Chapter 10
It took a little time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and once they finally did he had reached the kitchen light. The sudden brightness reeked havoc on his eyes and he squinted as he walked over to the fridge. He was feeing kinda hungry.
Once peering in he realized he wasn’t gonna get food right away. The fridge was kind of baron so he made his way into the room that he seemed to have visited frequently. Things still looked the same. The car parts lay sprawled on the floor in front of the couch. A smile came to his lips as he remembered over hearing Delana say that she was waiting for him to do something about it.
He was amazed that he knew and remembered everything that happened while he was unresponsive. The frustrating thing was he couldn’t do anything about it. He tried so hard to do something for them but nothing would work. Only once did he get himself to react to something and that was at the race. ‘my adrenaline must have been really high’ he thought as he strolled in the room and took a seat on the edge of the couch.
One thing he couldn’t remember was what happened to him while he was gone. All he remembered was going to see what the noise was… and waking up in the hospital unable to speak or respond to any one around him. A shudder enveloped him at the thought of actually remembering it in the first place. He was better off.
His hands reached down to pick up a few piece of the car parts. He remembered he couldn’t’ put this DAMN thing together. He remembered the frustration… and he remembered holding De in his arms right before his life had changed. The last thing they did together was kiss. His eyes closed as he still felt her lips on his.
After taking a deep sigh he set to work on putting together the car that gave him so much trouble before…
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Delana woke up to the sounds of birds chirping outside her window. She wanted nothing more then to find a shoe and toss it out the window at them. She sat up and looked next to her to find the spot empty.
“Damn it! I was gonna stay up!”
She grumbled a little more while pulling her legs off the side of the bed and pushing herself up. Her eyes were still crusty from falling asleep crying and she rubbed them roughly to get rid of it.
She walked clumsily over to the window and scared the birds away instantly.
“And stay away!” She yelled at them. Her eyes scanned the beautiful morning and couldn’t’ help but let a smile come out. It’s true she wasn’t in the mood to smile but the warm sun on her face gave her a brief instant of happiness. With one last look she eyed the swimming pool below.
“I’m going swimming.” She mouthed out loud and went in search of her bathing suit. She needed some kind of release from the stress and this looked like a good start.
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After changing into her bathing suit, Delana headed downstairs. She found her husband where she always found him. Sleeping soundly on the couch. She smirked a little before her mouth turned sharply into a frown. She remembered what she did last night and the tears that came down his face. She had made him cry... and suddenly she felt like the most horrible person alive.
Slowly she inched closer to him, yearning to see his face before heading out to the pool. Her attempts to be as silent as possible failed as she felt her foot land on something and almost take her out completely. She yelped out loud as she caught herself and stood still to see if she had woken him up.
She hadn’t and finally let herself breathe as she reached down to pick up what almost made her break a limb.
A car… a little toy car…
Her brain was working on overtime and she glanced back down to the floor not seeing the mess that normally lay upon it.
“No… He put it together?” she whispered while looking over the car. Her eyes were wide. She turned and absentmindedly walked to the sliding glass door, the whole time examining the little car in her hands.
She was so into the little car that as she walked over to the pool she missed the wet spot on the ledge and for the second time that day, slipped and tumbled foreword. The car that was in her hand flew out as she slammed her forehead onto the concrete edge of the in ground pool. The last thing she saw was blue water as she hit it and sunk deeper into it.
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Kevin awoke with a start. Sitting up quickly he threw his legs off the couch and peered around the room suspiciously.
Something woke him up but what the hell was it?
He stood like a statue while listening to the silent house. His senses were on over drive.
A whimpering sound from the kitchen sent his legs in motion.
“De?”
His voice was weak and his throat burned as he talked. It had been so long since he had done it. But he had no time to think of that now.
Once he was in the kitchen, Kevin found where the whimpering came from as he strode over to one of his massive dogs Endy.
The dog stood still, staring intently out the back screen door. Letting out small whimpers in the direction of the pool.
Kevin’s eyes followed the canines till they finally landed on the blonde hair.
“Oh shit!” he whispered as he frantically pulled open the screen door.
The sight that lay before him almost sent him to his knees. His wife… his beautiful wife… floated lifelessly in the chlorinated water. The zone around her head was turning a sickening diluted red color. He wasted no time running foreward and leaping into the pool, clothes and all.
His stomach turned as he was forced to swim in the vicinity of the red water. The pool wasn’t deep and Kevin grabbed his wife by the waist and started trudging through the liquid barrier to the steps on the other side.
Kevin lifted her out, cradling her in his arms. The origin of the seeping blood was now exposed to him as he observed a gash on her forehead.
“It’s ok De…” he mumbled as he laid her down onto the concrete that surrounded the pool. His heart raced frantically while he reached to feel her pulse.
“Thank god!” he shouted when he found one. Only thing was… she wasn’t breathing. The rise and fall of a normal chest wasn’t evident, as he looked her over.
‘She swallowed water.’ His mind shouted. He went to work immediately and placed his hands in the middle of her chest and started pumping.
Time felt like it stood still when in all reality it all happened in a matter of seconds. He felt her body respond and right away heard her start to cough up the uninvited liquid.
Kevin stopped his pumping and smiled widely as he reached over to tip her head to the side, allowing the expelling water to clear away from her mouth.
“It’s alright… get it out. Calm down.” He whispered soothingly in her ear. He still cradled her head in his hands. One thumb ran over her cheek to give her comfort.
Delana finally felt her breath come back to her. She was so confused. How did she end up here? But her mind wouldn’t let her work it out for it was still pretty hazy and cloudy in there. She leaned back, breathing deeply as she rested her head on some ones lap. Her eyes were trying to adjust to the sting that the chlorinated water had made.
A hand stroked her hair, trying its best to calm her down.
She smiled weakly as she tried to look up at the face of the person who held her.
She blinked a few times… her vision still cloudy but getting better every minute.
A gasp escaped her lips as she recognized the man who just saved her life.
“Kevin?!”
“Are you ok?!” he said in a shaky voice while looking her over.
“Kevin?”
“What the hell were you doing? What happened?”
He helped her sit up while he grabbed a towel off the lounge chair and wrapped her into it. He rubbed her arms while she stared at him in shock.
“De?” What happened?” Their eyes finally locked.
“A… am I dreaming?”
Kevin gave her a confused look. Was she ok? He pushed a strand of wet blond hair off of her face and lifted her chin to him.
“Your not dreaming sweetie. How does your head feel?”
“Hurts…” She whispered as she shut her eyes obviously enjoying his touch. Kevin couldn’t’ help but notice that the gash was bleeding pretty badly. He would have to get her to a hospital and get that stitched up. With extreme care, he lifted her up off the concrete in a cradle position and laid her down on one of the chairs.
“Hun I’ll be right back. I’m gonna get the phone ok? I’ll be right back. Don’t go to sleep.”
“Mmm hmm” She murmured, her eyes still closed. Kevin turned and jogged to the screen door. He wanted to hurry. She shouldn’t fall asleep with a head injury.
A minute later he emerged from the house with the cordless phone and a couple white towels in his hand.
“De? Come on Hun you gotta stay awake ok?” His voice was stern as he placed one of the towels over her head. “Here… hold this there.” She reached up and held the towel in place while Kevin dialed 911.
“Are you sure this isn’t a dream?”
Kevin sat next to her on the chair and took her hand. He wasn’t sure why she kept asking if this was a dream.
“I’m sure its not.”
Delana’s mouth curled up in a wide smile as she lay there with her eyes closed. All the dreams and visions and flashbacks of her husband lately confused her. She wasn’t sure if this was a distant memory but now she was certain. He was there… he was ok… He was… Kevin. Her mind was so cloudy but she knew for sure it was him. His presence surrounded her and even though she was in pain, she was content to no end.
“I love you.” She whispered before losing consciousness.
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He burst through the double doors and headed over to the main desk. His muscles were tense and worry filled his mind… He just went over to say hello… he didn’t expect this… what was going on?
“Excuse me?!?!” he said to the nearest nurse. But when she held up one finger to let him know she’s be a minute he leaned himself against the counter and started tapping his fingers… how dare she tell an Earnhardt to wait!
As he waited he remembered what happened this morning that was causing his stomach to turn over constantly.
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”Son of a…” He spat as he watched his bottled water slide out of its holder and splash around the passenger side of his truck. He cursed himself for taking that curve too sharp… now his truck was wet!
The morning hadn’t been going too well for him. He was woken up WAY to early in his opinion with a call from Ty. Then he ran outta gas on the way over to the Harvick’s house. Ran out of GAS! How… being a Nascar driver, did he not notice that he had no gas! He grumbled loudly and pulled into the driveway.
No one answered his knock… And no one answered his shouts.
“Where in the hell did they go?” He said out loud while making his way to the back of the house. This was pissing him off… Delana always told him if they were going somewhere.
But then he saw it… Plain as day. Almost smacking him in the face. Blood… In the pool… Around the pool… there was no mistaking it.
His legs swung him around and he run for the front door to get to his truck… But he was cut short as he almost knocked down an other figure on the porch.
“Whoaaa you ok there?” A middle-aged woman said as she held up her hands to try and avoid being knocked down.
“I’m sorry! Umm… I can’t find my friends! I’m afraid something happened!” He tried to get around her but she stepped back in front of him.
“Hun an ambulance came and took your friend to the hospital. I just wanted to tell you that and the fact that they weren’t rushing so I’m sure its not bad ok? So calm down before you get back in that truck of yours.” A smile came to her lips and Jr inhaled deeply before exhaling some frustration out.
“Thanks…”
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Not Bad? If they had to go to the hospital then it had to be bad enough. He looked back over to the nurse who was now conveniently on the phone. He let out an exasperated huff and decided he’d find things out himself.
He followed the signs to the ER. The whole while trying not to breathe through his nose. The smell of hospitals was not his favorite thing and he’d rather be in a public toilet then here.
“Follow the arrows… yea sure…”
His mind was going crazy… He was scared of what possibly happened. Blood in and around the pool? Did Kevin fall in? Did he MEAN to fall in? Is he really badly hurt? Was De ok after finding him like that? He shook his head to rid himself of the horrible thoughts.
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Kevin paced around the tiny waiting room to the ER. He knew Delana would be ok but he couldn’t’ wait to see her. Sure… finally he is back to normal and he gets ripped away from his wife.
That was it… he had enough! He needed to take a walk. They had been taking forever with De and he needed something to do to clear his mind a little. He huffed out loud and headed down a hallway.
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“Why do they make these damn hospitals so difficult!” The Bud driver whined while placing his hands on his hips.
He had lost the arrows… and had no idea how… one minute they were there… the next minute they just stopped.
Suddenly he got a bright idea.
“Son of a bitch why didn’t I think of it before!” He plunged his hand in his pocket and pulled out his small cell phone. Silently hoping that Delana had it on her he found the number inside and hit send.
“Come on… come on … WORK” He Shouted while collecting a lot of attention his way. Finally the cell phone found a connection and started to ring. Jr started to walk down an other unidentified hallway as he listened to the phone ring for second time now.
When suddenly… He heard a ringing… but it wasn’t in his ear! Delana was near by!
He started jogging in the direction of the noise.
‘Sounds like it’s around that bend!’ he said to himself. The sound got louder as he came to a corner. As he turned the corner he went to shout out Delana’s name when he came crashing into a solid barrier. The impact caused him to drop the cell phone and it hit that hard hospital floor with a loud clunk.
“What in the HELL!” He mouthed while going to grab the phone hoping it wasn’t broken. He looked up at the “barrier” he just ran into but what he saw was something he did NOT expect…
His jaw dropped has he stood straight up, leaving the phone where it was lying.
