Anika
Gasp!
My eyes open up with immense force as my fingers clench the bedsheets I'm supposedly lying on. There seems to be a mask plunged onto my mouth, and I notice there are tubes coming in and out of my body.
I whisper incoherent words to myself, taking incessant breaths in and out. Then, I hear someone exclaiming beside me, frantically running to the door. "Doctor! She's awake!" I notice the woman is wearing all blue and has a blue cap on her head and blue gloves on. Man, this woman must really love blue.
But then, it hits me hard. Wearing all blue... tubes in and out of me... mask plunged onto my mouth...
Am in a... hospital?
No way. No way in hell I can be in a hospital. I mean, it seemed as if five minutes I was studying for a test tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow... what is tomorrow? What is today? What is the freaking date for today?
As I ask these questions to myself, the door bursts open to a doctor wearing a white lab coat, a stethoscope wrapped around his neck and a clipboard placed in his hands. "How come she's awake? The anesthetic isn't supposed to awaken her this early."
"I know, doctor," the nurse sighs, "But I was acknowledging her heart rate and I realized that it started pulsating at an abnormal rate in a five minute time span."
"That's weird," the doctor mutters. He comes up to me and places his hand on my forehead. "She's burning up," he whispers. "Her body temperature is probably reacting in an abnormal form, due to the anesthetic. Did you measure the dosage correctly, nurse?"
"Yes, doctor, I did," the nurse straightens up. "She was doing well for a few hours, but in that specific five minute span her heart rate really fastened, due to the monitor."
The doctor pulls his hand away and clears his throat. "Maybe... maybe she had an episode."
"An episode?" the nurse looks at him weirdly. "But doctor, how can an anesthetic cause her to go through an episode?"
"Well, in her file it said that this specific patient attempted to commit suicide. It depends on what caused her to commit that action, so maybe that's why she possibly have went through an episode."
Attempted to... commit suicide?
Then, it all comes back to me.
My father abused me. He dragged me up the stairs. Locked me in the room and left me all alone. I broke glass off of my mirror and grabbed one specific shard sharp enough to hurt me. I started to drag it on my wrist, but then the door bust open. My father looked at me in shock and immediately called the ambulance. I started to faint, feeling my surroundings turn black. Couple minutes later, I felt my body being carried by people, and dropped onto a moving bed. Then, I felt myself falling asleep...
Oh, no.
I gasp to myself slightly, but loud enough for the nurse and the doctor to hear. Suddenly, the nurse rushes to me. "Sweetie, can you hear me?"
Seconds later, I muster up the courage to nod my head and squeak out, "Yes."
"Okay, good," the nurse sighs. "Listen to me, okay? Do you remember what you were doing before you came here to the hospital?"
And so, I told her. My voice croaked and cracked multiple times, but I managed to tell her the entire story of what happened. When I finished, the doctor and the nurse looked at me in such shock and the nurse cleared her throat. "Sweetie, I am sorry to hear that. And your father was the reason for your attempting of... suicide?"
"Yes," I immediately blurt out. "He... he was dragging me up the stairs," I whisper, feeling my eyes blur. "He called me words that no father should call their child. He should be j-jailed," I sob out.
"Don't cry," the doctor sweetly replies. "And by what you're telling me, that is horrible to hear and to even go through," he continues on. "We will definitely turn him into authorities, but we can't jail him if we don't have any proof he did those things." The doctor pauses. "You're 21, right?"
I nod my head.
"Well," the doctor takes a deep breath. "Do you have any other relatives you can live with?" I shake my head. "Siblings?" I shake my head again. "Any close friends?" My mind wanders to Em and Ty, but I know I can't possibly live with them because Ty has at least five siblings in his three bedroom condo, so that's not going to work out. And Em switches homes with her mom and her dad, since they're divorced, so that's not going to work out as well. I eventually shake my head.
Finally, the doctor asks, "And how about a special one? Boyfriend or girlfriend? Fiance? Potential husband or wife?" I pause and immediately think of... Shaurya.
Oh shit... Shaurya!
I still haven't really got back to him on his beach party--
Wait! His freaking beach party!
"No," I immediately shake my head and add afterwards, "But wh-what's the date today? And day too, if you m-mind saying?" I stutter.
"Well, it's..." the doctor goes to look on his phone. "It's September 17, 2019. And it's a Saturday."
Saturday...
It's today!
"Oh," I breathe out. "Okay. Thanks."
"No problem," he smiles. "But are you definitely sure you don't have anyone else to reside with?" I shake my head. "Well, maybe I can request an orphanage for you, or--"
"No," I blurt out. "No orphanage. I... I don't want to be in an orphanage."
"Okay," the doctor nods his head. "That's fine. But where are you going to live now? Living with your father is dangerous."
"I know, I'll just... I'll deal with it," I sigh.
"Are you sure?" he questions.
"Yes, I'm sure," I confidently nod my head. "And besides, I'm gone half of the day due to college."
"That's fine," the doctor replies. "Also, how are you feeling, Miss Desai? Any burns you're feeling, rashes that are feeling annoying, etcetera?"
"I feel... fine," I ponder.
"That's good," he nods his head. "I can release you in an hour, but I do have to tell you that your father left for work an hour ago. Do you want an ambulance to drop you off home?"
"Actually," I take a deep breath, feeling a tiny smile spreading on my lips. "I know someone that can drop me off."
Shaurya
I wake up, tossing and turning around in bed in complete agony. My eyes flutter open and see that it's 9:15am, which is way too early on a Saturday morning, especially when I don't have classes.
But then it hits me that today is Saturday, which means that it's my beach party. Although, I'm not really worried about it because all of the preparations are complete, I just have to reach there around 3, make sure the DJ, the food, the decorations are set up and wait for the guests to arrive around 4.
Speaking of guests...
My heart beats with anxiety as I think about Anika and what happened to her last night. I have to admit, I do feel a bit guilty for fleeing away from her like that and not being able to stay with her the entire night, but the way her father insulted me like that... I just couldn't handle being in the same presence as his.
I pick up my phone and see my reflection staring back at me. My hair is tossed and turned in all sorts of directions and I see that I'm frowning. God, I just don't want to get up...
"Wakey wakey, bitch!" I moan as I place my pillow on top of my ears. "Nathan, shut up!"
"No!" He screeches back. I peer my eyes open and see Nathan widely smiling at me from my door. "Guess who's back from Emma's house?!"
After we fled from the hospital, Nathan and IÂ went back to my car and joined Emma. Then, once we reached our apartment, Emma had asked Nathan if he wanted to stay over at her house, since she was home alone. She said that only to give me alone time to reconcile with my thoughts, but I know it was just to have sex.
"Oh, how'd it go?" I mumble into the pillow.
"Dude!" He yelps. "I mean we justâ" he makes a weird screeching sound from his mouth and exclaims again, "WE HAD SEX!"
"Wow," I push the pillow off from my face and raise my eyebrows at him. "And how'd that go?"
"It went so great," he leans his head back and closes his eyes. "Best feeling ever. Now I see what amazing thing you went through with Lexie."
"Ugh, I regret having sex with her," I stand up, yawning.
Nathan winces. "Speaking of your love life, how's Anika? Do you know?"
I shrug. "I don't know. I want to check up on her, but her dad, he justâ" I shudder to myself. "He made me feel so bad about myself."
"I'm sorry about that, man," Nathan looks solemnly at the ground. "But, hey, if it makes you feel better... your party is today!"
"I know," I feel a wide grin growing on my lips. "I can't wait."
"But since it's open invite," Nathan starts to ponder, "do you think Lexie is going to show up?"
"I hope not," I shrug, "and worst of all, if she shows up with Brayden then I don't know how I'm going to able to be in the same presence of them without feeling the need to throw up."
"Watch them be dating," Nathan rolls his eyes.
"I don't care, though," I go over to my closet and grab a gray shirt and ripped black jeans. "I'm over her."
"Good," he sighs. "Lexie was toxic, especially to your mental health."
I nod my head in agreement, but my phone suddenly starts to ring on my bed. Nathan goes over to check it out, and his eyebrows furrow in confusion. "It's an unknown number."
"Answer it," I reply. Nathan shrugs and answers the phone. "Hi, Shaurya's friend. Who's this?"
I study Nathan's face in anticipation as his face falls. "Oh. Um..." he looks over to me and places his hand on the speaker. "It's... Anika."
My eyes widen as I run over to the bed and immediately grab the phone from his hand. "WHAT?" I whisper yell, covering the speaker.
"Yeah!" He gasps. "She just says that she wants to talk to you about something."
"Oh, uh, okay..." I feel my heart hammering in my chest and uncover the speaker, placing the phone against the ear. "Hey, it's Shaurya."
There's a five second pause and I hear her voice speak afterwards. "Hi, Shaurya. It's Anika."
Oh, her voice. It's so sweet, soft, and it fills my heart up. I don't even try to smile, which is weird because I randomly feel my lips curling into a grin. "I've missed you," I blurt out.
I hear her lightly chuckling into the phone. "I've missed you too. But I, uh, need to ask you a favor."
"What is it?"
"Well..." she trails off. "I just n-need you to pick me up from the hospital. I had, um... injuries and I don't have a ride home."
So Anika doesn't know I checked up on her! I clear my throat and pretend I didn't know she was in the hospital. "Oh, damn... I hope you're better now," I sympathize. "And of course I'll pick you up. I'm on the way."
I start to leave the room as Nathan silently waves me good bye. I grab the keys on the counter as Anika replies, "Thank you, Shaurya."
"It's not a problem," I muse.
I suddenly hear the line click and hold my phone against my chest. Oh, God...
I run over to my car and sit down in the driver's seat. Starting the engine, I lean my head against the headrest and place my hands on my head, groaning in confusion.
Then, I clear my throat, muster my confidence and reverse out of the parking lot.
Don't worry, Anika. I'll make sure nothing or no one hurts you ever again. Even if it means sacrificing my own life.
*
A/N:
Was that foreshadowing at the end...? ð¤
Hope you guys liked this chapter though! And it turns out that Anika is fineâ phew! But her father has fled and now she has no ride. So she called Shaurya to "come to her rescue" and now he's on the way to pick her up.
Stay tuned for the next chapter as we delve into Shaurya and Anika's relationship and discover buried secrets and mind boggling plot twists...
- Ru <3