Remember When ↠ l.p.

Waking Up

The first thing that I sense, as I regain consciousness, is numbness. I blink and open my eyes, only to quickly close them. All I could see was an intense whiteness, so overwhelming it almost hurt to keep my eyes open. I twitch my fingers and slowly raise my arm to shield my eyes. I try to blink and squint until the light becomes bearable. Slowly the room begins to take shape, the light that I thought so bright is a combination of the overhead florescent lights and a lamp beside me that was pointing directly at my face. I try to push myself up to sit up but find I can't, which makes me stop looking around the room (there wasn't much to take in anyway) and try to prop myself up against the pillows behind me. A couple of sheets cover my from my chest down, they're tucked into the bed which doesn't leave me with a lot of wiggle room. I notice there is an IV attached to me, but instead of the clear or only slightly discolored liquid that is usually being pumped into Liam, full of medicine or water, this fluid is red. It's deep, blood red. 

I feel myself shaking a little as I try to wiggle myself back up against the pillows to a sort of half sitting position. "What happened?" I mumble to myself, my voice sounds rough and like I've just woken up from a deep night's sleep. I try to recall the last thing I can remember doing...I was leaving the rehab and Liam and I was going home. How did I end up here? I'm assuming I'm in a hospital because this looks, feels, and smells exactly like a hospital except it's rather quiet. All the hospitals I've been to have usually been a little noisy, with someone walking out in the hallway or something beeping in the distance. I rub my eyes and breath in and out slowly. Then I look around for a call button. I find one buried in the sheets next to me and press it without hesitation. I begin to try and fix my hair, it always gets messy and frizzy in my sleep but find that there's some sort of bandage or gauze wrapped around my head. 

Have you ever had a cut or bruise somewhere on your body, but you don't realize it? Then you notice it and suddenly it starts to hurt, which is just weird because you hadn't even known it was there a few moments ago. Something like that begins to happen, my head doesn't exactly hurt but it doesn't feel right. I'm suddenly very aware of the bandage and another one around my left leg and waist. I try moving my leg again and find that when I move it up there's a slight tinge of pain.

"Mrs. Sandoval? Are you alright? Could I get you anything?" A voice makes me jump slightly, the partially open doorway now being filled with a short woman wearing blue scrubs and a comforting smile. 

"I-uh-I just woke up and I'm not sure what happened." I gingerly run my fingers along the edge of the gauze on my head. "Am I in a hospital?" 

"Oh dear," the nurse walks over to my side and begins helping me to sit up completely. She presses a button with her foot and the bed adjusts, tilting the top back part upwards so it's easier to sit up. "I was told you had already woken up and talked to some of the nurses. Your mother is here, she just stepped out a few minutes ago to run down to the cafeteria."

"She's here?" I ask, surprised she would leave the girls alone. "How long have I been here?"

"Oh, I'm not sure, let me check." She takes a clipboard from the end of my bed and flips it open. "You were admitted, well, technically last night around nine o'clock. Your mother arrived about an hour after that. There was a shift change just as you arrived, but I was told when I clocked in that you had been talking and awake several times."

"I don't remember that at all!" I exclaim, more than a little freaked out. "What happened to me? How did I get here?"

"It's likely that the reason you can't remember has something to do with that," she nods to my head "you've got a concussion and a few flesh wounds. Do you remember anything from last night? Anything at all?"

"I can remember some things. I remember, I was visiting my friend at the rehabilitation he's in currently. I left him, I think it was around seven thirty or so. I don't remember everything other than that I was on my home. Everything after that is blank." I shrug and cough a little. "Could I have some water?"

"Sure honey, wait here, just a second. She exits the room and is back in less than a minute. "Here, drink as much as you need and let me know if you need any more." She pauses as I carefully take the cup and sip half of it down. "You were in a semi-serious car accident last night. It seems you were turning at a red light and didn't see the oncoming car, who was talking on the phone and slightly distracted. He was going much too fast and neither of you saw each other until it was too late. Luckily, he wasn't injured very badly and managed to call 911."

"Why don't I remember any of that?" I frown as I put my water down on the little table beside me. 

"You were brought into the hospital unconscious and you were for a little while after that. You probably don't even recall being hit because it happened so quickly." She smiles down reassuringly at me, as if losing an entire night's worth of memories is completely normal and nothing to be worried about. I glance at her name tag, it reads Maggie. 

"Maggie," I say "you said that I have a concussion. I've got bandages on my waist and leg too don't I? What else is hurt?"

"You've got a concussion and had some blood loss due to some injuries on your side and your leg. It's not very serious, but you did have to have a few stitches on each wound. Everything should heal given time, the only variable is your concussion, we're still figuring out how bad it is." 

"Oh..." I say quietly. I honestly don't feel that bad or hurt. They've probably given me pain medication, I reason, and once it wears off I'll feel the pain. "So I'm okay, but I'm hurt. That's everything in a nutshell, right?" I ask slowly.

"I'm so sorry, it must have been so weird to wake up and not know where you were!" Maggie pats my hand and shakes her head sympathetically. "You'll be out of here before you know it though, don't get hung up on your injuries."

"No, I'm okay. If you say they're not that bad, I trust you." I laugh a little. "I'm just a little disconcerted. You said my mother was here?"

"Yes, she should be back any minute. I'm sure you'll feel more comfortable with someone you know to fill you in on everything and keep you company." Maggie glances down at her wristwatch. "I think I saw her walking down to the elevator about ten minutes ago."

"How long has she been with me?" I ask, thinking of the girls. I wonder who she found to babysit them, if she's here. She surely wouldn't bring them with her, she knows I didn't want to bring Tessie to see Liam and would probably realize that meant I didn't want them in a hospital setting. I can easily imagine them going mad in such a small room. "Wait," I correct myself before Maggie has a chance to reply. "A better question is probably how long have I been here. You said I was admitted last night, what time is it now?"

"It's just a few minutes after a quarter past six. Just about dinner time." She smiles, oblivious to what this means to me. What losing this much time will mean. 

"You mean, I nearly lost an entire day?" I gasp out, my brain racing to a single conclusion. Missing a day means that there's only tomorrow. Only tomorrow until Liam takes a turn...almost certainly for the worse, if he doesn't wake up in time.

This update is just over 1400 words! Pretty happy with that ;) Also, thank you to anyone who is ready this fan fiction because Remember When has hit 1k reads!! Or views, whatever you want to call it. But thank youuuuuu. It feels great to me and made my day a bit brighter. I also want to dedicate this chapter to jessicamurphy123 for all of the chapters she's voted for! Thanks!