A Day At the Beach?
by Merrick

Josh sat in a hospital room, his head in his hands. 'How could I let this happen to her?' He thought.
This beautiful woman that he loved so much, that he cared about more than anything. More than his music, more than his friends, a hell of a lot more than his fame, was laying, unconscious, in a hospital bed.

Her brown hair, usually bouncing above her shoulders laid motionless on the pillow.
Her porcelain skin now looking more transparent than milky. Bruises and stitches marring her striking beauty.
Her lips drained of their usual pink now looked grey.
Her painted toes weren't tapping to the rhythmic beeps.
He looked at her and touched her hand. There were tubes and monitors and IVs. And they are all making him think of how fragile life is. How fragile love is. He could not believe this was  the same woman who just 3 days ago was building a sandcastle on the beach and singing in his shower.

'This is all my fault.' He thought to himself. Everyone had been trying to tell him it wasn't, but who were they trying to kid? He knew that if  he wouldn't have been so wrapped up in his own thoughts, she never would've been in that parking lot. 'It should've been me in this bed.'

As he held her limp hand in his, it all came rushing back into his mind. 

They were home in LA. They woke up early and went to Disneyland. She loved Disneyland. Her eyes always lit up like a little girl peeking at her Christmas presents when she was there. He loved that about her.  She would always give her that innocent smile and say, "Come on, Josh! it's the Happiest Place on Earth!"

That day, she ate three churros, an ice cream cone and two sugar cookies from the kitchen shop. It always amazed him how much crap-food she could eat and still ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad multiple times without throwing up everywhere. He thought she was going to cry when she got her picture taken with Snow White and Cinderella, and she actually did cry when he bought her the biggest Mickey Mouse they sold in the toy store. Of course, he had to carry it to the car for her.

That night, after dinner, it was so warm and clear, they decided to go down to the beach. They played in the sand, walked hand-in-hand in the tide, then sat to watch the sun set. When it was almost dark, she stood up.
Josh grabbed her hand and asked, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" She stood in front of him and bent down, taking his face in her hands, sending a shiver down his spine, "Your hands are like ice, Baby!"
She giggled and smiled at him, "I know, that's why I'm going up to the car to get the blanket." Her green eyes pierced his soul as her soft hands ran through his hair.
"I'll go get it, Babe, you don't have to go."
"Oh Come on, Josh, this is the 21st century. A girl can go get her own blanket." She smiled as she walked away.

He watched her bounce up the stairs to the pier and disappear into the dusk and turned his attention back to the water. He sat thinking about how amazing she always made him feel, like no one ever had before. She got along with his friends and totally understood that his career as a musician definitely wasn't a normal one. She didn't mind the late nights, the female fans and even told him when a new song wasn't quite everything he thought it was. The fans even loved her. That's why he was going to ask her to marry him when she got back. He didn't have a ring, but he had a feeling that he couldn't wait another moment.

Just as he made up his mind, he heard a scream and squealing tires. He bolted to the stairs, ascending them 3 at a time, praying the scream hadn't come from the woman he loved, knowing with every bone in his body that it had. he sprinted toward the parking lot and saw a small group of people huddled close to where they had parked.

He pushed people out of the way and saw her. His heart shattering into a million pieces, he scooped her up into his arms and held her tightly until the ambulance arrived.

Hit and run. She had a broken leg, two broken ribs and another that was cracked. She had undergone surgery to repair internal bleeding in her spleen. The doctors believed they had stopped hemorrhaging and luckily, there was no spinal cord damage. She was still in a coma. It had been three days and he hadn't left the hospital. He couldn't bring himself to ever leave her side again.

He looked at her face now and remembered all of the times he would watch her sleep in his bed, her chest rising and falling. He also remembered all of the times he had slept. He cursed himself for not watching her more, not looking at her twenty-four hours a day.

As tears started to flow from his eyes again, his eyes started to flicker and then opened, revealing the emerald green he had feared he'd never see again. She looked like she was trying to speak. He stood up and brushed her hair away from her face, "Hi, Baby. You don't know how good it would be to hear your voice, but don't try to talk, you have a tube down your throat."
Even being as injured as she was, she managed to give him a look of 'No shit, Sherlock' look. He thought to himself how much he loved her and smiled, but he could see her eyes were filling with fear. He put his hand on her shoulder as he pushed the button to alert the nurse's station that she was awake before explaining what had happened, "You got hit by a car, Hunny. You had some surgery and your leg and a couple of ribs are broken. But you should be ok in a few weeks. I'm staying home to take care of you."

The nurse came in and checked her vitals and called the doctor to come in and check her out and take the tube out of her throat. When he was finished giving her a once-over and calming her fears that she was going to make a full recovery, he let Josh back into the room.

He stood over her, holding her hand again, "How are you feeling?"
Her voice was barely a whisper, "Ok, I guess. I'm really sore."
He smiled at her, "Well, yeah. You got hit by an SUV, you're going to be sore for a while."
"Did I at least dent it?" She forced a smile.
'That's my girl.' He thought, 'That smile is magic.' He shook his head, "I don't know, it was a hit and run. They're looking for the jerk that did this to you, though. We're going to make them pay."
"Thank you."
He looked into her eyes, "You don't have to say thank you. You mean the world to me, and I won't be satisfied until whoever did this is behind bars."
She looked down for a minute then raised her eyes meet his again, "I have a question."
"Shoot," Josh said.
"Who are you?"

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