Finding Her

Chapter 2: The Aftermath

Chapter 2: The Aftermath

Suddenly I jumped up from my sleep and looked at my watch. I had been asleep for four hours, why hadn't anyone woke me to tell me about Shay? I wondered to myself. It was another five minutes again before the doctor would come into the waiting room.

"Is she okay?" I asked as soon as he was close.

"The operation took longer than expected due to the extent of the damage to her leg." The doctor replied. "She had a slight bruise on her brain but that should heal up nicely in the coming months, she may suffer from acute memory loss initially but that too will go away soon."

He continued "She will need months of rehab to regain usage of her right leg, she should have no long lasting impairments given time she will only have the scar on her leg as a reminder."

"Well that's good news," I sighed of relief "when can I see her?" I asked

Suddenly it dawned on me, I was the only one who was here on behalf of her. I found this odd, surely the hospital informed her family or a friend. The doctor had begun to leave.

"Hey Doc?" I called after him "Where are her family? Has anyone notified them that's she's in the hospital?"

"Didn't anyone tell you, sir?" the doctor asked "Ms. Reynolds was an adopted child and her parents died just last year, she has no other family. You're the only one who can stand up for her."

No family, I couldn't imagine what a life like that must feel like. I made a mental note to call my parents more often.

"I didn't know." I said

Now that I know I'm the only one she's got I'm going to do whatever I can for her. She's going to need a whole heap of support during her recovery. I made another mental note to ask Kathleen to gather some information on her.

"When can I see her?" I asked him

"They're setting her up in her room right now but we can start walking." He answered.

We began walking down the hall towards the elevator which would take us up to the recovery wing of the hospital. The recovery wing was two floors up so in less than no time we were there. The doctor asked me to wait outside while they stabilized her, soon after I was allowed to enter the room.

"She's resting now," the doctor told me "visiting hours end at six, but since you're her only emergency contact you are allowed to stay overnight if you so desire."

"Thanks" I said to him "I'm not so sure about spending the night tonight but I will consider it for the nights when she's awake."

"Well I'll get out of your hair now," he replied "just push this button if you need any help and someone would be here to help." He pointed to a button on the side of the bed.

"Again, thank you." I said to him

The doctor left the room and I was completely alone with a stranger who's unconscious and probably would be until tomorrow morning. I began to feel uncomfortable and awkward. What do I do? Do I sit there in silence? Or do I sit and talk to her? I decided to sit in silence for the time being, it's not like she can hear me or anything and besides she's out cold. Her chest rises and falls with each passing breath, according to the EMTs if I hadn't gotten to her when I did she wouldn't be alive right now to take these precious breaths. Sometime later I fell asleep but I was woken up by mumbling, I slowly opened my eyes and looked out the window it was nearly dusk; had I been asleep for that long? I turned to the bed to find that Shay was up and she was staring at me. She had the most beautiful eyes. They were not a deep rich chocolate brown like I had guessed earlier, they were a hazel color.