Worth More Than A Thousand Words

Chapter 3

They say not to go to the light... but having bright lights over head made it kind of hard. 

"So...bright..." Hayley muttered. 

"CUPCAKE!" Ryan rushed her and tackled her in a bear hug. 

"Ryan? What's wrong. Where in the hell am I?" Hayley asked, utterly confused. 

Ryan stayed quiet as Hayley looked around the hospital room. 

"Where am I? How'd we even get here? All I remember was..." 

And then the memories rushed back, like a flood.

The drive.

The rain.

Swerving.

Darkness. 

"Cupcake it's gonna be okay." Ryan hugged her tight trying to stop her from shaking. 

"I told you, you should've drove slower." Hayley muttered. 

"I'm so sorry Hayley!" Ryan exclaimed and it looked like he was going to... 

"Ryan don't you dare cry. It's not like I'm that badly hurt or anything!" 

A tear fell from Ryan's eye.

That's when Hayley stopped and realized that may have been a lie. 

.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.

Ryan felt horrible ever since he turned his head and saw Hayley in the car. 

"Hayley..." he said unsteadily, his voice shaky, and no response coming from Hayley. 

At first, a horrible sinking feeling was in his stomach, when he initially thought she was dead. But she was breathing. Slightly. So she was alive. But unconscious. 

Panic settled in though when he saw her forehead bleeding, and her entire body twisted at a weird angle due to the airbag. 

How'd he managed with only a large cut wound on his arm? He didn't know. 

All he knew is that he'd rather be in Hayley's place right now, any day. 

The flashing blue and red lights arrived moments later, to Ryan's relief. They pried him out of his very mangled car, and delicately removed Hayley from the car and loaded her into the ambulance. The whole ride to the hospital Ryan sat holding her hand. He lightly kissed her forehead. 

"I'm so sorry Hayley," He whispered. 

When they had arrived at the hospital, and rolled Hayley out of the ambulance, they had instructed for Ryan to wait in the lobby until further notice. 

First, Ryan's dad had called saying that Ryan's car had been towed away and junked, since it was unrepairable. The company had called Ryan's father, unknowing what had happened, and urgently called Ryan for an explanation. 

Next, Ryan called Hayley's father. He thought Arthur Williams would yell at him for being responsible for injuring his daughter, but the line was silent. 

"What hospital is she at?" 

Was the only thing Arthur said before the line went dead. 

Ryan sat alone in the cold, harsh, waiting room. It was plain and white, the white tile cold to the touch, and made the room seem even colder. How harsh, the room was, to make people who love another, wait for their loved one's sentence. Would they die? Would they be okay? Are they okay?