Page 21 of From You to Me

Frowning, I watched her dash out the door.

What was she talking about? What unfortunate incident?

The four plain walls and the beeping monitor confirmed that I was indeed in a hospital.

But how did I end up here?

I willed myself to breathe through the panic surging in my blood.

I searched my memory for the last thing I remembered.

Auntie M.

The hurt in my heart clawed deep. I remember burying her yesterday, sitting in the church when I received her letter and the pain from reading it.

Jay.

I wanted to see him. I stilled as they all came back to me in a rush.

LA Bluebird Club. The dark alley.

My thoughts get interrupted as the door to my room slides open.

An older-looking tall man in a white doctor’s coat walked in, followed by the woman I saw earlier.

“Ms. May, I’m Dr. Richards. I’m glad to see you have woken up,” he said, giving me a small smile. “Do you know how you ended up here?”

I swallowed the dryness down my throat. “Yes,” I croaked out. “I think so.”

“Here, have this,” the woman whom I assumed to be the nurse based on her scrubs placed a few ice chips in my mouth.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, gratefully.

“You can call me Gia, honey.”

I nodded, sliding my attention back to the doctor, who was prodding the heavy cast surrounding my right leg.

“Is there anyone we can call for you, Ms. May?” Dr. Richards asked.

I shook my head.

“I understand. You’re perfectly fine, Ms. May. You came to us unconscious last night with a heavily swollen right leg highly indicative that you’ve sustained a heavy impact. Tests confirmed that you had a closed comminuted patellar fracture with a quadriceps tendon rupture, Ms. May,” he explained. “To say simply, you completely shattered your right knee and tore your tendon. We performed an ORIF, which is an open reduction to internally fix and preserve your patellar bone as much as possible. I’ve repaired and reattached your tendon. Thankfully, the soft tissue damage was minimal, and all your ligaments were remarkable, so you’ll be able to heal, but given the site of the fracture and the severity, it sometimes cannot be possible to heal properly.”

All this medical jargon slipped right through my mind. “I don’t understand,” I voiced out.

A sad look crept over the doctor’s eye. “It’ll take a while to confirm anything, Ms. May. You might experience a lot of pain and discomfort and will be required to wear a brace in the near future. It’ll take a while for you to get back on your feet again. I won’t lie and say it’s going to be easy. It’s going to take months, if not years, for you to walk properly again. But you’re young and healthy, Ms. May, so I’m sure you’ll be able to get back ontrack. Don’t worry, we’ll get you something for the pain and get started on physio after you have healed completely. Gia, here, will be your nurse. I’ll get going then. Please let me know if you have any questions.” He nodded, walking out.

“We can’t find anyone on your emergency contact, honey. Is there anyone we can call for you? Perhaps your parents or friends?” Gia gave me an endearing smile.

A sting shot through my heart. “I don’t have parents. I don’t have anyone anymore.” Gia turned to glass as something warm started to glide down my cheeks.

A sad smile drew over her lips as sympathy overtook her features. “Oh, honey. Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you.”

She held me as I sobbed, breaking down to tethers.

I’d been staring at the IV line in my hand when I heard the door open.

“Honey, these officers are here to see you,” Gia announced.

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