When Jessica Campbell decided to transfer to America for her final year of high-school, she didn't expect to lose her twin-brother just a week before in a car crash. Neither did she expect to catch the eye of Elliot Black; which almost immediately s...
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Courage, dear heart.
*****
I threw my arms in-front of my face waiting for the impact but it never came. Instead a pair of hands came behind me pushing me harshly as the car slid past me with a lord horn. Losing my balance I tripped on my feet, falling to the floor as the car skidded to a stop. A striking pain shot up my ankle as I tried to get up forcing me back down. From the corner of my eye I saw Sira and Alyssa run towards me as Elliot yanked the car door open pulling the driver out by his collar.
"Oh my God, are you okay?" Alyssa asked kneeling down beside me. I looked up at the crowd forming and saw Taylor standing in the middle of it. If it hadn't been for Taylor, I would have never missed that car. Taylor saved me.
"Thank you" I said looking up at Taylor. She gave me a slight nod of the head and nothing more than that. Knowing that's the best I would get I turned my attention to Elliot.
"Why the fuck were you going so fast in a parking lot? Are you fucking dumb?" Elliot yelled squaring the guy up.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise" he muttered looking around embarrassed.
"Maybe get off your fucking phone and you will" Elliot yelled pushing at the boys chest. Jacob ran towards Elliot pulling him away from the boy asking him to leave. Elliot shook himself out of Jacobs hold and instead came to sit by me.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Elliot asked assessing me for any injuries. I lifted my foot slightly and winced when I felt the pain immediately putting it back down. Elliot lifted me up into his arms walking towards his car.
"We need to get you to the hospital and get that x-rayed" he looked over his shoulder asking the girls and Jacob to meet him there. Elliot somehow managed to get the passenger side door open with me still in his arm and sat me inside before running around to the drivers seat.
"This wasn't how the night was supposed to go" Elliot said pulling at his hair. "How badly does it hurt?" he continued to ask looking over at me.
"The night isn't over yet" I laughed hoping to make him feel a little better. "and not too bad" I lied putting on a brave face. It hurt like hell.
"Don't lie, you're not good at it" Elliot muttered interlacing his hand into my own. I sighed leaning my head back against the headrest. Truth was all I wanted was so spend the night with Elliot but things always seemed to go wrong with me. At this point I wasn't even surprised anymore. Elliot pulled into the parking space coming around to lift me out of the passenger seat walking us into the hospital reception. Elliot sat me down in a chair before booking me in, bringing back a clipboard with him to fill in my personal information. Alyssa, Sira and Jacob finally joined us in the waiting room and from there we waited for around an hour or so before I was wheeled to x-ray. Once the x-ray was done I was wheeled to a cubicle as I waited for the results with Elliot and co.
It was another half an hour before David walked through the blue curtains with the print of my x-ray in her hands. I had hardly spent time with David with him always being at work - always being on-call - but I had realised that whenever he was home he would dedicate it all to his family
"There doesn't seem like a break which is good. I'm thinking you probably sprained it when you fell, all you need is RICE". I nodded my head at the new information. Jacob looked between David and myself confused.
"She needs rice? Good luck, man. She hates rice" he laughed looking at the David who smiled with a shake of her head. Elliot groaned out loud, smacking a hand to his forehead.
"No, not rice you eat. RICE as in rest, ice, compression and elevation." David explained to Jacob who looked down embarrassed. And that was it for my emergency trip. A trip that cost me just over $300. Daylight robbery I'm telling you. Thankfully, my mum had always made sure that Daniel and I had travel medical coverage whenever we travelled in-case we got stuck in a situation like this. The pain in my ankle had settled once I was given some pain-killers by one of the nurses and I could now bare some weight on my own.
"I'm going to bring my car round" Elliot said leaving me with Jacob and Sira as he went off bring his car around as did Alyssa. I shovelled through my bag pocket digging for my phone so I could text my mum before I realised I had forgotten it in the cubicle I was sat it.
"I've forgotten my phone, I'll be right back" I told Sira who protested but eventually let me be when I promised I would be fine. I limped back towards the cubical and thankfully found my phone exactly where I had left it. I turned around making my was back when a loud ringer went off in the corridor.
"Crash call in room 201. I repeat crash call in room 201" A nurse yelled as the corridor fell into a frenzy. I was moved out of the way and into the corner and the medical team ran towards the room. I waited a few minutes for the rush to ease before I pushed myself off the wall. I limped around the corner trying to find the exit only to have walked deeper into the hospital. Before I could do anything though, my phone rang pulling me out of my trance.
"Hello" I answered looking at the ID to read Elliot.
"Jess, where are you?" Elliot stressed. I laughed at his worry. This boy worried to much for his own good.
"I'm coming, just a little lost. I'll be right there" I replied limping through some double doors that were open that read ICU. "I'm just to ask a nurse into the phone, I'm in the ICU department" I said into the phone.
"Jess, come back right now. Please. Just turn around. NOW!" Elliot yelled into the phone making me jump.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming" I said surprised at his sudden outburst.
"Ma'am you can't be in here" a nurse came to tap me on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I'm lost. Where can I find the exist?" I asked. Elliot was breathing down the phone and I knew if I didn't meet with him soon he would have a breakdown. The kind nurse gave me a few directions before she left but not before I thanked her.
"I'm coming. I know my way back now" I said to Elliot.
"Are you out of the ICU area?" Elliot asked once again. "I'm coming there now" he added.
"Yeah, I'm just about to step ou-" I paused when something caught my eye. Not something. Someone.
"Jess?" Elliot asked but his voice seemed very distant all of a sudden. I felt my heart drop into my stomach and my breath leaving lungs. I limped closer to the window staring into the room.
"Jess, I swear to God. Please just come out. Please" I heard Elliot again.
"Dad...dad!" I heard him yell again before I saw David running towards us.
"Ma'am, I thought you would have left by now" the same nurse walked towards me. I heard someone else call my name and I knew it had been Elliot who had ran to the ICU department searching for me. I continued staring through the window as the world around began getting blurry so I didn't stop myself when I fell into Elliot's arm with just one word in my head.
Daniel.
*****
I don't know how the USA healthcare environment works but I tried to research as much as I got and that's all I could find. So, if it doesn't make sense just please remember that this is a book :)
