“Excuse me, Mr. Giles, if I would speak with you in private,” the young doctor asked.
“Of course.”
Giles left the other teens in the small blue waiting room and followed the man
down the hall, away from view of the rest.
“What was it that you needed to speak to me about?”
“I wanted to discuss the conditions of your nieces’ with you...”
“But you just told us about...”
“About Ms. Madison. We do expect her to make a full recovery. We’re actually
rather surprised as how quickly she’s healing. The extent of her injuries weren’t as bad as
we first suspected. She’ll need plenty of rest once she’s released, but that may not be for
another couple of days. We want to observe her for a bit more time.”
“Yes, well, that’s wonderful, but you did explain that to us in the waiting room
with....”
The doctor took a deep breath and swallowed, hating this part of his job.
“I didn’t want to explain the other young women’s condition in front of her
friends. I know this most be hard, but I did want you to know how grave her situation is.”
“How really is she...?”
“She’s suffered severe drama to the head, her rib cage almost collapsed on top of
her lungs. She suffered severe cuts and bruises on her legs, arms and back. She had
massive internal bleeding because of the damage to her spleen and liver and received some
damage to her left kidney. The amount of blood she lost was too great, it’s a miracle she
was alive when they brought her to that hospital in Los Angeles. Slipping into the coma
was the only thing that most likely stopped her pain. That most have been a horrific car
accident.”
Giles fought back tears, knowing what the doctor was trying to tell him.
“Mr. Giles, the extent of her injuries are too great. I’m sorry, but I don’t expect
your niece to awaken from her coma...I’m not sure she’ll make it through the night. I’m
sorry.”
“There isn’t anything....”
“We’ve done all that we’ve could, I’m sorry.”
Giles nodded, his vision blurring with his tears. Doctor Hopkins left, giving Giles
the time alone he needed. Giles replayed the events in his head, trying to find where
everything had gone so wrong, what he could have done to prevent this or helped to
avoid. He let some tears fall, then wiped them away with his hand. He could need to be
strong for them. After regaining some composure he left to speak with the small group in
the waiting room.
He was greeted by three scared, confused faces, that feared what he had to say.
* * * * * * * * * * *
She awoke gasping for air. The torrid nightmares had left her frightened and
bewildered. She took in her surroundings and became aware of a humoring sounds next to
her. To her surprise she found and arrangement of machines hooked up to her, that
frightened her more. She peered into the darkness of the room and found she was alone.
She slowly got up, fear creeping closer as she couldn’t remember what had happened to
her.
“Think...just think...,” she told herself as she began to pull out the IV from her arm
as well as another needle. She looked around the room frantically, trying her best to ignore
the pain she was in. She would heal herself, how she knew, she wasn’t sure. She pulled the
machines with her, in the effort disconnecting most of them, then pulled the rest of the
stings attached to her off. She turned frantic a she looked around the room. She found a
closet and quickly opened it, trying to find some clothes. To her luck she found a pair of
torn, dirty jeans. She pulled them on, leaving her hospital gown on. She searched its
pockets, but found nothing. She looked over at the nightstand and pulled out the drawer,
taking a silver toned key she found inside. She hurried over to the front of the bed and
looked over the chart that had been left in the bind. She finally found what she had been
looking for, her name.
“Willow Rosenburg.”
She had hoped that once she found her name she would be able to recognize it, but
she hadn’t. She began hearing the sounds around her, engulfing her ears. She needed to
get out. She rushed to the window, and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her room was
on the ground floor of the hospital. She opened it softly and climbed out, hoping to find
something that would jog her memory, the voices around her warning her if she didn’t
rush, it would cost her her life.
* * * * * * * * * *