Darkness.
Complete and total darkness. That was the first thing I became aware of when my mind slowly started to function once more. It took me a few minutes to realize that it was only dark because I had my eyes closed. Once I was aware of that, I forced my lids to open. A strange feeling of déjà vu surrounded me as I realized I was in a hospital room. I once again had an IV in my arm, but I wasn’t surrounded by machines this time.
I tilted my head to the side and saw my parents talking quietly to a doctor in the doorway of the room. I shifted in the bed slightly and noticed that my left leg felt a little heavier than it had before, but the horrible pain was gone. It was still sore, but it was bearable now. My movement caught the attention of the three people in the doorway, and they hurried over to me.
“How are you feeling?” my mom asked.
“A little groggy,” I replied. “What happened?”
The doctor stepped forward, and I recognized him. It was Dr. Green, the same doctor I’d woken up to all those months ago. He smiled down at me. “Hello Dana. You had a blood clot in your leg, which is what caused the pain. Normally it wouldn’t have hurt so much, but since the leg is so damaged already, it affected it a lot more. We did a minor surgery to remove it and we also placed an IVC in the vein to prevent that from happening again.”
“How did I get a blood clot?”
“It happens sometimes after surgery or trauma. Normally it happens a lot sooner after these events, but it’s not unheard of for it to take this long. Did you feel any pain before you went to bed?”
“A little, but it wasn’t that bad. Will I have to use my crutches again?”
“Maybe for the first couple of weeks, but then you should be able to go back to your cane. We’re going to keep you in here for a few days for observation and to give you a few injections. We’ll also give you a prescription of blood thinners for you to take once you’re released. You’ll have to come in for regular blood tests for a while though.”
I grimaced. “Ugh, I hate needles.
He patted my right foot. “I don’t blame you. But hopefully we can prevent this from happening again. You need to take it easy for a little while.”
I hesitated for a moment. “I’ve started riding again. How long will it be before I can do that again?”
He thought about it for a moment. “I’d say a month to be safe. You might be able to get away with three weeks if your physical therapist says it’s okay. We’ll just have to play it by ear.”
I sighed. “Okay. Thanks Dr. Green.”
“Anytime. I’ll leave you with your parents now. I’ll be back to check on you in a few hours.” He left the room after making a couple of notes on my clipboard.
I turned to my parents. “Sorry if I scared you guys.”
My dad sat down heavily in the chair beside my bed. “Scared is putting it mildly. I nearly fell down the stairs in my hurry to get to you.” He put his hand over mine. “Why didn’t you tell us your leg was hurting you earlier?”
“It really wasn’t that bad. I didn’t think anything was wrong with it.”
He rubbed his hands over his face. “Well, I think I may have lost five years of my life, but I’m glad you’re okay.”
I gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry,” I murmured. “What time is it?”
“Almost nine in the morning. We called Chase about twenty minutes ago, so I-”
His voice was cut off when we heard a minor commotion outside my room. A few seconds later, Chase came into the room, ignoring the nurse who was telling him it was only family allowed in the room. He moved quickly to the side of the bed and grabbed my hand. His eyes met mine, and I saw a wide range of emotion pass over his face before it settled on relief. He didn’t say anything as he looked down at me, but he didn’t need to. I knew exactly what he was feeling.
I heard my dad murmuring something to the nurse, and then he and my mom left the room, leaving me alone with Chase. I scooted over in the bed slightly and he immediately sat down and carefully put his arm around me. Then he put his cheek on top of my head and blew out a long breath. “You okay?”
I shrugged. “I will be. They’re making me stay in here for a few days.”
“Why?”
I told him what the doctor had said, and Chase nodded before falling silent once more. We cuddled together on the narrow bed, neither of us saying anything. I took comfort in his arms, somehow feeling like this would all be okay as long as he was with me.
After a few minutes of silence he kissed my temple. “I was scared when your dad said you were in the hospital,” he murmured.
“I think I scared a lot of people tonight,” I replied. “I’m sorry for that.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” He held me a little tighter. “I just don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that now. The only thing you might have to worry about is me going completely nuts while I’m in here.”
“I’ll keep you sane,” he promised.
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“I dunno. But I’ll figure something out.” He nuzzled my hair. “Do you need anything right now?”
“No, just don’t leave me.”
“I won’t.”
Two days later, I was going stir crazy. They refused to let me leave, and I was becoming cranky and snappy. I’d gotten so used to freedom that being confined drove me nuts. Chase was a rock for me, never letting my attitude deter him from staying with me. When he came in to see me that morning, he was glancing around surreptitiously. When he saw that I was alone, he carefully undid his coat. A pair of tiny eyes peered out at me, and I felt my face split into a grin. “Starlight,” I crooned, reaching for him.
Chase placed him in my arms. “If I could’ve snuck Justice in here, I would’ve. But somehow I don’t think I could have fit him under my coat.”
I laughed. “No, I don’t think that would’ve worked. I can’t believe you smuggled a kitten into here.”
“I knew he would make you smile,” he said. “I know it isn’t easy for you to be stuck in here.”
I made a face. “No, it’s definitely not.”
“How was your night?”
“It wasn’t too bad. They let me get up and walk around this morning, and my leg didn’t hurt so badly afterwards.”
“That’s good. Have they told you when they’ll be letting you leave here?”
I sighed. “Not for another two days at the earliest. They want to make sure I don’t have a reaction to the injections before they let me leave.”
“Too bad this didn’t happen two weeks from now. At least then you could’ve been missing school, instead of having to spend your school vacation in here.”
“You’re spending it here, too. You don’t have to stay here with me the whole time, you know. I’d understand if you wanted to go do other stuff. I’d be mad at you, but I’d understand.”
He rolled his eyes. “Where else would I want to be?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. I do feel a little bad about you being stuck here with me, though.”
He sat down on the edge of my bed. “I’m not going to leave you alone, Dana. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I did that?”
“A pretty sucky one,” I admitted. “I called Hailey earlier and asked her if she’d come by. She told me that if I ever need to talk to someone, I could call her. I know she’s had some relapses with her back, so I’m hoping she’ll be able to help me through this.”
“That’s the girl from the physical therapy place, right?”
“Yeah, Jared’s friend. I really liked her and I want to talk to her again. Did you know that here fiancé is blind?”
He raised an eyebrow. “No, I didn’t. That’s got to be a little weird.”
“I know. I wonder how they met.”
“If she said she would come visit you, then you can ask her. I’m going to sneak Starlight out of here before they catch me. I’ll be back shortly.” He gave me a light kiss, stuck the kitten back under his coat, and then left the room.
A couple of hours later, we were playing a game of cards. My parents had already been by to see me, but I’d encouraged them to go back home since Chase was there and Hailey would be visiting me later on. Cindy had said she would stop by later on as well, so I knew I wouldn’t be bored.
“Do you have any three’s?” I asked Chase.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t know how, but you’re cheating,” he stated as he handed over a card.
I grinned at him. “I’ve never met anyone who actually sucks at this game. It’s kind of funny.”
There was a knock on the door, and I glanced over to see Hailey standing in the doorway, holding the hand of a blond guy. The guy was wearing sunglasses, and it only took me a second to realize that this must be her fiancé. “Hey Hailey.”
“Hey Dana. How are you doing?”
“I’ve been better,” I replied. “Come on in.”
She tilted her head up and murmured something to the guy beside her, and then she came forward, easily steering him around any objects. “Dana, Chase, this is Blake, my fiancé. Blake, this is Dana, the girl I told you about, and her boyfriend Chase.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
Blake nodded to us, and then scowled when Hailey elbowed him in the ribs. “What?”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ve been over this before. Stop being an ass and say hi to them.”
He made a face at her, but then smiled slightly. “Hi.” He turned his head back to Hailey. “Happy now?”
“Ecstatic,” she replied sarcastically before looking at me. “Told you he’s not good around people.”
I chuckled. “It’s okay.” I glanced at Chase. “He’s kind of the same way.”
“I’m not that bad,” Chase protested. “I just don’t like talking around other people.”
My brows rose in mild surprise. “You’re talking around them,” I pointed out.
He opened his mouth to reply, then shut it and frowned thoughtfully. “Huh, that’s weird,” he mused.
“I have that effect on people,” Hailey said cheerfully. “Blake was a complete jerk when I met him, but now he’s… well, he’s still a jerk, but at least he’s not as rude anymore.”
“Sitting right here, Hales,” Blake said dryly.
“So? You were a rude jerk when I met you.”
“And you were incredibly annoying. Still are, actually,” he muttered.
“Excuse me?”
He sighed. “Nothing dear.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
I grinned at them. “Are you always like this?”
“Yes,” they replied in unison.
“It’s why we get along so well,” Hailey explained. “I don’t let him get away with crap.”
“And I keep her level when she has to be in a wheelchair,” Blake added.
“Sounds like it works out well for you two. How did you meet?” I asked.
“At school. After my accident I went to live with my uncle and ended up going to the same school as Blake. I sat beside him in my first class and after a rough start, we became friends, and then eventually more.” Hailey looked at him fondly. “He may be an ass, but he’s my ass now.”
Blake raised her left hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “And I always will be. Even though you’re driving me nuts with these wedding details right now.”
“I just want everything to be perfect.”
“Hales, as long as you say ‘I do’ on that day then it’ll be perfect. You don’t need to worry about anything else.”
“Easy for you to say, since you don’t care if people have a good time. I’m only planning on getting married once, so I want to do it right.” She leaned up to kiss his cheek. “It’ll all be over in a few months, and then you never have to worry about it again.”
I felt a hand cover mine, and I looked over to see Chase smiling at me. “I want to be them when we grow up,” he murmured in my ear.
I chuckled. “Me too.”
Hailey and Blake stayed with us for the next hour. Blake and Chase surprisingly seemed to get along fairly well. At one point, they went down to the cafeteria together, leaving me and Hailey alone. She smiled at me. “So how are you really doing?”
I shrugged. “I’m pissed off,” I admitted. “Everything was going pretty well, and then this happened. I just started jumping with my horse again, and now this will set me back at least a month.”
She lifted a brow. “You ride horses?”
“Yeah, I have since before I could walk.” I hesitated for a moment. “Luke and I were on our way home from a horse show when we were in the accident. The horse I’m riding now used to be his, and I want to enter him in the first show of the season in memory of my brother.”
“That’s a really sweet thing for you to do. Do you think you’ll be able to still do it?”
“I don’t know. Jared hasn’t been here yet, so I haven’t talked to him about it.”
“When you do talk to him, remember what I told you. Do everything he tells you to do. Do it twice if you can. It’ll pay off in the end, even if it hurts like crazy at the time.”
“I will. If it works out that I can go, will you come and watch me? I’d like for you to be there.”
“Definitely. And I’d like to come meet your horse before, if you don’t mind. I don’t think I’ve ever really gotten close to one before, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
“Of course. As soon as they let me out of here, we’ll arrange something.” The boys came back into the room then. Blake had his hand on Chase’s shoulder, and they moved over to us easily. Chase bent down to give me a kiss once Blake was safely beside Hailey again, and I smiled up at him. “Think you can ask the nurses if I can go for another walk? I’m not going to build up my strength again by just lying here.”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.”
Hailey smiled at me and I settled back into my pillows with a new determination. I was going to compete in that show, no matter what.
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Since I was so mean about the cliffhanger last time, I thought I'd be extra nice and let you see Blake and Hailey in this chapter. Hope you liked getting a glimpse into their lives now. It was almost too easy to get back into writing about them; I had to be careful not to let their personalities leak into Dana and Chase.
Response to the last chapter was absolutely awesome! I expect a good response to this chapter as well, or else I'll start making every chapter a cliffy -cue evil music-. You have been warned! For those of you who are wondering, my cousin was released from the hospital today :-). I went there to help spring him out lol. He'll going to rehab next week for a few weeks, but then he'll be good as new (well, almost).
Question for this chapter: What's your favourite movie? I like Mulan, Avatar, Ever After, and tons more. I have a wide variety of movies that I like lol. And my answer to the last question is Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown Band, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. Those are just off the top of my head. Hope you enoyed this chapter! Vote and comment to let me know what you thought!
Oh, and I just created a facebook page for myself. I was very proud of being able to figure out how to do it lol. Check it out, https://www.facebook.com/XxBlondie99xx There will be update info, sneak peeks into other books, contests, etc. I also need someone to make me an awesome profile pic for there, so feel free to send me some :-D