Page 151 of Shattered

“It’s okay.” The man held her hair back and rubbed her shoulders as she emptied what was left in her stomach.

His voice was so familiar, and yet it wasn’t. When the heaving ceased, she looked up to find Callum. Except, this Callum had somehow covered up all his tattoos and now had a full head of short, gelled down hair.

“Am I drunk?” Sam’s voice was so dry and raspy.

“No. You’re not drunk.”

“You’re not Callum,” she stated and blinked a few times, making sure what she was seeing wasn’t a hallucination.

“No. I’m Connor, Callum’s older brother. We met at the Hadley’s a few weeks back.”

She nodded her head in understanding.

“What’s going on?” Her voice was raspy and quiet.

“What do you remember?”

She blinked again and tried to recall anything. Her mind was blank. “I don’t know.” She looked around then as she finally realized where she was. Her eyes went wide. “I’m at the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Is Callum okay?”

Of course her first thought was about someone else.

Connor frantically nodded his head. “He’s fine. He’s here, outside in the waiting room.”

It was then that a nurse walked into the room.

“She’s awake?”

“Yeah,” Connor answered for her.

“What happened?” Sam questioned.

The nurse motioned for someone else to enter the room. In a matter of seconds, another nurse, a doctor, and a police officer walked in.

“I'm your nurse. My name is Bella. This is Dr. Guine and Officer Palotte. I think you already know Dr. Barker. Is it okay if we ask you a few questions?”

“What happened?” She felt like she was on repeat.

“That’s what we are trying to figure out,” Dr. Guine stated. “What is the last thing you remember about tonight?”

She sat up more fully then, and Connor passed over a cup of water which she graciously accepted.

“I was at my house, and then I left to go talk to…” Her eyes shot up then as the fuzzy memories started to flash through her mind.

“Who did you go see?”

“I went to see Christian. I was going to confront him about Millie.” Connor audibly swallowed. “We were in his room. We started fighting. I tried to leave.” She took another sip of her water. “I don’t know. I just remember being so mad and trying to leave, but…” Sam paused for a moment as she tried to recall what exactly had occurred. “I think I was walking to the stairs and then I was back in his room. It was so cold.”

Her voice broke as her eyes shot forward.

She knew then.

She knew where this was leading, and why there was an officer in the room.

“Do you remember anything else?” Officer Palotte questioned.