Were I Her

Chapter 3

I'd rather die.

This is even worse than dying. This is a nightmare coming true.

"Are you feeling okay?" A strange but familiar looking woman keeps asking me that question for a while now it scares the hell out of me. I know I am swearing, but this is seriously freaking me out. About five minutes ago I opened my eyes to a very sour body and two strangers, a man and a woman, mopping around me. What weirder is that they kept calling me Natalie.

Until I looked at my reflection on the window glass, which almost knocked me into a coma again since I didn't see me staring back, I saw Natalie Tyler.

Yes, Luke's girlfriend, the cheerleader, THE best face of the sophomores, Natalie Tyler.

How the hell does this even happen?

All I remember is me, Aaron, Luke and his girlfriend Natalie sitting in the car and it seems that we got into a car crash. But I absolutely do not remember switching my body with someone else. How comes I'm here now in a strange hospital and not even in my body anymore.

"She's fine Lauren. The doctor says she's fine. The trauma is not severe" The man seems to be Lauren's husband comforts her. And suddenly I know why I find this woman oddly familiar. She and Natalie are the splitting image of each other. I have seen Lauren a couple of times before when she picked Natalie up. This woman is her mother, no doubt.

"You've been unconscious for hours even though the doctors said that you're fine, honey" The man says to me, his hands still patting the woman's shoulders. "We're just so worried. When we came to the accident scene, the sight scares us to death. No one can believe the luck you kids have. Well, most of you"

His words wake me.

"What do you mean most of us, what happened? Are the boys okay"

"They are okay. Barely scratched" Lauren finds her voice again, relief fills it. But then she chokes on her next words "Your other friend is not so lucky. She sat in the most dangerous seat and she took quite a lot"

Her voice trails off and I feel cold to my feet. She's talking about me.

"Is she... dead" I hear Natalie's voice ask and don't realize it's actually me asking. Her voice sounds muffed and unbalance when it forms my speculation.

"No. Thank god for that" The man breathed a sigh of relief. I don't know his name yet but he seems like a very decent man. I mean he tells me that I haven't died just yet and he seems happy about it, what can be nicer than that? But then he adds "Not for now at least"

When I frown at him, he continues "They'd just done her operation. It was so long and we heard that her heart stopped once and they had to restart it. But it's a successful operation. She's in the ICU now. Though her state is a little... chancy"

"They can only hope she will wake up soon" Lauren adds.

What hope do they get? I am still here and have not a clue why. How on earth am I to return to my limb body and wake up ever, not to mention soon?

"Can I go see her?" I ask and watch as the two of them exchange a look. From their hesitation, I guess I won't be let go now.

"It's not up to us Natalie. You still need to have the last check-up before they allow you to leave. Maybe after that then" Lauren's voice never goes up above a loud whisper and very steady then.

"When can I have that last check-up then? I feel completely fine now" That's a lie though. My head was still pounding like someone keeps knocking it. Half of my body doesn't feel like mine. Well technically, none is mine.