Bed of Thornes (Bed of Thornes Trilogy Book 1) (4 page)

"Ms. Thorne, just relax, don't try to speak until we can get some tests done on your body. Just relax. You're on the way to the hospital. Ms. Thorne, you've been in a car accident and you're in an ambulance. We're going to take good care of you, just keep calm and relax your body." The voice says to me in a comforting way, but I feel no comfort at all. I'm scared to death.

A car accident? Holy shit, I remember now. A tear forms in the corner of my right eye. My car, daddy's car. Jenna is probably worried to death. Mr. Clayton must be so pissed at me right now. And my other clients' projects that I need to work on today. Oh fuck, this can't be me. Why? Why did this have to happen?

I can't breathe. My heart begins to race. I can't breathe! "Relax, Ms. Thorne. You're going through some shock, it will be alright, calm down so you don't send your body into a panic attack. We are almost there, Ms. Thorne." The figure starts to clear more, and I can pick out certain features of an older man with light brown hair and glasses. I can see he has a uniform.

I suddenly feel sleepy. My eyes start to slowly close. I hear the man's voice, "Don't go to sleep on us, Ms. Thorne. Stay with me." I feel a big bump, that must be the speed bump going into the hospital. So... tired. "Alright, Ms. Thorne, wake up, time to get you checked out." I can barely hold one eye slightly open. "Ready." I hear multiple voices, one coming from a radio of sorts, another corresponding with the first voice. "Ready!" One of the voices shouts. I can feel myself lift up. They pull me out of the back of the ambulance, I can see the clouds above me as I am brought out. I close my eyes quickly from the brightness of the daylight.

They both grab the sides of the bed that I'm laid out on. Another couple of people join them and they all wheel me inside of the hospital. I can't see any of their faces, all I can see is the white tiled ceiling flying by above me. Voices, words, and noises are spitting out everywhere around me. I hear so much at once, I can't understand anything. I continue to be wheeled down the long hallways, what is beginning to seem like an everlasting torture of ceiling tiles. My eyes are opening and closing rapidly. Trying to keep myself awake, but I'm so desperately tired. I just want to close my eyes, they hurt. Everything hurts.

They finally pull me into a room. "One, Two, Three!" I hear. "AHHH!" I let out a scream as I suddenly feel an excruciating pain shoot through my spine while they lift me up and over to quickly slide me onto the other bed. "Sorry, Ms. Thorne." I hear a female say, she must be one of the nurses in the room. A bright light is in front of my face without warning, my eyes just about jerk backwards into my skull to hide from the stunning light they're shining into my eyes. "Ms. Thorne, can you open your eyes more for me hon." The same female voice asks me.

I force my eyes open as wide as I can. "We just need to look at your pupils and see if you can follow this light at all. Can you follow it with your eyes for me please?" She says sweetly. I move my eyes along with the movement of the light. "Great, thank you sweetie." The nurse says to me as she takes the light away. Now my eyes have to adjust to the normal florescent lighting in the room. "Can you say your name for me?" She asks.

My name... this should be easy enough. "Veron---" My voice cracks. Okay, maybe not so simple. I clear my throat and try again. "Veronica" I whisper out harshly.

A male voice steps in. "Can you tell us your full name, Veronica?"

"Veronica Thorne" I get out as clearly as possible so I don't get asked again. I hear beeping all around me, machines I'm assuming.

"Veronica, I am Doctor Clayton. I will be taking care of you today, along with my incredible staff of nurses and interns. I see you got quite banged up this morning. On your way to meet with me?"

No way, it can't be. I turn my eyes towards the doctor speaking. My client, Mr. Clayton, I was supposed to be meeting with him at my gallery! I know he's a doctor at this hospital, but I didn't figure he would be here.

"Mr. Clayton?" I asked confused.

"The person who collided with your vehicle... that was me, Veronica. I was running late to meet with you. I assume you were also running late. As soon as I hit you, I was able to stop my vehicle and climb out unharmed besides a few bruises from impact. I ran to see if the other person involved was alright. I realized it was you when I got there. You were blacked out. I called the ambulance, not wanting to move you in case of any injury that could worsen if I had picked you up from the ground without support. The ambulance came to the scene hastily. I followed behind them the whole way, ready to do whatever was needed to make sure you would be okay. I was in a slight shock; knowing the person I was headed to meet with was the one I almost killed." He confesses all of this to me while the nurses prep everything to get me tested.

"I don't know what to say, this is crazy." I tell him, still in complete shock and speechless from how all of this occurred.

"You don't have to say anything, try to clear your mind as much as possible right now and we are going to get some x-rays done. I just wanted to let you know what happened so you wouldn't be so confused." He explains. "I'll see you shortly, I'm going to have Nurse Teresa take you back to the Radiology Lab."

"Oh, okay." I force a weak smile at him.

"You will be alright, Veronica, I promise." He says with a certain gleam in his eyes.

Dr. Clayton walks off and the nurse comes over to me. "Hello, Ms. Thorne. I'm Nurse Teresa Rodriguez and I will be helping the doctor get some testing done on you today. What is your level of pain right now on a scale of one to ten?" She asks with her clipboard in hand waiting on my response.

I can't even think straight. Mr. Clayton, well Doctor Clayton, was the one who hit me. All of this because we were both rushing to meet. It's so bizarre. Now here I am and he is the one caring for me in the hospital. What a twisted situation. The fact that I could have died, and heaven only knows if I'll be able to walk again or function properly at all.

My stomach starts to do flips, I feel nauseated. "Ten, I've never felt this horrible in my entire life, definitely a ten." I tell the nurse, realizing she was patiently waiting on me to answer.

"Okay, and do you have any allergies to medications or any possibilities of pregnancy?" She jots down my reply as I answer no to both questions. "Alright, Veronica, we are going to take you back to Radiology and get this process started so you can rest soon."

A male nurse and Teresa grab the sides of my bed to wheel it out of the room. As I'm lying there, staring at the ceiling going by once again, I can't help but start to cry. I wish my dad was here, or my mom, both of them would be nice. I feel so alone. Does anyone know that I just brushed shoulders with death himself? Jenna, oh god, I wonder if Jenna knows yet. She was there waiting for me to arrive. She must know something is wrong. Maybe one of my other friends or regular clients has seen the news, I'm sure it would have been reported, it was a big accident. I just want someone I know to be here, I feel like I did die or I'm in a bad dream with nobody around to help me out of it.

They pull me into a dark room, with very little light, it's so quiet in here. I feel cold, and tired. My tears stop, I can feel them starting to dry beside my eyes but still wet where they have fallen into my ears. My mouth is so dry, I almost can't swallow. Let me out of this damn contraption so I can get a damn drink and lay the hell down already. My anger starts to kick in. Angry that I am in this situation at all. Angry that my dad is dead and not here to comfort me. Angry that my mom doesn't even know and isn't here with me. Angry that I have nobody who cares enough to come see me and let me know I'm not utterly alone in this fucking world. Angry that my dad's car is totaled, at least I assume it is, I don't even want to see how bad it is. Angry that I can't get a grip on my life lately. Why?

"Veronica, we're going to lift you onto this table to get your x-rays done, you might be uncomfortable for a moment." The male nurse warns me. I'm silent. I don't care anymore. Just get it over with.

They slide me onto the x-ray table, it's cold as death. My back feels like it's breaking. My heart is already broken, what a fantastic match. "Hold your breath, please... okay, let it out." Teresa says from behind the monitor room. "One more deep breath in... and you can release." They take a series of x-rays and move me back to my original bed. "Alright, let's get you back to where the doctor can have a look at the x-rays and talk with you." We proceed down the hall and they wheel me back into my room.

"The doctor will be in shortly." Teresa tells me and pulls the curtain closed. Both of the nurses leave the room.

I want to scream.

After what seems like hours, Dr. Clayton knocks and comes in.

"Veronica, how are you feeling?" He asks me. What a stupid question doctors ask when they know you are feeling like you're half dead. I just look at him. Anger, hurt, and sickness still residing within me. "Alright, well I got the results of the x-rays, and it looks like you're going to be fine. You do have some bruising on your muscle tissues in your back and what looks like a minor hairline fracture on your shoulder blade. But nothing too serious that it won't heal rather quickly. No broken bones or hemorrhaging, so we are happy about that."

"That's good to know." I say without emotion.

"Definitely. We were able to see your skull through the head x-ray and we haven't spotted any damaging effects on it. We are going to monitor you for a day or so to make sure you can handle all of your functions well before sending you home. I'll have a nurse come in shortly to remove you from the neck brace and body straps so you can move around a little." He pauses briefly. "Veronica, I know it's rough going through such a terrible accident. I hope that you will be alright after all of this, emotionally and mentally, it can take a real toll on someone to deal with such an experience. I want to deeply apologize for the accident. Believe me, I may seem calm and collected, but inside I'm beating myself up over this. If there's anything I can do for you, outside of the hospital stay, please don't hesitate to let me know."

"Thanks." My words are short. I really don't know what else to say. I'm not upset with him, I'm frustrated with the entire occurrence, I wish I could just rewind.

He puts his hand on my knee, pats it gently as if to say he's sorry again, and walks off. I could tell he was genuinely feeling guilt. My shortness with him probably didn't help much, but I wasn't ready to smile and talk about it.

A few minutes pass, someone knocks and calls in, "Ms. Thorne." The nurse steps inside and swings open the curtain. "Came to get the braces off for you." She says as she comes up to my bed. She unstraps the Velcro and buckles one by one, and removes them gently. Finally free. What a huge relief. She stops me from squirming, "Don't move to much just yet, take it easy, your body has been locked up for many hours and you don't want to strain yourself."

"Thank you so much, it feels like I was just released from a strait jacket." I chuckle a bit. The first time I had a smile on my face since this incident. "I can imagine." She laughs. My smile quickly fades as I think about things. The nurse starts gathering the braces to take with her. "Do you need anything?" She asks me before heading out the door. I look at her with tears starting to form in my eyes and ask her, "Do you know if anyone has called or came by looking for me?"

I felt pitiful for even asking, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that I could have died and nobody would have had a clue. She shakes her head, "Not that I am aware, honey, but I will double check for you." I force a crooked smile, "I appreciate it." She turns to head out the big door and turns back around to close the curtain, "Are you sure I can't get you anything, water maybe?" A tear is falling down my face. "That sounds nice, thank you." She smiles, "Alright, I'll bring it right in for you." She turns and opens the door with the braces in hand and leaves.

I go full blown bawling, my emotions are a complete wreck and I feel like I would have rather died. It's so cold and empty in this hospital room, the walls are white and bare. The clock ticking away on the wall. I can hear people walking by the door in the hallway every so often, distant voice as they pass. My heart feels as empty as this dead room. Nobody has even called the hospital? Wait, I wonder if my belongings were brought with me, my purse and phone. I didn't even think to ask. There could possibly be missed calls on my phone. I press the nurse's station call button.

"Can I help you?" A static voice asks over the intercom to my room. I clear my throat, "Do you know if my purse or phone were brought to the hospital?" There's a short pause. "Yes Ms. Thorne, your purse is in the locker closet in your room. Do you need someone to come in and get it for you?" I look over at the tall built in closet by the door. "No, thank you, I can manage." The nurse tells me to buzz if I need anything else and I put the call button towards the end of the bed, in case I fall or something when attempting to get up.

I slowly bring my legs over to the edge of the bed; let them down towards the floor carefully. Damn this floor is like ice. I'm nervous to walk yet, but hopefully my body is ready for it. I ease my body up from the bed, standing up like a shaking newborn fawn. I sit back down, and begin to proceed trying again. I hold onto the rail of the bed and start shifting my steps toward the closet. Inching my way there, I reach the closet door and grip the metal handle tightly, pulling it open to reveal my purse hanging on the inside.

I grab my purse, making sure to hold onto the closet door for stability. Okay, time to sit back down, my back is killing me. Where's my pain medication? I could use that right about now if anything. Oh, and that water I was promised. I couldn't wait to sit back down, I dig into my purse as I'm barely taking steps back to the bed. My phone is flashing, I pull it out and press the notification button on the screen. Nice, the battery is dying. That's my notification. Not one call? Really? Oh wait, a text, from Jenna. I knew she would be concerned if nobody else.