Chapter Four

For a moment I wondered why she was acting weird, but my thoughts were interrupted when my father and Daniel's friend, Leander, walked in.

Once I made eye contact with my father I noticed so many emotions all at once. Relief that I was alright, a deep sense of sadness over the accident, worry was clearly in front but anger was present as well.

"Valerie!" Thank the Lord you're okay!" My father said out loud as he rushed up to give me a hug. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was pink. His voice was strained and he looked beyond tired.

"And here I thought big men don't cry," I said jokingly. He looked embarrassed for a minute as he turned around to laugh with Leander.

"Hello, Val. I'm glad to see you still have your sense of humour," Leander said as he walked towards the window side of my bed.

"Where's mother?" I asked, looking at the doorway.

"She's at home resting. For the past four days in a row, she wouldn't leave your bedside.

"After we fought yesterday about her getting some rest she finally listened and went home, but I did call her before I came in to tell her you are finally awake. She should be here in an hour," he said as he sat on a chair on the side of my bed.

All of a sudden it started to rain and the clouds in the sky got darker, turning the whole atmosphere around us eerie. For some odd reason, I felt scared when there was a knock on the door, and I saw the lab coat of the doctor.

"Valerie?" The doctor started as she looked up and noticed the men that were now in the room.

She nodded her head at them as she acknowledged their presence.

"There's something I need to tell you..." she trailed off. I looked over at Leander and my father. I saw Leander's facial expression change as his eyes started to water.

My father looked uncomfortable and sad at the same time. I looked back at the doctor, fear was now growing inside of me full speed.

"The guy Daniel, who I take it to be your boyfriend..."

She stops once again and looks at my father. I looked at him as well, he was crying, they both were. He grabbed my hand but I yanked it back. My eyes were blurry but I tried to see straight.

"What is it Dad? Just say it!" I shouted. I could feel all eyes on me but I didn't care as I waited for his response. My mind knew what he was going to say next but I needed to hear it uttered from my father's mouth.

"He passed away..."

•••

Both my parents were sleeping on either side of my bed, on chairs next to me and my mother was holding onto my hand. Leander was lying on the small couch in the corner. It was pouring buckets outside and it started to thunder.

It took a few hours for me to calm down but the only reason I did was because they gave me some sort of anxiety pill. Icould feel them start to wear off, even in my nightmare.

I was dreaming about the whole accident all over again. I was glad when one of my flinches woke me up.

I was taken off of the heart monitor for the night because my heart was stable enough and they needed one for someone else who was in a worse condition than I was.

I wouldn't stay in this room, I couldn't. My mind kept racing back and forth from scene to scene and I felt as though I was suffocating in this room.

I slowly took my hands away from my mother's and carefully got out the bed on the right side, making sure I didn't wake my father. I walked so slowly and so noiselessly out of the room and down the hall.

There weren't many people up, since it was technically late, all the nurses were busy in someone else's room checking on them, or were hidden in their office.

This made it the perfect time to escape for a little bit and plus I really needed to think about how my life will change without Daniel in it.

The sliding doors in the front of the hospital led to the small park across the road, as I slowly made my way towards it. I'm sure it is cold outside, but I didn't pay attention to that and walked out of the hospital.

I walked mindlessly across the road, probably looking like I was a zombie, or an old lady who had Alzheimer. I was drenched in rain but yet still I persisted. As I reached the park I noticed a small little pond by the slides.

As I walked over to the pond, I had two options: die or live. My eyes started to water again as the tears left my eyes effortlessly. I loved Daniel, how could he do this to me? He left me here, alone!

"How could you?" I screamed at the darkened sky.

"You know I wanted to go with you! Why did you leave me here! Why?" I screamed as loud as I could. I looked down at the pond and I could feel myself falling towards it.

Two things happened. I felt a sense of freedom and regret all at the same time. I had been imagining what it would be like to be with him right now, would we be together? Where would I be?

Instead two hands grabbed my wrist and yanked me back, and I fell on top of someone's hard body.