When Our Worlds Collide (Our Worlds #1)(12)
“Just lay still. I’m going to call 911,” he reaches in his pocket for his phone. As he dials his phone, his hands shake uncontrollably.
My body feels like fire is running through every vein. Maybe I’m in shock, maybe I am delusional. The thoughts I am having point me straight in the vicinity of crazy. It is obvious that Graham hit me with his car. What isn’t obvious was why I was about to stop him from dialing his phone for help.
“Put your phone away and listen to me for a second,” I demand reaching up knocking the phone out of Graham’s hand to stop him from pushing the call button. My voice is weak. Even I can hear the strain through the ringing in my ears. He stares at me for a minute with confusion. “Grab my phone out of my pocket and dial 911 for me. Leave the phone next to my ear and just get in your car and go.”
“What?” Graham stands up pacing in front of me running his hands through his thick hair in frustration. I can hear the gravel being kicked around under his shoes. He is turning frantic with my request looking up and down the road as if all the answers are going to fall into his lap if he stares long enough. “I don’t understand.”
The impact of the car obviously jumbled my brain. What am I thinking? I better be right about him.
“Just do it.” I yell with as much force as I can dig up from the depths of my lungs. “Please.” I am nearly begging.
Graham reluctantly reaches in my pocket for my phone and dials 911 for me before putting the phone down next to my ear. He never moves his eyes from mine. Graham brushes his thumb down my cheek clearing the tears that are slowly falling from the pain. Before he stands, he squeezes my hand that is lying across my stomach. He stands up as I explain to the dispatcher what had happened, but pauses before walking back to his car.
Everything is written across his face as he leans his forearm on the hood of the car. Everything that I need to know is right in front of me. He is just as scared and confused as I am. Even though I smell the alcohol on his breath, I’m not willing to allow him to throw away his future because of one bad decision. This one bad decision wasn’t going to define either of us.
Graham is standing by his car looking back at me with a grateful pained expression. For a split second before the black takes over again I see him sigh in reluctance. His silhouette fades as I succumb to the darkness that keeps pulling on me begging me to follow it. His face is the last thing I remember seeing before waking up to the sterile smell of my hospital room.
The fluorescent lights are shining brightly above my head. My eyelids feel heavy. Grogginess overcomes me suddenly and I have to try to force my eyelids to stay open. They could’ve weighed a hundred pounds each. I attempt to move my arm. It is restricted from the IV that is lodged in my left hand. As I move my arm an excruciating feeling runs up my arm as I pull on the tubing.
“Honey, don’t try moving. Do you know where you’re at?” I hear the familiar soft voice ask. I turn to see my mom sitting in the chair next to my bed.
“I’m at the hospital. I was hit by a car, Mom,” I manage to get out through my sore throat. Tears form in the corner of my eyes from the pain. It has subdued a bit from the initial pain Graham’s car had inflicted, but was still there as a reminder. The drip into my IV is helping with that, I’m sure.
She brushes my hair away from my face. It’s something she’s always did when I was upset. “Try to relax, baby. I’ll go grab the doctor. He’ll be happy that you’re finally awake.”
Finally awake?
“What day is it?” I ask confused by how much time has passed since the accident. I feel like I’ve only been out a few hours. The look on my mother’s face tells me that isn’t the case.
“It’s Tuesday. You’ve been in and out since late Saturday night when they brought you in, honey.” She pats me on the leg. “You gave us all quite the scare.” I watch her leave the room swinging the door open heading out into the hallway. All I want to do is close my eyes and sleep. Maybe this will end up being a big dream. I highly doubt I was that lucky.
A young doctor walks in with a nurse and my mom trailing behind a few minutes later interrupting my plan of slumber. The nurse whose name is Brenda based on her name tag looks like a grumpy older woman. She missed the mark for when it was her time to retire. She has grey hair and even greyer bushy eyebrows that are in a permanent scowl. My doctor seems too youthful to be working on his own just yet, but as he examines my chart and looks over my now bruised body I feel relieved. He is the friendly type and it puts me at ease in a moment where panic could easily take over. He smiles at me reassuringly as he skims through his notes jotting down a few more. Hopefully it is a release date. I’m ready to go home.
The young doctor sits down on the rolling stool next to my bed. “Kennedy, I’m Dr. Wilson. How are you feeling?” he asks shining a small flashlight in my eyes.
“Sore,” I explain adjusting myself on the bed.
He lets out an amused laugh. “Yeah I suppose you would be. How does that head of yours feel?”
“Just a little throbbing. It’s more my leg that hurts.” I look down to see my leg propped up on several pillows under the generic tan hospital blanket. I lift the material to see my leg wrapped in a cast.
“You hit your head pretty hard when you got struck by the car. We did a few tests and it looked like you had a good bit of swelling. That explains why you’ve been out of commission the past few days. You did manage to come out a handful of times. That’s how we knew about the car, but we lost you quickly after,” Dr. Wilson gives me a reassuring smile. His bedside manner is a skill he obviously perfected. “As for your leg, that’s going to hurt for a while. You have extensive damage and it seems that your leg is going to take some time to get back to normal.” He pats my hand in a way to comfort me and leaves the room once instructing grumpy butt Brenda to increase my pain meds slightly.