Page 3 of Pretty Broken Promises

“Why are you in my room?” I ask her confused.

Her lips move, but I can’t hear her over the ringing in my ears. She says something again, but I can’t make it out. She looks at the nurse and says something. My eyes dart around to all the people standing around, my friends, some of the security guys, and medical staff. All of them are looking at me with concern.

Memories start to come back to me. I remember going for a walk, then I think there was a loud noise. I think there was smoke, but the details are still fuzzy. It must have been bad though, because most things don’t require medical care.

“Am I in the hospital?” I ask.

Raven nods, and one of the nurses rushes out of the room and comes back with a whiteboard. She writes, “You have a concussion and both eardrums were ruptured. The hearing loss is temporary.”

I sigh in relief. Of all the things I was concerned about, losing my hearing didn’t even occur to me. It’s better than not waking up, but it still fucking sucks.

“How long?” I ask.

Again she writes, “Could be hours or weeks.”

The doctor moves around to the other side of the bed. He does the routine of shining a light in my eyes, listening to my heart, and taking my blood pressure. I want to tell everyone else to leave because I can’t take the looks of pity, but I don’t actually want to be alone. For once I let my friends be there for me without a fight.

“Ford,” I hear him, but it’s as if he’s speaking from far away. “The tear on this side is smaller. Your hearing is still compromised, but you can probably hear me a little, right?”

I nod. “Yeah, but it’s like you’re really far away.”

Everyone slips out of my curtained-off area. I’m a little confused about where we are because this is unlike any hospital I’ve ever seen, but this space has the same spartan appearance as every building in this complex. This small, self-contained community has a recreation center with a movie screen, a store, and apparently a fully equipped infirmary.

After Tessa’s death was faked, to save her from Raven and Lucien’s dad, things kept getting worse. We weren’t safe in our homes, and needed more security than agents Holbrook and Marks could provide, especially after Holbrook was taken by Damien and tortured for information. Enter Sin’s uncle on his mother’s side, Javier Perez, current head of the Soldiers of Chaos, a private paramilitary group. With his help, we were moved to this secure facility. At least it was secure until Damien sent his men after his daughter, again, and they blew the two of us up while trying to break in.

More and more of what happened is coming back to me. I remember that I had moved closer to the guard shack because it looked like the guard was injured. He was, because this was the weakest part of the community’s security, and where Damien’s men staged their assault. I have more serious injuries than Raven because of how much closer I got to the perimeter.

She’s already up and being allowed to rest at home, while I’m forced to stay here. When the nurse told me about my concussion she left out that I have some minor swelling of my brain. I’m not sure minor swelling and brain belong together, but the doctors seem to think I’ll make a full recovery. To which I argue I should be allowed to return to my apartment, but no one agrees with me. The words stroke and aneurism were thrown around and now even I’m a little too freaked out to go home.

Jen is yelling at me, or at least the throbbing vein in her forehead makes me think she’s yelling. To me it sounds like when the parents speak on old cartoons, nothing but “wah wah wah wah.” I nod every time it looks like she stops speaking, and somehow I manage to agree to stay in the infirmary another day or two.

I sleep a lot, and time really has no meaning without any windows I can see. They won’t let me have my phone either, because the blue light is bad for a concussion. You know what is bad for recovery? Complete fucking boredom, that’s what.

The only time I’m allowed to get up and move around is when I go take a piss, and even then there’s a nurse hovering around me. To be fair, the injury to my ears has royally fucked my balance and leaves me walking like a drunk.

At least I managed to escape this time without broken bones. I’m cut and bruised over most of my body, but I’ll heal before football training starts again in the summer. I keep reassuring myself that this time won’t be like before. Except last time I had more than football to lose.

* * *

Shane swingsby after his classes are over for the day. He is sitting on the wrong side of me, so I can’t make out hardly anything he’s saying. I’m sure most of it is him babbling about a bunch of shit he knows I don’t care about, because he’s not very good at awkward silence. I’m not really concerned I’m missing anything until he takes a call, and I see the look on his face.

It’s not fear, which is good, but he’s most certainly apprehensive about something. His eyes shift sideways to me then quickly move away while he’s speaking on the phone.

“Quit talking about me.” I’m taking a shot in the dark, but the way his eyes widen I know I’m right.

I can’t actually hear him, but he gets up and walks away from my bed as if he thinks I can. When he comes back to my side he says something that looks important, but he rushes out before I can tell him to speak to my other side.

For the first time since I woke up, I find myself without anyone visiting me during the day. Even in the middle of the night Ted or Lucien usually slip into my room. I’m not sure if they’re checking on me, or fucking with me, but I rarely go more than a few hours without one of my friends hovering over me. Now they’re nowhere to be found. The next time one of them comes in I won’t give them shit, because it’s boring as fuck in here.

I must have dozed off, because I have the weirdest dream. In it, I’m still stuck in this fucking bed, but Tessa is sitting beside me. I wanted her with me so badly the last time I was in the hospital that I think I’m imagining her with me now. That’s impossible though. She said she would never come back, and even if she wants to she can’t until we get rid of Damien. She’s probably in the arms of the annoyingly perfect Bennett Richards.

In my dream she starts speaking to me, and of course, my mind is cruel enough that I can’t hear her voice. I’ve always loved her voice. It is soft like she’s telling secrets, but with a little bit of a huskiness that makes everything sound sexual.

Dream Tessa knows exactly what I need her to do. She gets out of her chair and drags it around the other side of the bed then leans in close. I can smell her unique scent of the ocean mixed with sweet summer flowers. She smells like the perfect day at the beach.

“Ford, are you okay? Should I go get a nurse?” I can see the worry in her dark brown eyes.

I want to touch her again, and I reach out to stroke her cheek. “I’m better now that you’re here. I know this is just a dream, but I’m happy to be able to see you again, even if it’s not real.”

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