The Secret Life of Emily Blu

Chapter Eight

I bite back a curse. Of course Bethany has arrived, as if this whole situation isn't bad enough.

"Bethany," Hardy says, taking a step away from me.

"Why were you so fucking close to her?" Bethany hisses.

"Bethany, it's not what you think," Hardy rushes to assure her. He's created a foot of distance between us.

I step away from Hardy and the quickly approaching Bethany who looks like she's ready to throw hands. I've never been a fighter, but after what happened to my family I'd asked Agent James to teach me how to defend myself. He was an excellent teacher and I know if I have to I can knock Bethany on her ass.

"Not what I think? It looks like you were about to kiss her!" she hisses, stopping and glaring between the two of us.

"No!" Hardy and I say in sync, which only appears to make Bethany madder.

"No offense, but he's all yours," I say, trying to step around Bethany to escape.

"He is mine, bitch, and you need to stay away," Bethany yells, getting into my face and shoving me, and suddenly I'm not 17 anymore, I'm 10, and he is yelling at me. He is my face, spittle flying, and his hands are on me again.

My breathing catches in my throat and I stumble backwards. My vision narrows as I fall, and I see through the pinhole of vision hands reaching for me. They don't quite reach me in time, and I hit my head on the corner of a desk. Everything instantly goes black.

I wake up in an ambulance to someone screaming and it takes me several seconds to realize the person screaming is me. The moment I realize the offending sounds is coming from me I close my mouth and the screech ends.

"You're okay Emily," the paramedic assures me. "You hit your head pretty good and it's protocol to take you to the hospital to get checked out, especially since you blacked out."

"Hospital?" I rasp, my breathing getting labored. I can hear the heart monitor speed up and know I'm on the edge of a panic attack. I hate the hospital. "Has someone called my mom?" Joanne is going to be pissed, but I know she won't be mad at me. The issue is, she has to contact Agent James and they'll both need to show up to the hospital to control the situation.

"I need you to take a deep breath," the paramedic says, eyeing the heartrate monitor.

"I can't breathe," I gasp.

"Shit," the paramedic says. "I'm going to give you something to calm down. Is that okay?"

I nod, unable to speak at this point, my throat so tight even air isn't making its way through.

I close my eyes and let the injection do its thing. I don't fall asleep exactly, but I'm relaxed enough that the rest of the ride is blur. When I get to the hospital I once again ask for Joanne. "Has Joanne been called yet?"

The nurse stares at me blankly and I realize she doesn't know who Joanne is. "My mom," I clarify. "Has my mom been notified?"

"Oh, yes, absolutely. She's on her way here right now. Are you claustrophobic?"

"Extremely," I groan. "Are you guys going to give me an MRI?"

"I'm afraid so, dear. Have you had one done on you before?" The nurse is nice enough, but all this conversation is making my head spin. I don't remember what I'm supposed to tell the doctors and what I'm not. I don't know who I can trust here and all I want is Joanne to appear and take over everything. Thinking is hurting my head.

I don't know if Joanne magically appears or if I'm so out of it that I don't realize time has passed, but the next time I open my eyes, Joanne is having a heated discussion with Agent James and the doctor. Relief floods my body – I only trust two people on this planet and that's Agent James and Joanne. They've proven time and time again that they are here for me, my biggest advocates.

"Emily!" Joanne cries, seeing my eyes open. She rushes to the side of my bed and grabs my hand. "How are you feeling, sweetie?"

I swallow. "Honestly, my head hurts. Did they already do the MRI?"

Joanne nods. "I had them do it while you were drugged. I remember what happened last time."

I'd had a full-blown panic attack when they'd strapped my head into the cage. Luckily I'd already been in the hospital. "Thank god."

Joanne gently moves a piece of hair that's gotten into my eyes. "I already spoke with the school with Agent James, and your doctors understand what's going on. Dr. Miller here is going to be the one in charge of your case. She knows, but she'll make sure no one else finds out."

I start to nod, and the motion turns my stomach over. "How badly did I hit my head?"

Dr. Miller approaches my bed behind Joanne. "Hi, Emily. I'm Dr. Miller." She pats my hand with a smile. "You're going to stay in the hospital for the next two days so we can monitor you and make sure you're okay. You hit your head pretty hard, and in combination with your prior head trauma and the fact you lost consciousness for a serious amount of time, we think it's best that you stay here for a couple days. I don't expect any complications to arise, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."
"How does my... prior head trauma affect this?" I ask slowly, trying to figure out how best to ask the question. I know, as does Joanne and Agent James, what head trauma she's talking about. When he killed my family, he'd nearly killed me as well. My skull was cracked, and I'd almost needed a steel plate put in.

"The more head trauma you have, the more likely it is that subsequent head trauma will be more severe. The brain may heal, but it remembers being hurt."

"Oh."

"Not to mention you were unconscious for almost 15 minutes. That's a long time."

"But I'll be okay?"

Dr. Miller smiles down at me. "You're going to be fine."

"We're going to have a guard stationed in the hallway at all times," Agent James says, coming over to my bed. "You're going to be perfectly safe while you're here."

"Thank you," I say to both of them.

"Now, do you want to tell me what happened? There was a lot of screaming when I was at the school trying to discuss what happened."

I sigh. "It was an accident." When Joanne gives me a hard stare I add, "She meant to push me, but she didn't mean to push me down. I stumbled and fell and hit my head."

"Why did she want to push you at all?"

I shrug. "She thinks her boyfriend has the hots for me and he's going to cheat on her with me."

Agent James' mouth drops open and Joanne giggles before she collects herself. "I highly doubt that's true. You don't exactly seem the cheating type, Emily, and besides, you've only been in this school for two days."

"I'm definitely not interested. He hasn't done anything to indicate he'd do that, either. I really just want her to leave me alone."

"I'll see what I can do," Agent James says with a grim expression. I don't know what he intends to do, but I'm sure he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that this never happens to me again. "Do you want to press charges?"

I blink at him, completely blindsided by the question. I consider my options for a second before saying, "No, I don't. It was mostly an accident, and I don't want this to affect her long term. I think she's probably learned her lesson."
"I'll let the school know, then," Joanne says.

"I think we can all give Emily a bit of space. I'm sure she's exhausted, and her head probably hurts," Dr. Miller says, shooing everyone out of the room. Before she closes the door behind them she says to me, "Use the call button anytime you need something. There's no such thing as overusing it. And if something doesn't feel right, please let us know."

"Thank you." I close my eyes, sure it'll take me hours to fall back asleep, but I'm out in under a minute.