“Let me grab a few things, and I’ll see what I can do.”
She returned with a load of supplies and closed the door behind her. She took her time, but when all was said and done, she’d separated my shirt from my skin, cleaned my wounds, and wrapped my wrists with gauze. Then, she handed me a bag of ice for the swelling.
“You need to keep a close eye on the wounds for any sign of infection. If you think it is getting infected, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible so they can put you on antibiotics,” she explained.
“I’ll be sure to stay on top of that,” Dad replied. “Thank you for your help.”
“Yes, thank you,” I added.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Actually, yes, there is. He’ll be staying with her until she’s discharged. Do you guys have a cot or fold-out bed for overnight visitors?”
“We sure do,” she smiled. “I’ll have someone from housekeeping bring one up for you. For safety reasons, we can only allow one per room, but we can swap that chair out for a recliner if both of you will be staying the night.”
“Yes, we’ll both be here. Thank you.”
“Great. I’ll go call for your bed now.”
“What about my moms?” I asked after she left the room.
“Dash is going to stay with them at the hotel across the street after they’ve had a chance to see you and Aspen.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. “I didn’t realize how late it was. They probably should have waited until tomorrow to come.”
Dad laughed. “Are you serious? There’s no way. The only reason they waited this long is because they didn’t have a choice. But I can guarantee if Shaker wasn’t flying them, they’d be driving. You’re their son, and they’ve been worried sick. They aren’t going to feel any better until they’ve seen you.”
* * *
Days passed,but nothing much had changed. They’d stopped the medicine keeping Aspen in a coma, but she hadn’t woken up or shown any signs indicating she was close to waking up.
They told us she was stable and was healing well. Her chest tube was removed after her lung reinflated, but she was still on oxygen, which they assured us was normal. They also said she no longer needed to be in intensive care, but agreed to let her stay in the unit as long as they had the availability since it was a closed unit and more secure than the regular patient rooms.
Both of my moms were still in town and stayed at the hospital during the day, while my dad never left my side.
Luke called frequently to check on Aspen, but I was starting to dread his calls. I hated having to tell him nothing had changed. I also hated hearing him tell me they hadn’t made any progress in Aspen’s case. They had named Pamela as the primary suspect, but no one, not even me, had been able to say with one hundred percent certainty that she was involved. For all anyone knew, we could be focusing on Pamela while the real culprit was long gone.
“You seem pretty down today,” Mom observed. “What’s on your mind?”
I’d kept most of my thoughts and speculations to myself, but no one had directly asked me until that moment. So, I opened my mouth and spewed every thought, theory, and wonder that had crossed my mind since Aspen and I were found.
“It was her,” a familiar yet raspy voice said. It was the voice I’d longed to hear and feared I never would again.
“Aspen!” I gasped and almost tripped over my feet to get to her. She slowly opened her eyes and immediately scrunched her face.
“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
“Yeah,” she said weakly and closed her eyes. “My head really hurts.”
“I’ll get the nurse,” Mom said and stepped out of the room.
Once again, I felt torn. I didn’t want her to be in pain, but I also didn’t want the pain medicine to knock her out when I’d just gotten her back.
“I’m so happy you’re awake,” I admitted. “You’re going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”
She cracked her eyes open and glanced around the room. “I’m in the hospital.” It sounded more like a statement than a question, but I still nodded in response. “How long have I been here?”
“Four days. You said it was Pamela. Do you remember what happened?”