Lethal Fixation (FINISHED)

Chapter Fourteen

Beep. Beep. Beep. That's all Meghan could hear. It seemed like it was coming from the distance, echoing. It began to grow louder and louder until she gasped for breath and her eyes flew open. She looked around frantically, slowly realizing that she was in a hospital room, in a hospital bed, with wires stuck to her arms. The beeping was coming for a monitor next to her. Her parents were at the end of the bed, sleeping. Her eyes landed on the clock that was up on the wall behind them. It was eleven p.m. She could vaguely remember what happened, the truck coming towards her car, the car crashing and Chelsea's screams. Chelsea! She sat bolt upright and started to panic. Was Chelsea okay? Where was she? Was she here in the hospital too?

"Meghan, oh thank god," Miranda said, waking up. She nudged her husband and Oliver woke up.

"Megs, you had us all worried," Oliver said, coming over to her and kissed her forehead. "How are you feeling, sweetie?"

"I hurt all over. But wait, the girl I was with, Chelsea, is she okay?" Meghan asked her father, the worry starting to get to her.

"Your friend's fine, she has a broken arm but she's going back home tonight. She has been in to see you. She said she'd come back tomorrow." Miranda answered before Oliver could. "Meg, you've been sleeping for the past nine hours. You've hit your head, twisted your left ankle and broken a rib, but you'll be fine in a few weeks time. We think it's best if you come home with us until you're better, we'll call the college-"

"No way, mom. I'm not coming home. Classes start tomorrow and-"

"This is non negotiable, Meghan. You're coming home with us when they discharge you. Don't think your father and I don't know what's been going on, what with your car getting vandalised and those poor girls dying," Miranda said, standing up. "Talk with your father, I'm going to get us some coffees."

Miranda left and Meghan looked at her father. He looked exhausted. "Daddy, please, I don't want to come home. I'm not missing any classes. I'm fine, honestly."

Oliver sighed and looked at his daughter. "Look at the mess on you, hon. I'm afraid for you. I think in what your mother is saying-"

"Dad, I mean it, I'm not coming home! There's no way I am. Once I'm better I'm going straight back to college. That's final. You and mom both have the best paying jobs because you studied hard at college. I'm staying." Meghan tried to sit up but a stabbing pain in her broken rib stopped her. She winced. She glanced over at her father to see if he had noticed. He had. He shook his head and stood up, then began to pace around the small room.

"I'll have a word with your mother once we've left. We're staying in a hotel just five minutes away. It's not going to be easy changing her mind, Meg, you know what she's like," Oliver said. Just then Miranda walked back into the room, carrying a tray of three styrofoam cups of steaming hot coffee. She passed one to Meghan and then to Oliver. "I just phoned the administration office of Redmond College. I've explained what's happened. They're absolutely fine with you coming home. We've come to an arrangement that your tutors will email you what you need to do before you go back so you won't be behind with any work."

"How dare you! Mom, I'm not coming home with you!" Meghan put the cup down on the bedside table next to her. "Phone them back now!"

Miranda shook her head. "The decison's been made, Meghan. Deal with it."

*

The next morning, Meghan woke up feeling a little better. It was nine-twenty a.m. She was actually envious of the people that were in the first classes or lectures. It wasn't fair that she was stuck in this hospital bed. It wasn't fair that she had to go home for a couple of weeks either. She leaned over to get her phone and gasped with the sudden pain she had in her side. She grabbed it and fell back down onto the bed. She laughed bitterly when she saw that she had 23 missed calls and 14 text messages. They were mostly off Hannah, Chelsea and Ben, but then there was one missed call and a voicemail off Callie. Or not Callie. She dialled up voicemail and waited for it to play.

"Poor little Meghan. That truck sure did come out of nowhere, didn't it? Your face was priceless!" The voice said. "Heard you'll be in hospital for a while, that really does help me in so many ways. Don't worry, Megs. Callie's safe. I'm actually thinking of letting her go now that you're sort of out of the picture for the time being. She won't know where she's been. She's been like sleeping beauty since I took her. Get well soon."

Hanging up, Meghan dropped her phone and started to gnaw at her fingernails. What did he mean by she was out of the picture? If he didn't want to hurt either Callie or Meghan, who did he want to hurt. Whoever it was had some kind of obsession with the Omega Phi Deltas. Was Hannah in danger? But if it was Hannah he was after, why had Meghan and Callie been victims? He had said he'd seen the crash, too, so had he been following, or had it been him who had caused it? Too many questions were swimming around her head, it was too much. She lay back down and decided to get some more rest. The sooner she was better the sooner she could persuade her parents that she was well enough to go back to college.