I won't let you down

Chapter Two

Clarissa woke up quite late in the hospital. It had been two days since the young woman had been involved in that traffic accident. She groaned in pain as she slowly got feeling in her body. Everything hurt her. Her head, her arms and legs, her hands and feet. In the collision with the car and the lamppost, she had sustained not only partial body fractures, but also significant bruising. A concussion had left her unconscious for the past two days. Slowly the redhead opened her eyes, which proved to be extremely difficult. She was immediately met by the glare of the light, which made her squeeze her eyes shut again. Her eyelids were heavy.

After a while she was ready and had her eyes open. She looked around, but when she moved her head, she groaned painfully. Her head was pounding. Where was she? Was the first question that came into her head. Despite the pain, she managed to turn her head slightly to the right. A huge window, through which bright daylight streamed. Clary's nose finally pointed her to where she was. The hospital. It smelled like a mixture of detergents and disinfectants. Soft voices reached her ear. Groaning, the wedding planner turned her head to the other side. She tried to block out the pain. She could see white walls. The door to her room was closed. Out of the corner of her eye, the woman could see that she was hooked up to machines.

"Hello!" a voice sounded. Clarissa was slightly startled. Puzzled, she glanced around, but she could see no one. No wonder, because Evan Buckley was sitting in a chair in front of her bed, facing her legs. He stood up and walked over to the woman he had rescued a few days ago. "You're awake!" he said with a smile, scratching the back of his neck. Confused, Clarissa looked at the man. She didn't know him, or had she lost her memory? Did she know him and just couldn't remember him? "Do you want to sit up? You might want to have a drink." Buck continued, looking at the young redhead. She was pretty, there was no question about that. Slowly Clary nodded and with a small smile Evan took the remote control with which he could adjust the bed. Slowly, piece by piece, he let the headboard go up. Then he held a cup of tap water in front of her nose.

Clary did not take it. Her eyes were fixed on her body. She was startled. Her leg was splinted. Her fingers on her left hand in a cast. In the mirror across from her bed, she could look at her nose, which was plastered and gleaming darkly. There were small cuts all over her face and arms. Slowly the woman opened her mouth to speak, but at first she only let out a harsh, low croak. "Here, you should drink first, your throat is all dried up." the man said, still standing next to her and holding the cup of water. Clarissa looked at him. Her eyes immediately fell on stain on his eye. A birth defect? Slowly she nodded and accepted the cup with her right hand. She raised it high to her lips, which were quite parched. Quickly she drank the water, because as the first sip made its way across her lips, she really realized how thirsty she was. Cold and wet, the water ran down her throat and the sore throat she had felt when she tried to speak slowly subsided. "Another?" the firefighter asked with a grin as the patient finished the cup in a few seconds. She nodded quickly, though groaned at that, as her head didn't like it at all. The second cup of water flew down her throat just as quickly as the first.

"What happened?" asked the young woman after she found her voice again? She looked at the man. "And who are you?" She swallowed. She was visibly shocked at her distress. She had no memory of what might have happened that she was now lying here like this. "My name is Buck, well Evan Buckley actually, but everyone calls me Buck!" he said, smiling at the redhead. He would have shaken her hand in the normal case, yes, but she couldn't do anything with her left and she was holding a third cup of water in her right. "I'm a firefighter with the 118, and you were in a pretty bad car accident two days ago. Can't you remember anything about it? I might better get a doctor in that case..." he voiced his concerns. A car accident, two days ago? Clarissa thought back. She didn't know anything about a car accident. The last thing she remembered was the wedding she was organizing for the Grant-Jolly family. She looked from Buck to her body and then back to the young man. "I don't remember any of that," she whispered.Buck looked at her and nodded briefly, then walked out of the room. "Hello, Clarissa Keppner, the woman in room 203, she woke up, doesn't remember anything. I think a doctor might want to check on her!" he said to the nurse at the front desk. She nodded and immediately called Doctor Johnson, who showed up in the patient's room after only a few minutes. Buck stood at the end of the bed. "Good afternoon Mrs. Keppner, how are you feeling?" the doctor asked, beginning to perform a general check on Clary. "I'm in pain, my head is pounding, but otherwise okay, I guess..." she said quietly. Evan looked at her pityingly. He felt sorry for her. Actually, he wasn't one to just show up at the patients he had saved. But from the first moment he had seen the young woman, he found her interesting. Besides, he still had her phone, which he wanted to give to her personally. "Everything looks good so far!" This sentence from the doctor brought Buck out of his thoughts. "I'll give them a shot for the pain and they should be fine. I'll be back this evening. They are actually well enough to leave the hospital in the next two days. Their fingers should heal quickly. We will remove the cast and put a splint on them the day they are discharged. We are still a little concerned about their leg, but that should subside as well. Your nose will look bad for some time, but it too is healing well. We will take new x-rays tomorrow and look at the outside of all of them. If there is a problem, they will let the nurse know!" Calrissa nodded after the doctor's explanation. This then smiled at her and left. Clarissa was left alone in the room with Buck. She looked at him and had to admit that he looked really cute, but why was he only with her?