Thorns & Oranges

Don't Say A Word

Chapter Thirteen

I ended up passing out. Maybe it was from exhaustion, maybe not. It wasn't smart either way since my brother had more than likely given me a concussion. The second I heard someone enter the kitchen, I woke up.

My eyes were slow to open but I saw Dom's familiar blurry boots at eye level.

"Jesús," he muttered under his breath.

He pressed a hand to my forehead and fingers pressed firmly at my pulse point on my wrist.

"Michelle," he said calmly. "I need you to get me her kit and then call the doctor."

"Shouldn't I call 9-1-1?"

"That'll only make it worse. We'll treat it, clean her up, and only then if it doesn't get better, I'll have..."

"You can't just dump her," Michelle whimpered. "You can't."

I passed out again.

I remembered very little after that as I went in and out of consciousness.

"She's a mess. Mild concussion. Fractured cheekbone. The joints in her hand are swollen and bruised, a couple loose teeth..." the doctor stopped and sighed. "Her sugar level is too high and everything I've tried isn't working. She needs to go to the hospital."

*

I woke up to the sound of squealing tires and cold concrete.

"Someone write down that plate! Call the cops!"

"Honey? Honey? Can you hear me?"

*

"She's stable for now."

"What happened?"

"Drop and ditch," a foreign male voice said. "She had no ID but the card was obviously slipped into her hand when they rolled her out the back seat. That's why we called you."

"Have you notified anyone other than me?"

"No. Like I said, we didn't even know who she was until you told us. All we knew was she's a gangbanger..."

"She's not a gangbanger."

There was a pause and then, "There's next of kin on file, should we call?"

"Hold off. Wait until she's fully conscious and can tell us what happened."

*

When I finally came around, I was alone. The privacy curtain was drawn and I was in a hospital gown. I glanced at the monitors next to the bed and everything looked normal. I had a tied off IV still in my hand and my mouth was really dry.

I sat up carefully, my hands going to my head as it immediately started pounding. I needed to get out of here. My clothes were nowhere in sight and I couldn't find anything else. Normally, they placed a personal possessions bag at the end of the bed but there was nothing.

I swung my legs over the side and paused, trying to subdue the nauseous feeling that was trying to claw its way up my esophagus. Someone had thought to put socks on my feet so when they touched the floor I didn't feel the cold.

For a brief second I wondered what the hell was I supposed to do now?

I walked over to the privacy curtain and snuck a look out. There was no one there and thankfully they'd placed me away from the nurse's station. I slipped out and followed the exit signs.