Blood Ink

Chapter Two

The artificial white florescent lighting blinded me. My head pulsed, I could swear this is what it felt like to be kicked in the head by a horse. My body felt like it had been twisted in different impossible angles and I had a itch on my left wrist. I looked over and saw a tube resting on my arm. I was confused for a moment unsure of why there was one there at all. Wasn't I supposed be in my room, didn't I have to drop off Cole in school? Something wasn't making much sense at the moment, and the itch on my wrist was just worsening.

   Cole.

   My head throbbed again and a monitor beeped. The door opened and I saw a nurse in flowery scrubs walk in. Where the hell was I? "Melissa you're awake." The nurse said and her speech came through blurred and disoriented. The feeling of having my head stuffed with cotton balls was back, I couldn't completely focus on her face her outfit was too distracting.
I stared at her weirdly as she became slightly disfigured, I felt like I was in a fun house full of a thousand mirrors, while staring at her and trying not to make a strange face.

   Cole.

   I winced again, and rubbed my head not remembering how I got here. Everything was fuzzy and my stomach was doing flips the way dolphins did at sea world. I wanted to puke again. Although there was nothing in my stomach left to throw up. I could feel the burning sensation of acid reflux fill my chest as I grimaced. The nurses voice suddenly became too annoying; I didn't want to listen to it anymore. I wanted her to shut up; I needed to make sense of where I was before anything else.

The nurse began to check my blood pressure her hands being cold and clammy. My eyes followed her movement, but my vision was off center. She grabbed that strange flashlight attached to the wall, I didn't bother to make small talk; its not like I could even understand a word she would say anyway. The light made me recoil, instinctively I shoved my hand forward and pushed the device away from me. The pain in every movement was unbearable, nothing was working the way I wanted it too.

"Where am I?" I choke out my mouth was parched, my throat ached as if I had been screaming for hours. There was a light yet unfamiliar heaviness about my chest when I breathed. my side had a sensation of tenderness on the left side as I tugged at the hospital gown I felt was choking me slightly.

The nurse looked at me and answered kindly, "Melissa, you're in the hospital it's common to feel a little disoriented after everything you went through."

Hospital?

"What happened to me?" I asked. A knot of dread filled my stomach, did I not get enough sleep and faint in class or something? oh jeez, that would be so embarrassing. Although that didn't seem drastic enough for me to end up here like this.

"You were in a wreck." She answered softly and I looked confused trying to remember but everything was black. The cotton ball feeling was the only thing I noticed. Surely, I had already dropped off Cole when this accident happened. Oh no the car, the damage. I was so dead, I didn't even know if the wreck had been my fault. I began to panic trying to think of what had happened during this accident.

"Don't strain yourself to remember, you hit your head pretty hard on the dash board. It may have given you temporary amnesia." She stated.

   Amnesia. I groaned I didn't need choppy blanks in my memory. Well at least I had an excuse for not completing that literature paper that was due today. I winced again in remembrance of it. I couldn't remember a wreck, yet I could remember that dreaded literature paper. I began to wonder which of the two was more traumatic, the essay or the wreck.

Cole.

His cow lick and groggy smile, while he rubbed his eyes. The pop-tart from this morning and the glass of juice I had with it. My mind kept brining me back to him. The door opened not long after and my mother rushed in with swollen tear stained eyes and saw me awake. She rushed over and hugged me tightly causing sharp pains to rush through me. Her blonde hair was a tad messy and her purse was digging into my side slightly. She kissed my cheek and held onto me tightly. For a moment there was instant panic, I felt my heart pound in my ears, then it was gone there was no annoyance or anger in her manner of being. I'd expected to be chewed out for this situation, but nothing happened she just held onto me.