Raven

Chapter 15

Beep. Beep. Beep. I don't remember setting any alarms on my phone. Trying to move, so I can turn off the offending noise, I take notice that my body feels like lead, and it hurts. Why do I hurt so badly? Blinking my eyes openly slowly, and groaning at the bright light above me and from the flaring pain at my movements.

"You're safe, Raven," Kyle says from my left, and I carefully turn my head toward him on the soft pillow under my head. "Try not to move too much, okay? Are you in a lot of pain?"

"Kyle? What happened? Where's mama? My entire body feels heavy, and hurts all over," I mumble with a frown as I take in that I'm not in my bedroom at his home, but what looks like a hospital room. "Where am I?"

"Your mama is on your other side, she's asleep," he answers, avoiding my first question completely. "You're in the local hospital, and I'm going to hit your buzzer, so a doctor or nurse can come here, and hopefully give you some pain reliever."

Swallowing thickly as I turn my head toward mama, and she is indeed asleep with her head resting on her crossed arms over the side of the bed by my hip. Kyle gently wakes mama, and her head snaps up, fully alert, and her eyes drop down to mine when Kyle nods down toward me.

"Baby! I'm so glad you're awake! How are you feeling? Don't move around too much!" she sobs loudly, leaning over to carefully hug me, but that even hurts, but I bite my lip to prevent myself from crying in pain.

As she pulls back to stand, and hold my face in her hands, her eyes scanning my face with watery eyes. Before I can speak, a doctor enters the room with a nurse entering behind her. Both give me a weak smile as the doctor stops at the foot of the bed, and the nurse walks over to the machines on my left side, and Kyle moves around the foot of the bed to stand next to mama.

My eyes stay focused on the doctor as she speaks; "Nice to see you awake, Mr. St. Cloud. The nurse is going to check your vitals, and then he'll give you some more pain relief. You had to have surgery to reattach the tendons and muscles in your shoulder, along with fixing the wound in your belly, and on your side by your hip. You'll be on bed-rest for three to four weeks, depending on how you're healing when you're discharged from here. We're going to keep you here in the hospital for three days to make sure you're healing properly, and don't develop a fever, or any infections. When you're discharged, you're going to be given a strong pain reliever, and after bed-rest is lifted, you're still going to need to take it carefully until you're fully healed. Do you have any questions for me? I know this is a lot to handle and process."

Staring at him blankly as I try to process everything he just told me, and I instantly remember everything that happened with Axel that caused my injuries. Tears flood my eyes, and several slip down my face from both eyes as I try to accept my injuries, and how I received these, and the fear of Axel coming back to finish me off.

Silently shaking my head at the doctor, he nods, giving everyone a small smile before leaving, and the nurse leaves after telling me that I'll fall asleep again soon because the pain medicine is strong.

"I don't want to sleep!" I sob through a thick throat. "He's gonna come back, and kill me like he intended! Then he's going to kill all of you!"

"Shh, baby, he isn't gonna come here, I promise," mama says, leaning over me from the side to run her fingers through my hair, in an attempt to sooth me, but it doesn't work. "He was picked up by the police after we called, and they found him walking down the road, and he proudly admitted what he did to you. He's sitting in a jail cell as we speak."

Hiccuping from my sobbing and from the pain as my eyes keep slamming shut as my body attempts to sleep despite my fear. Mama continues to run her fingers through my hair as she softly assures me, and once she begins to softly sing our song, I knew I was going to be asleep in no time, and I was asleep within seconds. From the time I was a baby, the only way mama could get me to sleep when I was fussy was to softly sing the song 'Two of Us' by Louis Tomlinson.

The next time I wake, the lights have been dimmed to a tolerable level, and mama and Kyle are asleep on the small sofa that's against the wall under the window. I notice Kyler and Jace sitting in the two seats on the right side of the bed, and they're quietly talking to each other, and I remain silent to fully take in their tired appearances.

They don't notice I'm awake for several minutes before Jace turns to look at me when he and Kyler fall into silence. He instantly brightens when he notices that I'm awake, and his smile falters as he stands to lean over me, and my eyes fill with tears again.

"I'm sorry for ruining our date," I whisper with a couple of tears slipping down my cheeks. "I really was looking forward to the date."

"Hey, none of that, Raven," he whispers, using the pad of left thumb to wipe away the fallen tears. "I'm not upset about the date being delayed. I'm just thankful you're going to be okay. We'll have that date when you're able to ride in the Gator, and sit on the ground, okay?"

Slowly nodding in response, Jace gives me another soft smile before leaning down to give me a tender kiss on the lips.