Ashes

Chapter Three:

^^Kimber Ash^^

Kimber's POV:
I had just woken up. The heavy pain medication kept anything from being in focus. The familiar scent of lavender and vanilla flooded my senses and I realized I was in my room.

"Oh! Good! You're awake!" My mom's voice said. I looked around the room. Nothing was in it but my dresser and my bed. 

"Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?" I debated asking where my stuff was and what this horrible pain was in my right leg. My whole leg was throbbing.

"What happened?" I asked trying to sit up, but instead, I cried out in pain. 

"Oh no, honey! Don't move, you'll hurt yourself," she said sweetly. 

"Yeah, no shit, mom." I had never felt such immense pain in my life. 

"Kimber... just because you're hurt doesn't mean you can talk to me like that."

"Hurt. I'm hurt. What exactly did I hurt? My leg, right?"

"Yes. You, uhm... well you fell down the stairs, Kimmy-girl. You fell and landed directly on one of the stairs and shattered your kneecap and ripped your ACL in half. Then you tumbled down and hit your ankle too hard on a stair and broke it." My mom explained. Suddenly the memory came flashing back to my brain. 

"You have no clue what you're talking about!" Paxton shouted at me. 

"Paxton, steroids will kill your career!"  I shouted back at the boy I didn't know anymore. He was different and I couldn't notice it until now. 

"Shut the hell up," he shoved me backward.

"Paxton..." he ignored me.

"No! Stop acting like you understand! Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kimber," he shoved me again and I lost balance.

"Paxton! The stairs!" I shouted as I fell backward. He reached out to catch me but it was too late. I was falling fast. The first thing to hit was the back of my right leg. I started to get woozy as my upper body flung backward and my head hit a stair. I felt blood drip from my head as I blacked out.

"I didn't fall," I said softly. My mother's face grew weary and confused. She spoke very slowly.

"What are you talking about, sweetie? You and Paxton were at the porch steps talking and he said you tried to walk past him but slipped because it was raining outside and before he could grab you, you fell and it was too late-" she realized what I was talking about. "That son of a bitch! I'm gonna kill him! What really happened?"

"I-I-I found out Paxton was using steroids an-and I freaked out. I showed him the box I found and we started arguing. I told him that they would kill his career and he shoved me at the top of the stairs and I fell back."

"He pushed you?!" She practically yelled. She pulled her phone out and I knew exactly where this was going.

"Mom," I started to say.  She ignored me and continued to dial the number. "Mom! Don't! This isn't necessary-" she put the phone on speaker and paced back and forth in my room.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" The operator answered.

"Mom! Mom, please don't!" I begged my mother. "If we report him to the league, he'll be banned for life and that will do more to him than anything else!" The pleading in my eyes caused my mother to stop what she was doing.

"Hello, yes, I'm so sorry, my 9-year-old son thought it would be funny to prank call you. Please excuse him. My apologies," she hung up the phone and I let out a sigh of relief. My brother just so happened to walk past my room.

"That was 10 years ago mom!" He then saw I was awake. "Kimb!" He rushed over to my bed and wrapped me in a hug.

"Hey, Jakey," I said, smiling. He gave the best hugs.

"I'm glad you're awake. I missed you," his tone was sad.

"I love you, Jakey."

"You can never go back to that school. Ever." My mom said pacing back and forth, her thumbs ferociously tapping her phone screen.

"Mom, I'm gonna be fine. Besides I have to stay here and focus on my rehab and PT."

"Where else could she go, Momma?" Jake asked.

"You're going to stay with your Auntie Sarah, Karson, and the Twins."