“Abigail? Abigail King? Can you hear me, honey?” I looked up at the woman, who stood over me, screaming my name. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed light reflecting from my arm. There were an I.V. in my hand, and tubes coming from me everywhere. I hated tubes. I recognized where I was. I began to scream, trying to break free from the tubes and needles.
“Abigail, stop it, honey, it’s all right.” The woman was a nurse. I was in the hospital. I tried to get up, but was stopped when I felt the needle poking around beneath my flesh. I couldn’t just rip it out. I was trapped.
“What’s going on?” I saw Mom pushing passed some doctors and nurses in the doorway, with Amber and her mother standing behind her, Amber’s mother holding her hysterical daughter back. Upon seeing how upset Amber was, I stopped struggling. Her mother then pulled her out of the hallway, and out of my sight.
In the meantime, Mom had reached my side. She took my hand in hers, and kissed my face, in a way that made me feel so complete. “Abby, baby, it’s all right. It’s okay, honey, it is. Mommy’s here. I’m so glad you’re safe. I missed you.” I kissed her back. “I got cut on a rock at the beach. I’m sorry. I should’ve been more careful. It’s my fault.” She shook her head. “No, honey, no. It wasn’t your fault at all, sweetheart. Accidents happen. You’re just lucky that Amber found you when she did. I don’t know what I’d do if she hadn’t.” Mom’s eyes welled. I couldn’t look at her. It hurt too much. I would be gone soon. She would go on then. She would have to. She didn’t have much of a choice. Neither did I.
“I’m okay, Mom.” I assured her. She wiped her eyes. “Yes, honey, I see that. It’s wonderful. Oh, by the way, you have a few visitors that have showed up here since they found out you’re in the hospital. But, just to let you know, there are probably a few more than you’d expect. I’ll be in the lobby if you need me, all right?” I nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Go on. Let them in. I’ll be fine. I’m not going anywhere.” She smiled. “That’s my girl. See you later, lovey.” She kissed my head again, and then left.
About a minute later, Amber and Cloe showed up at the door, together. The doctor opened the door and Amber flew inside and threw her arms around me. Mascara streaks covered her weary face. Cloe stood against the door, watching us embrace. They were both hysterical. I didn’t know what to say.
“You guys, thanks so much for coming. I’m sorry about that. It was such an accident, I didn’t mean to—“ Cloe interrupted. “We know, Abby. It’s okay. Everybody knows you’re sorry. It’s okay. We just wish—“ Amber, for some reason, glared at her, and she stopped. I knew what they were thinking. “What? Wished what?” Cloe thought for a moment. “We, um—we wish that you’d stop playing with rocks. And get well, of coarse.” She hesitantly came over and hugged me quickly, then returned to her position in the corner of the room. Amber sat up at the end of my bed.
“Zac’s out in the waiting room, signing autographs for the hospital staff. He’s afraid to come in. We don’t know why. But we met him, talked awhile, and he told us to tell you he hopes you get better. He’s so weird. That message wasn’t too personal for a boy who’s supposedly amazing with words.” She was angry with him. I could tell right away, from the tone in her voice when she spoke about him. She hated him for not coming in to see me, for leaving her to do the work for him. I shrugged.
“He is amazing with words. But, you don’t know Zac like I do. We’re going through some problems right now. It’s my fault he won’t come in. I don’t blame him. I lost my freaking mind today, and I completely blew him off. Tell him I’m sorry, please?” Cloe nodded and ran over to take Amber’s hand. “Yes, we will. Let’s go, Amb. We’ll go tell him.” Cloe was shaking. I assumed it was because of something about the hospital, the fact that people died in there. Was she afraid that I was going to die? As Amber waved goodbye, I whispered, “You guys. I promise I won’t die.” They both heard me, somehow. Turning, they smiled, and then went on. The word that followed my statement in my heard scared me. Yet.
I was discharged from the hospital the next morning, with fifty-six stitches on my wrist, and more guilt than I could bear. Zac was still too shaken by my rage to come visit me. Cloe hadn’t returned because of her phobia of hospitals, and Reenie was too young to visit me. Amber had talked to me for hours via telephone, being overly nice and understanding. She wasn’t afraid. She was doing everything that she could for me—she acted as my messenger, giving Zac, Reenie, and Cloe my words, babysat Reenie, and once, she snuck fast food into my room for me. She, along with Mom, was my biggest supporter. Maybe because she understood that she was the only one who knew the whole truth of what had happened, even though she didn’t want to believe it. I felt terrible about what this secret was doing to her. I had hurt Zac with something-similar years before. I thought I had grown. How could I do this again?
Chapter 10-Unworthy
