Testing Trust (Wattys 2014)

♥Chapter Forty-Three ~ The Letter♥

Lauren

As soon as I hear the pesky heart monitors once again, I just know that I'm still in the hospital, or at least it's my soul watching over my body. When I open my eyes, all I can see is a blur. I feel weak, like all of the blood has been taken out of my body. When the blur begins to dissipate, I start to see figures. Figures of people I cannot make out. But I have a feeling of who it could be.

"Dad?" I say when my vision finally clears, letting me see my dad's relieved face.

"Oh, my God, Lauren," he smiles, tears running down his cheeks. His tired face is even more of a mess now, his hair in knots and tangles, dark bags becoming darker. Beside him is my uncle who is absolutely speechless about my awakening. I can't even make out anymore words as my throat is completely shut from the lack of water.

"I'm so glad you're okay," my uncle says, coming over and grabbing softly onto my hand. I smile at him, the weakest smile I've ever made to him. I'm glad he came although I'm not surprised that he's here. Even though he isn't my real uncle, he still is my uncle.

I look around and my dad and uncle are the only ones here. There is no one else, and the face that I really want to see isn't beside me right now. I can only imagine him in his new home in California. As soon as I try to sit up, a burning pain strikes at my far right abdomen. I groan with agony but I am finally able to sit up all the way.

"So, he's gone," I frown, looking down at my hands.

When those words escape my mouth, I regret them. I don't want my dad to think that I'm not happy to see him here which I am, it's just that I was hoping for him and Adam.

"Yes, Lauren," he says. "I'm afraid he left last night after visiting you."

My dad knows of the situation and he knows that Adam was leaving today since I told him before I had gotten shot and all. He knows how devastated I am that he's gone and he also knows how much I am in love with him. I'm heartbroken, and not only because of Adam, but because my sister betrayed me.

My own sister, the one who I have grown up with, hugged when the head off her barbie doll had broken when we were children, who also kissed her bruises when she fell. The same little sister who played with her when her friends traded on her, the little sister who put all of her trust into her, the little sister that needed her.

She shot me, putting me on the verge of death. I will never forgive her for that and I only hope that her baby gets the best treatment and is taken care of while she rots in jail and think about what she has done to me.

As my hatred for Samantha grows, the door suddenly opens and walks in my doctor. An older gentleman wearing a white lab coat and dark green scrubs. The usual doctor attire. The grey hairs revealed his age, but without them, he could pass for early thirties.

"Well, would you look at that. The sleepy head is awake," he places the clipboard beside him and smiles. "Hello, I'm Dr. Chetsky."

He puts out his hand and offers it to my dad and uncle which they gladly shake.

"I was actually just looking through Lauren's x-rays and since we were able to operate so soon, her bullet wound is already in the healing process. The bleeding was pretty mild, but we were able to stop it before it became severe."

"Does that mean I can actually go home today?"

"Well, yes it does mean that. We'll have to send you home with some antibiotics to fix a little infection within the wound and just some prescriptions to help with the pain and healing."

I'm so glad to hear those very words, to hear that I can actually go home today. But at the same time, I don't want to go home because I just know that I can't bear to see that same house again. I can't bear to see where I was attempted to be killed by my own sister.