Shock Waves | Complete | (First Draft)

Chapter Twelve

Mia tried to sit up but stopped when a stab of pain flew across her whole body. Her dad seemed to notice and rushed over to her. He sat down on the bed beside her and ushered her to lie down again, holding her hand tightly as if it were an anchor to something important to him. When he saw that the pain had subsided, he sat down in the plastic chair that sat next to her bed. "What the heck happened?" she asked. Her voice came out scratchy and rough.

"I don't know, sweetie." Mia grimaced at the name, remembering her mother calling her the same name. She had to remind herself that her mother and her father were two very different people.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You're in the hospital," he told her.

"Why am I not at Blake's house?" she asked.

"You needed more doctors. Even the last few times, you were at the hospital before we took you to Blake's house with Dr. Clarkson," he explained, his eyebrows scrunched together. As she looked at his face she could see that wrinkles were forming and knew that it was because of her. A new pang of guilt hit her chest like a dart hitting a bullseye.

"Oh," she whispered. This was news to her and she was used to knowing everything. "I still don't understand why I'm here." She decided to ignore her feelings. They wouldn't do her any good.

"Apparently, you passed out during your class, and then you started thrashing around and screaming. That's all I know," he told her.

"Oh." Although there were probably better things to say at that moment, nothing came to mind as everything sunk in.

She wished that Blake was there. She wished she could just crawl up next to him and cry into his chest until no more tears would come. "Where's Blake?" she asked shakily, her voice still rough.

"His dad wouldn't let him leave school but he promised he'd be here as soon as he possibly could."

"What time is it?"

"It's around 2:30."

"So, thirty minutes?" Mia already knew the answer to the question but it was nice to get reassurance.

"Yeah."

"How did you get out of work?" she asked after a surprisingly long silence.

"I explained to my boss and she let me go," he told his now shocked daughter.

"Wow, she seems really cool," she said.

He nodded. Mia started to realize how tired she was but she didn't want to sleep. She couldn't. If she slept, would the nightmares come back? But she couldn't do anything as the light faded and her eyes shut out the rest of the world.

Mia woke up to someone shaking her shoulders roughly. She looked around to see Blake looking at her with the same expression she had seen on his face so often these days. Worry.

She must have been moving around a lot during her nightmare if Blake had to shake her awake.

"You need to stop worrying me like this," he told her. She could tell he was trying to be stern but he wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Just... try to stay safe," he begged. "I care about you. You know that I care about you."

She did know. "At least it wasn't my fault this time?" It was meant to be a statement but came out as more of a question.

"What happened back there?" he asked.

"I don't know. Blake, I'm so confused," she confided.

"Why don't you try?" he asked. She sighed. Mia knew it would help but she just did not want to talk about it. She decided that if she had to tell him she would at least do it while being comfortable.