Chelsea and I arrived at the hospital. It was the second hospital visit in a matter of days for me, and I was hoping this wouldn’t become a habit. We were immediately surrounded by doctors and nurses who asked us questions about what Michael had done to us and if we had any injuries. I answered politely, not giving them any more information than what they needed. I also skipped the part about how he cut me just below my belly button. They took some blood just to be sure he hadn’t given us anything harmful while we were unconscious.
The doctors and nurses were talking about their plans for us when I felt a calming sensation wash over my body—the feeling was getting stronger by the second.
I looked over at the door, and a few seconds later, Aiden’s smiling face appeared.
“Hey, beautiful.” Aiden leant over and kissed my forehead. “What happened? He didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Aiden was playing up for the doctors, pretending he hadn’t seen me already, but he was laughing silently.
I glared at him and said, “I’m fine,” through gritted teeth. I really didn’t want to recite my story so that he could look like the concerned, ignorant boyfriend they would expect to see for someone in my situation.
I looked up at the doctors, who were all huddled in a bunch just inside of the doorway. “Can I go home now?” I asked no one in particular.
The doctor with thinning grey hair turned to face us. “We would like you to stay overnight for observation.”
I looked over at Aiden. “I don’t want to stay. I want to go home with you.”
“As if I’m going to leave you here. I’m not going to let you out of my sight for the rest of your life, which you know is a very, very long time.” He laughed silently.
The doctor suddenly had a change of heart. “Actually…” He flipped through my chart. “Everything looks good. You can go home as soon as I complete your discharge papers, which I will get to once I have finished assessing…” He paused as if he was having second thoughts. “Oh, I suppose the other doctors can do that. I’m sure you want to get home as soon as possible. I’ll go get your discharge papers now.” It was amazing to see how people had absolutely no idea they were being manipulated.
“Thank you,” I said to the doctor, but my gratitude was meant for Aiden.
“See, I told you one day you’d wonder how you ever got along without our abilities,” he said, laughing silently. His lips curled slightly, but he quickly composed his expression because we still had company in the room.
“Get your things together. I will be back in a couple of minutes with the paperwork,” the doctor said before leaving the room.
There wasn’t much for me to get ready because I hadn’t been at the hospital long enough to accumulate the usual stack of get-well gifts and flowers.
I got out of bed, grabbed the overnight bag Aiden had brought with him—just some clothes for me to put on over my bra and undies—and headed to the bathroom to get changed out of my hospital gown.
Standing in front of the mirror, I assessed myself. I looked awful. My dark brown hair was in serious need of a wash, and the hospital gown really didn’t do me any favours.
I quickly got out of the gown and put on a pair of shorts and a singlet. I searched through my toiletry bag, hoping Aiden had included a hairband to get the awful mess of hair off my face, although I wasn’t sure a guy would think that deeply into what a girl might need. Thankfully, I was wrong. A hairband was tied around the handle of a brush. Not bothering to brush my hair, I stuck my hair up in a ponytail, picked up my bag, and opened the door to my room.
The doctor was holding my discharge papers.
“That was quick,” I said.
“Just sign here, and you can be on your way.” He held a pen out for me to take.
I grabbed it off him and signed the forms.
“Do you have any other questions before you go?” the doctor asked.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Right then.” He turned to Aiden. “Be sure she goes home and gets plenty of rest.” He turned around and headed for the door.
Aiden picked up my overnight bag off the bed and slung it over his shoulder, and the two of us followed the doctor out the door.
We were almost to the elevators when I thought about Chelsea. I hadn’t seen her since I was admitted.
I stopped abruptly in the middle of the corridor. “I want to see Chelsea before we leave. I want to make sure she is okay.”
Aiden put his arm around my shoulders. “No worries.” He leant over and kissed the top of my head.
Chelsea was in another room down the other end of the ward. The doctors had wanted to put the two of us in the same room because of the trauma we had endured together, but I had insisted that I wanted to stay in a private room. The less I had to lie to Chelsea about what happened out there, the better.
We stopped outside her closed door. Through the window, I could see her mother in the room, her back to us, holding onto her sleeping daughter’s hand.
“Can you…” I asked Aiden silently, not wanting to intrude on her private moment.
Aiden smiled and said, “Great minds think alike.”
I stood in silence and watched Aiden remove all the fear and anxiety Chelsea would have had after the last few days. “She’ll be fine,” he assured me.