Before You Know It

Chapter 8

I turned my head to the right and felt a soft cushion under my head, then I turned to the left and felt the same thing. My eyes were stinging from the bright light coming in from somewhere. I slowly moved my hand towards my face but felt a slight tug on my arm. I slowly cracked open my crusted eyes and saw that my arm had a needle stuck in it. I followed the tube from the needle all the way up to the bag of fluids hanging from a tiny hook. I stared at the clear bag for a second and then my brain began to register an ear screeching beep every few seconds. I slowly and painfully turned my head to the left and noticed the beeping machine for the first time.

I looked in the corner of the room I was in and saw my mom looking at me with tears in her eyes. The second she saw my eyes open she ran over to the bedside and grabbed my hand. She began whispering to me smoothly and was brushing the sweaty hair out of my face.

"Hey, baby... How are you feeling...?" She whispered so quietly that I could barely hear her and she was right in front of my face.

I quietly croaked out, "Mom...?" and then next thing I knew my eyelids were closing again and the only noise I heard was the sound of the machine beeping.

The next time I wake up it is bright outside and I struggle to open my eyes. I blinked a few times before I was able to focus on my hands on my lap. I slowly reach up to my neck and find the ring. I put the tip of my index finger in it and feel the warmth. I turn and look at the annoyingly beeping machine next to me and just wish to shut it off.

I began to sit up just slightly but a sharp pain went through my chest as I did so and I winched. I slammed my body back into the hospital bed and sighed deeply. I looked around for a second then noticed a figure sitting in the chair in the dark corner of the room. After seconds of staring at the figure, I eventually realized that it was mom. She was wrapped into a ball in the small chair and was wearing her work outfit.

Sitting there and wondering why I was here, the memories began flooding back to me. Jace. Daniel. The truck. And the tree. After my brain had fully processed why I was in there I looked down at myself. I couldn't see anything wrong with me except for scrapes and purple bruises covering my arms. I pulled the sheet back and saw my legs under the gown. They weren't any better than my arms, but they didn't compare to the pain that surged through my body the second I tried to swing my legs to the side of the bed. I stopped for a second and tightly gripped the side of the bed. I waited until I could get my breath back then I forced myself off the bed.

The second I stepped onto the floor and off the bed my knees gave out and I fell straight to the ground. The second I fell my knees smacked the cold hard title first and then the pain in my chest caught up to me. I let out a big scream and tears of pain began streaming down my face. The second I let out the scream I could hear mom jolt awake and run over to me. She quickly picked me off of my feet and laid me back into the bed and under the sheet before I could even catch my breath.

She sat on the side of the bed and looked at me with such pain in her eyes. She rubbed my arm gently as a sign of comfort as I continued to weep until the pain subsided. When I was done struggling to breathe from crying and the pain, I just looked at my mom. She had deep bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess. She leans closer and hugs me so gently as if I could break any second.

After hugging her and crying silently for awhile I leaned back into the bed and looked at her. I grabbed the sheet and began pulling it off of my lap.

"Where....are....they...?" I croaked out between struggling breaths.

She just stared at me and didn't say anything.

This time I said it more forcefully and began pulling the sheet off to get out of bed. "Mom. Where. Are. They?"