Page 10 of King of My Heart

“Miss White, can you hear us?”

I groan a low ‘yes’ and shift slightly. My body is feeling more and more alive. The pain in my thigh is getting worse by the second.

Fingers on my eyelids, bright burning light in one eye and then the other. It lasts a split second, but I hiss in pain. I’m slow, but I finally open my eyes. I squint and bring an arm up to block the light in the room. My wrist hurts. Shit,everythinghurts.

For long seconds, the two people I count around me are faceless shadows. The room is so blurry, I can’t even see my own limbs. Then they come into focus. A short Asian woman wearing a white coat is looking intensely at me. She’s got a stethoscope plugged in her ears and the other hand against my gown-covered chest.

This isn’t Anya. This isn’t the compound doctor.

They called me Miss White.

“I’m fine,” I rasp. My throat feels like I swallowed the whole Sahara.

My head is spinning, I don’t understand. I don’t fucking get it.

She takes off the stethoscope, hooks it around her neck, and then smiles at me.

“Welcome back, Miss White. You’re safe here. We’re going to take good care of you.”

“Back?”

She nods, and that’s when the flashes come.

Yelena’s bodyguard beating the shit out of me. The gun…the bitch shot me. Aaron shooting the guard and grabbing me from the floor. We ran. We ran so fucking fast. There was a car. He put me in there, and he drove away into the night. Like we were free, like we could afford to escape.

Then there were bright lights, a big crash, and nothing.

And now this woman tells me I’m…safe.

The next pumping from my heart shoots adrenaline through me. I can feel my limbs shaking and a sort of peace wrapping around me.

I feel a sob constricting my throat. “My…” I almost choke on the word. There’s only so much I can focus on, and one person comes to my mind. “My brother…”

I need to see him. My freedom isn’t going to last, I already know it. With my limited time, I just want to see my twin, the other half of me.

“You must be very confused right now, that’s completely normal. I’m Doctor Fernandez, and you are at the Silver Falls Hospital. Nina, please could you pass Miss White a glass of water, thank you.”

Her voice is calm, reassuring, yet assertive. “Do you remember what happened?” she asks me.

Do I remember what happened? I want to laugh, but it’s too painful. How could I forget?

I grab the cup of water the nurse is handing me and nod when she tells me ‘small sips’.

“Yeah,” is my answer to the doctor. Talking hurts, and I’m not one to ever go into explanations anyway. Waste of my time. “Does my brother know? Jake. His name is Jake White.”

“Your brother is on his way as we speak. He is traveling from Philadelphia, so he should be here anytime now.”

Philadelphia? He must have been at UPenn.

For some reason, this is what hits me the hardest. What makes it all real. Knowing Jake goes to UPenn. This was his plan before I got taken and he stuck to it. This is real life.

Observing my features closely, the doctor keeps going. “You were in a car accident. You were brought here…” She shakes her head, a lost look on her face. “You’ve been missing for almost two years, Miss White. This is a miracle.”

A miracle. I don’t think so. A mistake, however…most definitely.

It takes a few long minutes for her to explain that I arrived here about four hours ago, that it was pure luck I didn’t end up in a coma. The swelling on my brain is going down at an amazing rate. Broken ribs, a sprained wrist. Hematomas all over my face that she understands are not from the accident that caused my right eye to swell. And the most painful one, was a bullet wound to the thigh.

Hurts like a fucking bitch.

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