Fixing You

Chapter 6- Hudson

Hudson's POV

It was dark.

In my nightmares, it was always as dark as it could be, when in reality it was twilight when it happened. At least that's what I was told. They said it was still bright enough for the driver to see me, which is why so many questions were raised. It was speculated and eventually concluded that the accident was the result of drunk driving. I would never walk again because of some stranger's stupid decision.

I knew I was dreaming as I stepped onto the road in slow motion. I knew what was coming, but I had yet to master the art of waking myself up.

Suddenly but not unexpectedly, bright headlights flashed to my right, momentarily blinding me. I raised my arm over my eyes as a shield against both the light and impact.

In my dream, I screamed as the car advanced towards me. This, too, was my mind's creation; when it really happened, I hadn't had time to scream. I barely knew what was coming before I felt the intense pain.

Sometimes when I revisited my worst memory at night, the car would grind to a halt just before it collided with my body. Although just as terrifying, I considered this a better night.

This was not one of those nights.

The feeling of the impact was something I would never forget. The front of the car slammed into me like nothing I'd ever felt before. I cried out as I felt my hip twist round unnaturally, the sharp pain shooting up my spine.

The pain was the only thing I remembered about that night.

My eyes shot open and I found myself in bed, sweating so profusely that my t-shirt clung to me. I could feel a dull ache along the right side of my body, reminding me that my nightmare was a reality.

The door burst open and Daniel strode in briskly, clapping his hands. "Wakey, wakey! Up and at 'em, Hudson!" he said cheerily before noticing my pained expression. It saddened me to see my pain replicated on my younger brother's face.

"Another nightmare?" he asked softly. Pity surfaced in his eyes as I nodded. I hated this. I hated that I caused Daniel so much pain and worry on a daily basis. I hated seeing bags under his eyes as he worked himself to death trying to scrape enough money together to take care of us. I hated our mother for being too drunk to bother even trying to look after us. But most of all, I hated myself for splitting our family apart even more, for not being able to help Daniel. I knew I ought to get a job, but what could I do? Who would hire me?

Daniel swallowed and attempted to look cheerful again. He knew I didn't like to talk about my nightmares. "Well, we have to hurry. You know Grace gets bitchy if she's late to school."

I just nodded again and waited for Daniel to help me get dressed and into my chair. Any pride I had once had was lost by now, but Daniel was the only one I permitted to help me to this extent. Neither of us felt as embarrassed as we had in the beginning, but it was still awkward.

Some days, usually after one of my nightmares, the cruel reality of my inability to walk would hit me, and I would get snappy and irritated easily. Daniel and Gracie knew me well enough to know when I was having one of these bad days, and they would leave me be. But at school, nobody knew me and I was provoked by the smallest things.

Gracie pulled up outside the house just as Daniel and I were finishing breakfast, and she rang me to tell me she was outside rather than just honk. She was ever conscious of our elderly neighbours, who would probably still be asleep at this hour.

I left for school with Gracie while Daniel drove his ancient car that was once mine. If only it hadn't been at the mechanic's on the day of the accident, I wouldn't have had to walk home, and I wouldn't have been anywhere near that road. It killed me to think of all the other ways that day could have turned out.

By the time we arrived at school, Gracie had noticed my bad mood and remained quiet as she helped me out of the car. After retrieving my bag I began to wheel myself towards the ugly grey building, but Gracie sighed irritably and jogged up to me, thrusting her school bag onto my lap. She proceeded to grab the handles of the wheelchair and pushed me towards the school.

"Just because you had a bad dream doesn't mean you can't talk to me, you know," she said in my ear.

I sighed. "I know. I'm sorry, I really am. I'm just having a bad day, and it being Monday isn't exactly helping," I tried to explain.

"Well, there's no need to make it even worse," Gracie laughed, and I laughed along with her until I saw who was approaching us.

The smile dropped from my face as Rachel squealed and ran to Gracie, practically attacking her with a hug. 

"Looks like it's already been made worse," I muttered to myself.

Rachel was Gracie's best friend, and although Gracie couldn't see it, she was a huge bitch. Having heard so much about her from Gracie, I was actually looking forward to meeting Rachel when I had to move to a wheelchair accessible school, but I had been shocked to discover how self obsessed she was. Rachel also frequently made snide, bitchy comments against me, and I couldn't figure out why. 

I groaned internally as Rachel walked to the school with us. "Oh my god, Grace, I can't believe I didn't see you all weekend! Where were you?"

"Oh, I was with Hudson," Gracie responded simply. I didn't look back or speak, knowing I would be met with a glare from Rachel. I couldn't help feeling a bit smug.

We reached the school and Gracie pushed me towards the locker we shared. 

"Well, we'll have to meet up this weekend," Rachel decided as we arrived at the locker. "How about Friday?"

"She can't," I said shortly, opening the locker and taking out what I needed. I looked up to see Rachel shooting daggers at me. If looks could kill.

"It's movie night," I concluded.

Gracie laughed. "Yeah, sorry Rach. Can't miss movie night. Could we change it to Saturday night?" 

Rachel pursed her lips. "Fine," she said through her teeth before marching away to whatever class she had.

I glanced at Gracie, raising my eyebrows and grinning. 

She hit my arm. "Oh, shut up and leave Rachel alone," she said with a smile as we departed to attend our separate classes.

"See you at lunch!" I called over my shoulder. I was delighted I had finally talked Gracie out of escorting me to every class. I didn't want to be so dependant all the time.

Once I left Gracie, I could feel my bad mood settling back in. The first couple of classes passed pretty quickly, and all I could think about was Daniel and how much he had to do for me.

It was in History class that I got the idea. 

"Where did Martin Luther nail the ninety five theses?" Mr Whyte was asking the silent class. No one looked even remotely interested.

Mr Whyte called on a couple of people. "Jason? Any idea? No...? Lewis? Okay, you don't know... Ella? You don't know either.... Hudson?"

"Wittenburg Castle Church," I answered boredly.

"Correct!" Mr Whyte exclaimed, delighted that one of his students actually knew something. I tried not to roll my eyes, seeing as he was beaming at me. I honestly didn't get it. I was good at school, and the rest of my class clearly just wasn't bothered.

"Ugh, I totally need tutoring for History," Ella moaned to the girl next to her. I scoffed. Yeah, she definitely needed tutoring, but whose fault was that? Obviously, I had been able to learn from Mr. Whyte. There was no reason she shouldn't know as much as I did- she just never listened.

But that thought stayed with me for a while. Once I properly considered it, I realized that I was in fact intelligent. I had always been good at school, even before the accident. My test scores were always higher than the class average. And now, maybe I could use that to help Daniel.

I would become a tutor.

A/N: Wahey, Hudson found his calling xP Can anyone guess what relevance this will have? ;D Cause.. This tutor thing will end up being the reason for a LOT of drama later on..

Dedication is to smileyfaceXD because her story One Week With James is amazing and I've been a little bit depressed since it ended. Even though it ended ages ago :P

Thanks for getting this to 695 reads!!!! I was SO happy when I saw that :):) Please keep doing whatever it is you're doing, cause it's going great xD

Next update is on SUNDAY, and it will be in Adam's POV. See you then :B