Sincerely, Red

Chapter Fourteen

"How did this even happen?" I asked David, whilst climbing into the car. "When did you find out?"

"One question at a time," he muttered, pressing his foot down harder on the accelerator. "I don't know. I just got a call from the hospital saying that Claire had been involved in an accident, and could I come over as soon as possible."

"Well, who hit her?" I questioned. "Why-"

"Less of the questions please, Liv," he said, frustrated now. "I'm not in the mood."

I said nothing.

We continued to sit in silence for a good five minutes, before David swerved left around a roundabout and headed into the hospital parking lot. Cursing when he realised he'd have to stop to pay for a ticket, it was obvious that he was worried and annoyed and scared.

Eventually, he stopped shouting insults at the ticket dispenser (most of which were "Yeah, well your mum's a garbage dispenser and your dad's an overpriced vending machine") and we were able to get inside the actual building.

From there on, it was pretty easy. I saw it as a sequence of still images, with David stating our names, taking a lift upstairs and eventually reaching Claire's ward. It took a while to weave in between a different number of people and talk to the receptionist (who had two phones for her two ears), but we finally managed to find Claire.

To be honest, I'd been scared that we'd find her in a horrible condition. I'd imagined her with broken bones and a cut lip, with blood smeared across her clothes. At one point, the thought of something going wrong with her brain - in the same way mine had - crossed my mind, but it was quickly erased.

"Well, I don't see why I should I have to pay over a pound for a stupid bottled drink," she argued. "What makes it worse is that it's half the price down on the ground floor. I'm a lawyer, you know."

"Yes, love," a nurse muttered. "You've said that a couple of times already."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" she demanded. "This is ridiculous."

"You know," the nurse said, sighing. "I thought lawyers were meant to be well off. Can't you spare a pound?"

"That. Is. Not. The. Point," she stressed. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I'm going to complain to your floor manager," Claire said, walking towards the toilets. "We'll see how you feel about this then."

"No, wait!" the woman shouted. "You can have it for free!"

"I can?"

"You can," she said, relieved.

"Okay then," Claire muttered. "You owe me."

"Yes, of course," the woman muttered, before going off to gossip about Claire with one of the cleaners.

A smile made its way on to my face and the tension in my body left. Claire was definitely okay.

"That was... quite a show," David said, cracking up. "Even in hospital, after being involved in a fricking car accident, she's still her usual annoying self."

"I can still hear, you know," she said, coming to stand beside us. "I'm not deaf and I'm not annoying either."

For a moment, we both just took in the sound of her voice.

Claire's forehead had a small plaster on it and her arm was in a cast. She winced every time she moved slightly, muttering something about useless hospitals and private wings.

"I guess something must have hit you in the head," David muttered at last, not noticing when I winced. "Because you're in complete denial about yourself."