Unforeseen Circumstances

Chapter 17

The familiar feeling of dejavu washed over me as I struggled to open my eyes after god knows how many hours of being asleep. The sense of dejavu came from the fact that my eyes were greeted with the unpleasant, blinding lights of a hospital room, which I had undoubtedly been in before. Instead of falling back into the slumber, which was beckoning, I forced my eyes to open fully as they hastily tried to adapt to the shock of light, when they had been accustomed to the darkness for so long. This time, however, the only thing that was different when I woke, was the retreating figure of the raven-haired man that I had grown to care for. I opened my mouth in an attempt to call out to the raven-haired man, only for nothing to come out, due to not having spoken for such a long period of time, I assume. As I realised that he was going to walk out of the room without even looking behind him to check on me, my heart rate increased in panic which caused the heart rate monitor, that I was hooked up to, to start beeping significantly more than its usual amount when the heart rate is normal and steady.

At the sound of the unstable and fast paced heart rate that my body was conveying through the piece of machinery, the raven-haired man in front of me whipped his head around and the several different emotions that flew across his features at the realisation that I was actually awake, made me realise just how long I had probably been asleep for. Most likely a lot more than just one day or a couple of hours. Seeming to forget the reason he had for attempting to leave the room, he wasted no time in sprinting the short distance to my bedside before bringing me into his arms, holding me so tight in case I might disappear.

"Oh my god, you have no idea how relieved I am to finally see you open your eyes again Fay," Devon spoke as he held one hand on the back of my head, whilst his other arm snaked around my waist, almost as if he was trying to prevent me from leaving him. Like I'd do anything of the sort to begin with! I sighed as I returned the hug and breathed in his scent, reassuring me that I was safe once again. With his arm still hugging me around my waist he reached his spare hand over to grab something that would, no doubt, alert the nurses that I was awake again.

It didn't take long for a couple of nurses to hurriedly barge into the room, probably expecting the worst. They all let out a sigh of relief as their eyes locked onto mine and the fact that Devon was holding me as though I could disappear at any moment. I offered them a small smile as they placed the medical equipment that they had brought with them, down by the door before plucking the clipboard off of the end of the bed, which had my information on it, and marked something down.

"It's nice to see you awake again Miss Richards, we just need to run a few routine tests to make sure that you are in perfect health before we can release you." A nurse informed me as I pulled, reluctantly, away from Devon's embrace and rested my back against the headboard of the bed. Devon stood up and took my hand in his to allow the nurse better access to conduct all of the necessary tests that she needed to do.

She took my temperature, tested my reflexes and eye-sight, amongst other different tests that needed doing, like blood work, before she stood back up and pulled her medical gloves off. She packed everything away in the case that it had come in before turning around and giving both Devon and I a reassuring smile.

"Well your vitals, temperature and such seem to be in order, but I just need to explain a couple of things that you may experience that will impact you after the process that you went through Miss Richards," The nurse began as I nodded for her to continue, "from my understanding, what you have endured this past month or so, can be thought of to be rather traumatic. For that reason, you may feel more anxious and that you zone out of conversations or have memory recall issues. Do not be alarmed as this is all common and with the help of a strong network of people around you, you should be able to deal with it for the most part." I simply nodded my head as she smiled at us once more and headed out of the room.

Despite it only having been around an hour since I regained consciousness, I had yet to utter a single phrase or word to Devon, to express how sorry I was for putting him through all of this or to express how much I cared for him as so much more than a friend. I think he had just chalked it up as being overwhelmed by all of the medical exams I had gone through in the short time that I had been awake for. I have no idea why I couldn't find any words, suitable to be spoken, but one thing that I knew for sure, was that if I didn't manage to bypass this mental block, or whatever it was that was preventing me from talking, how long was it before the raven-haired man decided to up and leave me? How long until I was left to fend for myself in this, still somewhat foreign, environment that I had been living in? The reason I kept fighting to wake back up was mainly for Devon and the connection that I knew we had developed, but if he decided it wasn't worth it if I remain unable to talk, then what is the point in remaining here with these people? Wouldn't I be better off dead than alive? Especially considering that my own family all believe that I am dead after that car accident.

The conflicted and worried expression that had made its way onto my face, didn't go unnoticed by the raven-haired man who was sitting by my side. Carefully, he lifted my chin up so that I was looking into his concern filled eyes, only making the guilt intensify that he felt so worried. He smiled softly at me before speaking.

"Hey, hey, it's all going to be alright okay? I know you are probably scared out of your mind that you are going to end up alone to deal with all of this, but know that I will never leave you. Why, you may ask? Because you had captured my heart from the moment I discovered you weren't Rosie. I don't know how you managed it but I am completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with you Faith," He confessed which caused the tears, that were brimming in my eyes, to slide down my cheeks at the sincerity of his words as a smile made its way onto my face.

At seeing the emotional wreck that I had become he chuckled to himself as he pulled me to him and planted a passionate kiss on my lips, almost as though he felt the need to prove to me just how much he meant the words in which he had spoken just moments ago. I smiled into the kiss, relishing the fact that throughout this entire traumatic experience, I had the luck to find someone who I cared an unbelievable amount about and who also cared about me more than words could say.