I'm standing on the balcony of our brand new house in Tofino. The shore is quiet and the water looks cold and calm and the sky is a vibrant blue, not a cloud insight. I turn to look back inside the house and spot my dad resting on the couch in the living room, watching sports and I can just see my mom busy in the kitchen. My mom then walks over to the lounge and cuddles up with my dad on the couch. I can't help but smile at the sight. The perfect family. I turn back around to look out at the bay but the sky has turned a gruesome black full of ominous clouds ready to bring a thunderstorm. The water at the shore is choppy and rough, sinking all the boats except one. I spin around to go inside and notice a red glow coming from inside our suddenly dark house. My parents are no longer cuddling on the couch; in fact, I can't see them at all. I start to panic, wondering where they are and what is going on. I call for them but no one answers. Suddenly, my dad's low, booming voice echoes around me. "Celine! Get back here you little shit!"
I find myself running. Running to the dock outside our house and I jump in the boat but it won't start. I turn the key again and again but the engine won't start. I see, out of the corner of my eye, a huge shadowy figure, running down the hill and realize it's a blown up version of my father, stampeding towards me. I turn the key a last time and the boat's engine finally roars to life and I swiftly leave the dock and my giant father. I was alone in the boat, driving to nowhere but suddenly I see my mother, in the rearview mirror, sitting in the back of the boat, smiling at me. I turn to look at her and notice someone sitting in the passenger seat. I can't see their face but I know it's Benjamin.
"What?" He asks and I turn to look back in front of me. We drive out to the open-ocean and suddenly white headlights blind me, as they hurtle towards us. I blink, to focus my sight and now I'm not driving anymore. I'm not even in the boat anymore; I'm sitting in a tiny, cramped car, next to someone whose face I can't make out.
"Benjamin, slow down! You're gonna hit that – ''
I opened my eyes and was blinded by an all too familiar white light and the scent of disinfectant and rubber filled my nose. I was still in hospital. I couldn't breathe, I felt like I was suffocating...drowning. A nurse with a friendly face came over to my bed to calm me down.
"It's alright, darling, it's alright. Breathe, breathe..." But I couldn't. I tried sucking in deep gasps of air but still I couldn't steady my breathing. The friendly nurse, Nurse Walter, put an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth after two minutes of me gasping hopelessly for air and finally my breathing settled.
"There you go, sweetheart. There you go," she stroked my hair and then left quietly. My eyes were so heavy even though I felt like I had been sleeping for hours.
Suddenly, everything from the last 24 hours came rushing back to me and my life in the past month flashed before my eyes. I remembered what happened. I was running away but not from my dad, from the people that took me in, looked after me, gave me shelter and food and comfort...and my first kisses. I phoned Benjamin to come and pick me up to take me to Salem Bus Station and I remember deleting all of my contacts from my phone because I was angry. I was angry with myself, at people who didn't even deserve my anger. Then after a few hours of driving, we were on the highway and I remembered bright headlights getting closer and I could hear the sound of a truck's horn in the background. I remembered looking at the speedometer and reading 180km/hr when I should have been seeing 100km/hr. That's when everything else happened so quickly I forgot to breathe. A huge impact knocked all the air from my lungs, there was a loud crack and I felt indescribable pain in my eyes and ears, a blinding pain in both my legs and the world went black.
Now I was lying in a hospital gown in a hospital bed, trying to forget everything that happened. My throat was incredibly dry and I was thirsty so I tried calling someone to get me something to drink and Nurse Walter came back and placed a glass of water on the tray on my lap.
A few minutes passed while I watched whatever the hell was on the tiny TV that hung from the corner of the small room and eventually, Doctor Melroy came back with images of my X-Rays. He already told me what happened but must have wanted to show me. There were a dozen small fractures in my shinbone and only one major fracture in my left femur. The doctor also said that I had badly bruised my femur in my right leg and I had broken my pinkie toe on my right foot. I also apparently had a fractured rib but "miraculously" survived other damage. Luckily, the cut in my head wasn't deep enough to reach my actual skull, but it was apparently still deep enough to cut through quite a few layers of skin and require ten stitches to heal. Doctor Melroy also showed me an MRI scan of my left ankle.
"Your ankle seems to be very weak – ''
"Yeah well, I sprained it really badly a few years ago and then in grade eight, I had a grade 3 tear and a grade 1 tear in some of my tendons so, yeah, it's pretty weak." I said too sarcastically.
He cleared his throat. "Yes, well, as I was saying, you have a grade 3 tear in this ligament here," he pointed to the picture. "And a grade 1 tear in this tendon over here," he circled something in the picture with his finger. "Your blood tests haven't come back yet but I will notify you when they do. In the meantime, do you want to call your parents or anyone?" He asked, moving his glasses up higher on his nose.
"No, it's ok, I've called someone already, thanks." He nodded and left me in my bright white room. I still couldn't remember whose number I called.
After the doctor showed me what was wrong, I felt like I could physically feel every fracture, bruise and tear in my body. I didn't realize I had a fractured rib but now that I knew, my breathing was suddenly sore and the tight stitches in my forehead gave me a huge headache.
Nurse Ranette gave me painkillers, strong ones, and said that I had only previously slept for twenty minutes after my surgery and told me I should try and catch some more sleep.
I slept for hours and hours but dreamt nothing. Not a single image of anything crossed my mind.
The sting of the stitches in my head eventually woke me up after what felt like years. I was used to the blinding white light of my small hospital room but something was off. The familiar lighting was shadowing a figure hunched over at my side...holding my hand. I tried focusing my vision through all the pain that returned and I'm surprised the heart monitor didn't actually flat line.
"Connell?"
YOU ARE READING
Where to Begin
Teen Fiction*COMPLETE* Celine is starting a clean slate, a new life away from her seemingly broken one back in Tofino. She made the executive decision to run away from home, at 16, and she has her reasons but is she willing to share them with the new family th...
