Daisies in the Dark

Chapter Eight

Willow woke to the sound of the freeway cars rushing past the ambulance, the sirens heard from miles around. Willow blinked and saw Crystal shaking in her bed, restless as ever. Willow leapt up and saw that Crystal was now in a small dress, with no sleeves. Willow was still in her blood-stained-supposedly-2-year-old dress and she smelled horrible. It was very cold in the ambulance, so Willow threw a blanket over Crystal to keep her warm. She looked back at Apricot, who was sleeping soundly in a blanket of fur, snoring in the rhythm of the speed bumps. Willow rubbed her eyes and slowly walked to the back of the ambulance. She tripped over and screamed.

"What is love?!"

"I-I-I fell over"

Willow looked down at her arm, which was now bent the right way but was still numb and as painful as before. And now it was in a cast, though she had no idea when anyone had put the cast on her, or what they had done it with.

"But i'm fine, it's ok" She rasped.

The cars outside were so odd, there was one car which was so shiny and smooth, it looked like, well, it looked special. It had a fancy T at the front of it and the driver looked so fancy. There were more cars with boats and trailers attached and even one with several bikes on top.

"Sorry, love. I don't think I caught ya name?"

"Uh, it's Willow."

"Righto, and what's going on with your face and arms and legs there ey'? I ne'er saw nothing like it."

"I'd rather not say really, but i'm sure you won't see another like me"

"Righto, love..." Willow was very thankfull that the driver respected her privacy.

The next twenty minutes were a blur, they drove some more and once they finally arrived at the hospital (Willow was surprised it took so long to get there, because there were lights and sirens the whole trip) Crystal was immediately sent to the emergency room, as was Willow. The doctors informed Willow that a vet was on his way. In the emergency room the doctor was just checking his clipboard when he spun around to face Willow, though still not looking at her, his eyes glued to the clipboard. Willow coughed and the man looked up.

"My goodness what happened to you?"

"I was in a car crash and i hurt my arm-" Willow tried but stopped herself when the doctor started poking her arms and legs, and studying them. He even sniffed the roses on her face.

"Your-your- your arms- your legs- your whole body! It's incredible!" The doctor said while taking a step back to look at her from a distance. He scanned her up and down. "You're one of a kind! You're an alien! A mutant! A supernatural human! A plant if you must, a TREE!"

"Wow, thank you so much" She said sarcasticly "But the reason I'm here is because I've got a broken arm, which I think you should be TREATING!" Willow said with a stare that could kill.

"Right, yes. Let's get to it then shall we?" The doctor said with a weak smile, rattled from Willows peak in moods. He took off her temporary cast and wiped it clean, then put more gooey stuff on the wood and bark of her arm and plastered it and wrapped it up in bandages and glue. It was all rather oozy and stingy. Then he went on and on about the ligaments in the arm and what Willow needed to do in order to keep it clean and uninfected, what bones she had broke, what she had torn and all that jibba jabba. Willow nearly fell asleep after what felt like hours of droning, and then she asked where Crystal was and it all started going uphill.

"Your friend is in the ICU getting special treatment, and she'll be out in a couple hours, but we want her to stay in the hospital for a few weeks for observation. She really did hurt herself in that car crash. She definitely needs a lot of care, and in fact she is in surgery right now to her ribs, she broke them in the crash as well as her arms, a leg and a bruising to the skull and a split head."

"Oh wow. When can I see her?"

"She will be coming out of surgery in a few hours, you can see her then." The doctor packed up his clipboard and gestured for her to follow him outside to the lounge to the waiting room. The whole room went quiet as they saw her face.

As Willow took a seat she could hear whispers all around her.

"Weird legs"

"She looks like a tree"

"Look at her arms"

"What's on her face, Mum?"

She sat down, beet red and looked down at her shoes. The whisperers stopped and people scowled and read their books.

The next few hours were quite fun, really. Willow got to try things she hadn't done in quite some time and it gave her a surprising amount of amusement and enjoyment. They played songs quietly in the waiting room and lounge, but even the tiniest feel of the music made Willow feel so happy, and so upbeat (Until they played a sad song about letting go of loved ones).

 Willow found loose cash in her chair and strolled over to the vending machine casually. The chip and soda bottles were in so many colours and patterns it felt like an edible rainbow looking down on her. 

Willow stuck her head inside the spot where your food comes out to try and get a soda, but gave up when a security guard almost asked her to leave for being an annoyance. She pushed the coins into the slot and pressed a random number, and very soon a packet of chips and a soda popped out of the drawer underneath. Twisties and a bottle of Coca Cola. 

She jumped back to her chair and violently opened the packet of chips and shoved one in her mouth. They tasted like cheese, really really really tasty cheese. She opened the Soda and drank it all in one go, and it was delicious. But it gave her the hiccups. She sat in her chair for a minute, reliving the taste she had just discovered and spied a coffee machine in the corner of the room.

 She crept over and looked at the station and cracked her knuckles. First she grabbed a cup and poured a sashay of raw sugar in, a sashay of pepper in and a sachet of brown sugar in. Then she piled it halfway with coffee grinds, then added mostly milk and hot water for the way left, then added salt on top. (She had absolutely no idea how to make coffee) And lastly, she added a teabag. 

She looked at it proudly and walked back to her seat, beaming. She took a small sip, expecting rich goodness when she tasted a peppery, sugary and way too strong cup of something that should never have existed. She almost spat it out over the whole room but stopped herself just in time and slowly pored it out of her mouth and back into the cup. With the now filled coffee cup she walked over to a big jug (The water dispenser) and poured it in and threw her cup away (In the compost). The security guard looked at her with an edgy look. Willow cringed.

The same doctor as before walked in. "Willow? Crystals up for visitors now. You may come through"

Willow practically leapt out of her seat, straining at the weight of her arm, and the pain of it. She followed the doctor into a room in the ICU. He opened the door and gestured for her to walk through. In the middle of the room was a bed with blue sheets, and all sorts of tubes and gadgets hooked up to a small dark skinny 14 year old girl.

"Hey, Willow. Long time no see."