*INNOCENT TEMPTATIONS || 18+ 🔞 🔞 🔞 🔞*
_Episode 36_
The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was the low light cast over the room. The second was all the cords hanging down next to me, for the nurses call button and the IV solutions. An electronic machine sitting on a cart with odd wires leading from it, a privacy curtain hung from a track in the ceiling, shielding me from unwanted eyes.
I turned my head slightly to the side and took note of the bedside table which had a large bouquet of white roses inside an intricately designed vase and reached out to stroke the petals, only then had I observed the pulse oximeter clamped onto my index finger and I frowned.
An aqua coloured water glass was placed directly in front of the flowers, a bent straw perched in the middle. Without much hesitance, I extended my arm and grabbed the drink, wanting to ease the dry, scratchy feeling in my throat.
I ignored the straw and took a big gulp of the leftover water, exhaling when I felt the uneasiness in my throat go away.
A large TV hung in the corner, tuned to a news channel that displayed the usual robbery in the less populated streets of NYC, the remote control seemed to be missing and the nurses wouldn’t be able to reach that high to change it, I assumed.
The only sound I could hear was the consistent beeping of the heart rate machine I was connected to and the squeaking of tennis shoes on the hard floor outside my room.
I blinked a few times and sat up in the oddly uncomfortable bed, leaning my back against the stack of pillows behind me. My head pounded erratically against my skull and I groaned at the pain, looking around for some sort of medication to ease it. But before I could find wh@tëver it was that I was looking for, the door opened and the bright hallway lights shone directly onto my face, making me hiss in reaction.
“Sorry darling.” After the door shut, and the lights returned to the low level I was accustomed to, I looked up at the seemingly kind nurse who adjusted my IV levels. “Didn’t mean to wake you. You feelin’ alright?” she asked, pushing her glasses back onto her ears.
I nodded slowly, still slightly confused as to why I was here. I read the nametag sewn onto the middle aged woman’s doctors coat. Dr. Henley.
“Do you remember anything at all?” before I could answer, she raised her hand to my forehead and placed the back of it against the skin. “You aren’t running a fever, so that’s something to be glad about.”
“I’ve prescribed you with a few meds for any pain or discomfort you’re feeling. Just the usual iBuprofen, Tylenol and a few over the counter antibiotics that you may have already heard of. It’s nothing you aren’t used to based on your medical records.” She grabbed a few plastic containers off the counter and set them on the table next to me and I stared at them with confusion.
She gave me a sad smile. “Any pain right now?” I nodded and she stared at me expectantly. “A headache.” I answered, speaking for the first time since she arrived.
“Ah, yes. You were hit pretty bad from what I’ve been told. Here take this.” She placed a pill into my hands and refilled the glass of water, urging me to take it.
“What happened?” I asked timidly, placing the drink back in its position. She cleared her throat and picked up a clipboard I hadn’t noticed before and gave it a once-over.
I could remember leaving my friends to find a bathroom and stumbling upon Sarah’s spawn-of-Satan son. I also remembered everything he told me, but nothing else from then was set in my mind no matter how I hard I tried to remember it all.
“You suffered a mild concussion to the back of your head, your wound was inflicted with something hard and heavy. Do you remember what that could’ve been?” Dr. Henley asked in a calm voice, probably not wanting to trigger me. I shook my head and she nodded, flipping over the page.
“That was my main concern, you may be suffering from post-traumatic amnesia which is normal after the encounter you had. It’ll ware off in some hours—worst case scenario, it would take days. Hopefully that is not the case with you.”
I took in the information better than I expected. The headache I had was slowly disappearing and I felt myself gaining stability quick. I was less confused and everything seemed less hazy.
“Besides that, your other injuries are less vital.” She lifted my wrist and I stared at the puple-ish bruise surrounding it, frowning slightly. “These might be around for a while, but if for any reason you start to feel pain from it—let me know.”
I listened intently but was still confused as to why she wasn’t asking any questions about what happened? Did she know? Did Celine tell her? Where was Celine?
“You must have a thousand questions right now and I can assure you they will all be answered. But for now—my work here is done. This red button over here,” she pointed at the call button I was staring at earlier, “Can be used whenever you need assistance. At the moment, I recommend taking a nap until the morning where we will decide if you’re ready to be discharged or not.”
I didn’t feel as if I needed to sleep but the drowsiness that washed over me said otherwise and she noticed. “That would be the effects of the medication you took earlier.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost seven. Your last visitor left an hour ago when visiting time was up but he promised to be back bright and early tomorrow. He left you those pretty flowers.” She pointed at the white roses with a smile.
He? I still had a lot of questions but before I could get any of them out, I fell asleep.
***
The minute I woke up the next morning I was pleased to be rid of the headache I had last night. My body felt less under pressure and more relaxed. I was closer to feeling like myself again and hoped that would be enough to get me out of this place.
A tray of food was set on the now cleared bedside table and I lifted the metal lid. The tray had a fruit cup, what looked to be a chocolate muffin, some yoghurt and a bowl of cereal with a water bottle in the corner. All this time I had ignored just how famished I was and picked up the platter, propping myself up on the pillows and digging in.
Hospital food was never anyone’s favourite and this time was no different but I was too focused on getting myself full to care.
As I stabbed the last strawberry in the miniature cup, the door swung open to once again reveal Doctor Henley and I smiled, placing the empty tray back onto the table.
“Good morning sweetheart. Glad to see you’re up and running. How do you feel?” she asked, standing next to me and scribbling something onto her clipboard.
“Better, thanks.”
“Good to hear. You seem to be doing well, take one more dose of these meds I’ve brought and you should be good to go once your discharge papers have been signed.” She placed a few ills with a glass of water in front of me.
“Who brought me in?” I asked, swallowing the pills as I awaited her answer.
“A friend. Celine—she said her name was, in fact, I think I might’ve—ah, there she is.”
I glanced at the opening door and smiled brightly at the view of messy blonde hair that came barreling towards me. Celine wrapped her arms around me as best as she could. I looked back at Doctor Henley once more and with a wink and a smile, she was out of the room.
“Holy Sh|t, Gi, you look you’ve been run over three times.” She whispered, patting down my hair which was probably a wild mess.
“Gee, thanks.” I muttered, smiling nonetheless.
She hugged me again and I relished in the scent of her that I had grown so accustomed to. “I’m so sorry.” Her voice was low when she spoke, as if she was the reason I was in there.
She didn’t have to say anything for me to know she blamed herself. Which was completely ridiculous. I was the one who chose to wander off in a shady part of town knowing there was a psychopath on the loose.
“You have nothing to apologize for.” I told her sincerely. She held my hand as she stood next to the bed, her eyes not meeting mine. “Hey, look at me. I’m fine, really.” She nodded, seemingly unconvinced but decided to drop it anyway.
“You must have a Sh|t-load of questions to ask.”
“I do.”
She took a seat near my legs and I moved over slightly to make room for her. “Go ahead.”
I had no idea where to start.
“How did I get here?” was my first question, “I don’t remember escaping, you know—”
“Azalea and I brought you here.” She cut me off so I didn’t have to say his name which I was grateful for. I didn’t really know what to say so I waited for her to continue. “We knew you were gone for way too long and started to get suspicious so we tried to find you. Do you remember seeing a dog? Had a blue collar.” She looked at me expectantly and I nodded, the memory coming back to me.
“Sh|t, yeah. It was the last thing I saw before I got knocked out. I remembered it from somewhere but couldn’t really put my finger on it.” I told her.
“That’s Masons’ dog. He lives in the apartment above the bar you used the bathroom at. He said he saw you leaving and wanted to say hey and lost you, that’s when he bumped into us.”
Now that I thought about it, I remembered the little dog Mason and his boyfriend had adopted a few months ago. In between babysitting days, he got me to look after it one night.
I didn’t have the chance to say anything before she continued. “We told him it was weird that you were gone for so long and we looked for you together for an hour or so until his dog started sniffing around an alleyway. I didn’t think you’d be in there so I called him back but he never listened and that when he started barking. We knew something was up and followed him there and found you lying unconscious on the ground.” She explained, looking to me for a reaction. My face was completely stoic.
“Did you find him?” I asked, my voice low.
By the reluctant expression on her face I knew Jason had gotten away before they had the chance to get him. “I’m so Fuçking sorry Gi. We’ve given his description to the cops with our statement and they have people looking for him. The second they get him onto custody you can ID him and put him behind bars for a while.”
I nodded, letting the information sink in. I was pleased to know they were searching for him. I’d feel a lot safer knowing he wasn’t out there anymore.
“They’ll be coming over later to take your statement too.”
“Okay, that’s fine.”
“Oh—and Gianna?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you list your mother or father as your emergency contact on your hospital record?” she asked, a nervous smile plastered onto her face.
“No.” I told her. Remembering that at some point I was too possessed with anger to bother letting them be in charge of knowing if I was ever in any medical trouble, I didn’t think they would’ve cared.
“Well, because of that. They had to call the number listed under your resume as your only reliable contact besides me.”
“Who?” I asked, slightly confused.
Celine parted her lips to answer but before she could, a voice interrupted her from the door.
“Me.”
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