When I awake, a bright light shines in my eyes. I squint, wishing the light would go away.
"She's resistant to the light, so that's good." An unfamiliar voice says and the light flickers off.
My eyes adjust to the light and I see a doctor leaning over me. Great, our cover is blown. I turn to look at my side, seeing a worried Harry.
I devise a plan in my head, only hoping that Harry didn't tell the doctor any personal things.
"Who are you?" I ask, keeping my eyes on Harry. I see his eyes go wide and I instantly feel bad, but he'll know later. "Where's my mom?"
"She doesn't remember me?" Harry yelps and I can see tears welling in his eyes as he looks to the doctor, hoping for him to give him an explanation.
The doctor turns to me. "What's the last thing you remember?"
I gather thoughts in my head as to what can be my last thought.
"Well, I remember walking down the aisles at the store. I was going shopping for my mother." I explain and see Harry just lose it beside me.
"I'll be back." The doctor says, looking baffled as he walks out the door.
Harry turns to me as tears stream down his cheeks. "You don't remember me?"
I roll my eyes. "Yes, I do. Now quit crying, or else I'm gonna start bawling." I say and see his lips curve into a smile. "I had to lie. You didn't tell him anything, did you?"
"No." He says. "I rushed you to the hospital, you just got here like 15 minutes ago. I haven't really filled paperwork out or been questioned yet."
"What did you tell them happened?" I ask.
"I told them that you fell backwards down on concrete." He says and I nod.
"Okay, we have to lay low now. We have to escape the first chance we get." I say.
His brows furrow. "Winter, you're injured! You can't just walk out of the hospital."
"Harry, if we stay here any longer, they're going to start questioning us and it only helps my mother out by staying put." I say, starting to get mad. Does he not get it?
"I brought our bags." He sighs. "Once we leave, we are going to a different state."
"I only have a month left before I'm free." I mumble, turning to look away from him. "Then I can go on my own and actually be of help to myself."
"You want to get rid of me?" Harry asks, his voice cracking. I don't answer him, instantly regretting what I had said.
He walks out of the room without another word, leaving me with my thoughts.
I feel bad, I hadn't meant to say that. I feel the tears start to stain my cheeks and I furiously wipe at them.
The door opens and I avert my gaze, hoping to see Niall, but I see the exact opposite.
A woman stands there, in her early 40s, maybe? She has short brown hair and blue eyes.
"Hello." She smiles at me, walking over to my bedside.
What if my mom sent someone after me? What if this is the woman that threw the rock in the window?
"Who are you?" I ask, sitting up in my bed.
"My name is Tina." She says. "Tina Brown."
Brown? That's it, she really is set up to spy on me by mom.
"Look, what ever my mom is paying you, I'll double it." I say and see her smile fall. "Just please, don't tell her where I am."
"Oh, no." She rushes. "I don't know your mother. Lots of people have the last name Brown, but I-"
The door opens and Harry walks in, furrowing his eyebrows at the woman.
"Who's this?" He asks, walking over and standing at the foot of the bed, gesturing to the woman.
Tina extends a hand out to Harry. "Hello, my name is Tina Brown."
He just stares at her, not shaking her hand. Nothing.
"Harry, don't be rude." I scold, weary as to why I even believe any of the words that Tina says.
"Sorry, but I should get going." Tina says, headed for the door. "It was nice to meet you two."
After she walks out, Harry turns to me. His eyes are squinted and he's pointing at the door. "Who the fuck is that?"
I shrug. "I don't know."
"Whatever," He sighs, now walking to my bedside. "I've made arrangements for you to get out of here. The doctors are convinced that you have a concussion and are suffering amnesia. They said they aren't gonna let you go until they can figure out how you got amnesia."
"Well, what the hell, Harry!" I exclaim. It doesn't sound like he has found out anything new that would help us!
"I know, I know!" He sighs, cautiously looking around, making sure no one is I'm the room and that the door is shut. "That's why we've gotta go. Like.. Now."
My eyes go wide as his grip rests on my arm, looking up to me. "Winter, this is going to hurt a lot and as soon as this happens, we have to leave."
"What're you doing?" I panic, watching his fingers inch closer to my small needles poking out of my arm.
The door swings open and I almost feel relieved. Harry jumps back, turning to the door.
Tina walks in, panic stricken.
"Most of them are on a lunch break, so you've got to leave now!" She says and Harry turns to me, immediately ripping the few needles from my arm.
His hand goes to my mouth, covering it so I don't scream. God, the pain is so unbearable!
After they wrap my arm up quickly in gauze, I notice the monitors going haywire. I stand up, ready to run. But when I look down, I'm still in my hospital gown. It's too obvious! But I don't have time to change.
"C'mon, I can get you by!" Tina says, rushing us over.
Harry, Tina, and I jog out the door with our bags and when we are far enough, we start walking. I see nurses rushing by us as I figure they're going to my room.
We follow Tina down the stairwell instead of the elevator and go down three flights before reaching a parking garage.
"We can't get in our car, Tina." Harry days, stopping to catch his breath while he tried to come up with a new plan. "They'll recognize it; track us down."
Tina looks around, suddenly turning back to Harry. "I've got a plan. You guys get in your car and drive down the road. Find somewhere to park and I'll meet you. I'll pick you up from there."
Harry and I nod, agreeing for the time being.
Both of us run to the car, and I follow behind Harry like a lost puppy since I wasn't even consiuos for our arrival.
After we find the car and get in it, we pull out. I reach down to the floor of the passengers seat, where my bag sits and go through it, looking for clothes. I find some black tights and a plain white T. I go ahead and pull on my tights under my gown, not even bothering for putting on underwear.
I grab my sports bra in my bag and try to secretly put it on under my gown. When I succeed, I take my gown off and throw it in the back, pulling the shirt on.
Harry respects me enough to keep his eyes on the road and not peek at me changing.
Then I go ahead and change my shoes into sneakers. I grab deodorant, quickly putting it on before zipping my bag up.
"Do you think I should take this off?" I ask Harry, pointing to the bandage sitting on my forehead.
He glance over at me. "Yeah." He sighs. "Just make sure to put another bandage on it. A smaller one. There should be a first aid in the glove compartment."
I pop the glove compartment open, seeing the red box. I grab it and place it in my lap. After I put ointment on it and rebandage it, we pull into a run down barber shop.
Tina must have been right behind us because when we pull in, another car pulls in as well and when they park beside us, we see that it's Tina.
I grab my bag and open the door, seeing Harry get out as well as I jog to the other car, getting in, only hoping no one saw us.
"Do you think anyone saw us?" I ask Harry as we both climb into the back, the car getting kicked in gear.
He looks around before shaking his head. "No, I don't think."