"To the hospital. My sister was attacked at the rehab center."
I didn't bother to question her further about why her sister would possibly be attacked while in rehab. This wasn't the time or the place. The first priority was getting Vanessa where she needed to be.
"Just tell me which hospital she's at," I said as we walked out to my SUV.
Vanessa did as I asked and surprisingly it was closer than I expected. For some reason, I thought maybe her sister was in afacility far away from us just based on the way Vanessa talked about the situation.
It still took almost thirty minutes of driving at a decent speed before I was pulling up in front of the emergency room door.
"Go ahead inside. I'll find a parking spot."
"Okay."
I waited until Vanessa made it through the front door before I pulled away and found the closest parking spot.
I was no more than two minutes behind her when I entered the relatively small hospital and found Vanessa at the front desk arguing with the nurse.
"Hannah Scarflo. She was brought in thirty minutes ago."
"What's your relationship to the patient?" the nurse asked in a rather flustered tone.
"I'm her sister. I was called by the facility she's in and told to come down immediately."
Shit, I hadn't known it was that dire. It made me wish I would've driven just a little bit faster.
Vanessa looked ready to come out of her skin as she waited for the nurse to type things on her computer. Finally she looked up and gave us a room number.
Vanessa was off in a flash moving much too fast for her condition.
"Slow down before you hurt yourself more."
"Screw hurting myself. My sister needs me."
Okay, then. I would worry about helping her later when she needed it. Right now, I rushed alongside her and gave her my unconditional support.
When we got to the room that the nurse indicated, Vanessa came to a screeching halt when she saw the woman lying on the bed.
If that was her sister, there was currently no resemblance. The woman on the bed had matted brown hair that stuck upin all different directions. Her skin was a little darker than her sister’s like she spent more time in the sun. Her face was swollen from where she had been attacked.
"Oh, Hannah." Vanessa rushed over to the hospital bed and took her sister's hand in her own. "I'm so sorry."
Hannah didn't stir or even blink her swollen eyelids.
The beep, beep, beep of the machines was the only sound in the room, for awhile, before a nurse came in.
"Is she going to be all right?" Vanessa practically jumped down the poor woman's throat before she fully made it into the room.
"And who are you, my dear?" The older nurse gave Vanessa a sweet smile.
"I'm Vanessa––her sister."
"Hi, Vanessa. It's nice to meet you. I'm Nurse Amy, and I'll be taking care of your sister during my shift. Your sister has a lot of bumps and bruises, and as you can see, her face got the worst of it. We are monitoring her for a concussion, but so far, she seems to be responding well."
"Is that why she isn't waking up?"
Nurse Amy looked at her charge with a sad smile. "Yes, dear. Her body needs time to heal, and sleep is the best thing for it."
"Did they tell you when she came in she was at a rehab facility?"
