Not so Far and Long Ago

Chapter 16

Three Weeks Later
"I can't believe we are nearly done with our project! It feels like just last week we were first partnered up," Finn said as I walked him out the door.
     "Yeah," I nodded, doing my best to hide my fears about what will happen when Finn walks out. It was February 5, my moms birthday. Any days associated with her normally don't go to well for me. This includes her birthday, the day she died, her anniversary, as well as the 6 month anniversary for all of those and a few more.
Finn kissed me on the cheek, I gave him a hug. It was our good bye ritual. "Love you," he said walking out the door.
"Love you too," I yelled out to him. The first time we said it, it was a big deal. Now every time we part, we toss around "love yous." The thing was we truly loved each other. It wasn't just a phrase. At least I didn't think it was. I still don't know much about love.
As soon as the door shut, I could see the man I was force to call dad, with a baseball bat in hand. I quickly realized this wouldn't be good. I closed my eyes so I couldn't see what was about to happen and I'd only feel and hear the pain. I heard yelling which I made myself tune out. I couldn't listen to it anymore. I didn't know if I could take any of this anymore. I felt my legs about to give out beneath me. I began to loose feeling of parts of my body. I had already collapsed the last three nights. If I did it again, I seemed week. Maybe I am week, but I can show it.
I blinked my eyes open, realizing if I didn't, I'd pass out. I felt my vision blurring from my watering eyes. I felt my heart speeding up from fear. I felt myself weakening, before I finally surrendered, closing my eyes to see nothing but darkness. I felt my head hit the hard ground, a few more hits from the bat on both my back and up closer to the head and neck. The pain had never been this bad before, but I had never been beaten by a medal bat before, only the belt. Now the belt felt painless.
     I soon found myself lying helplessly on the floor. I attempted to open my eyes, but couldn't do it. I tried to sit up, but I couldn't do it. I heard sirens in the distance, and a voice, Finn's voice, repeatedly saying, "Rey can you hear me?"
      I tried to reply or nod or something, but my mouth was at a loss of words, and I felt as if I was unable to move. I felt a sudden movement, as if somebody was picking me up, I assumed it was Finn. Him carrying me and running was the last thing I remember before completely blacking out.

I walked into dark cave, before finding a small brown chest. Feeling called to it I walked over, picking up a small locket. I suddenly found myself in a long endless hallway, hearing a screaming of "nooooo!" in the background. I fell to the ground, seeing my mom kissing a man, I'm guessing my father, than on the other side my mom and that man fighting. I suddenly was taken to the car crash, a young me screaming in fear and terror. My dad was pulling me away yelling, "quiet girl!" To me. I than saw 3 older girls all with short platinum blonde hair, preforming for a large crowd. One looked sadder than the others. There were cheering voices in the background. I felt they were trying to tell me something. What? I didn't know.

My eyes quickly shot open, revealing myself a bland hospital room. Different machines and monitors were placed throughout my body, an oxymoron mask over my nose, an IV on my hand, something clipped on to my finger before leading to another machine, and many more. There was a brace wrapped around each of my shoulders as well as one on my neck and back.  My clothes were replaced for a light hospital gown. Soon after, a nurse, probably in her 40s, came running in. My dry mouth desperately needed a drink, but the nurse's only concern was asking me some memory question such as my name, age, date of birth, as well as questions about how I felt, writing them down on a clipboard. I barely managed to cough out my answers, still in desperate need of a drink. When I was finally get asked if I needed anything, I just forced out a simple "water."
I also had questions, how long was I out, what happened, how did Finn find me, what was I doing here, was I safe now, and most importantly, why couldn't I feel my legs, but I'd save all of those for Finn. Using my eyes only, I took another look around the room, searching for a clock. It read 3:25. I at first didn't know if it was AM or PM, but the darkness outside told me it was AM, which was most likely why Finn wasn't here. I turned my head slightly, seeing my phone sitting on the bedside table, likely as it was in my pocket before hand. I forced myself through the pain reaching brought, before grabbing it off the table. The otter box had protected the screen from cracking in my pocket before the beating, which was my best assumption of how I got here. It was Saturday, February 13, over a week the painful Friday. I took a scroll through Instagram, mainly looking for post by Finn. I looked at his post from last weekend. Although the picture was slow to load, I quickly realized the caption was about me, "I love our story. Sure it's messy, but it's the story that got us here," Barney Stinson. At the bottom it said something about how much he needed me, ending with Pray for Rey. The picture eventually loaded, revealing our first date and the best night of my life.
      I smiled, realizing Finn would probably wake up in the morning to visit, not knowing I was waiting for him. I opened my Instagram direct messages, opening a group chat between Finn, Poe and I. Last time we chatted we were having a fight about who shot first. I said Han, Poe said Greeto, and Finn kept saying it didn't matter. I began to type sending a message saying Han shot first. I didn't know how they'd respond, but I had a feeling it would be good.
       A few minutes later the nurse came back with a tray. She handed me a small plastic cup with ice water and a straw. I took a few drinks, before placing the cup back on the table.
       "I'll need to see your arm," she said, "blood work for the DNA test."
       I attempted to nod, but it brought pain to my neck, experiencing an even greater pain from pulling my left arm from under the thin blanket, "how long should this take?"
       "The testing should take no more than 3 minutes. The results could however take up to 12 weeks. It depends on how long it takes to find a match. I watched the nurse draw blood, than place a bandage over the spot, "We're also going to need a urine sample by noon tomorrow, I recommend drinking up."