Accolade

chapitre trois

present day 

My eyes fluttered open. 

For a moment, I only stared at the white ceiling. My thoughts were empty and vacant, unable to function in the waking moment, and I just let my chest rise and fall. The action seemed so simple, but it felt foreign. I acknowledged how scratchy my throat felt, how cotton my mouth felt, and then I remembered screaming. 

My sharp inhale woke the girl sleeping beside my hospital bed. 

"Aida, are you okay?" Lucy's voice drew near, warm hands took up my own cold ones. 

No. I wasn't okay. 

It felt like too much effort to turn my head towards her. She was gazing at me with misty eyes, and smiled when our eyes connected, even though the smile was mournful. I admired her for a moment, her perfect lips and bright eyes, until I croaked, "Water... please?" 

"Of course!" She all but sprung from the chair and returned a moment later with a water bottle in her clutches, "I let the doctor know you were awake, too. He'll be in at any moment." 

I took the water bottle with unsteady hands, and then I took gulps of it. When I didn't feel like I had eaten sand, I settled, and looked at my best friend. "What happened?"

Lucy swallowed. She looked wary. "We came into practice yesterday morning, and you had fallen." 

"Yesterday?" 

"Yes, you were unconscious for twelve hours." 

"What happened?" I repeated although I wanted to know why I fell. 

Lucy misunderstood, and said, "I don't know. You were screaming and you wouldn't stop shaking. Mrs. Jules thought you had broken your leg but she couldn't feel anything broken. When you passed out, we called an ambulance. I came with you, of course. But they've been taking you to do scans and stuff all night, they've just let you be an hour before sunrise." 

"Did they find anything?" 

She shook her head, "I don't know." 

There was a pause. "Thank you for staying with me," I said. 

"You're my best friend, Aida," She whispered, sitting close enough to witness the glimmer beneath her eyelids, "I was so scared for you, I was afraid to leave even for a second because you might..." She trailed off, and then cleared her throat, "I'm glad you're awake." 

"Me too," I swallowed. 

We didn't speak much beyond that. Ten minutes passed and Lucy just held my hand. I felt like it was too hard to speak when neither of us knew the answers. A pressure built in my chest as I mentally checked over my body. I had become increasingly aware that my legs were still there, a little tingly and numb, but I figured it was from the IV that they had me hooked up to. Pain medication, I assumed. 

I jumped a little when a knock sounded on the door, and then a doctor walked in. Lucy sat up but she didn't release my hand and I was glad because my own hand trembled, and I might have tried to flee my impending fate if she wasn't grounding me. 

"Hello, Aida, I'm Dr. Welch," He introduced himself. "How are you feeling this morning?" 

"Alright, I guess," I answered quietly. 

"First, I'd like to tell you that there was no real damage caused to your bones by the fall you took," Dr. Welch paused then. 

I knew something was wrong. It was as if the moment he had walked into the room, a dark cloud loomed over his shoulder, waiting to descend upon me. He bore horrible news.