Forever

Chapter 12

I stared at Mom in disbelief. "She what?"

"Kora got in a bad car accident on her way to work earlier today." Mom said in a brief tone.

"How bad was it? Is she okay?"

"I have a picture of her car, and she is in the hospital right now. From what I know, she has a broken ankle and maybe a wrist and pretty bad whiplash. She also has several cuts all around her body because of the glass."

Mom showed me a picture of Kora's jeep. Oh. My. Gosh. I glaze my eyes over the totaled car. The shattered windshield, the crushed outside, the exposed engine and other parts of the car, the crumbled side door. Thank goodness she didn't have her doors off. I covered my mouth with my hand in shock. "I gotta go to Austin's." I say after a moment realizing the severity.

"I understand. Try to be home by 6 for dinner but if you need to stay longer just grab something there."

Mom gave me a hug and I returned it then hurried next door to Austin's.

I open the door and see the whole family sitting together on the couch. "Hi guys, how are you?"

"Marie, what are you doing here?" Austin asked, standing up from his seat, but sitting back down when he saw his mom signaling him to keep quiet.

"I'm guessing you know about Kora?" Mrs. Whiley said. I nodded.

"I'm sorry to hear that happened. Is she okay?"

"We don't have much of an update, just a couple broken bones and whiplash is all I know. The doctor will call us when he has another update but that's all I got for now." Mr. Whiley chimed in.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you try to keep it from me?" I was mainly pointing it at Austin, but I was wondering why the whole family didn't want me knowing.

"We wanted to know more before we told you and your family because then y'all would be in endless waiting for more news and we didn't want to bother you." Mrs. Whiley explained guiltily.

"It's okay. I'm not mad, I was just confused." I reassured her.

I glanced at Austin and saw him resting his head in the palms of his hand and his elbows on his thighs. "Austin, can we talk in your room?" He nodded and we went upstairs.

We sat on his bed next to each other but facing the door. "So how are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Oh come on Austin. I know you aren't and that's fine but please talk to me." I pleaded.

I shifted my body to face him and he turned to face me. "I said-" I interrupted by looking at him with a look saying I know what you said but I don't believe it so tell me the truth.

"Fine. I don't really know how to feel and when I feel like this, I distance myself to not risk hurting someone, but it's too late for that now."

"Austin, look at me and listen to what I'm going to say. You cannot hurt me, no matter how hard you try because I'm your best friend. I know you're working on your anger management, but I also know you aren't 100% and that's okay because I'm here to stay even when everyone else leaves."

We talk some more and he fills me in more about Kora when I've fully convinced him that I'm here to stay. He doesn't know much but they got invited to see her at the hospital and his family invited us to see her also, and we accepted.

We walk into the big entryway of the hospital. It feels weird walking into this place. Memories start to flood back into my head about visiting Dad at the hospital when he couldn't come home. No, not now. Now is not the time for this. We check in as visitors and wait in the waiting room till the nurse called us in. She leads us to room 203 and closed the door behind her when all of us were in. "Okay, hello everybody. My name is Nurse Zohnway, but you can call me Nurse Z or Nurse Anna." She greets. We all greet her back and she gives us a brief update on Kora's condition. "I am going to bring her doctor in to give you the full rundown and what we will do from here in terms of her health recovery." She stands up from the little green stool and walks out the door.

"Hey honey, how are you doing?" Mrs. Whiley asks Kora. James starts climbing into her bed and Mom stops him. "Careful sweetie, you don't want to disturb her." She grabs hold of him from under his armpits but Kora stops him. "No, it's okay Ms. Cuicher. I've been waiting to see my little man!" Mom lifts James up beside Kora and lays him down where he snuggles up cuddles with her. "I'm doing fine right now. My neck and head hurts pretty bad but the doctor says that's normal. My cuts are healing except for this one on my shoulder. Well at least I don't think so. The doctor and checks it frequently, probably because of the possibility of infection." Kora updates. There is a knock on the door and the doctor comes in.

"Good afternoon everybody, My name is Dr. Munez and I'm the main doctor that has been monitoring her recovery." He shakes hands with Mr. and Mrs. Whiley and sits in the the green stool. "Well, I don't know how much she has told you but here is the extent of her injuries. She has a concussion, which isn't severe in her case, but also not mild. She also has whiplash from the thrashing of the vehicle. Again, not severe but it isn't a mild case. She broke her ankle during the impact into several places, and she has multiple lacerations all over her body. They aren't cuts that need to be totally treated, just cleaned up. Well, all except that one on her shoulder." He stands up and walks over to Kora and shows the cut. That's pretty gnarly. "This one isn't healing like it should. I'm not seeing any signs of infection right now, but we want to keep a close eye on it." Mrs. Whiley nods and the doctor turns to Kora. "How are you feeing right now Kora?"

"My headache continues and my neck still hurts quite a bit. My shoulder feels numb, but at the same time hurts." Kora answers.

"Yes, and that's totally normal for your extent of injury." He glances down to James cuddling with Kora. "I see someone missed you." He smiled.

"Haha yes he is best friend's little brother." Kora gestures to me and I give a slight chuckle.

The doctor slightly laughs. "Alright well I will come and check on you in a couple hours. Make sure you get some rest." Kora laughs and the doctor exits the room.

We spend a couple more hours in the room with Kora. Then we said our goodbyes and left the room.

Walking down the dull hall, with white floors and blue walls with doors to the hospital rooms to the left and right, felt odd. I can't exactly describe it but it felt like we didn't belong here. We turn the corner and bend down to tie my shoe. After I stood up, I turn around to pick up my phone because it fell out my pocket when I bent down. I straightened my back out and put my phone in the back pocket of my pants. As I was about to turn back to the group, I catch one of the doctors looking at me strangely at a distance. I stared back, and the longer I did the more recognizable the doctor became.