The Death of Colleen Rivers

Chapter 46: Baylor

No one came in the room for two straight hours. And for those hours, I watched Colleen sleep peacefully.

Around 4 in the afternoon, my doctor came in my room and told me I was free to go. I just needed to use the crutches for 2 weeks and then had to come back for a check up.

"What about Colleen and her brother?" I asked.

"Jamison Rivers?"

"Yes," I confirmed.

The doctor looked at his clipboard and flipped through a couple of pages. "Ah, here he is. Jamison Markus Rivers... He's doing fine but we need to keep him under close watch for the next couple days. He did happen to come awake just an hour ago and the nurse was able to feed him some food before he drifted back off to sleep."

Thank, God. James was going to be alright. "And my girlfriend?"

"Ah, yes." The doctor looked at her. "Is she out cold?"

"Afraid so."

"Well, she can go home with you when she wakes. The Psych Ward wants her to come back every Tuesday and Thursday. Can you handle that?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I'll hopefully not see you soon, Baylor. Good luck with that ankle!" He chuckled and then he was gone.

He shut my door with a slam and Colleen jerked awake, her eyes wide. "It's okay," I whispered. "You can go back to sleep."

I kissed her forehead and she smiled, closing her eyes once again.

She slept for about half an hour longer before she actually woke up. "What time is it?" she asked, yawning.

I looked at the clock on the wall. It read 5:12 P.M. I told Colleen the time and she jumped off the bed.

"What's wrong?"

"I've been here for a very long time! How'd they not find me yet?"

I smiled. "You're free to go. So am I. You just have to come back every Tuesday and Thursday—" she gave me a look as if to tell me that wasn't on her agenda and she was not coming back again. "Don't give me that. You're coming back here if you like it or not," I said.

Colleen sighed, beginning to pout. She usually did this when she knew she wasn't going to get her way. "But why?" she complained.

I shrugged, pulling myself up into a sitting position on my bed. "Dunno. Doctor's orders."

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "That's not cool. Not cool at all."

"Didn't say it was going to be cool," I answered her.

She gave me a death glare and I couldn't help but laugh. "Sweetheart, it's just for precautions," I assured her. "They are just checking you. This will probably only be for a couple weeks. It won't be that bad, I promise."

I got up off the bed, finding out we were wearing the same hospital gown and socks and hugged her tight. "It'll be okay, I promise."

~~~

A few weeks had passed and I was finally able to get my cast off, the doctor freeing me to play Lacrosse. I had missed tryouts but since I was a senior, Coach still let me play. In fact, the guys still voted me captain.

When I came home, my parents were freaking out about my leg but still gave me plenty of hugs and kisses. (So many that I was started to get sick of it.)

Colleen was healing up fine, only having to go to the hospital once a week now instead of twice. She was thrilled about that. Every other evening — except for Tuesdays — I was with Colleen. If I had practice, she was there. If I had a game, she was there. She was always there, cheering me on.

James came home just yesterday and Colleen invited me to her house to be there when her parents went to get him. He's constricted to a wheelchair for the time being, his legs not working properly. We had a small party for James and I'm sure he had a great time.

We found out that Leila was put into a mental institution, not being released for a very long time. She was always a certain kind of crazy, but apparently she was just enough to be able to considered "mental" to doctors.

Today was so much different than it was last year at this time. Last year, I was only thinking about my life with Colleen and my Lacrosse career. Now I'm worried colleges aren't going to except me, and Leila is going to come after us again.

This senior year had been full of so many more events than just school and my sports. I didn't have time for school and homework because of it all. Luckily, most of my teachers excused me from my work, understanding my circumstances, and understanding that the scholarships I was being given at the end of this year would only be good for this year. They didn't want me to be back here as much as I didn't want to come back next year.

Only one of my teachers thought that he shouldn't excuse me — Mr. Johnston, my Chemistry teacher. He didn't think anyone should be excuse that easily, and he had handed me a pile of papers as large as the largest Harry Potter book. 

He said I had until the end of this semester to turn it in, plus whatever work he would give the class before then.

When I had told Colleen about my abundance of Chem work, she laughed. But she said James would help me when he gets to feeling better because he was Mr. Johnston's star pupil when he was in high school.

Everything seemed to be working out for us now. Colleen was safe, Leila was gone — for now — and it was a straight shot for us to prom, to college, and beyond that. I couldn't wait what fate had in store for us.

"Baylor," Colleen called, popping her head out of the front door. Her hair was starting to lose the red tint and it was starting to grow out again. "Ready to eat?"

I nodded and smiled at her, followed her through the door.