Previously Strangers (TFIL/Sam and Colby)

Chapter Seventeen

My skull burned; I felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing my brain with a pencil. My eyes shot open, frantically scanning the room for help, but to my surprise, I was in my bed instead of curled up on the couch where I fell asleep. I scrunched my face together, cold sweats pooling in the creases of my eyes and forehead as I did so. I strained myself to sit up in the bed, throwing off the grey comforter so that it piled up in the middle of the bed. I suddenly got the urge to vomit, I braced myself for the bile as I recklessly stood up. However, after a few steps, I fell flat on my face sending blinding pain through my entire body. I was completely paralyzed, my ears rung and I had this horrible pit in my stomach. My heart was beating a million times a minute as I began to come back to my senses. My arms barely worked, but I managed to pull myself to the open bedroom door after several minutes of agony. I was terrified of what was happening, yet the only thing on my mind was getting to the nearest person for help.

I paused, evaluating my options. There was Sam's room, but he was a heavy sleeper and I couldn't even speak, let alone yell for him right now. Then Colby's room was next, but his door was always locked at night. Elton was downstairs and there was no way I could make it down there without collapsing. Aaron was at a friend's house for a sleepover, so my only option left was Corey who was at the opposite end of the hallway. I stared daringly at his door, then worked up the energy to drag myself down there.

My legs still weren't working, so I was relying solely on my arms to more or less army crawl me down the hallway. I was about halfway through the hallway, just barely reaching the beanbags where I had sat the first day, when a splitting pain ripped through my head, all the way down my spine, making me arch my back in agony. I groaned, letting my body go limp, my breath coming out in ragged gasps. I had never been in so much pain; I was fairly certain I was as good as dead. After resting for a time that seemed like forever, I pressed on. Finally I reached Corey's door and collapsed. I couldn't move and my head began to feel warm and fuzzy. Still in desperate need of help, I tried to bang on the door, which only came out as a dull thud as my palm made contact with the wood. I tried again, no answer. One more time, but still no answer. I let my head rest on the ground, suffering through the pain. The only thing I could think of was about having a brain tumor. I pushed the thought out of my mind and closed my eyes. I began to feel warm tear drops running down my face as I grimaced in pain. I found the energy to bang one more time. I lifted my arm and stuck the wood with it. Nothing happened. I began to sob, this was it I was going to die before I even got to live. I sighed, giving up and letting my body go limp.

Within seconds, I heard the doorknob behind me jiggle, then the door flew open, shining moonlight streaming in from his window shone straight into my eye, blinding me. "Katelin?" He yelled, sending yet another line of pain down my body. He knelt down, searching me frantically for signs of injury. He obviously found nothing besides the fact that I was sweating like a pig and I was shaking uncontrollably. At this point, I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I let them close, clenching them shut each time a surge of pain would run through me.

I could hear Corey yelling for the other guys, and soon enough I could hear all of them frantically trying to figure out what to do. Finally, I heard Elton's voice, it was groggy and low until he saw me, I guess, then it was loud and it hurt my ears. I didn't bother to open my eyes because everything was blurry anyway, but I would occasionally move my wrists and ankles just to see if it still hurt; it did.

I felt a pair of arms scoop me up bridal style and begin to scurry down the steps. Everything was overwhelming, yet senseless. I couldn't tell where I was or who I was being carried by, but the worried voices of the guys scared me more than you could imagine. After a moment, I heard the whirr of an engine and the sound of seatbelts clicking and car doors closing. We were headed to the hospital, I assumed.

The thought of being in the hospital again made me want to pull my own toenails out and eat them with a bottle of hot sauce, so, to the best of my ability, I tried to mumble "No hospital," but to my frustration, Only came out as a grunt. The car took off, zooming up and down streets and swerving against the 3am traffic.I knew I was laying across the back seat of Elton's car, laying on three of their laps. I could tell my head was on Colby and my feet were on Corey, which meant my torso was on Sam. Everything was getting warm and fuzzy again as my senses started to go once more. I started to lose touch with the world around me, but a loud crash startled me back to reality and more pain than I had ever been in consumed my entire body. It was like the splitting headache times one thousand spread all over me. My body twisted and I realized I was flying through the air, then crashed into something hard, with several cracking noises coming from my bones. I laid there in agony, unable to move or open my eyes, trying to figure out what had happened. Sirens filled the Air and the deep voices of paramedics and police officers were frantically yelling medical terms and police codes at each other.

Then it hit me. We were in a car crash.