Thank you, Kelley

Chapter 28

Kelley's POV:

The rest of the day is pretty quiet. Meghan sleeps for much of the day and we just hang out in her room not wanting to leave her alone. The doctors and nurses come by periodically. They also did a few neurological tests to make sure Meghan was ok and they said they all came back good. I was a little concerned that she couldn't remember what had happened to her and he explained that it was emotional and not physical. There wasn't any injury that was causing her to not remember but rather the trauma of it all.

We discussed her recovery and he said that it will be hard but manageable. She will need to spend several more days in the hospital to monitor her but then she will be free to go. She has to take it easy for a few months before even returning to light training because a repeat brain injury could be really bad. He also recommended that she see a counselor who could help with the emotional side of her recovery.

It was now early evening and she had just woken up.

"Hi. How are you doing?" I speak softly to her knowing she is still groggy with sleep.

"Mm, I'm good."

"I'm glad to hear that" I giggle.

"Where are the girls?"

"Oh, they went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat for dinner."

Meghan's POV:

"Oh, they went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat for dinner," Kelley responds to my confusion of where everyone has gone. I have basically been sleeping on and off all day. I still don't understand how I can be so tired if I haven't done anything except sleep but that's ok.

As I wake up more the questions of what's happened to me and how my life is going to change fill my mind. I guess now's as good a time as any.

"Kelley?" She looks my way.

"What's up" I guess she can see the seriousness in my eyes.

"You said they arrested him right?"

"Yes, they did. He can't hurt you anymore I promise."

"Mm," I hum out. That's not the real thing I wanted to talk about.

"Where am I going? Have they placed me in a new foster home?" I don't really want to think about this now but I need to know. "Kelley I don't want to. What if it's worse?" I start to break down.

Soon her hand finds mine and she gives it a squeeze.

"Hey. it's ok. I know you're scared. And no, they haven't put you in a new home yet. And it's gonna be ok. I promise."

"Kelley, you don't know it's gonna be ok. You can't promise." I cried out. She gently pushed the tears away from my face.

"Actually there is... Meghan let me adopt you. You can come live with me. I can take care of you. Love you the way a family is supposed to. I have space in my place in Utah and I have more than enough money to take care of us both." She rushes her words out seeming nervous about how I will react to her plan. I'll admit it sounds like a great plan but,

"Kel I can't ask you to do that."

"But you didn't Meghan. I'm offering it to you. Meghan, I never should have let you go back there with him in the first place." Tears start to fall from her eyes now too. She doesn't blame this on herself, does she?

"I should have gotten you out of there. I knew you weren't safe and I did nothing to help you. I'm so sorry."

"Oh, Kelley. Don't blame this on yourself. This is not your fault. Please promise me you will stop blaming yourself." I plead with her. She looks at me with teary eyes and nods. "Now back to the other part, Would you really do that for me?"

"Absolutely. I already got all the paperwork worked out. All we would have to do is sign a few more things and get a judge to sign off."

"Wow..." is all I can manage to get out. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Ok!" I say quietly. She leans in and gives me a hug.

"I'm so happy you said yes." she laughs and I giggle in response.

"Ya well, where else was I going to go. But really thank you so much!" I say as happy tears now escape both of our eyes.

"Of course. It's the least I could do. We can figure everything out later but we can stay in Utah for the whole school year so you can finish out high school. I know it will be hard to leave your friends here but it will all work out. And now you can come to camp!"

"Ya... I don't really have a lot here though. It will be good to have a fresh start. And yes I am so excited to be able to go to camp!" As I say this the door clicks open.

"Hey, you two. Oh, are you guys ok? Why are you crying?" Emily walks in first followed by Ali and Ash.

"She's going to adopt me," I say gleefully.

"Oh ya..." Emily giggles out as Ali and Ash smile.

"Did you know?"

"Of course I did. I mean she wouldn't stop talking about it. She came up with the idea when we were in the car first driving up here." I look over to see Kelley blushing.

"I just wanted what's best for you." She smiles.

"Well, I'm glad you said yes to her because if not we were going to do the same," Ash says as she takes a seat at the end of my bed.

"Really?"

"Of course Meghan," Ali says.

"Thank you, guys. For everything."

We all embrace in a group hug and spend the rest of the night just hanging out. I can't believe that they all care about me so much. I guess I have just trained myself to not expect that from people. I can't wait to finally have a home that I can feel safe going home to.

Tomorrow night Krashlyn is going back to Orlando. It has been so good to see them and spend time with them but I know they need to get back to their life. Emily is staying which I am excited about. The rest of the team has also all offered to fly out but I know that would just overwhelm me more. I have been texting most of them nonstop which is good too. Rose and I facetime a lot. When we first did she yelled at me for a good ten minutes about how mad at me she was that I almost died. Apparently she was really worried about me. I also talked to Sophie which was really good. Somehow no one told her what was going on. She was so confused when I called her. At first, she was mad that I had just disappeared without telling her but then she was worried but I told her the whole story. She also offered to come and see me in the hospital but I knew she was busy and told her I would come by before we left for Utah.

It feels good to be cared about.