POV: Hazel
I kept slipping in and out of subconsciousness, so when I felt someone holding my hands, I felt safe. I didn't know where I was but I could barely make out the words the person was saying.
"I'm here," the person said. I could hear more, but I couldn't fully put it together. They moved like they were getting ready to leave, so I tried as hard as I could to hold on to them. They stopped moving, and I heard "do it again" so, with all the strength I could find, I squeezed again, longer this time so they would stay, but they didn't.
I heard noises, and felt something on my forehead. And then I was out again.
A couple days later.
I was just coming back when I heard another voice. It was different from the one before, but there were two people holding my hands this time. Using the same technique, I squeezed the hand of the person who was talking. They stopped and said something else, but I couldn't quite understand it.
Then I heard the same voice as before. Hoping they would stay this time, I squeezed their hand. I heard a loud slap, and some excited words. I wanted to see who these people were. I tried to open my eyes, but it was hard.
I kept trying, as I felt one person let go of my hand, while the other stayed. I was still trying really hard to open them, when the other person let go, and was ushered out of the room by a third voice. They got really close to my ear.
"Hazel, can you hear me?" they said. I tried nodding my head, but I don't know if it moved. "Alright Hazel, this won't be easy, but I need you to listen to what i'm about to tell you ok?" I prepared myself for what she was about to say.
"I need you to focus. Use every bit of your concentration to try and open your eyes." I could do that. I tried once, but did not get very far. The second time I tried, I saw a little bit of light from under my eyelid. And Finally, on the third try, I was able to fully open them.
I started to cough, when I felt the tube in my throat. There was a Lady in the room with me. She was pretty, a nurse I think, and she pulled it out. "Welcome back Ms. Hazel!" she said, happily. She was the one who was telling me how to open my eyes.
"I'm Phoebe," she said. "Now, can you tell me what you remember about getting into an accident?" she said, in a more serious tone.
"I remember feeling a lot of pain, and wishing it would stop. And I remember someone screaming, but I don't remember who," I said. My voice was scratchy from not speaking. Phoebe brought me a glass of water to help, and said,
"Ok hun, just relax now, I've got something to show you." she said, walking out the door, leaving it cracked. I could hear her talking to some people.
"Alright you two, you have to remember, she's still very sore and has been through a lot. Need I remind you, she may have some spotted memory for a little while. For example, when we asked her if she remembered what happened to her, she couldn't fully remember, so keep that in mind ok?."
After she finished, she pushed the door open, so she could walk in. "Miss Hazel, you have some visitors!" she said cheerfully, while waving them in.
As soon as I saw Mason smiling, I knew it had been him who was talking to me when I was asleep, and holding my hand. I saw Taylen too, which meant she was the other person.
Me being me I had to mess with them a little bit and said "Who are you?".
Masons face fell, instantly, and he stalked out of the room. "Dang, what's got his panties in a wad," I said, not being able to stop the smile that spread across my face. "Hazel," Taylen said, laughing, "you scared the crap out of us!" She said, rushing over to embrace me in a gentle hug.
"You know, he's been here everyday since the accident." She said, looking at me seriously. "Really?" I said. I wasn't quite shocked, but I was still a little surprised.
"He missed school?" I asked. It's his senior year, so I thought he wouldn't want to miss it. "Yea. He said he didn't want to go back without you. No matter how long it took." She said, smiling at me.
Wow. He really cares about me. I don't think I ever realized that until that night.
"He blames himself. For the accident I mean," she said, sadly. "We all keep trying to tell him it wasn't, and that it was his dads, but he still thinks about it. He doesn't say it out loud, but we can tell that he's at war with himself on the inside" she went on.
"He really cares about me doesn't he?" I said, as a rhetorical question, but she answered. "Yes Hazel, he really does. That's why he left when you pretended to forget who we were. He was so happy when you squeezed his hand the first time. He never gave up on you, even when others doubted him."
When she said this, her expression changed from a cheerful to a disappointed one. "What's that look for? And what do you mean 'when others doubted him'?"
"Me and Jackson came to visit you the day we found out. And when the nurse told us we could go see you, he went but we stayed, letting him be with you. Then Jackson, well, he didn't think you were going to wake up. He thought your injuries were too much, but Mason heard him talking and they had a fight, which is why he's not here now."
I could tell this topic was hard for her to talk about, so I changed the subject. "So, how are we going to surprise him?" I asked with a smile on my face.
After concocting the perfect surprise, we both smiled and called my mom in the room.
She was really happy to see me. She was a little confused about why Mason was acting the way he was. I told her about me pretending to forget who he was and how I planned to make it up to him with a surprise. She was more than happy about the idea of him staying with us, since his mom was gone and his dad was put away.
They kept me in the hospital overnight, just so they could run some more tests, and make sure everything was healing correctly.
Then finally, on Saturday afternoon, they discharged me. I was happy to be able to get out of bed and walk around, while my mom was signing the papers.
While I was 'in the bathroom' my mom asked Mason if he'd like to stay with us for a while. He was very hesitant, but my mom was very good at getting people to do what she wanted, so he agreed.
I was told he felt a little uncomfortable about it, since I forgot who he was, but my mom kept telling him that this would be a way for me to get to know him again.
He felt a little better, after thinking it over for a little bit. The plan was that Taylen would Take me home, while my mom went with him to get some things from his house, and while they were there, we would fix up the guest bedroom.
I waved bye to my mom, while Taylen went ahead to get the car started. The drive back to my house felt like hours. I was so nervous and excited and I couldn't stop smiling.
When we got there, my dad hugged me and said "Ah, Gracie, I missed you so much!" "I missed you too dad!" wrapping my arms around his large body, and leaning my head on his chest.
"Did mom tell you the plan?" I asked, pulling back from the hug. "Yes hun, I already got started in the guest room." He said already walking up there. It was up the stairs, across from my room. We never really used it for someone before, because whenever I had sleepovers, people would stay in my room with me.
It was really used for storage for decorations and extra closet space. I took all of my clothes out and put them in my room, planning on hanging them up later. All the decoration boxes were put in the shed in the garage where we normally kept our outdoor gear.
We put new sheets and pillows on the bed, and dusted down the dresser and desk. "Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself,'' I said, dusting my hands off and placing them on my hips.
As I walked into my room, I walked past the bathroom mirror and got a glance of the bruise on my jaw, and around my eye. They were green and yellowish, meaning they were getting better, but they still looked ugly. I lifted my shirt to find matching ones all over my chest, stomach, and back. not wanting to look at them anymore, I put my shirt back down and walked out, just as I got a text.
Mom: In the driveway now, got everything ready?
Me: Yep! getting into place now.
I typed my response as I ran down the stairs and stood about 4 feet away from the front door, right as it started to open. Mason stepped through the door, with his head down, and a bag slung over his shoulder.
"Hey," I said, and he stopped dead in his tracks. He was silent for a few seconds, just looking at me, I couldn't tell what his expression was though. "You're really not going to say hey to the girl who had to suffer hearing you sing to Katy Perry?" I put my hand on my hip, adding a little extra attitude.
Realization flashed through is gorgeous green eyes. "Hazel?" he smiled, dropping his bag and running to me. I stuck my arms out as he embraced me in the biggest hug I'd ever had, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
He picked me up and spun me around, both of us laughing. My bruises hurt a little, because of how tight he was holding me, but I didn't care. I was finally able to see my best friend and make sure he knew that I was here, and here to stay.
Later that night, when we all sat down to eat, I sat next to Mason on one side of the table and my mom and dad sat on the other side.
"Thank you so much for letting me stay with you guys for a bit," Mason said, gratefully. "Don't worry about it hun! you've always been part of this family. And you can stay as long as you like" My mom said sweetly.
To be honest, it didn't feel like anything had changed. Mason was almost always at my house, so he basically already lived here. After all the dishes were done, we were getting ready for bed, and Mason stopped me in the hallway.
"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" He said, looking into my eyes with a serious expression. His eyes were so distracting, I almost forgot to answer. "Yeah, sure. What's up?" I asked, a little scared for what was coming.
He opened his mouth, and his breath hitched, like he was about to say something, but changed his mind, so he closed it back again. "Oh," he said, finally, "Thanks for calling the police the night it happened". I looked at him weird.
"I didn't call the police?" I said, confused as to what he was talking about. "What do you mean? after you were knocked out, me and my dad were fighting and then the police came in." He paused, looking just as confused as I was.
"So if you didn't call them...." he said, leaving the end of his sentence unfinished. I decided to finish for him, "Then who did?''
We shared a look of mystery and shock. We both stood there staring at each other for a moment, with some kind of tension in the air.
I noticed his eyes move away from mine, down to my lips, then back to my eyes. Was he going to kiss me?
I saw him start to lean forward, closing the distance between us, but a sound from my room interrupted us. We both snapped out of our moment and went into our separate rooms. But before I did, I turned and said, "Good night Mason, it's really nice to have you here.''
I smiled, and watched him smile back, before he entered his dark room. As I walked into my room, to try and find my phone, I thought about the kiss. 'was he really going to kiss me?' but my next thought was 'why did i want him to?'. My phone was still ringing when I got to it.
The caller ID said: UNKNOWN
I answered it anyway.
''Hello?'' I asked. "I heard you almost died. Maybe it would've been better if you did. The world would be better off" They said, laughing menacingly. Then they hung up, just like that. My eyes started to well up with tears.
Me: Are you asleep yet?
Mace <3: no, why?
Mace <3: you ok?
Me: Can you come in here? I don't want to type it....
Mace <3: sure, on my way.
I purposefully didn't answer his second question. I definitely wasn't ok. I heard footsteps right outside the door.
I looked up from my phone and saw Mason in his pajama pants, but no top. When did he get so muscular? A tear slid down my cheek. He must have seen it because he came over and sat on the side of my bed.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, tenderly, while wiping the tear off with his thumb. "S-someone just called me and t-told me it would be better I-if I had died." I said starting to sob.
He quickly pulled me into his chest and held a hand on my head. "Shh, shh, it's ok, Hazel. I don't know what horrible person would say that to you, but they are wrong ok. There are so many people that are overjoyed that you are alive. That you're you, so don't let that person ever get you down. And don't ever let them think they are right, ok?" He said, seriously.
He hugged me tight, and then let go. He was about to walk out, but I grabbed his hand. "Will you stay with me? I don't want to be alone." I said quietly.
He nodded his head. "Of course Hazel, I'll stay as long as you need." I scooted over, lifting up the covers, for him to crawl in beside me. I faced him, and he stared back at me with his beautiful eyes, and his curls falling over his forehead.
"Good night Hazel." he said. "Good night Mason". Knowing he was here, made me relax, and I drifted off to sleep.
this was probably my favorite chapter so far. so, Mason was about to kiss her, and she wanted him to...do we maybe have a blossoming relationship on our hands??
Edited Feb 7th 2023