TWENTY-TWO
I pulled out the emergency phone that Seb had given me (after much protest from me, though) and refreshed the messages. Why had he not text me? Is this phone working? I would never know how to work a phone as there are so many different buttons and applications and I was still struggling to figure out how to lock and unlock the phone. But I needed this phone – I wasn’t allowed to go to the hospital or my father would find out about Ethan and Sebastian… I couldn’t let him hurt them.
Seb had given me this phone so that he could text me how Ethan is doing; I still was unaware of the condition he was in. What if they couldn’t save him as his injuries were so bad? They need to save him. I don’t know what I would do without Ethan in my life and I haven’t even met him yet. Maybe I should just sneak out and go to the hospital…
I looked at my alarm clock and saw the time was one in the afternoon; my father would be going out soon. Usually on Saturday afternoons my father would go out with his friends and then come home on the Sunday night but I could go out and be back for five or six in case he decided to come home a day early. Okay. I’m going to ‘meet’ Ethan today. Well, I don’t know if he is even awake or not or if they are allowing visitors but I will see him in person for the first time.
Scanning through the small number of clothes I have in my wardrobe I picked out an oversized, plain grey jumper and a pair of light blue jeans that I kept in the back of the wardrobe for special occasions – they were the one pair of jeans that did not have any rips or stains on and looked suitable. I placed them under the pillow on my mattress and walked slowly down the stairs, careful not to make too much noise.
I see my father sat in the lounge, staring blankly at the television screen on which a documentary about cars and racing was being shown. He had a beer clutched in his right hand and his left hand was resting on his knee, clenched into a fist; he was probably not watching the documentary as he looked lost in thought. I don’t think I would ever want to know what went on inside of his mind.
Without disturbing him, I crept into the kitchen and searched through the cupboards in order to find something to make him for lunch. Finding no bread of any kind, I decided to make him pasta with pesto – something I remember my mother teaching me how to make. About twenty minutes later I dished up a portion and put the remaining pasta into the fridge before taking a can of beer and the pasta into the living room.
My father turned his head in my direction, taking his attention away from the television as I walked slowly towards him. Like usual, I did not dare to look into his eyes and kept my gaze on the pasta I was carrying. I placed it down on the coffee table in front of him and nodded stiffly, taking a step back as he reached out for the dish. In my peripheral vision I saw him pick up the fork off of the plate and lift some pasta to his mouth. My father looked up at me before taking a bite so I quickly looked down at my shoes, unable to see him any longer. I bit my lip, flinching as he growled after a minute had passed. Before I could even comprehend what had happened, the plate was flying towards me. I ducked my head, causing the china plate to crash against the wall directly behind me; if I hadn’t of moved, that would have hit me on my head.
“What is this?!” He yelled, crushing an empty can in his hand as he stood up from the couch.
“It’s your l-lunch, Sir.” I replied timidly.
“You are useless! You should be able to cook better than this shit!”
My eyes shot open in both shock and fear as he made his way over to me in a rage. I took small steps backwards, not taking my eyes off of his figure as he bounded towards me. I tried to dodge what I knew was coming but I was not fast enough as I felt the stinging sensation on my cheek, signalling that he had slapped me. His large, strong hands clasped around my neck and I felt the breath leave my lungs without returning due to his vice-like grip. When I felt like I was going to pass out he let go and kicked me in the shins, causing me to collapse onto the ground. I choked and breathed in heavily and tried to ignore the gnawing pain around my neck.
I stumbled up, onto my feet but before I could process anything his fist was speeding towards me. I doubled over in pain and clutched my stomach when he kicked me. I landed on the ground again and squeezed my eyes shut as I felt agonising pain. A loud whimper escaped my lips because of the brute force which caused him to growl and kick me harder. I whimpered again; another kick; another kick; another kick. However, I refused to let the tears spill as it would only encourage him to hurt me further.
When he had decided he had enough he grabbed his beer and disappeared from the room. I heard the front door slam noisily, signalling that he had gone out. Hopefully he would not be back until tomorrow…
As I try to stand up, my legs are shaking as they try to hold my weight. The pain is so unbearable. As soon as I managed to stand tall, a sharp pain attacked my stomach and I collapsed onto the ground again. I groaned, leaning my head against the wall as I felt breathless. After catching my breath again I knelt down onto my knees before going into a crouching position, leaning against the wall for support. I closed my eyes and pushed against the wall while trying to ignore the pain. I opened my eyes and looked down; I did it! That’s when all the pain came back full force. I let out a loud yell as I took a step towards the kitchen where I had hidden another first aid kit. With every step I took I felt blood flow down my skin from the many cuts my father had created. Why does this happen to me? Do I really deserve this?
After much excruciating pain I had managed to reach the kitchen; I leaned against the cabinets for support and opened the cupboard, pulling out the first aid kit. It took a lot longer to tend to my wounds as every time I lifted an arm there was severe pain. When every wound was no longer bleeding I packed up the left over bandages and set the first aid kit back into the cupboard before making my way up to my room, struggling at every step on the way.
A few hours later I woke up and sat up on the mattress in my room – I must have fallen asleep. Most of my injuries were not as severe and as far as I could tell, the bleeding had all stopped. I felt around under my mattress and my hand came into contact with the phone that Seb gave me; I refreshed the messages on the phone and my heart seemed to stop when it said I had one new message. I opened the message to discover that it was from Freya – Seb probably gave her my number.
‘Hey, it’s Freya. How are you doing? xx’ it said.
I clicked on a button that opened the keyboard and replied, ‘Hey, I’m okay. I think. I don’t know… xx’
Almost immediately, I received a reply; ‘Have you heard anything? xx’
‘No… I’m thinking of going to the hospital later xx’
‘Do you want me to come with you? xx’
‘It’s okay; I think I should go by myself xx’
‘Alright, good luck xx’
I opened the message but did not reply – I didn’t know what to reply. Things were still slightly awkward between me and Freya but we were slowly become best friends again. I never pried into why we became distant as I know she will probably tell me in time… Well, I hope that she will. We started talking again in the past week and once she found out about Ethan she has been very supportive and always tried to make sure that I’m doing okay.
I was still scared about going to the hospital and finding out how severe Ethan’s injuries are. I know that he is still alive – I don’t know how I know, I just have a gut feeling that he is. I got changed into the clothes that I had hidden under my pillow and pulled on some old converse before rushing to the bus stop that was at the end of the street.
***
“Thank you.” I murmured to the bus driver as I stepped off of the bus, staring at the large hospital in front of me.
I walked in slowly through the automatic doors and looked around the hospital. The same hospital we came to after my mother’s accident. The same hospital that was where I last saw a smile on my dad’s face. The same hospital where I was given the news that my mummy would not be coming home.
“Are you alright, dear?” I heard someone ask, causing me to wake from my thoughts. I saw an older woman in a nurse’s uniform, hugging a clipboard to her chest.
I nodded shyly and smiled, “I’m here to visit someone.” She looked at me with her eyebrows slightly raised, asking me to carry on. “U-um, I don’t know what room they are in.”
“That’s alright, what are they here for?”
“He’s one of the soldiers from Afghanistan…” I trailed off, unsure of what to say next.
“Oh! Talk to the receptionist over there,” she pointed to a rounded desk situated in the corner of the room, “She should be able to tell you more, dear.”
I thanked the woman and smiled, thankful that someone was so kind to me and did not ask too many questions. I strolled over to the desk that she had pointed at and waited behind a man that was already talking to the receptionist. As they were talking I took in my surroundings. The hospital smelt like cleaning products and medicine mixed together, the overwhelming smell causing my nose to feel congested. The atmosphere was cold and depressed with the neutral colours of mainly shades of whites and pale blues – The sad memories of my last visit here were not helping to add any positivity, either.
“Can I help you?” The receptionist, who I assume is called Penny as it is written on her name tag, asked as she was typing slowly on the computer in front of her.
“Yes, I’m looking for u-um, Ethan Miles.” I told her, although it sounded more like a question.
“Are you family?” She asked, not looking up from the computer.
“No but-” I started, only to be interrupted.
“Then I cannot let you see him.” She stated before looking at the person behind me and asking them what they needed. I just stared at her in disbelief – is she serious? She didn’t need to be so rude.
“Excuse me? I need to see him!” I exclaimed, staring into her bright green eyes. She glanced at me, twirling her bleach blonde hair in her fingers as she stared back with a look that seemed to scream ‘Do I care?’
“At this point in time only family are allowed to see him.”
“You don’t understand!” I was not going to be turned away at the reception of the hospital when I came all the way here to see Ethan. I needed to see him.
“Can you please leave?” She asked, glaring at me. “You’re holding other people up.”
I felt anger rise within me and I opened my mouth to yell when two hands were placed onto my shoulders, pulling me to the side.
“It’s okay, she’s with me.” A male voice said from behind me. I turned around to see an attractive male with large brown eyes and light brown, messy hair.
I turned back around to face the receptionist to see that she had undone a button on her blouse and was fluttering her eyelashes at the man who had his hands on my shoulders. She crossed her arms on her chest which seemed to push her boobs further up and into view - Really? What is she doing? Does she not realise how stupid she looks right now? I felt the man pull me away from the receptionist who was now glaring at me as if I had killed someone close to her. As we turned a corner the man burst out into laughter and I shook my head in amusement; at least he found her attempts at being ‘sexy’ funny, too.
“Thank you.” I said sincerely.
“That’s alright. Anything for Ethan’s little Ra-Ra.” He chuckled, a grin plastered on his face.
“Logi Bear?” I asked, shocked. This was Logan?
“Yes, Rachel Smachel!”
I jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly as if he would disappear at any second. I can’t believe that he was here – and he was okay. They never said his name on the news broadcast and I was so scared that it meant he had passed away.
“You’re okay.” My voice cracked as I felt the tears flow down my face. For once, they were happy tears.
“Let’s go see Ethan, yeah?” He whispered gently, putting me back down on the ground. He took my hand and guided me in the direction that Ethan is in.
I’m going to see Ethan.
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It's been like nine or ten days since my last update and that was left on such a cliffhanger - well, I guess it was only a half-cliffhanger. But I still feel bad for leaving it like that and leaving you all hanging...
So, Ethan will definitely be in the next chapter! Who's excited? :') But Logan and Rachel have finally met! I don't know if I'm allowed to have favourite characters but he is definitely mine haha
Thank you all so much for 13,000 reads and almost 700 votes woah. I'm still in shock that people actually like my story! Thank youuuu! Also, please remember that every comment and vote means so so so much to me as it shows me that people are actually enjoying this book and want me to keep going and yeah idk if I'm making sense or anything but yeah... I love you all <3