Catching Feelings

Chapter Twenty-Three: It Wasn't An Accident

I didn't have to watch my mom die and I was never sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

All I really remember about my mom's death was my grandparents getting a knock on the front door with a police officer standing on the other side of it, saying that their daughter got into a terrible accident and didn't make it out alive.

I'm torn from my train of thought when a hand grasps my arm. I look over to see a nurse smiling kindly at me.

"You looked a little lost," she says, "I've been watching you walk up and down this floor for five minutes. Is there anyone I can help you find?"

"Yeah," I say, shaking my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. "I'm looking for my friend, Aislinn Futurm. She was admitted maybe a half hour ago."

"She's in room 328, stable but not conscious."

"Thank you," I breathe, "the lady on the main floor wasn't much of a help."

"I know," she says and then her voice drops to a whisper, "she can be a real bitch sometimes."

My eyes widen but she simply chuckles in response, winking at me before continuing to speak, "don't tell anyone I said that though."

After I promise pointlessly to not say anything, I thank her politely again and start to walk towards the direction she pointed me in.

My head starts to spin and my mind transfers to a memory, or maybe a vision, I'm not sure.

I'm in an empty field. There's blood everywhere, on the ground, staining the grass. I can an echo of someone screaming. Though there are no people around, I can feel the cluster of worried bodies standing everywhere. Echo's of a battle and loss fill the air in a suffocating way.

There's someone lying restlessly on the ground, her face blurred but her blonde hair bright and sure; familiar with the way it shines through the darkness of the field-

I'm pulled from the memory as quickly as it comes and I blink a couple of times before taking a deep breath and walking into Aislinn's hospital room.

The room is completely empty except for Aislinn, who is unconscious and lying on the wrinkled sheets, and Derek, who is sitting in the chair beside her bed, his leg twitching rapidly and his mind so lost in thought he doesn't even see me enter.

The room is filled with an eerie silence, the only noise being the constant beep of Aislinn's heart monitor.

"Derek," I say, pushing him lightly on the arm. "Hey."

He snaps out of his trance, standing up in defensively before relaxing his body after realizing it's only me.

He skips straight past the hellos, "Why weren't you answering your phone? I called a million times, I was so worried something happened to you."

I raise my eyebrow at him, "Hey Skylar, how was dinner with your father? What did you guys talk about? Did you have a good time? Were you okay when you figured out what happened to Aislinn?"

He stares at me blankly.

"I'm pretty sure it's called a conversation, you know, the kind of questions you ask a person in this situation," I say sarcastically.

"Well I would, but you already asked them for me so there's really no point in repeating them, now is there?" He asks, his tone matching mine.

We both fall into silence.

"I'm sorry," we say simultaneously, and then laugh halfheartedly.

He kisses me lightly on my lips, hugging me close to him, before guiding me to sit in the chair beside his.