Within A Year

Chapter 14

I had to lie in that hospital bed for several days afterwards because I discovered that it was extremely hard to walk. Apparently the rocks had cut into my tendons and damaged my muscles quite a bit. This is what they told me anyway after the horrid drugs had worn off. The idea of it was disgusting; I tried to look at my leg as little as possible. It made me queasy just thinking about it. Nevertheless I couldn’t complain too much because it meant that I could lie in bed doing nothing while people brought me food, pure luxury.

Today, Rocky had come to visit me and I couldn’t help but be embarrassed. I looked like a total mess but considering I was hurt I think he ignored it.

“I didn’t think you were the rock climbing type” He joked as he perched on the edge of the bed,

“I’m not… usually”

“Well I don’t think you’ll be doing it again anytime soon right?”

“I didn’t plan on doing it again anyway” I laughed lightly. I glanced over at the bright, yellow flowers he had bought for me. It was very sweet and to be honest, yellow was one of the colours I didn’t mind. It was happy and I needed all the happiness I could get.

“So when exactly do you get out of here?” He asked, resting more comfortably onto the bed. I felt a small twinge in my leg as he did so but I didn’t not to whine about it.

“Hopefully later on today…” I muttered apprehensively, taking a glimpse at one of the nurses. I prayed that she would dismiss me soon because although I had been able to act like a slob for a while, I was getting bored quickly.

“Really?” Rocky said, “Well perhaps you could… err… come to a party with me tonight?” It definitely didn’t sound like a good idea because of the fact I had trouble walking on my leg however I really wanted to let loose after being stuck in a hospital room for days on end.

“Err…”

“You won’t have to stay for ages… it’s just a random house party really…” He explained, shaking his head “Actually maybe it’s not a good idea… it’s too soon.”

“N-no... I’ll come…”  I agreed less than confidently. It was definitely a bold move but I trusted Rocky and I knew that if anything happened to me, then he would be there to protect me. I was still slightly worried what Fletcher would say though; I decided to push it to the back of my mind.

*

I was right to believe that I would be let out of hospital that afternoon because no sooner had Rocky left than the nurse came to dismiss me.

“You are free to go dear but I want you to make sure you don’t strain your leg too much, get plenty of rest and just take it easy alright?” I nodded politely and thanked her before making my way down to the bottom floor of the hospital.

As I was in the lifts, I called Fletcher quickly on my mobile and asked him to pick me up. I would deliberately sway away from talking about the party and would only tell him when absolutely necessary.  I was aware that he wouldn’t be pleased but I still wanted to go nonetheless.

Fletcher’s car pulled up outside the hospital about five minutes later and he had a huge smile painted across his face,

“What are you so happy about?” I queried,

“I’ve got a surprise for you” He smiled in a cheeky fashion, gently driving away once I had carefully clambered into the car. “Fletch… you know I don’t like surprises” I said, trying my best not to sound too ungrateful.

“You’ll like this one” He grinned. I was quite worried as to what this surprise was. I just hoped it wasn’t too extravagant, I would hate for Fletcher to go to some much trouble for me when I wasn’t really worth it. I really began to panic when he turned the car in the opposite direction to the university.