Chapter 10: June 9, 2012 11:45PM Daniel’s POV
I heard the sounds of mumbling and groaning. I opened my eyes and sat up, wiping a little dribble from the side of my face. I was still in the hospital with Bonnie, still holding her hand like I was when I had fallen asleep. Funny thing is, I don’t quite remember falling asleep. I didn’t sleep much at all at my house, or even since the accident, and that probably explained why I just fell asleep all of a sudden in Bonnie’s hospital room. When I woke up I was still holding Bonnie’s hand just like I was hours before. What time was it? I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and realized it was almost midnight already. Wait, didn’t I hear something as I was waking up? When I looked around the room, there was no one else in here besides Bonnie. It couldn’t have been her making those noises, I mean, she was in a coma. I rubbed my eyes with my one free hand, and looked over a Bonnie. Her breathing tube was gone and she didn’t have as many wires hooked up to her. She looked absolutely stunning, as always. I stood up but still kept a tight grip on her hand. When I held her hand tighter, I could have sworn she squeezed my hand but there was no way. My mind must have been playing tricks on me. I brushed away a few strands of hair that were on her cheeks. I must say, Bonnie’s hair sure did look better all one color but she was beautiful either way.
“Mmm-m” Bonnie groaned. I was in shock. I had no idea what to do. While I was sleeping the doctors must have taken out her breathing tube which meant she was doing better, right?
“Bonnie, can you hear me?” I said softly. Her eyes fluttered open, but then closed again. I ran to the other side of Bonnie’s bed and pressed the call button. By “pressed” I mean repeatedly hit it until a nurse came into the room. I wanted to make sure everything was okay with Bonnie. What if she wasn’t supposed to wake up yet? I was just nervous.
A nurse stormed into the room and asked what happened. “Well she started to make noises, kind of like she was mumbling or trying to say something and then I could have sworn she squeezed my hand. Then she opened her eyes, but she closed them a second later.”
“Sweetheart that’s not an emergency. We stopped giving her the meds that kept her asleep. It usually takes a few days for the patient to wake up fully, but I’m surprised she opened her eyes so early. Another doctor will be in here in a few minutes to change her bandages.” She walked out of the room and no more than 3 minutes later another doctor came in. I couldn’t watch him take off the bandages knowing that all of this was my fault. I looked out of the window on the opposite side of the room. She didn’t have many bandages so it only took about 5 minutes, tops.
“Alright,” the doctor chimed in, “she doing much better than she was last night. She’s actually healing very fast. I say she may only need to stay here a few more days and then you are free to take her home.”
I put my head in my hands, feeling so relieved. I grabbed my phone to tell Bonnie’s mom the news, but then I remembered our little incident earlier. After I refused to leave Bonnie’s room, her mom stormed out in a rage. I didn’t see what the big deal was with me staying here. I loved Bonnie and I wanted to be here for her every step of the way. Why couldn’t her mom see that? Sure, I was the one who put Bonnie here but it was completely unintentional. I would never do anything to hurt Bonnie and her mom absolutely knew that. It was really hard on both of us. I figured the right thing to do was text Bonnie’s mom and tell her the new updates. Even though she was probably asleep, I tried anyways. I stepped out into the hall and sent her mom a quick message.
“Sorry if I woke you up but I have some great news. Doctors just told me that Bonnie would only have to stay here a few more days and then she could go home. Also, I apologize about earlier. I just feel like I need to be responsible and stay here with Bonnie since I am the reason she’s here in the first place.”
About 2 minutes later, I actually got a reply.
“Thanks for the update. Be there in the morning.”
She didn’t even acknowledge my apology. I was just trying to be polite and I get rudeness in return. Wow. I couldn’t worry about that now. I was excited for Bonnie to finally get out of this uncomfortably cold hospital. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about how Bonnie hated being home. She always called me saying that we should go hang out somewhere or that we should hang out at my house instead. She was miserable at home all by herself while her mom worked during the day. Some nights, Bonnie would call me in the middle of the night asking for my help to get her out of the house because she couldn’t stand being around her mom anymore. It made me feel pretty bad that Bonnie was so unhappy but as soon as she saw me, she lightened up. She was happier around me. I was happier around her. It was perfect.
I started pacing around Bonnie’s room, just thinking. I felt something hitting my leg as I was walking but I just thought it was the zipper to the pocket of my shorts, so I just blew it off. Then I remembered exactly what was hitting my leg. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the little black velvet box. I opened it slowly and tears formed in my eyes. Last night would have been so special if I hadn’t gotten into the accident. Certainly a night we would have remembered for the rest of our lives.
I wanted to propose to Bonnie.
