Page 55 of Lodged

Ruin MacAllister

Islowly open my eyes, and my eyelids feel heavy, as if I haven’t opened them in a while. I blink once, twice. When my vision comes to focus, I notice my left foot is in a cast, and it’s immobilized in a sling. My left arm is in a cast, too.What the hell happened?

I try to speak but nothing comes out when I open my mouth. I clear my throat and try again—still nothing. I look around theroom, and I’m alone—a feeling close to panic takes over me, and I shudder.Where’s my family?

I fist my hands, but I can only feel the right one and notice I have something in it. When I press it, a beeping sound invades the room. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I feel pain in my chest. Moisture blurs my vision. How did I end up here?

“She’s awake,” I hear a nurse say as she enters the room. “Hi, Miss MacAllister. How are you feeling?” the nurse asks, kind eyes looking at me.

I point to my neck and shake my head.

“Oh, it’s okay. Your throat must still be sore from the ventilation tube.”

My eyes widen in surprise. Tube? Why? I need her to tell me what happened.

“The doctor will be right in. He’ll tell you more.” She pats my hand and moves to the machines I’m connected to.

“Miss MacAllister, welcome back. I’m Dr. Davies.” The doctor greets me as he looks at his tablet.

“She seems unable to speak,” the nurse tells him. He pauses what he’s doing, places the tablet on the foot of my bed, and sanitizes his hands. Then, he pulls a penlight from his coat pocket.

“Can you open your mouth, Miss MacAllister?” I do as he asks, and he gets closer to me, looks inside my mouth, and then clicks his tongue. “Yes, your throat looks somewhat swollen. Let’s give her something for that.” He looks at the nurse, and she nods, leaving the room, I assume, to get the medication.

“Do you write with your right hand?” I nod. “Good, we’ll bring a whiteboard so we can communicate with you.” I smile at him. I need to know what happened.

A couple of minutes later, I hear a commotion outside. The moment my room door opens, a gaggle of people comes barreling inside.

“Oh, she’s awake. Thank the heavens,” Granny says as she raises her hands.

Next, I see Mama and Rain, their eyes puffy and red, like they’ve been crying for a while.

“Ruin, my little girl. Thank God you woke up,” Mama says before breaking into a sob. Rain hugs her and helps her sit down next to Granny. I try to speak, but it still hurts, and nothing comes out. I feel so frustrated right now.

The nurse comes in with a cart of food and water. Oh good, my stomach feels queasy, but I think water would be great. It might help my throat.

“Here’s the board. Let me know if you need help writing,” the nurse says, handing me a small whiteboard and a black marker. I smile at her and try to open the marker, but doing everything with just one hand is hard. Rain takes the marker from my hand and removes the top before handing it back to me.

I know my sister; she’s trying to be strong because Mama is already crying, but her face is tense, like she’s trying to contain her feelings. She holds the board for me so I can write. My handwriting isn’t pretty, but I hope she understands it.

“What happened?” Rain reads aloud from the whiteboard. She glances at Mama, and they exchange a silent conversation. I write again and tap the board with the marker, prompting Rain to read, “What’s going on?” Rain takes a deep breath and sits on my bed, grabbing my hand.

“You were in an accident. It was after Christmas. You went to Pine Shores, and on your way back, you lost control of your car.” I frown, unable to remember anything Rain is describing.

Why don’t I remember?

There’s a knock on the door, and Dr. Davies enters.

“Hello, everyone, as you can see, Miss MacAllister is awake, but we still need to run some tests before you can visit her forlonger,” he says in an assertive tone. Rain nods as Mama gets up and stands closer to me.

“How long are those tests going to take? And why isn’t she able to speak?” she asks as she cradles my face in her hands. I immediately start crying, a mix of relief and sorrow invading me. Something really bad must have happened for me to be this banged up.

“We’re not sure how long it’s going to take her to be able to speak again—this is a day-by-day case. You need to remember, she was in a coma for a while.”

My eyebrows shoot up, and I tap the whiteboard to get their attention.

Dr. Davies turns his gaze to me. “Miss MacAllister, you were involved in a car accident in late December. From what the firefighters and the police were able to deduce, you lost control of your car as you were descending the mountain. A tractor trailer was coming the opposite way, and it hit your car. You went tumbling down the mountain. As bad as the accident was, it was a miracle the firefighters were able to rescue you and bring you to the hospital.” My tears continue to fall, and Mama wipes them away, but it doesn’t matter.

How long has it been since the accident?I write next, and Rain shows the board to the doctor.

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