Lily
Flowers were the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes, masses of them. An array of colour burst from vases and buckets, some even spouting out of various glass bottles, reducing the harshness of the cold, white walls.
Pain ached every single muscle in my body and I groaned as I tried to turn over.
“Lily?”
I slid my eyes towards the sound of my mother’s anguished voice and tried to focus on her. My mouth was so dry, and when I tried to lick my lips something obstructed my tongue.
“Mmm.” The mumble sounded alien to my ears and I frowned.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. Sleep,” Mum urged as she tenderly stroked her hand over the top of my head.
A movement behind her had me squinting as I concentrated my gaze that way. Harrison tilted his head slightly, his gaze on me worried and, if I wasn’t mistaken, remorseful.
I didn’t understand what was happening. Everything felt and appeared strange. I begged for sleep to take me away from the pain and the weirdness.
“Sleep,” Mum insisted softly.
As if she was magic, my eyes slid closed and I drifted into peacefulness once again.
***
There were more flowers the next time I woke, and balloons bobbed about in every corner. Cards and pictures eclipsed the previous cold walls and photographs of people I didn’t know surrounded a mosaic of get-well wishes written on slips of paper.
“Babe.”
My dad’s face came into focus when he leaned close to me.
This time I managed to smile; the prior blockage miraculously was gone. “Dad.” My throat was scratchy and I coughed.
“How you doing, Sugar Nut?”
I wasn’t quite sure how I was doing. I didn’t even know what was happening, so unable to answer, I just shook my head a little.
My back ached and I tried to shift. “No, babe,” Dad admonished firmly. “Not yet, wait for the nurse.”
“Nurse?” It was only then I realised I was in a hospital room. “What happened?”
“You just had a little accident.” Dad smiled at me like I was four years old again and I had fallen off my bike.
“You were shot!” Harrison’s stern voice made me jump. I couldn’t see him, but I definitely heard him.
“What?” Every word I spoke hurt my throat and I winced with the pitch of that single syllable.
“In the carpark after the concert.” Finally, Harrison stepped into my line of sight. His stormy blue eyes stared at me and I frowned at the reservoir of sadness that glimmered in them. “I’m sorry, Lily.”
“Why are you sorry? Did you shoot me?”
His eyes widened and the corner of his mouth twitched.
My dad spluttered out a laugh. “Many times in his imagination, kid.”
The door opened and a nurse walked in with my mother hot on her heels.
“Lily!”
I winced when she rushed to my side and took my hand in her warm one. “I’m okay, Mum.”
She nodded quickly and wiped away the tears that rolled down her cheeks. “Of course you are, you’re strong.”
“Like my mum.”
“Hi, Lily, glad to see you’re awake.” The nurse smiled down at me as she checked the monitors beeping away. “Do you have any pain?”
“A little.”
“Not to worry, we’ll get you topped up.” After making some adjustments to the mass of concoctions being fed into me through various tubes, she turned to the people in the room. “Could you give us a little privacy for a moment, please. The cafeteria is open if you’d like to grab a coffee.”
Mum frowned, looking from the nurse to me. I just shrugged. Eventually, she left the room with Dad and Harrison.
“I’m Jenny, and I’ll be looking after you while you’re here,” the nurse informed me as she helped me turn onto my side. “I just need to check your wound and then we’ll get you some water, you must be thirsty.”
I nodded, hissing at the pain that shot through my back.
“I’m sorry. The pain relief will kick in shortly.” Manoeuvring me back around, she settled herself on the edge of the bed. “Lily…” The look on her face and the softness of her voice, the same as I had seen and heard many times from various practitioners, had my cheeks blushing when I knew what she was going to say.
“I know, and no thank you,” I told her, not giving her the chance to embarrass either of us.
“Are you sure?” she asked softly. I didn’t want her pity, never mind her help. “We can put you in touch with an amazing therapy group.”
“No.”
She cringed at the tone of my voice but nodded. “Okay, my love.”
Jenny left to fetch me some water and I stared around the small room. Selfie photographs of countless fans with messages of love and prayers for my swift recovery had been stuck to the walls. Notes and drawn pictures hung wherever there was space. My heart surged as I squinted at them, attempting to read them from where I lay. Hundreds of bright blooms and a heap of soft toys filled every available floor space. It was astonishing how much people cared about me. I was just a singer in a little band.
“This is only what we could fit in the room,” Knight said as he walked over to me. I hadn’t even heard him enter the room. “You should see your house; we had to store the rest there.”
“How long have I been here?”
“Four days.”
“Wow!” I breathed, still dazed at the level of support.
“You scared the ever-loving shit out of me, Lil.”
I nodded, his admission beckoning the sob that I had tried to keep at bay. He was comforting me within seconds of the first tear hitting my cheek.
“What the hell is going on, Knight?”
He sighed, hugging me harder. “I don’t know. But I do know Harrison is hot on this fucker’s heels.”
I squinted up at him, pulling out of his embrace. “He’s found something?”
“I’m not sure. He’s one secretive bastard, I know that much, but he’s tightened all security. No one can get within a hairsbreadth of you now. We’ve cancelled all upcoming gigs…”
“What!?”
He glared at me, his eyes narrow and hard. “We didn’t even have to make that decision; our fans did it for us. Everyone, including them, are right behind you, Lil. They love you. They’ve been camping outside the hospital for news ever since you were brought in. You need to get well, and safe. And they know that too.”
I nodded. All I wanted to do was perform, I loved every incredible minute of it, but putting myself out there again was going to be harder than I anticipated. The more anxious I was, the more terrible it would be for Quantum. I couldn’t say I wasn’t disheartened though. We’d been fighting for this for years, and already, within seven months of making it, it was my fault that it had all come crashing down.