Lies

Stunned

Anastasia

I hear the sound of voices whisper quietly, but my vision is still black. I want to open my eyes and see who it is, but I don't have the energy. 

Thirsty. I was very thirsty. My mouth was dry. 

I try my best to open my mouth so I can tell them I need some water, but it doesn't work. 

I can still hear the voices, but I can't place who they are. 

"You gotta go home and get some rest sometime. We'll call you if she wakes up." the voice says. 

"I'm not leaving here until she does." another voice says.

"Dude, they're taking good care of her." the first voice says. 

"I don't care. I'm not fucking leaving." 

I hear a door slam shut and the room grows quiet. I hear the shuffle of what I believe to be a chair scraping across the tile floor. 

I feel a warm hand in mine, squeezing it tightly. 

"Baby." the voice says, and I know who it is. It's Duff. 

"Anastasia." he says, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles. 

"Wake up, pretty girl. You can't do this to me anymore, baby." he says, and I can hear the sorrow in his voice. 

I try to tell him not to worry, that I'm okay, but my voice won't actually come out of my mouth.

"I need you, baby." he says. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have let you drive that car. You weren't used to it. You've never driven something like that before. I'm a fucking idiot. Please, Ana. Please. Just wake up." he says and I can tell he's crying. 

I need to tell him that it's okay. It's not his fault. 

I take a deep breath and force my eyes open. Duff's head is in his hands, and he's looking at the ground. I've never seen him cry, and that scares me. 

"Duff?" I manage to squeak out. 

His head shoots up to the sound of my voice.

"Don't cry." I tell him, and it isn't a second later that his lips are on mine ever so gently. 

"You're awake. You're okay." he says as he pulls out of the kiss.

My eyes flutter shut again. I'm so tired already.

"Don't go back to sleep, baby. Stay up and talk to me. Tell me your okay. Please." he begs.

I will myself to wake up. "I'm okay, Duff. I'm just really tired." I answer. "But I am really thirsty."

"I'll get the nurse. What do you want? Soda? Water? Juice?" he asks. 

I force my eyes to open once more. "Water. Water's good."

"I'll be right back. Don't go to sleep." he says, but I can't help myself. Somehow, I drift back off to the land of the living dead. 

~~~

"Anastasia?" I feel someone shaking me, and the voice isn't Duff's. 

I force my eyes to open again, and standing at the side of my bed are two doctors dressed in white lab coats. 

"It's good to see you awake, Ms. Fisher." one of the doctors says to me. "How are you feeling?"

I look around the room to see Duff and Axl sitting in the corner. When did Axl get here?

"Fine." I answer curtly. 

"Good, well I'm Dr. Smith and this is Dr. Reed. We'd like to talk to you about your injuries." Dr. Smith says.