Chapter Twenty
Ivy
My eyes fluttered open and they ached. The lights above my head were bright and it caused me to moan. The beeping of the monitors around me blasted in my ears. Like I’d been asleep for decades. My legs felt heavy. My skin felt clammy. My chest felt as if it was on fire and my hand was being squeezed tighter than I ever could’ve imagined it being squeezed.
I looked over and saw a man lying against the bed, his hand wrapped around mine.
“Ivy?”
I let out a sigh as Emilia’s voice hit my ears. Her face came into view and I smiled at her. I felt exhausted. My bones ached deep within their marrow. I watched my friend’s eyes flood with tears as her hand cupped my cheek.
“Ivy, can you hear me?” she asked with a whisper.
My eyes fluttered closed and I felt Emilia’s lips at my ear.
“Please don’t fall back asleep. Just hold on, okay?” she asked.
I could hear the tremble in her voice as someone gasped from the other side of the room. A loud shout was heard down the hallway, jerking the man at my side. His hand fell from mine while thunderous footsteps entered the room. Lights were flashed in my eyes and something poked at the bottoms of my feet. My legs jerks and my arms came up to try and fight off the assault I was experiencing.
Then, I felt a pair of lips press against my other ear.
“Oh my God, you’re awake.”
I recognized that voice.
“Dean,” I said with a whisper.
I cleared my throat of its dryness, but I couldn’t stop coughing. I felt a straw dance at my lips, so I happily took it between my teeth. I drank for the first time in what seemed like years. I swallowed the cool liquid down until there was nothing left in the glass. Doctors were whizzing about and nurses kept asking me questions.
But I wanted them all gone.
I wanted to be alone with my friends.
“Do you know where you are?”
“Can you remember what happened?”
“What’s 2+2?”
“You’re bombarding her, give her a second to process.”
Dean.
That beautiful, silky voice.
“I squeezed your hand. Did you feel it?” I asked.
My eyes finally focused and I watched Dean’s face come into view.
“I did,” he said as he sat on the edge of the bed. “I felt it a couple of days ago.”
“A couple of-?”
I furrowed my brow as my heart monitor surged.
That was two days ago?
“Can you remember anything?” Emilia asked.
I turned my head over to look at her as Dean slipped his hand into mine again.
“Anything you can tell us will help us determine what kind of damage, if any, you’ve experienced to your brain,” the doctor said.
“I, uh… the coffee was hot,” I said.
“What?” Emilia asked.
“Just keep going,” Dean said. “What else do you remember?”
“I was going to get coffee, but it was really late at night. I don’t… why was I getting coffee at midnight?”
I looked up into Dean’s face and suddenly it all came crashing back. Why he looked so guilty. Why tears were cresting the folds of his eyes.
“The car accident,” I said with a whisper.
“So you do remember,” the doctor said. “That’s good. Memory retention, even under these circumstances, is a good thing.”
“What circumstances?” I asked.
“You were dealt a serious blow, Miss Breckenridge. The car that t-boned you while you came out of the coffee shop was speeding. The driver was drunk. They had to resuscitate you in the ambulance, and then you spent a great deal of time in surgery.”
“Wh-what?” I asked breathlessly.
I felt Dean smooth the hair back from my face as Emilia took my other hand.
“You suffered multiple fractured ribs,” she said. “And those ribs nicked arteries that caused you to bleed into your stomach. You um…”
Emilia brought my hand to her lips to kiss as her tears dripped onto my skin.
“You suffered a serious blow to the head. The immediate swelling of your brain due to the concussion caused a brain bleed. You weren’t responsive much during surgery, and you didn’t come out of your anesthesia,” Dean said.
“How long have I been out?” I asked.
Dean and Emilia looked at one another before the doctor’s hand fell to my shin.
“Three weeks,” the doctor said. “You’ve been in a coma a little over three weeks.”
“I’m so sorry, Ivy,” Dean said.
My eyes panned up to his as a tear dripped down his cheek.
“This was all my fault,” he said. “I should’ve never made that joke about you coming to see me. I should’ve never insinuated that you come out to this hospital at such a late hour.”
“None of this was your fault,” I said. “It’s that driver’s fault. The person that hit me is responsible for this. How are they, by the way?”
I turned my gaze back to the doctor and he sighed.
“The driver wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. He was thrown through the windshield of his car. Died on impact.”
I felt my lip trembling as I closed my eyes.
“No, don’t!” Emilia exclaimed.
My eyes shot open as her wild eyes met my stare.
“I’m sorry. I just… sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be,” the doctor said. “Miss Breckenridge, though you might feel tired, I do need you to try and stay awake for a little while.”
“Okay,” I said.
I didn’t really know what to say other than that.
“What are the chances of a full recovery?” Dean asked. “Now that she’s awake.”
“Well, her knowledge of the accident is promising. But she’s not out of the woods yet. We’ll spread her tests out so she’s not physically overwhelmed, but we need to run all of them again now that she’s awake. The nurses will come in and test her cognitive capabilities and faculties, but just from what I’ve seen here? A full recovery isn’t outside of the scope of reason.”
“You gave us quite a scare,” Emilia said.
“I’m always full of surprises,” I said with a sigh.
My eyes looked back up into Dean’s and I watched him smile. I had to admit, I was shocked he was there. We didn’t know one another well. I mean, I felt close to him. We’d shared some wonderful moments. But I didn’t expect him to be in the hospital with me if I ever touched down into one.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
Dean brought my hand to his lips to kiss and Emilia giggled.
“Dean’s been with you every single day,” she said. “Before and after his shifts. Grace and I have had to kick him out so we could get some time with you to talk.”
“You didn’t have to kick me out,” Dean said. “I willingly left to give you all privacy.”
“But still,” she said, “he was here. Every day. Every time I delivered flowers and every time Grace popped by to talk.”
“Every day?” I asked. “Why?”
“He was always checking your charts, too, despite my insistence he didn’t,” the doctor said. “Doctor Anderson was insistent that you didn’t have any family to contact.”
“I don’t,” I said. “He’s right.”
“Then with your permission, Miss Breckenridge, I’d like to keep your friends in the loop with your condition while you’re still in the hospital.”
“That’s fine. Is there a waiver I have to sign or something?” I asked.
“We’ll take care of that later,” the doctor said. “Right now, I need to go start setting up your testing for today. We’ll do a brainwave test as well as take some blood. Come this evening, if your body feels up to it, then we’ll do an EKG before you settle down for the night.”
“Sounds good. Thank you,” I said.
Then the doctor left us.
I relaxed against the bed as silence filled the room. I didn’t know what to say or how to feel. It was like a fairytale. Like someone else had lived that life and not myself. It didn’t feel like I’d been in a coma for three weeks. Just like I’d been in a really deep sleep for one night. I felt Dean’s hand squeeze mine and I squeezed back, then I looked up at him as he smiled at me.
“Every day? Really?” I asked.
“I think that’s my cue to leave,” Emilia said. “Tristan’s in the cafeteria, and I know he’s going to want to see you. I’m also going to go call Grace and tell her what’s going on. So the two of you use the time wisely while you have it.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Dean said.
I turned towards Emilia and watched her lips come down onto my forehead.
“I’m so glad you’re awake,” she said. “You scared us.”
“I live to freak people out,” I said.
“Then use some fake blood and a Halloween mask next time. The coma was a bit much.”
I nodded as Emilia stood up. She left the room and closed the door behind her, but not before she took one last look at me. The way she looked at me sent shivers down my spine. Like she was looking at a friendly ghost. It was almost like she couldn't believe I was awake, and that frightened me. I heard my heart monitor speed up as she closed the door and immediately Dean jumped into doctor mode.
“Calm down. Everything’s okay,” he said.
His voice automatically calmed me, however.
Like it had whenever I had been in that space between sleep and awake.