The Secrets We Keep (Formally WAIT)

Chapter 8

My seatbelt locks as I go flying into the windshield jerking me backward and whipping my skull into my headrest. I realize I am screaming again when the cement light pole crashes into the passenger side of my car collapsing the roof of the entire right side of the car. I place my hands above my head holding the left side of the car's roof up so that it doesn't crush me.

...

When just enough of the glass has cleared for me to see outside I stare into the face of the last person on earth that I expected to be helping me.

Darren.

I freeze where I am and stare into his cold dark eyes. I'm speechless, I can't even open my mouth to scream and I am left stunned.

"Hi Lyssa," he says with a smile. "It's been so long, you look so grown up. My God, you're beautiful."

...

He grabs me out of the seat and lifts me through the window.

"Darren, stop! Please! Let me go!" I scream trying to remove myself from his grasp. His hands are under my arms pulling me backward out of the car.

"Please! I'll do anything, just let me go please!" 

...

I open my eyes slowly, fighting the desire to just keep them shut. I'm exhausted, but something tells me I need to open them, so I do. When I open them, all I see is a speckled ceiling and bright lights. That's when I hear the constant beeping sound coming from somewhere near me. I twist my head to the right to see a monitor and lines moving up and down in a constant rhythm to every beep. 

Oh, that looks like a heart monitor. Wait, what?

Now officially freaked out, I try to sit up, but I'm met with a dulled pain in my abdomen. I notice my hands and arms feel heavy and lift them to my face. That's when I see the IV jutting into my left hand. I notice a red button on the side of my bed and I push it, hoping that it works like it does in the movies, and someone will come to my room. 

About a minute later, I see a nurse approaching my bed. 

"Hi honey!" she says in a thickly sweet voice. "Well, it's nice to finally see you awake. The doctor's on his way, but can you tell me your name?"

I thought that was a weird question to be asking me, considering they should already know it, I mean I am in the hospital right?

"My--" I stop to clear my voice as it comes out sounding like a 70-year-old chain smoker. "My name is Lyssa." 

"Good!"

"Umm, can you help me sit up?"

"Of course," she says, moving closer to the bed and pressing a button on a remote to the side. 

With the bed upright, I am able to take in my surroundings. As soon as I do, a woman in a white lab coat enters the room. 

She picks up a clipboard that is attached to the end of the bed and quickly scans it. 

"Hi, Lyssa," she says. 

"Actually it's Lis-uh. Not, Lee-suh." I correct her. 

"Oh, well, hello Lis-uh. I'm Dr. Marren. So, I was wondering if you could tell me what your birthday is?"

"Umm, sure. May seventeenth nineteen ninety-nine." 

She looks pleased with my response and steps forward with a small flashlight. She asks me to follow the light with my eyes and I do so.

"Okay, Lyssa, can you tell me why you're here?"

"Umm, I'm not really sure, to be honest..."

"Okay, can you tell me the last thing that you remember?"

I take a moment and close my eyes, trying very hard to remember what the last thing I was doing.

"I remember that I was driving my car and I was going to my school to..." 

Wait, I was going to park my car behind the school for some reason. 

Oh my god. It suddenly all comes crashing back into my brain like a movie, replaying the day before and finding out about Darren, driving past the school and someone hitting my car, the telephone pole crushing my car and then Darren threatening me, and then Ryder pulling me out. 

"I think I'm gonna be sick," I say, as I feel the bile rising in my throat. The nurse grabs a bedpan just as I start vomiting over the side of the bed into it. She holds my hair for me and grabs a cup of water for me to rinse my mouth with when I've finished.

"Probably just from the concussion, no need to worry, but we will keep an eye on you for the next 24 hours. You were in a car accident, and when you arrived at the emergency room, we found that you were bleeding internally from the accident. We performed a quick surgery to repair the internal damage to your intestinal wall, and so far you have not had any complications. You will be on antibiotics and bed rest for the next week, just to make sure that you heal properly and don't tear the stitches, as well as allow the two ribs that you broke to heal. You also sustained a wound to your head which we stitched up and a minor concussion which seems to have not affected your long-term memory. We will keep an eye on you to make sure that your short-term memory was not affected as well. But, as of right now, you are healing well."

I took a minute to process everything that she said, and nod my head in response. She hands the clipboard to the nurse and exits the room.

"So, can I get you anything, are you comfortable? Hows the pain level? We can up the meds if you need. Are you hungry at all? Still nauseated?" 

The nurse is scribbling on her clipboard notes while checking the monitors and stops to look at me, waiting for a response.

"Oh, sorry. The pain is fine. I don't think I'm going to puke again. I'm not hungry, just really, really thirsty."

"Okay honey, well I can get you some ice chips for the thirst. Since you're still in post-op recovery, we can't give you tons of liquids to chug, but you can have as much ice as you want."

She returns with the ice chips and I realize that I haven't asked about the other driver.

"Hey, what happened to the other car? The other driver?"

"Um, well honey, as far as I know, you were the only one at the accident. Well, except for the boy that brought you in. He was so cute the way he was looking at you all worried."

"What about my family? Were the called, have the come by?"

"Well, yes, I called them, but no one has come by yet. Did you want to call anyone?"

"Yes, please."

She hands me the phone that is on the bedside table and leaves to give me my privacy.

The line rings and finally he picks up. 

"Ash..." the tears start to fill my eyes and my throat burns. "Can you come to the hospital?"

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Sorry for the long wait! I'll be posting several chapters today to make up for it!

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xoxo

Elodie