Chapter 3

Amy's eyes opened slowly, her heart racing like a drum in her mind.

She felt confused, the surrounding conditions surrounding her whirling in very big loops.

The scent of germ-killing and the medicine-based brightness of a hospital room surrounded her.

She blinked quickly, trying to drive away the haze from her thoughts, but everything seemed serious... far too serious to understand all at once.

The first thing she became aware of was Liam's expression.

He sat at the bedside, his hand gently placed on the edge of her mattress, his look locked onto her with an expression that was unclear to her.

It was a blend of worry and another feeling... maybe a hint of guilt, but she was uncertain.

The sudden rush of memories overloaded her at the same time, crashing into her like a tidal wave.

The note. The will of her father. The act of betrayal. The extreme anger. Celine. Her closest friend. Liam in his bed.

All of it... it came rushing back in a storm, and the intense pain of it almost took her breath away.

Her body tightened, fear and stress surging within her. What brings me here?

She tried to sit up but was overcome by a wave of feeling of spinning around and almost falling. She fell back into the pillows, her sight twisting and flowing.

"What... what happened?" she croaked, her voice strained from the weight of her feelings. She quickly looked about, the medicine-based room continuing to confuse her. "Why have I come here? What have you done to me?"

Liam's look moved with a feeling of love, hate, guilt, etc. she couldn't identify, yet he remained silent at first.

His lips opened, yet he paused, seeming uncertain about what to say.

His fingers moved a bit, as if he wished to grab her but was too slow to act.

"Amy," he finally spoke, his tone strained. "You lost consciousness.. you...”

"Fainted?" she suddenly said suddenly, her tone increasing in doubt and distrust. "You wouldn't allow me to die, would you? You didn't have the decency to allow me to go?" She stared at him extremely strongly, sensing the poisonous quality in her words sudden rush like anger. "Why have you brought me to this place? Why couldn't you just allow me die?!"

Liam appeared to reduce beneath the strength of her stare, yet he remained silent.

His silence felt like a harsh blow to her, promising again all she had already understood... he never cared.

A gentle tap at the door broke the silence, and a nurse walked in carrying a clipboard. Her aura was a pleasant diversion, yet the information she delivered struck Amy like a heavy blow.

The nurse smiled softly, yet there was a hint of caution in her eyes.

Before speaking, she quickly looked at Liam. "We have managed and done the last tests, Mr. Hawkes." The findings... I apologize, but we have results that she has lost the baby.

The ground moved under Amy's feet.

The nurse's statements didn't completely sink in at first... couldn't sink in.

It felt as if she was listening to them from far away, through a mist.

Baby? Which Baby?

She looked at the nurse in shock, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Her stomach tightened, and for a brief instant, she sensed the room whirl around her once more. Her hands shook.

"What are you saying, nurse?" she whispered, her voice shaking with fear and emotion as she quickly looked back and forth between Liam and the nurse. "I didn't... no... I couldn’t have been...

Liam's look softened, his lips moving as if he was about to speak.

The nurse stepped back, her unease obvious. "I believe she needs to take a break, Mr. Hawkes. It has been an upsetting struggle."

"Completely and totally not!" Amy bolted upright in bed, her mind whirling, the room twisting and flowing around her. "I'm not staying here. I'm leaving. I'm not your prisoner." She said the words without pause.

"Amy, I beg you," Liam's tone was tight, almost pleading, yet Amy was not swayed. She pushed the nurse's hand aside when she tried to help her in sitting up, her strength fueled by total refusal to cooperate.

"I'm okay," she whispered. "I don't need your sympathy." I don't require anyone's sympathy. "Neither from you nor from her..." She cast a sharp look at the nurse before unsteadily rising to her feet.

The world surrounding her continued to revolve, yet the very upset feelings of hopelessness to run away from.. the extreme importance to leave this hospital, distancing herself from Liam, from the lasting forever reminder of his actions against her.. pushed her onward.

She sensed the blood beating in her temples, her sight becoming blurry with every large step while walking, yet she set it all aside.

She was not caring one way or the other.

She decided she wouldn't allow Liam or anyone else to control her actions anymore.

"Please, Amy, stop!" Liam's voice echoed in her mind, filled with extreme importance, yet she continued to walk, her steps shaky as she headed for the door.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on me!" she shouted, spinning around to angrily to stand up to him. The words burned her throat as they escaped her lips, her whole body shaking under the heavy load of her extreme anger.

Liam froze, his hand outstretched, but he didn't try to stop her again.

The look in his eyes, a mix of regret and helplessness, only fueled her anger more.

"Funny," she mumbled in a bad or angry way, "how everything you've done to me, Liam, happened on our anniversary. And on my 28th birthday, too." She laughed darkly, shaking her head. "You really have no shame."

Without any more words, she pushed through the door, her feet dragging against the floor as she limped while walking out into the hallway.

She was so destroyed by her anger that she barely became aware of the sharp pain in her lower abdomen, the tightening that signaled something wasn't right.

She was halfway down the hall when she heard a soft voice.. one she never thought she'd hear again. It was Celine.

"I'm sorry," Celine's voice was quiet, almost too quiet, but Amy heard it clear as day.

Amy's stomach shook and rolled around really fast with a combination of extreme anger and disbelief.

Sorry? Sorry for what? For betraying her? For sleeping with her husband?

Amy whirled around, her face burning with extreme anger, her pulse rushing in her ears.

"Do not," she spat, her voice low and dangerous, "do not ever show your face in front of me again."

Celine opened her mouth, as if to explain herself, but Amy couldn't bear to hear it.

With every ounce of strength she had left, Amy turned and continued down the hall, ignoring Celine's shy and weak apology.

But as she reached the exit doors, outside the hospital, the blood from her abdomen started to combine.

Her vision blurred, her knees buckled, and she felt herself losing control.

She walked unsteadily out into the cold air, her body body-shaking from being upset with the effort to stay upright.

But the world around her was going black. Her legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed forward into the street.

An oncoming car screeched to a halt, but it was too late.

She couldn't see the face of the driver or the car's make as the world went dark, but she could feel the hit/effect.

And then... nothing.