•Chapter 13•
I slowly flicker my eyes open and look around the unfamiliar room with slight confusion. I place my hands on the bed and use my sore arms to lift myself up from my position on the bed I was lying in.
I look around the room that I am currently in (which I now knew for a fact was a hospital room) some more and furrow my eyebrows. I look down at my arms and notice all the fresh cuts and blue and purple bruises that conceal my arms. I cringe as I feel a sudden pain shoot through my rib cage.
I was literally in so much pain, all I wanted to do was cry. My breathing then starts to become unsteady as I look down and ultimately let a few tears fall from my face.
"Hey, hey, calm down," I unexpectedly hear a familiar voice beside me speak in a soft tone.
I furrow my eyebrows and turn my head to the left to see Ryder sitting in a chair beside my bed. "What are you doing here?" I ask curiously. I quickly wipe the few tears from my face, feeling marginally embarrassed that Ryder saw me cry.
Ryder purses his lips and looks down at my bruised arms before looking back up at my face and speaking. "You weren't at school today, and you weren't at work, so I asked your mom if she knew where you were... and she just started crying. So then I asked Ryan and he said you got in a car accident last night... and that you were here."
I look at Ryder for a few seconds before replying. "Why'd you bother coming to see me?" Ryder simply shrugs his shoulders in reply. I give him a weird look before turning to face the front of the room.
I still can't seem to believe why and how this all happened. One second, I'm happy, spending time and talking with my Aunt, and the next second, a car is being crashed into ours. And I vaguely remember all that happened. All I really remember is that we were at a red light, and I saw a car speeding towards us, and every other aspect after that was a complete blur.
"Uh... so are you okay?" Ryder awkwardly, yet stupidly asks.
I turn towards him and give him a blank stare. "Does it look like I'm okay? I feel like I've been run over by a truck..." I announce truthfully.
"Sorry..." Ryder trails, leaning back in his chair and running his fingers through his dark hair.
Ryder and I then lapse into silence, but I wasn't complaining. I needed some silence to take in all this pain and confusion running through my mind.
I then hear footsteps drawing closer to my direction, and I look up to the door to a see a female doctor walk in the room with a small smile. "You're awake. How are you feeling—"
"Where's my Aunt?" I interject, suddenly just now thinking about Aunt Taryn. I wasn't trying to be rude to the doctor or anything, it's just that when Aunt Taryn came to mind, I was so anxious to know how she was doing and where she was.
The doctor furrows and her face dropped a little before she began speaking. "No one gave you the news?" She spoke quietly.
I frown in confusion. "What news?" I ask curiously. My face slowly drops and I whipped my head around in the opposite direction to face Ryder. "What news?" I repeat in a more serious matter, my voice raising a little.
"Riley—" the doctor begins before I cut her off.
"I know you're not about to tell me she's dead..." I say quietly, squeezing my eyes close, denying the worst outcome. I let a few tears stream from my eyes because deep down, I knew what she was about to say.
"Riley, I–I'm sorry," the doctor says in a pity tone.
I look at the doctor for a few more seconds before turning to face Ryder, who was was looking at me with commiseration.
I look at him, silent for a while before slowly resting my head on Ryder's chest and crying all my tears away.
Right about now, I didn't care if Ryder saw me cry. I've just had my favorite Aunt in the entire world taken away from me. She was gone, and was never coming back. There wasn't gonna be anymore of her coming back to visit and bringing Ryan and I presents from the exotic countries she went to. I was never gonna have my serious talks with her again. I was never gonna here the sound of her voice again, and I was never gonna here her lighthearted laugh that always pulled me from my bad moods. I was never going to get my Aunt back... and it was all my fault.
I shouldn't have distracted her. I shouldn't have been talking to her, and she could've had better control of the wheel and reacted faster than she did. I—
Pulling me from my thoughts, Ryder slowly wraps one of his arms around me in an attempt to comfort me. To be honest, it was kind of working. It would've felt much less awkward if it weren't Ryder. I mean can you blame me? The boy has been tormenting me since the first grade. I honestly would've expected him to laugh and walk out.
I sniffle, calming some of my crying before burying my face in the pit of Ryder's shoulder, causing his shirt to get soaked in my tears, but that was something neither of us seemed to care about right now.
I just wish I could turn back time to last night so I could stop everything that happened, so I could stop the car accident from happening, and so I could stop my favorite Aunt from dying.
•••
"Riley, Ryan," My mom calls our names softly from across the dining table while putting a distraught and concerned look on her face. "Please eat your breakfast... You two haven't eaten anything in hours. You need some food in your body."
"We're not hungry," Ryan states for both of us in a dreary tone.
I flick my eyes down at my untouched plate of eggs and toast, sighing because I knew deep down that we both wanted to eat it, but neither of us were in the mood to eat anything, even if we were hungry.
My dad puts his white coffee mug down and gives my mom a look saying, 'can I talk to you in private?' "Christine? Can I talk to you in the living room," My dad asks after giving her the look.
My mom sighs and gets up from the table, my dad quickly follows behind her. My parents walk into the living room and stand in the corner. Ryan and I both turn to look at them so we could listen in on the conversation.
"Robert, I'm worried about them," My mom whispers, having no knowledge that Ryan and I were listening. "Riley is a mess, she's hurting. She's got scars and bruises all over her arms and face. And added on to Taryn dying... I just can't imagine what our children are going through."
"It will be fine, Christine. This is normal in teenagers when they've lost someone. Just give them both some space. We all need time to grieve. Riley will heal and they both will start eating in no time. Just be patient." My dad says in calming matter, resting both his hands on my mom's shoulders.
I look away from my parents and squeeze my eyes together, letting a tear fall from my eye. It's only been two days since all this crap has happened and things are turning bad so quickly. It's crazy how things can be so normal, and within seconds your life can go downhill.
"Come on, Ri. The bus is here," Ryan states, grabbing his backpack and getting up from the table.
I quickly wipe the tear from my face and follow Ryan's actions. Ryan and I both exit the front door of our house and walk onto the bus.
Just as I expected when I step onto the bus, everyone is staring at me. I was wearing a jacket to cover up the bruises and scars on my arms, but there were still a lot of marks on my face that I couldn't hide.
As soon as I step on, everyone goes silent and stares at me like I was some kind of weird science experiment. It usually didn't phase me if people stared at me or gave me dirty looks, because I simply didn't care. But this time, it was different. People probably thought I got beaten up or something.
I quickly scurry down the bus aisle, ignoring everyone's strong gazes, and sit in my usual back seat next to Alec. I don't bother looking at Alec when I sit down, just deciding to kept my eyes forward. But I could see from the corner of my eye that his eyes widen in shock when he sees me.
"Riley, what happened—"
"I got in a car accident," I quietly interject.
"A—are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I say, slowly nodding my head. "Just peachy..."
•••
I take a french fry from my lunch tray, dip it in some ketchup and slowly put the fry in my mouth. This was the first thing I've eaten in hours, and I really wasn't even in the mood to eat, and definitely not this disgusting school lunch, but the hunger was killing me.
"So," Alec begins, running his fingers through his dark brown hair, obviously trying to kill the eerie silence. "Last day of soccer tryouts is tomorrow. Are you ready?"
I shrug my shoulders in reply. "I'm not sure if I'm gonna—"
"Don't say that, Ri. You're gonna go to these tryouts and you're gonna make the team."
I put a smile on my face at Alec's words and nod my head. My best friend always had a way of making people feel better.
"I have to—"
I stop mid sentence when I hear someone laughing hysterically behind me. I slowly turn around to see Natalie laughing and pointing at me in amusement.
Great... the perfect person at the perfect time.
I give Natalie a cold, icy glare and when she finally finds a way to shut up her laughing, she begins talking.
"What happened to you? Did you get beat up by the band geeks?" Natalie stupidly asks, adding a few more stupid giggles and flipping her stupidly shiny, light brown hair.
"Just leave her alone, Natalie." Alec steps in.
Natalie's smile drops and she switches her gaze from me to Alec, who was sitting across from me at the lunch table. "Shut up, nerd." Alec rolls his eyes and shakes his head in disgrace. Natalie looks away from Alec and back at me. "You know what Riley? You actually look way prettier with all those bruises on your face,"
I instantly feel as if I'd just been punched in the gut after she utters those words. I can't believe she actually said that. I've known Natalie for years, and she's never said one nice thing to me, but this, right now, at this moment, crosses the line. I was sick of it, and I was done.
So without hesitation, I quickly and unexpectedly spring up from my lunch table and lunged myself at Natalie, sending both of us to the floor. The whole entire cafeteria instantly gets immensely loud and gathers around us, but I didn't care about everyone else, all I was focused on was beating the crap out of Natalie.
Natalie lets out a scream when she falls on the floor and continues screaming when she knows I am about to start hitting her.
I act fast and throw my fist as fast and hard as I can, connecting it with her jaw. I switch between my left fist and right fist, noticing I'm causing Natalie's nose bleed as I continue to punch.
I let a few tears fall from my eyes as I punch, letting my emotions pour out. My feelings are mixed with anger and sadness, because while I fought, I didn't only think of all that's happened the past two days, but I also thought about all these years I've been bottling up my anger on Natalie and her friends.
About now, I wasn't even really punching her anymore, just aimlessly and carelessly swinging my arms and hitting her in the face. I honestly didn't even know what I was doing, but if I knew one thing, it was that Natalie's face was gonna be pretty messed up when I was done with her.
A few seconds afterwards, I feel someone tightly grasp both of my forearms and instantly pull me away from Natalie. I try to struggle myself out of the persons grip, but it was to no avail because the person had an extremely strong grip.
"Riley, stop!" I furrow my eyebrows and whip around to see that the person who pulled me away from Natalie was Ryder.
"What is going on here!" I hear the voice of the principal a couple seconds later. Everyone instantly runs back to their seats at their lunch tables, acting as if nothing happened.
The principal, Mrs. Dwellings takes a shocking look at Natalie, who is groaning and squirming on the floor in pain. Mrs. Dwellings quickly runs up to Natalie and helps her up before turning towards Ryder and I and putting a shameful look on her face. "Ryder, I can not believe you hit a girl!" Mrs. Dwellings yells in disbelief.
"It wasn't Ryder!" Natalie yells, holding her bloody face in pain. "It was that animal, Riley."
Mrs. Dwellings slowly turns her head towards me and gave me a shamed/stern look.
Life is over as I know it...
_