Seam Route

chapter eight

Daisy

What the heck?

Is it morning already? I flail out one arm, trying to pet Hades. Instead, all I get is pain. My arms feel like they've been punched and then stabbed with a thousand needles. My eyes flutter open and I let out a groan.

My head is like a tilt-a-wheel and I can't keep my eyes closed without feeling dizzy. Oh my god, was last night that rough? I had no alcohol. A plastic vinyl band digs into my wrist.

Daisy Ledger. Twenty-one-year-old female. Memorial Hospital.

Hospital?

My eyes glance up and I can't believe what I'm dreaming. This is so weird, my dream feels so clear. But there's no way in hell that this is real life. Because... Parker is sitting beside me in the hospital room. His elbows resting on his knees, staring at me with a concerned yet mildly relieved look.

And is that... blood on his shirt?

This is a dream. My conscience put all its eggs into one basket because this is one crazy dream.

I squint, the harsh lights are almost blinding. I manage to open my mouth and ignore the shooting pain in my head. "Am I dreaming?" I groan, "What are you doing here, Jerkwad?"

His steel eyes widen before going back to there usual cool exterior.

"What did I say about you calling me Jerkwad?" The corners of his lip slightly pull up, "How're you feeling?"

"I don't know, everything is sore and hurts." I sigh, squinting my eyes because of the harsh lights in here. Seriously, they couldn't at least dim them a bit? "I can't wait to wake up from this awful dream." I murmur more to myself than Parker.

The small upturned corners that was once on Parker's lips change into pity, "This isn't a dream, Daisy." He says my name with an utter softness, like I could break at any moment.

"Huh?" My brain is like a pile of goo, I can't think or process anything right now.

"You don't remember?" His eyebrows slightly raise.

"Remember?"

"You were in a car accident while you were getting a rideshare," He explains, "It's not your rideshare's fault though. Someone carelessly crashed into you."

Accident? Rideshare? Right, leaving for home after Ronnie and the rest of the girls left. Ordering a rideshare. Pouring rain. Three minutes from home. Making a turn. Bright lights. Screaming. And then... nothing.

My throat closes up and I'm sure I'm making a disturbed face right now because Parker looks at me with panic.

 "You're going to be okay. You have a concussion and a hairline fractured in your left kneecap."

Knee? I peer down at my right knee. It's wrapped in white bandage with a white hard support strip under the bottom of my leg. I broke my knee?

 Holy crap, I've never broken any sort of bone. The inner kid in me is delightful.

When I was a kid, getting a cast and all the attention you got from others seemed cool. We never do take things so seriously as kids. A lot of times we're protected from the harsh reality. And then that harsh reality sets in.

And then it hits me, I look around at the private hospital room I'm in. 

"No, no, no. The fees from the hospital." 

The fees. Getting an x-ray. Getting an MRI. I probably got an ambulance. The crutches I'll need. Medication. The multiple doctor visits I'll have. Having my hospital room.