Distract and Sedate | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 16 | Sedated |

"There we are," an older man's voice coos. "Follow the light with your eyes." There's a bright flash and it's like looking straight into the sun. Emma tries to keep up but gets lost. "Do you remember your name, sweetheart?"

"Emma."

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"Do you know what city you're in?"

"Philadelphia." She hears the doctor take a few steps away.

"Patient is concussed," he says quietly. "No obvious memory impairments. Delay in basic motor functions and eye movement."

The next time she remembers being awake she's in a bland hospital room. The curtains around the windows are drawn and the only light comes from a small lamp. Looking around, she sees her mom sitting in the corner flipping through a magazine. "Mom?"

"Oh," she beams. "I'm so glad to see you awake. I'll call a nurse." Emma closes her eyes until she hears her mother return. "Are you in pain?" She nods yes. Her entire body aches.

"What's happening?"

"Relax," Kay tries to soothe her. A nurse comes into the room calmly and approaches her. "She said she's hurting."

"I bet," the nurse chuckles and checks her IV. "That was a nasty fall you had."

"Fall?" She asks. She cringes at the memory of the sound echoing through her ears, but she can't remember falling.

"Yep." The nurse injects a fluid into her hand. "You slipped on a patch of ice. You've got a couple of stitches on the back of your head."

"My arm?" She asks looking at the firmly wrapped gauze around it.

"It's just a small injury. The doctor can explain better than I can."

"It doesn't feel like a small injury," Emma mumbles as the painkillers enter her system. Looking around for a clock she sees that it's barely 8:00 AM. Her mother must have sped the whole way to get here that quick. She takes a couple heavy blinks and looks up at the tiled ceiling. Her head pounds and the cut in the back of her head has made itself known.

"Are you hungry?" The nurse asks. "We can get you something to eat."

"I'm okay," Emma says with a cringe. The thought of eating with this headache makes her queasy. Her tastebuds are stained with the flavor of stale alcohol and mouth breathing. "Maybe a drink?"

"Absolutely. If you change your mind about food, let us know. Dr. Marron should be here any minute."

The door clicks behind her as she leaves. Emma lays her head back on the starchy pillow and closes her eyes. The fluorescent light burns through her eyelids but it would take too much effort to ask for them to be turned off. It seems like an eternity before the door opens again.

The Doctor introduces himself to Emma, having already met her mother. He opens his laptop and begins typing away as he speaks. "Well," he says then turns the screen around. "You have an olecranon fracture on your right arm," he points to the line of her x-ray. "Along with a small fracture on your wrist. We're going to go in and put in a couple of pins and then put a hard cast over it."

"And her head?" Kay asks.

"Grade three concussion. You were conscious when medics arrived, so it's hard to be sure. You don't seem to have any severe impairments, though, so I'm not too concerned. That's not to say you're in the clear. The next few weeks won't be fun, " he says as he shuts the laptop. "The University will be opening an investigation into the accident."