LIKE RAIN (11 page)

Chapter
Twenty-Three

I woke up to the sound of sirens and air being pumped into my lungs through tubes. It took me a moment for my sight to come back, but when it did it was Cael who I saw next to me. His hand was clasped tightly around mine.

"You're gonna be okay, Nevaeh. You're going to be okay," he said. I watched a tear fall from his cheek.

"You're crying," I said in barely more than a whisper.

He smiled through his tears. "I told you that guys cry too."

"Don't cry for me," I told him quietly.

"I thought I was going to lose you."

"You know me better than that," I said with effort. "I'm a fighter."

"Yeah, I know you are," he replied. "Who did this to you? Was it Nathan?"

I started to nod, but it hurt my head too much. "Yes."

"I told you to call me," he said, tears still flowing down his cheeks.

"I did call you."

"You were supposed to call me
before
you went over to Nathan's."

"I'm sorry," I whispered before falling back into a deep sleep.

When I reawakened I was laying in a hospital bed. Cael came running to my side when he heard me stir.

He smiled at me. "How ya feeling?" he asked.

"My head hurts," I responded.

He nodded. "Yeah, you got a concussion."

"A lot of stuff hurts," I complained.

He nodded again. "You also broke a couple ribs, dislocated your shoulder, and you've got some pretty nasty scrapes and bruises," he said. "But nothing the doctor can't fix."

"How long have I been here?" I asked him.

"About three hours."

"And you've been sitting here all this time?"

"Don't act so surprised," he said smiling. "I was worried about you, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"That's what they have doctors for," I said.

He grinned. "Well, I wanted to make sure they were doing their job properly."

"When can I go home?" I asked.

"The doctor wants to keep you here for the night, and maybe tomorrow night too."

I looked at the clock that hung on the wall. It was nearing midnight. "I want to do something," I said.

He laughed. "We can go to the Rec Room and watch T.V. if you want."

"Aren't you going home?" I asked.

"Why would I? Everything I want is right here." I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out the meaning behind his words.

"Okay, let's go," I said, slowly getting up from my bed. As soon as I stood up my head began to spin. My knees gave out and I collapsed right into Cael.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. He held me up, being extra careful not to hurt me. I looked up at him and for a split second I saw a flicker of desire in his eye. It was gone in an instant. He slung my good arm around his shoulders and kept his arm around my waist. "You alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, let's go." When we got to the Rec Room we both collapsed on the couch. No one else was in there that late at night. Cael stared at me. He reached out with one hand and began to trace the bruises that covered my face, neck, and arms. There were more of them under my clothes. I hadn't yet seen them, but I could feel them there. I was almost afraid to look.

"Nevaeh…," Cael whispered.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," he said, his eyes blurry with tears. "So, so sorry."

I erupted into a fit of sobs. "I'm so stupid!" I screamed. "So stupid!" Cael put his arms around me and held me against his chest.

"No," he said. "He's stupid. I don't know how anybody could ever hurt you, Nevaeh. I would never lay a hand on you. You're too sweet."

I smiled. "Why did I get stuck with such an awful guy? Why couldn't I have had someone like you?"

He stared straight into my eyes, the way he never would before. "Someone like me?" he repeated.

I kept my eyes locked on his. "Or just you." He remained speechless. I waited for him to say something but he didn't. "But I was too late, wasn't I?

"Nevaeh, I…," he began. I put a finger to his lips, not wanting to hear whatever he was about to say.

"Don't," I said. "You don't have to say anything. I'm sorry I brought it up." I stood up, wanting to get as far away from him as possible, wanting to get away from the heartache. But I didn't get very far. I passed out on the floor before even taking two steps.

*  *  *

When I woke up it was Jasmine who came rushing to my side. The sun was shining brightly outside. I had slept all through the night.

"Oh my God, Nevaeh," Jasmine exclaimed. "I don't believe what happened to you!"

"Jasmine? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, I was here last night visiting your father, and when I went to get some coffee I saw Cael carrying you! I thought I was hallucinating!"

"Carrying me?" I asked puzzled.

"Yeah, he said you'd passed out," she replied.

"I passed out?" I thought for a moment and then it came to me. But I wasn't sure if I had passed out from a dizzy spell or a painful tug at my heart. "Oh yeah, I did."

"Yeah, he brought you to your room, and I yelled for the nurse to come. They checked your pulse, your blood pressure, your heart rate, and a bunch of other stuff, but they didn't actually do anything to help you. I started screaming at them, but they just said it was a side effect of the concussion."

I laughed at the thought of her screaming at all the nurses. "So how's my dad?" I asked.

"Your dad is the same," she said, "but I want to know about you."

"What about me?"

"Come on Nevaeh, look what's happened to you!" she exclaimed.

"It's nothing," I said, trying to brush off the subject.

"It is not nothing," she replied, her eyes looking at me intensely. "Nevaeh, you told me that you and Nathan weren't together anymore, but you didn't tell me this was the reason."

I sighed. "Well he only hit me once before this," I said.

"Oh, so that makes it okay?!"

"No, no. It doesn't. I just mean that the first time he hit me I left him. I didn't stick around after that. I just went back to his apartment to get my stuff. I didn't think he'd be there. He was supposed to be at work."

"God Nev, I'm so sorry that happened to you. It must've been awful," she said with a horrified look on her face.

"Don't even think about it," I said. "It's over now."

"So how did you get here?"

"Cael. I called him on a pay phone and then the next thing I knew I was in an ambulance. I think I passed out right after I called him. I just remember it being so hard to breathe and my head hurting so bad," I explained. "Where is Cael anyway?"

Jasmine pointed to a spot on the floor in front of my bed. He was fast asleep. I didn't even realize he had been in the room. "He's been here all night," Jasmine said.

"Why?" I asked puzzled.

"I don't know," she said. "He said something about it being his fault. I don't know what he meant by that." I knew what he meant. So maybe it was a tug at my heart that caused me to pass out. Or maybe it was just a coincidence. I wasn't really sure.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Jasmine and I went to visit my father while Cael was still sleeping. It was easier to walk without getting dizzy, but Jasmine still held an arm around me to keep me upright. When we got to his room I thought he looked better than I did. His scrapes and bruises were beginning to clear up while mine were still fresh. He looked somewhat peaceful, oblivious to what was going on with the rest of the world.

"So there's no change?" I asked.

Jasmine shook her head. "No change."

"Well, we sure have been spending a lot of time in the hospital," I said solemnly.

"Yeah, I'm really starting to hate them," she responded. "Yesterday was our wedding date, you know."

"Oh it was? I didn't know." She said nothing. "How come you're so different?"

"Different how?" she asked with no expression on her face.

"I don't know. It's just before I hated you, and well, now I don't."

She smiled. "I guess I was just trying to impress you and your father."

"Well, it worked on one of us," I said.

"But he doesn't know the real me."

"What do you mean?"

"He fell in love with who I was pretending to be," she said sadly.

"Well, I don't think he'd love you any less if he knew who you really were. Actually, I think he'd love you more."

At that moment the heart monitor beside my father's bed banished it's steady pace. It began to beep frantically, setting me into a fit of panic. But nurses and doctors were already flooding the room. Suddenly I was terrified. I couldn't lose my dad too.

"Daddy! Daddy don't die!" I heard someone scream. It took me a moment to realize it was me. A wave of commotion swept across the hospital room. It was loud from my piercing screams, and the doctors tried to shoo Jasmine and I away. They shocked his heart several times.

"Daddy don't leave me! Please don't leave me!" I began to sob. I suddenly felt the hold of strong arms around me. I looked up to see Cael's face.

"It's okay Nevaeh. It's okay," he consoled. Tears continued to sting my eyes.

"Please don't die," I whispered.

The doctors shocked his heart one more time, but to know avail. "We lost him," one of the doctors said. The sound of the heart monitor had turn to one slow beep.

"No!" I cried. "No, no, no!" I doubled over, practically sinking to the ground. But Cael tightened his hold on me and kept me standing. What would I do without my dad? It didn't matter that we didn't always see eye to eye, that the majority of the time he wasn't around. He was still my father, and without him, I was truly alone.

"I'm sorry," said the doctor. "We did all we could." But suddenly the heart monitor began to beep again, quickly at first, but then it slowed to its same steady pace. The doctors and nurses surrounded his bed again, looks of astonishment etched on their faces. They listened to his heart and checked his blood pressure. He was alive again. Something had brought him back.

"It's a miracle," Cael whispered from where he still stood behind me.

"It sure is," I replied. Cael and I left Jasmine alone with my father and headed back to my room "So why are you still here?" I asked him. "I know how much you hate hospitals."

He grinned. "I just couldn't stay away."

"Cael what are you doing to me?" I asked, feeling an incredible surge of sadness. "Why do you say things like that?"

"Because I mean them," he said looking hurt.

"But how can you? We're just friends. Why do you talk like there's something more?"

He hesitated. "I don't know. I guess I've always felt that there's been something more." His answer shocked me. I stared at him, trying to find the words to say. "But I guess I was wrong." He dropped his gaze to the floor, then turned around and walked away. I didn't try to stop him. I just let him go.

*  *  *

At 7 o'clock that night the nurse told me that I could go home. Jasmine wasn't there so I called her and asked her to come get me. I took a change of clothes from the suitcase that had been sitting by my bed. I didn't want to wear the clothes I had come in with, not ever again.

The ride back to my house with Jasmine was completely silent. When I got inside it felt strange being there, almost foreign. Jasmine went upstairs to her and my dad's room, leaving me alone on the couch. Minutes later someone began knocking on the door, and I reluctantly stood up to answer it.

"Hi, Nevaeh." It was Kyla.

"Oh, hi," I said, shocked to see her. She looked slightly uncomfortable. "Do you want to come in?"

"Sure," she replied. "But just for a minute." She came inside and I closed the door behind her. I returned to my spot on the couch, and she sat down beside me.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," she said with a weak smile.

"Oh, I'm alright. Nothing too tragic."

"Oh, but it is tragic!" she exclaimed. "It's so awful. I'm so sorry about what he did to you."

"Yeah well, I wasn't lucky enough to get one of the Cael's of the world," I replied.

She stared at me, but didn't look surprised at my comment. "You really love him, don't you?"

Her question puzzled me. "Cael is my friend," I said sadly. "He's your love, not mine."

She sighed heavily and walked to the door. "But you deserve him more than I do." She stepped outside and closed the door behind her before I even had the chance to respond. I stared at the door for what seemed like decades, trying to figure out what she meant.