possibly due to her being the first person to be here in the past few... hours? Days? I'm not really sure at this point.

It also might have something to do with the incredible amount of drugs flowing through me.

At this point, I had pieced together that I was in a hospital.

This was also confirmed by a couple of nurses coming in and gossiping about the hot surgeon on the fifth floor while checking my vitals.

Either way, I had established where I was. Now, to find out why.

"Allie, I swear to Ryan Gosling if you don't wake up, I will kill you."

Swearing to Ryan Gosling was about as serious as it got for my best friend. Her devotion to that man was more religious than anything I had ever seen. It had even gotten to the point where she had a shrine in his honor.

Although, I don't think she caught the true irony of her statement. But, nevertheless, I felt more at ease knowing that she was here.

"Charlotte... hey," a deep voice murmured.

Immediately, my ears perked up and my heart started to beat a little harder in my chest along with the butterflies that pounded at the lining of my stomach.

Only one voice could send my body into a frenzy like this.

His expensive cologne filled my nose and I grasped onto it, the one concrete thing I have encountered since I've been here.

"How... How is she?" my boyfriend, Cooper asked. The pure sadness in his voice was enough to make me want to burst into tears. All I wanted was to grab him and hug him close to me and never let go.

But of course, my goddamn arms refused to move.

What a cock block, honestly.

"The same as she was two days ago." Charlotte muttered.

Wait, hold the phone.

Two days?? I have been here for two days already?

Before I could continue to freak out, Charlotte's whispering makes my confusion even more profound.

"I can't help but blame myself."

Why would she blame herself? It's not like she put me here on purpose.

Right?

No, no. She couldn't do that. It's not like she's even strong enough to physically hurt me.

"You can't blame yourself. This would've happened either way." Cooper comforted her.

Either way... what does he mean by that? Also what is this? Ugh, why do they choose this very moment to be so annoyingly vague?

"If I had just been there, she wouldn't have-"

"Stop it. Stop thinking about the ifs." Cooper interrupted her.

STOP INTERRUPTING HER YOU BEAUTIFUL MAN!! LET THE WOMAN SPEAK!!

"I-I can't. I shouldn't have... This is all my fault," her cries, again, echoed through the room.

I wanted her to stop crying and just explain what the hell had happened to me.

Also her high pitched sobs were really killing my head.