His Secret Bodyguard

Part 47

I groaned, my head pounding at the sound of his voice. But, I opened my eyes. I didn't know where my phone was, but saw Jeff's phone on the table. I sighed, slowly standing up, almost falling. I managed to grab his phone, and felt myself nearly pass out, but stayed upright. I looked down at it, doing the emergency call thing, and hitting "112."

They picked up, and said the typical greeting line. "Nous avons besoin d'une ambulance.." I got out, barely remembering to speak French. She said something, but the pounding in my ears had gotten too loud.

I managed to tell her my address, before blacking out, collapsing onto the floor...

*

I woke back up to loud shouting, and whimpered, grabbing my head. "He's in the bedroom!" I heard Jeff shout. I felt someone's hand on my arm. There was a lot of commotion, as I saw blurred shadows running across the room..

"Brynn, you need to stay awake." I heard the voice above me say. After a minute, I realized it was Jeff. I felt someone's arms come around me. I could hear shouting in the other room. Something was wrong with Harry.. I couldn't keep my eyes open, my headache getting worse by the minute.

"Do you know what happened, sir?" I heard someone ask. All French. Jeff wouldn't understand them. I managed to translate it to English, even though it seemed to take a lot out of me. "Alcohol poisoning? Maybe. He had a lot to drink last night. They both did. I got back this morning, and I thought she might have a concussion or something. But then he wasn't waking up.." He trailed off, sounding panicked. I couldn't talk very loud, but translated it back to French for the woman to understand. Was Harry okay?

She started speaking in French again. "Okay. Sir, we brought him back; he's breathing on his own, his heart is beating. We're going to take him to the hospital." She explained. I managed to open my eyes, translating most of it for him.

She asked me a question, crouching down in front of where I was lying. Jeff was sitting on the ground with me, and had my head elevated on his lap, his arm wrapped around me.

I whimpered, shutting my eyes at the pain in my head. I slowly brought one of my hands up, and put it on the back of my head.

Jeff sat me up a little, as she examined it. She was trying to talk to him in French still, explaining that there was no sign of a physical injury on my head.    "Il ne parle pas Français." I murmured. She looked down at me, and I felt my eyes shut again. She shouted something that soon became muffled, and I was surrounded by darkness as I fell back into my unconscious state....

*** Four days later ***

I woke up to a sharp pain in my head. But it was nothing compared to what it had been before. I opened my eyes, looking around. Definitely a hospital.. I could hear voices speaking outside the room. One of them was Jeff, and I realized he'd found someone who spoke good English, although his French accent was still fairly thick.

"So, what you're saying is that they'll both be fine?" He asked. "Yes, they will. She had a closed-head injury, which can sometimes present itself as a concussion. It was good that we got to that when we did. She'll recover pretty quick.. We had to pump his stomach, and open up his chest for surgery, and he's currently on an IV drip to help him through the next few days." I heard the other man explain. "Ok. And so, what caused him to.. Well, die." Jeff questioned.

"The alcohol poisoning. Even though he stopped drinking many hours beforehand, the alcohol was still seeping into his bloodstream throughout the night. After a lot of that, the heart cannot continue to maintain it's proper functions. He went into cardiac arrest, and his heart stopped. You found him at a very good time. After 2-3 minutes, it would have been too late. And if you hadn't performed CPR on him when you did, he absolutely wouldn't be alive. Cardiac Arrest is often-times fatal." The man explained.

I couldn't help but feel guilty. It was my fault, after all. I shouldn't have let him drink.. I almost killed him. "And, her head injury. How bad was it?" Jeff asked.. "Her brain was very slowly bleeding, which is why she kept passing out the way she did. It's amazing she was still talking at that point.. With that said, however.. Head injuries are difficult to predict when it comes to the outcome. The injury was directed to her occipital lobe, which controls visual processing. So, facial recognition, color determination, depth perception, certain parts of her memory.. That type of thing. We can't accurately predict how well that part of the brain will be able to operate in the future." The man explained..

"So, the memory loss? She didn't remember anything after she hit her head. But she was supposedly conscious." Jeff questioned. I realized he was talking about the part I don't remember. The part where something happened with Harry..

"Yes, that was likely her body preserving its energy towards healing her injury. So her short-term memory would have shut down until she woke up in the morning. Well, we actually don't know that. She might not remember what happened at all.." The doctor explained..

But.. I felt okay. I mean, my head hurt a lot. But, I could see. I knew where I was, what color the walls were. My vision was fine so far.

"Alright. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to explain this all to me." Jeffrey said. "It's no problem at all. Although, I do have a question for you. It's about her." He replied. "She has many scars all over her body. From what we can tell, they're from deep cuts she received at some point in her life. Maybe a few years ago. Would you happen to know what those are from?" The man questioned.

"Um. No, I have no idea. I haven't noticed them, and she's very private about her life." Jeff replied.

"Alright. Well, if you'd like to sit with either of them, you can. We haven't been able to contact her family. His are on the way." The guy explained. I sighed, shutting my eyes, glad they hadn't somehow tracked down my parents.

I heard the door open and close. I guess Jeff decided to come in here instead of Harry's room, which I found strange.. He sat next to my bed, and I felt him put his hand over my arm. I didn't move, waiting for the headache to pass. It had gotten progressively worse.

He turned my arm over, his thumb sliding across one of my scars.. I grimaced, pulling my arm away and rolling over. "Brynn?" He asked. I slowly lifted my hand, touching the back of my head. "Hey, it's okay. You had surgery; they said you'll be sore for a while." He commented.. I opened my eyes again, looking over at him. "You're awake." He said. "Seems that way." I murmured, letting my head rest back on the pillow.

"Should I get the doctor?" He asked. I shook my head, wincing at the pain that came with the movement...

He nodded, sitting back down in the chair that was next to my bed. I waited until the throbbing subsided some. "Is he okay?" I asked, looking back over at him.. He nodded. "He's been doing alright. He had surgery a few days ago, so he's still recovering from that. His mom and sister are coming to visit him today." He explained. I slowly nodded, glancing around the room again. "The doctors couldn't get in touch with your family.." He commented.

"Good." I replied, wanting to go back to sleep. "What, you don't like them?" He asked, laughing a little. "Not in the slightest." I stated, not looking at him. After another minute, I felt him touch my arm again, where I had that scar. "What's this from?" He questioned.. I had to keep myself from pulling my arm away.

"Doesn't matter." I said, closing my eyes back. "Okay. Well, I'll let you rest. I have to check on Harry." He commented, getting up and leaving.....