Set Apart

Chapter 69~

Cristina's POV:

In this moment, I cursed the man who invented the phrase 'the truth shall set you free.' Free was the last thing I felt right now.

"H-how—"

I began my story. "The night of the fight, when I left the trailer park, I got in my car and I was on my way home. It was a green light, so I went, and so did the drunk guy in the white chevy from the left intersection. I was crying so hard in that moment that I didn't even check my blind spot. He crashed right into the side of my car."

I could hear the shakiness in his voice. "Cristina I—" I had to keep going.

"From there everything went black. The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm and scars all over me. I see my dad and stepmom right next to me in the hospital chairs. They get up and looked so excited to see me awake. They cried as I asked them what happened. They eventually managed to tell me that 3 and a half years had gone by and I had just woken up from a coma." My crying had started to effect my breathing and it kept getting harder and harder to talk. So I sat down up against the wall on the floor and put my knees to my chin. He soon followed and sat right next to me, now fully intent on hearing me out.

"I was unconscious while they took me to the hospital and assessed my injuries. I had two broken legs, which caused a muscle tear in each leg, three broken ribs, a concussion, and internal cranial bleeding. The doctors said that the only way to keep me alive before and after surgery was to put me in a medically induced coma." I took a few seconds to breathe and continued. "But the hospital in Philadelphia said that they couldn't preform such extensive surgery there. They said something about needing too many attending doctors at once and they didn't have the resources for it. So I was flown to a hospital in New York. I had 4 different doctors from 3 different specialties working on me, all at the same time. After about 9 months when I was stable for long enough, they decided to pull me out of the coma. The only problem was that my body didn't want to. I stayed in the coma for almost another 2 and a half years. And to put the cherry on top of the cake, when I finally woke up not only did I have to come to terms with everything that happened, but between the damage to my legs and how long I was in the coma, I had forgotten how to walk. Luckily there was no damage to my spine so I still had feeling in my legs, but I still had to reteach myself how to walk in physical therapy."

"Cristina I had no idea."

"I know, and i'm sorry. My parents basically up and left leaving everything behind and they were too beat up about me to call or even check in back home. Those 3 and a half years they both went to counseling and they were in no position to tell everything to everybody. When I woke up, and I heard that you guys moved on from me and were doing so well. I made them keep it a secret. I thought it would hurt you less."

"How does me thinking that you got up and left hurt less?" He put his hand on my knee.

"Because you had already thought that I had abandoned you for almost 4 years. I didn't want to cut open old wounds. Not to mention what a fucking basket case I was when I realized I couldn't preform anymore." I had only ever said that sentence out loud 2 times since I woke up. It still gets to me.

"Wait you can't preform?" I could see the pity in his eyes when he said this. All I could do was shake my head.

"After I woke up, I spent about three months in the hospital making sure everything was great and finishing my physical therapy. When I finally got to move into this apartment, I started playing anything I could get my hands on. Electric drum kit, guitar, piano... It didn't feel the same. It's like I forgot how to sing and play everything. My musical slate was wiped clean. Every time I tried playing, my hands didn't move the same and so just couldn't play. I eventually gave up and stopped trying. I started to hate playing. And I decided that i'd rather never play again then grow to hate it. Once I came to that realization, I knew for damn sure you guys shouldn't see me for a while."