What the…
Cotton in my ears. Velcro over my eyes. My body weighs a ton.
“Ms. Hitman…? Can you hear me?”
Try as I might, I can’t open my eyes.
“She’s coming around.”
That voice again…
I can’t answer. I can’t say a single word. Tiredness comes crashing down over me like a sledgehammer, and I drift off to sleep.
A LIFETIME LATER, A DOORopens somewhere in the distance, and this time I muster up enough strength to peel open my eyes, squinting against the bright, white light.
“Welcome back, Amy.”
I turn my head.Why is she yelling?There’s a woman standing there, roughly my age, wearing a nurse’s uniform. I don’t understand. Everything is muddled in my head.Where am I?
“How’re you feeling?”
“Please,” I mumble. “Please can you not yell?”
She smiles at me and reaches for my arm.
I look down. There’s a drip strapped to me. I frown.
“You’re in the hospital,” the nurse says kindly. “You were in an accident. Do you remember?”
An accident?Scenes flood back in snatches, fragments of ragged memory. The speed of it all. Lewis yelling out my name, telling me to stop. A tire bursting, the car skidding over, lifting up, hitting the ground, and…
I nod, craning my neck to assess the damage. My right foot is lifted, and there’s a pounding behind my eyes. I wince, lowering my head back onto the pillow.
“How bad is it?”
“Your leg’s fractured. Two broken ribs and a concussion. Your elbow is a little swollen, but it’s in one piece, at least,” the nurse adds.
“Okay.”
She stares at me, waiting for me to bombard her with questions, but I don’t have the strength for anything more.
“You’re very, very lucky.”
She gives my shoulder a gentle pat, and I flinch inwardly from the physical contact. I don’t even have the strength to shrink back. She seems nice enough—and I’ll need to keep her sweet if I want a steady supply of painkillers.
“You have visitors, by the way.” She smiles. “I told them to wait a while. Should I tell them to come up, or do you want to try and get some more sleep?”
I glance at her. “How long have I slept?”
“Around forty-eight hours.”
I slowly blink my eyes. “Who’s here?”
She flips open her notebook. “Your sister, your stepsister-in-law, and your two boyfriends.”
She waits a beat before looking up at me, her eyes shining.
My what now?
