Sound assaulted her ears when she came to and she kept her eyes closed trying to avoid it. Murmuring between multiple voices came from a far corner of the room, making her eyebrows furrow. Blinking her eyes open, she found herself glaring at the bright light that glared into her eyeballs as soon as she decided to open them.
The cold room reeked of medicinal alcohol. When her eyes managed to catch sight of the room over the aggressive glare of light, she found the walls to be stark white, albeit the paint had started to peel. To her right and left a row of empty hospital beds proved her assumption of being in the hospital to be true at last.
A blur of ginger snapped her gaze toward it before it launched herself to her side in the same breath, “Good mornin’, sunshine!”
The familiar tone drove out a strangled groan. Albeit unable to recover any memory of the time before waking up, the person before her is still someone who she could remember even if woken up from the dead and asked about them. Of course, she had no acquaintance that could be so obnoxious,
“What’cha getting so tight over? Ya the one who decided to run outta the window!”
She looked over at Melina, her face unconsciously relaxing from the frown that pressed into it. A mustard yellow hood darkened her facial features and her ginger braids hung over Bernadette’s laying figure. Quick to remember, the made-up story of the two vibrated her mind awake to previous events:
“Listen. We’re goin’ to the hospital real quick. I’m ya friend. Ya cut yourself open when ya was climbing through the window. We were runnin’ from gangsters. Got it?”
‘Ah,’ Bernadette flexed her right arm to haul herself up to sit. Her efforts extinguished as all odds came against her; tingling and electric jolts of pain in her left wrist, her head spinning, and a hand slapping her forehead when she tried to rise to push her back down.
“Nuh-uh. Doc’ said ta’ rest. Plus, ya been outta it for ‘round 6 hours,” Melina closed in on Bernadette’s head, way too close, to the point her lips hovered next to Bernadette’s ear,
“Evidence’s gone. Ya gonna hav’ta come wit’ us to the House tho. Sorry, buddy.”
Oh, wait.
The events transpiring from the last time she could stand on her own flowed into her brain. The jab at her waist, the madden gaze, glass to the neck, a pair of muddy boots and a hand stretched out to her trembling form. A promise she’d made. A murder. The face of her husband melted into warm red blood.
“I’ll call ‘em up here now. Gotta check fo’ head trauma an’ all,” Melina turned around on her heel, “Antonio stays wit’ ya, tell him thanks when ya come to.”
Bernadette’s gaze shifted from the ginger exiting the room to the olive-skinned man. The familiar face cemented into her mind, she struggled for a moment to connect the dots. His face flashed in her mind and soon enough she remembered seeing him on the photo beside her sister.
His hair had then been messy. While it now looked quite orderly and straight in a tight ponytail; the other night it more resembled a lesser afro that weirdly enough looked far longer than his hair does now. Looking over him, she noticed a ripped flannel shirt sticking to his muscular frame and the pair of cargo shorts, exact same profile as in the picture. Though, his stoic face looked more inclined toward tuxedos and serious business wear.
He looked back at her, but the suspense broke as quick as it came when a doctor in his forties and two younger nurses entered. She tore her gaze away from Antonio, but he kept his stare at her face.
The nurse to the doctor’s left helped Bernadette crawl up to a crunch-like posture before giving her a cold glass of water. The black-haired woman didn’t think twice before gulping it down. Her throat and mouth dampened and made her feel more comfortable, albeit a weird aftertaste followed suit and made her face scrunch up. She wiped the look away from her face before the doctor started speaking.
“Fortunately, your blood loss wasn’t as critical, although nerves were destroyed and a vein punctured with a glass shard. You will be staying the night and then being transferred to another hospital.”
Bernadette nodded along.
“Anyways, we will also need you to recount your accident one more time. A testimony was given by your partner but for a better look with what we’re dealing with we will need your personal account.”
Bernadette’s voice strained when she spoke, to the point that with the first words, a cough forced out of her throat: “We… Were cornered by some gang members…”
“Any defining features?”, the doctor inquired, she shut him down, “Don’t remember…”
Of course she didn’t remember! When one of the gang members themselves was in the room with them! Are you blind?
Bernadette looked at Antonio from the corner of her vision, he only gave a slight nod. His eyes though, bore an ice-cold stare, akin to a glare.
“Uh, so… We ran into an old building. We were lost and… We went up. I didn’t know what happened, but I ran into the big window screen, it was partly shattered at the time but I got a few big chunks on me. My friend followed…”
The doctor’s face bore a neutral expression. Bernadette’s hair stood up on its ends, “Your friend seems to have gone uninjured for the most part.”
“Yeah, I took most of the glass with me,” she lied. She talked about one event, whilst hours prior she remembered the pair of muddy boots and the puddle of blood at her knees clear as day. Now she laid back in bed with a pair of unknown clothes on her, a bloody white tank top and dark slacks.
“And after that?” he lifted his eyebrow, and Bernadette shook her head:
“Don’t know, it all went black around that time…”
The man sighed, “I see, that will conclude our screening. I don’t think there is anything else to be checked. Is there any pain other than your head or arms?”
Bernadette shook her head: “Only my left arm, my head is okay.”
The doctor offered her a sympathetic smile, his face softening.
“It’s pretty bad on there,” he pointed to the bandaged limb, “Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of nerve damage and actions will be impaired for sure.”
She kept a gate as a nurse showed her a button beside her on the bed frame: “This is the bell for nurses. Press when assistance is needed and we’ll be at your aid,” her tone squeaky, she seemed strangely young to be working at the place. Shorter than both the doctor and the other nurse, her face looked childish at best. Her hair tied behind her; Bernadette guessed it reached somewhere below her shoulders. Her thick eyebrows made her youthful face look more gentle than the other two looked. The hospital scrubs fit her loose, pooling around her ankles and scrunched at her hands.
Bernadette murmured: “Thank you…”
The doctor nodded, “We will be taking our leave now. Please take the time to rest, and in a few hours, we’ll be transferring you,” he didn’t wait for any confirmation, turning on his heel and leaving the room. The nurses followed right behind. He stopped beside the door and looked in Antonio’s direction:
“Sir, as the patient seems to be in a stable condition, It would be at best you should let them rest.”
Antonio glared at the doctor. His menacing aura was almost visible and could very well be felt from where Bernadette stood. As soon as the doctor left, he nodded at Bernadette and left the room. Not the nicest looking nod, as his face scrunched every time, he shot a look toward her.
At last, alone, Bernadette lifted her right hand to press into the space between her eyebrows. Massaging the point to try and take the edge of off her brain as it wracked in stress.
God, today has to be the shittiest day in her life. Especially so as the image of the body she kept striking at flashes in her mind’s vision. When she closes her eyes, she still feels the blood pooling down her tingling left arm and the warm grip of the bottom of the glass she used. His face blends in and out with the blood on the tiles and she grows to forget it with every flash.
An unexpected visitor broke the nightmare flashing in her eyes, and Bernadette turned her head to face Melina once again. Quick to the side of her bed, the ginger tilted close to her face, and Bernadette’s face heated upon the breath ghosting at her ear.
“ ’morrow, dere’s gonna be a stuck-up pale kiddo at the hospital doors. Wit’ ‘im a big burly guy ya probably saw on the photo I sent the other night. They’re takin’ ya to the House, ya’ll be campin’ wit’ us for a bit. Gonna explain ya terms then, cool?” Melina spoke in a laid-back tone, which in fact did not do wonders for Bernadette’s anxiety.
Bernadette muttered a “Un”, hoping the whispering ginger took it as a positive remark.
“Good job. Now rest up,” she nudged Bernadette’s shoulder as she turned and left the room, remarking before going out, “Ya stuff’s is wit’ me, but the phone an’ laptop are gonna hav’ta go. Sorry.” After she had left, Bernadette started shaking. The severity of the situation came to light and she only felt it sink in when she could think on her own. She tried to stifle it, but her eyes burned and the knot in her throat choked her down. A struggling sob escaped as she rested the back of her right arm on her eyes, the tears smearing over the skin and only worsening how her face would look when she stopped. She prayed nobody felt the need to come in now, otherwise she might as well die in place. ‘God, why me? There are so many people in New York.’
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