Out of the woods

I remember, oh i remember

"What?" I exclaim, "why can't I see the doctor? I need to know what's wrong with me and if my family knows my mom will be worried sick I haven't called her in, oh gosh, how long have I been in here?!"

I'm starting to freak out.

Jacob looks at me with exasperation.

"Your parents have been contacted. They believe you decided to stay in Washington for another 2 weeks and are in no way injured. You have a severe concussion and have been out for 37 hours. Your ribs are bruised. you need to be in bed for at least 3 more days. You hit a tree with your snowmobile. That is all I can tell you. The doctor has more important things to deal with. I thought I'd save him the trouble." He says in a monotone, as if talking to me was the most vexing thing on the planet. I'm not that boring am I? My cat Meredith seems to like me well enough, as did the 1.2 million people who bought my album Red in the first week. But they don't really know me. No one knows I'm here. There's something comforting in the realisation that for right now I'm not Taylor Swift, country sensation, but a girl in a hospital bed with a concussion. Nothing more, nothing less. Jacob hasn't asked for an autograph or about my latest boyfriend yet and he's been near me for over 15 minutes. This is a rarity for me.

"I guess I should just relax then."

"That would be wise."

"Nice to meet you then... Jacob?"

"You too, Taylor."

We smile at each other tentatively.

"What happened to you anyhow? looks pretty rough."

"Nah I'll be fine in a few days, just a couple of stitches." I notice he avoids telling me how it happened. That's fine, we all have secrets.

I try to think back to the day of the accident. I was staying at a cabin in the woods near Forks, Washington. It's a remote area and there are no people for miles around the cabin so I thought I'd be safe there. I needed some time to reflect and write some songs. I'd just fallen out of a tumultuous relationship, and need to rethink them all together. I don't ever want to feel that again. I don't want want to be humiliated. I don't want my love life to be a national past time anymore. So I escaped. I'd found a snowmobile in the shed next to the cabin and thought I'd give it a spin. I'd ridden a few before with my brother, so I felt confident. I guess I shouldn't have been.

I drove slowly through the trees but picked up speed when I stumbled across a track. And then there was the wolf. It came out of the trees. We both tried to stop and avoid collision.

"Jacob." I say, gaining his attention. I guess we'd both drifted into our own thoughts.

"Yes love?"

Love? Maybe I heard wrong. I must have heard wrong.

"You told me I hit a tree. I didn't, I hit a wolf!"

"A wolf!" He looks scared and then shocked. "There are no wolves in Washington. You must have imagined it."

"I remember! I'm not lying! I know what I saw. It was...big. Not like normal wolves."

He looks uncomfortable. I sound crazy. He thinks I'm crazy. Oh gosh what if the paparazzi find out, I'll be committed. I'll be sent to rehab. I'll lose my reputation. My fans.

"Breathe. Just breathe." He soothes me.

I hadn't realised, but I'd started hyperventilating. I close my eyes and concentrate on taking slow, even breaths.

When I calmed down, I looked back at him and smiled shakily.

"You had a bad accident. You hurt yourself pretty bad. You were out for almost 2 days. You were injected with some serious pain meds. Hallucinations in scenarios like this are normal. You will be fine." He soothes me.

Who is this man? Why does he make me feel so calm?