The whole world was moving in slow motion. Bright white lights were spinning above me as I lay flat on what seems to be a mattress.
"We've got a Jane Doe," a young man says as I start to feel myself being pushed down a never ending hallway. "Seems to be in her late teens, she has multiple fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and possible internal bleeding and head trauma."
I try to speak to tell them my name, but nothing comes out.
"We need to get this girl into the OR, stat." another doctor says before I succumb to the darkness.
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My eyes slowly start to flutter open and pain shoots through my entire body. I begin to use my arms to help me sit up, when a nurse comes running in the room just in time to stop me.
"Honey, you can't sit up quite yet. You'll pull out your stitches." she says as she adjusts the pillows behind my head.
"Is my mom downstairs grabbing a coffee?" I ask the nurse with a small smile. "She's always the first to come see me in the hospital."
The nurse continues to check my IV fluids in silence.
"She's not here yet, is she? Is my dad here? Or my sister?" I try again.
The nurse walks out of the room without saying a word, leaving me confused in bed.
A short moment later a young male walks through the door.
"My name is Dr Kingston, but you can just call me Wren." The man says in a British accent before taking a seat next to my bed.
"Do you by any chance have a name?" Wren asks as he opens his briefcase -which I didn't notice him carry in-and pull out a file and a notebook.
"I get it," I say shaking my head. "You're a shrink."
"Precisely. I was brought here by child services."
"Why am I in the hospital?" I quickly ask.
"I'll tell you everything when you give me a name."
"Spencer. Spencer Hastings."
"Well Spencer," Wren says as he writes my name on his notebook. "I'm afraid to say I have to start our session off with some bad news."
"W-what do you mean bad news?!"
"I'm sorry to inform you that two night ago, you were involved in a car crash. You were the only survivor."
I sit in shock as Wren continues to tell the story.
"You and your family were driving along the freeway, when a drink driver hit your car at 80miles per hour. Your mother, father and sister did not survive. I'm very sorry, Spencer."
Tears slowly start to pour down my cheeks. I stare blankly at the wall across the room, trying to remember the events of that night.
"You're lying," I say as I turn to face Wren. "Is this some kind of sick April Fools Joke? If I were involved in a car accident, I would have remembered!!" I say as my voice increases in volume.
"This is very common for people who suffered from a head trauma, Spencer. Acute amnesia is expected."
I stare at him blankly.
"You were ejected from the car, Spencer. You went right through the windshield. For the record, you were wearing your seatbelt."
Wren picks up his briefcase and pulls out his cellphone. He hands me his phone, which displays a picture of what was left of my moms SUV.
Suddenly all my emotions came flooding in at once.
"They're dead?" I say as I begin to cry.
Wren doesn't speak, he just nods his head.
"I'm very sorry, Spencer."
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I cried for two days straight.
I had never felt sadness like this in my life for the 17 years I've been alive.
My entire family was taken away from me by a drunk driver in an instant, and I was left all alone.
I was lying in bed trying not to cry when Wren walks into my room.
"Crying is good you know," he says as he takes a seat. "It saves you from a major headache later.
I let out a little laugh, which allows a couple tears to fall.
"I never got to say goodbye." I say out of the blue.
"A wise person once told me, that we cry and mourn over someone's death because we'll miss them, they're always going to be watching over you, Spencer. They can see everything you can, it's just at a different angle."
Wren gets up and walks out of my room without saying another word.
I wipe my face with my hands, when I hear two knocks at the door.
"Miss Hastings? I have some clothes for you." A nurse says as she places some clothes by my feet.
"Thank you." I say as she leaves the room.
I grab the clothes off the bed and walk over to the bathroom.
I switch out of my hospital gown, and pull on the pair of leggings and long sweater the nurse brought in for me.
I place the hospital gown down on the bed when my surgeon walks in.
"I hear someone's being discharged!" The older male says as he pulls me into a hug.
"Now, I'm here to give you the boring, but mandatory lecture about taking care of yourself at home." He says with a laugh.
"You need to be very gentle with yourself, Spencer. Any sudden movement can rip out your stitches, and I don't want to have you back in here for anything but having them stitches removed."
I laugh and nod my head.
"I've already written you a note to excuse your from gym in school-"
"Gym?" I ask confused.
He laughs and carefully pats me on the back.
"It's almost October, sweetie. You've got to go to school on Monday."
"I thought it was April-" I say furrowing my eyebrows.
"You've been in the hospital for two months, Spencer. It's quite normal to lose track of time. Heck, I forget a lot of things now a days!"
I laugh and give him one more hug.
"I do wish you well and the best of luck, Spencer."
"Thank you Dr Thomas, you take care as well. I'll see you in a couple days."
He smiles and waves at me one last time before exiting my room.
"Ready to go, Miss Hastings?" Wren says as he comes in after Dr Thomas.
"Where are we going?" I ask as we walk to the nurses station to have me discharged.
"I'm taking you home."
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"I thought I had to go in the system! Isn't that the law!?" I ask as Wren pulls into my driveway.
"Not when you're about to turn 18." He says as he shuts off the car.
"Are you sure you want to go inside? It's been left untouched since-"
"I want to go. I'm going to wait on the couch, and pretend like Melissa's back in London. I'll pretend that my mom and dad are on a business trip, or staying late at the office looking after a client. I want to feel like they're coming back home."
I step out of the car and stand on the front step of my house.
"You're personal belongings from the crash are still down at the police station being used as evidence, so I took the liberty in getting you a new house key." Wren says as he pulls the new one out of his pocket.
"Thank you." I say as I put the key in the door.
"Do you want me to come inside?" He asks.
"I'd like to do this on my own, thank you." I say as I turn the key.
"Very well, then. I'll be on my way." Wren says as he walks back down the steps to his car.
As Wren drives around the corner, I let the tears fall down my face as I open the door to my new living nightmare.
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"Spencer!!!" Aria, Emily and Hanna yell as I walk around the corner.
"You're back!" They all say as they run to give me a hug.
"We've been so worried about you! We're really sorry about your parents, Spence." Hanna says, which earns her an elbow to the arm by Aria.
"Not now, Hanna!" Aria whispers.
"Aria it's fine. The whole state knows about my accident. I've seen it all over every news channel in Rosewood." I say as we begin to walk to class.
"Don't worry about your grades, Spencer. The teachers have told us that you've been excused from every assignment you've missed." Hanna says.
"Hanna! I don't think Spencer's been worried about her grades!" Emily whispers loud enough for me to hear it and giggle.
"Anyways," Hanna says as she gives Emily the stink eye," There's a cute new boy in town."
"He's really cute. His name's Toby Cavanaugh. He's in our first period." Aria says as he walk through the school doors. "And the teachers really good looking as well." She adds.
"Good to have you back, Spencer!" A student says as he walk to our English classroom.
"Thanks." I say shyly.
"Ahh! You must be Spencer," the male teacher says as I walk into class. "I'm Mr Fitz, your English teacher."
"It's nice to meet you." I say as I take a seat in only empty desk in the classroom.
"Good morning, class!" Mr Fitz says as he walks back up to the front of the class.
"Last week I told you we were going to start reading one of the best plays written of all time. For those you who are interested, today we are going to start reading Romeo and Juliet."
The entire class (but me) boos.
"I thought the response would have been something like that," Mr Fitz says as he begins handing out copies of the play.
"I have partnered you up with someone you have never worked with before in this class, and the two of you will perform as Romeo and Juliet. With the return of Spencer, we now have an even ratio of boys to girls."
Mr Fitz places a copy of Romeo and Juliet on my desk and I smile. I love Shakespeare. I read his works in my spare time. I've read Romeo and Juliet at least a dozen times.
"Please pay attention as I read your names out from the list."
I space out until I hear my name.
"Spencer Hastings, your partner is Toby Cavanaugh. And you'll be performing the final scene between Romeo and Juliet."
I look behind me to find Toby, and to my surprise I find him right away.
His blue eyes stare into my brown ones, with a huge smile across his face.
"Hey partner." He says with a wave.
"Hey." I say before quickly turning back around to face the teacher.
Shakespeare was supposed to be easy. How's it going to be easy when Romeo is actually good looking?
"You have the rest of block to come up with a game plan. Go." Mr Fitz says before sitting at his desk, typing away at his computer.
I rotate my chair around so I'm fully facing Toby.
"I'm Toby." Toby says as he offers his hand for a handshake.
"I'm Spencer." I say as I shake his hand with a smile.
"So, Juliet, where should we get started?" He asks with a laugh.
"Just so you know, I'm a total nerd when it comes to Shakespeare. I own his entire collection at my house. My mom got me this huge book and-" I stop when my mind immediately replays the memory of my mom giving me the book.
"I'm sorry, I'm talking too much. Where should we start?" I ask changing the subject.
"I'm really sorry for your family." Toby says suddenly and sincerely.
"Me too, Toby. Me too."