This chapter's a little longer than usual for you guys. Much love- C xx
After a few days, I was moved to a bigger ward with about ten other kids my age. We only had curtains between the beds and there was an area in the middle where we could sit and talk. I was so excited when Dr Torres said I was being out there with actual other humans to talk to that my heart rate went up and she got scared when the monitor started beeping.
There was a mixture of people on the ward, but one of them was a hot guy that was always wheeled, on a gurney or in a wheelchair, past my private room. He looked about my age, maybe a little older, sixteen-ish, and he was C-U-T-E. He was clearly of Asian heritage with dark hair spiked up attractively and dark eyes, a perfectly formed nose and slightly pursed lips, tall and slim. He was three beds left of me, on the boy's side of the ward. I couldn't see the chart on the end of the bed, but I could see the name in bold: J. A. Ito. After only a few minutes on the ward, I noticed that he always stared straight ahead, not looking at anything in particular, just staring into the middle distance. Probably from trauma.
The girl in the bed next to me was only about twelve, but I assumed she was his sister as her chart said H. N. Ito on the top. She seemed a lot more normal, and she just had a lot of scratches, a bandage around her head and bruises on her face and her arm plastered up to her shoulder and in a sling.
We struck up a conversation after Dr Grey-Shepherd had come in to check I was okay with being moved into this ward and I'd eaten my lunch.
'Hey,' she said, turning towards me about twenty minutes after I arrived.
'Hi,' I smiled, 'I'm Lola.'
'Lola what?'
I laughed. 'That question is more complicated than you might think. Let's go with Everett.' I chose my dad's surname over my mum's and my adoptive 'parents' surnames, Lynch and McCartney. Although I'd been Lynch and McCartney for longer than I'd been Everett, I did not want to be alliterated and any association to the adopters was disgusting to me.
She raised an eyebrow curiously. 'I'm Hope Ito. Why are you here?'
'I came in with a broken arm and they told me I had a brain bleed. What about you? Did you have an accident? I see your brother over there and you both look kind of bust up.'
She nodded. 'We were in a car crash about a week ago.' The 'about a week ago' vine ran through my mind but I decided this wasn't the time. 'Some drunk guy rammed into our car from the back. My grandpa in the front was okay except a bit of bruising, but me and Jackson got hurt pretty bad.'
'So what's wrong with y'all?'
'I broke my arm in three freaking places and got concussion. They wanna monitor my brain.' She rolled her eyes and we both laughed. 'And Jackson knocked his head and f*cked up his sight. And he won't talk.'
I glanced across at her brother, realising why he wasn't looking around. He couldn't.
'I see,' I said, 'Is it permanent or temporary? Can they fix it?'
'It's permanent if they can't fix it,' she bit her lip and stared at her brother, 'But the brain surgeon here might be able to sort it out. They don't know, it's risky. Like, super risky.'
I smiled reassuringly. 'The brain surgeon here is amazing. He fixed my head up and I should be okay in a couple of days.'
'So you'll be outta here soon? I tell you, I'm dying to go home.'
'Same.'
'Well,' she said, 'You get to, soon.'
'No, I'm not.'
'You just said-'
'No,' I said, smiling forlornly, 'I said wanted to, not that I am.'
'Well why aren't you?'
'I haven't got a home to go to. Not really.'
So that's that! I had a sudden flash of inspiration for the next few chapters. Apologies for the lack of Grey's characters here but they'll be here in the next chapter. NOW READ THIS: I will not be updating again until I reach either 1k reads or 100 votes. I promise I will update on the DAY I receive either on this story, no sooner, no later. So get voting and reading if you haven't already people, or you're in for a long wait! I love you guys.
Much love- C xx