"Oh Daniel! Are you okay?! Oh my gosh!" I hear a girls voice say concerned as I wake up. I want to open my eyes to see who it is but I'm so tired. I don't know why. "Yes. I'm fine." He said in 'just waking up' voice. "Oh, Daniel. I'm so sorry." She said starting to cry. I finally get the strength to open my eyes. It's Daniels mom. His sister, brother, and dad are there too. They're holding his hand and standing by his bedside. I look at my bedside. No one is there. "Why're you crying?" He asked in a soft, caring voice. "Because you're my baby and I hate seeing you hurt. Look at you. You're in a hospital and it's all my fault!" She said crying. "It's not your fault. It's no ones fault." He said. Everyone hugs him. "You're such a strong boy." His mom said. She kisses him on the cheek. The doctor walks in and tells them all about what's wrong with Daniel. Then he walks out letting them have time with him. "Does that mean I'm okay?" Daniel asked, confused. "Yes. You'll heal in a month or so." His mom said. "A month?! I have to be in here for a month?!" He asked. "To heal." His sister, Anna, said. He rolls his eyes. "Just get some sleep okay?" His dad said. He closes his eyes. His mom notices me. "Hello." She said. "Hi." I said in a quiet voice. "What's your name?" She asked. "I'm Riley." I said. "I'm Keri and this is Jeff, Tyler and Anna." She said pointing to Daniels dad, brother and sister. "Hi." Anna said. I smile. Keri rubs Daniels head as he tries to get rest. "So, what happened to you?" Daniels dad, Jeff, asked. "Dad. You can't just ask her that." Tyler said. I smile. "It's okay. I was in the accident with your son." I said. My head still feels weird. Like it's empty. I'm very dizzy though. "Did you cause it?" Jeff asked. "Dad!" Tyler said knowing it was rude. "Well, I wanna know who did this to my son! Was it you?! If it was I'm having my son put into another room far away from you!" Jeff said yelling at me. "Dad stop!" Anna said. My machine starts beeping. It's getting hard to breathe. It's beeping really fast. Faster and faster and it's getting harder and harder to breathe. "What's going on?!" Anna asked, confused and scared. "I don't know." Tyler said. A nurse hears and runs in. She puts a breathing mask on me. "Take deep, slow breaths." She said holding it in my face. Its getting easier to breathe. The nurses voice is so soothing and it's calming me down. "You're doing great, Riley. In and out." She said. I start breathing normally again. "Good job." She said. She picks up her pager and pages the doctor. "The doctor will be here in a minute, okay? Just keep breathing in and out." She said. I do as she says. Im breathing a little better. "What-" I said trying to speak. "Don't speak. Just breathe." She said. I continue to breathe into the mask. Wow. I said one word and it felt like I wasn't breathing for a whole minute. I look at Jeff. He doesn't look concerned like Anna, Tyler and keri do. Daniel is asleep. I'm pretty sure he's knocked out because the beeping was loud and his dad screaming was loud too and he didn't wake up. I look at Daniel as I breathe. He's so cute when he's sleeping. "Seriously, Jeff! Did you really have to scream at her?!" Keri said, mad at Jeff. "She hurt my boy!" He said. "That wasn't her! That was someone else!" Keri said. She's speaking the truth. I'm an excellent driver. "Whatever! I'm done with this! I can't do it!" Jeff said about to walk out of the room. "Dad, where are you going?" Anna asked. "I'm going somewhere other than here! I can't see Daniel this way! I need someone to blame! He couldn't have done this himself!" Jeff said. "We don't know who caused the accident but you can't just walk away!" Keri said. "I'm sorry I can't." Jeff said. He walks out. "Dad!" Anna said wanting to chase after him. Tyler puts his arm out to stop her. "Just don't. Daniel needs us here for him and if dad can't be here for him, he should be here at all." Tyler said. Anna sits down on the chair looking sad. She knows this might have ruined her family. "I'm s-sorry." I said trying to talk. She looks up at me. "It's not your fault. It's his." She said. Tyler just looks mad at his dad. Keri is continuing to rub Daniels head. "It's okay, baby. We're all here for you. Don't worry about a thing." She said as he was sound asleep. She looks really sad about what just happened. "Hello, everyone. How are we doing?" The doctor said as he walked into the room. "Hi." They all said. He walks over to me. I'm still breathing into the mask. My breathing is about normal now. "Okay, Riley. How you feeling?" He asked. I take the mask off. "I think my breathing is back to normal." I said. "I think it is too." He said. He checks my brain scan(that's what the beeping was). "What do you see?" I asked. "Looks to me like you had a panic attack." The doctor said. I've never had one of those before. "I did?" I asked. "Yeah. Do you think you know what caused it?" He asked. I look at Keri, Tyler and Anna. "No." I said looking back at the doctor. "Okay. I have to put you on some meds to make you loopy so you won't freak out again. Sometime panic attacks lead to more panic attacks." He said. "Okay." I said. He gives me medicine as I lay there. The doctor walks over to Daniels bed. "How is Daniel doing? Was he talking?" The doctor asked my mom. "Yes he was. He was even rolling his eyes at us. Isn't that a good sign?" She asked. He laughed. "It sure is." He said. Keri smiles. "Okay, good." She said. She continues to rub Daniels head. I start to feel groggy. "I check up later." The doctor said. He walks out of the room. I look around. Everything seems weird. I feel so happy for some reason. Like, I want to laugh. I look at Daniel and smile. He's really cute. I look at the time. It's 9:00am. It's quiet in the room. "You guys look like a nice family." I said. I feel like i know what I'm saying but I can't control what I'm saying. Keri smiles. "Thank you, Riley." She said knowing I'm on drugs. "I don't have a family anymore. I left last night because they're always drunk and never take care of me." I said. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Keri said. "It's okay. They beat me a few times a year. Not as often as you would think. Maybe like 10 times a year. That's good for drunk parents." I said. "Okay, Riley. Why don't you just go to sleep?" Keri said not wanting me to say anything else. She doesn't want to hear this because it's awkward to talk about. I look at Daniel. He's so cute. He's still sound asleep. "I'm sorry. I'm high right now." I said. She laughs. "I know you are. Get some rest, sweetheart." She said. "You're nice. Maybe you can fill in for my mom." I said. She laughs. "Whatever makes you happy." She said. I smile and close my eyes. Im glad Keri doesn't think I hurt Daniel like Jeff did. I would never. I slowly drift off to sleep.
