Sleeping Beauty

Chapter 6

Shawn

At his last words, I get scared. What had really happened to her.

I silently wait the two minutes as we pull onto the main road. His hands grip onto the steering wheel and his knuckles turn white. "It was almost three a.m. The call came in. There had been a car wreck out quite a ways, but we were still the closest to it, so we rushed over there to see what it was all about. The road we had to go up was on this giant hill in a forest in the middle of no where. It took us maybe fifteen minutes to get there." He stops at a light and turns to face me. "When we got up there, there was a fire truck blocking the road. There were about ten teenagers there and two police cars. No car or truck or any sign that there had been a wreck. We jumped out and ran to a policeman. He just shook his head and pointed." At those words, he slams his hands down on the sides of the steering wheel and the whole cars shake. He starts driving again when the light turns green. "There was a drop off at the side of the road and a creek at the bottom. The car was in pieces. I just stared for a second before I said 'How many?' and he just answered, 'Four kids.' 

"I had rushed back to the ambulance and called for at least one more. Then me and the other guy I was working with grabbed a gurney and rushed down the side, slipping and tripping over rocks on the way down. It was a deeper part of the creek, so the front half sat completely submerged. The lights were still on and you could see them through the water." Dr. Allan pauses again. "The water around the car was red."

I take in a sharp breath. Oh my god, my sweet America, what happened to you. 

"The boy who was driving was trapped at the bottom, dead. His chest had been split open by the steering wheel. There was a boy and a girl in the back of the car. The girl slammed her head went through the window, cut her neck. They were both young, about fifteen. The boy's body had slammed into the back of the front seat. He escaped and pulled the girl's body out with him, but she was already dead. America was not wearing a seat belt, Shawn. The one thing parents, teachers, and doctors constantly tell you to do, and she completely ignores it" He turns into the parking lot and parks the car. "Shawn-"

"Tell me."

"Shawn-"

I look out the window and scream, "I SAID TELL ME!"

He takes a deep breath. Her leg got caught in the in the pocket between the door and the seat and the force was so strong that she was thrown out of the car and her leg was... torn off. She landed on a rock, hit her head. She's lucky her body was facing up, because, she would've drowned otherwise. We sat her on the gurney. Almost all her blood was gone. I had to walked off to the side and vomitted  because I couldn't stand the sight. The whole side of her head was covered in blood. Her clothes were soaked and her white shirt had been stained pink. And I know that you out of all people wouldn't be able to understand how gory the scence was with your perfect imgae of her, but..."

"But what?" I wipe my hands on my pants since they're sweating.

"Her bone was showing. All  of it. There were pieces of skin dangling off of it and when we went through the car, her whole leg was still there. I'm sorry to have to put that image in your mind, I wanted you to know in case she does wake up.

"She woke up just before she went into surgery at the hospital. We upped the amnesia we gave her so she wouldn't wake up again. The operation took several hours and we expected her to wake up about an hour afterward. She never did." 

I punch my fist against the car door and then shake it out to get rid of the pain. I step out of the car, grab my guitar, and start walking towards the front door. The man quickly follows behind me. "Shawn!" I walk faster. "Shawn!" I pull the strap of my guitar face farther up my shoulder. "Shawn, stop right now or I'll make sure you'll never get to see her again!" 

So I stop. He catches up with me. "I know you want to go see her and I get that, but you can't tell her anything. It'll only freak her out. I promise you she does not remember anything after that car went off the road and if you tell her that her friends are dead, she will forget that she needs to focus on herself. She needs to get better."

I shake my head and try to get the disgusting images out of my mind. "Of course."

He grabs my arm. "Don't do anything to upset her."

I nod my head once. He guides me through the door and into the elevator. When we're on the right floor, he leaves me by myself. I walk down the hallway and stop at the door that has her room number next to it. 526. I put my hand on the the door handle, but I don't push it open. I simply sit there with my hand sitting on the cold metal. People walk by, all of them have places to go and I just stand there. 

After what must've been at least ten minutes, I open the door just a bit. I look through the crack in the door. The window is still closed and the faint light from the bedside lamp still lights up the dim room. I open it a little more. The floors are still gray and the sheets on the corner of her bed are still white. I push the door open and walk in, but I don't get further than that. It was still her, but there were tubes and wires everywhere and the akward  hollow on the left side of the bed was haunting me. I quickly shake my head and push my hands through my hair. Then I continue to walk. I pull the chair that was sitting on the wall next to her bed and then I go open the blinds. The room is flooded with light.

When I sit down, I pull out my guitar, but the minute my fingers touch the strings, I see her body in the middle of the creek. Her white t-shirt is stained pink and her leg is gone and her face is covered in blood with chunks of her hair stuck in it. 

I close my eyes, and when I open them, everything is back to normal.