She woke up three days later. The nurses that were there were surprised that she had woke up. Bree looked down at herself in the hospital bed and was confused. She could barely remember anything. “How are you feeling?” One of the nurses asked as she looked around the room and saw the flowers that lined the walls.
“What happened?” Bree managed to get out from her very dry throat. The nurse poured a cup of water and then tried to hand it to Bree. She took it in her hand and took a sip of the cool water, and it burned on her throat.
“There was an accident, sweetheart.” The nurse said, “I am so sorry to inform you that your mother didn’t make it out of the crash.”
“What happened to me?” Bree asked.
“You had some internal bleeding from the crash and a few other things. I will let the doctor explain it to you. I am going to go and call him and let him know you are awake.”
Bree sat there and looked around the hospital room with all the monitors. All they were doing was beeping and going off. Nothing felt right, and Bree knew she still must be medicated or something. She was lightheaded still.
“You’re awake?” She heard come from a voice she knew from the door. She looked up and saw the teacher she had for science class.
“Why are you here? “She asked as she looked at him.
“One of my students was in a horrid car accident, and I was checking up on her.” He said as he walked into the room with the flowers in hand. She looked at the man.
“So what?” she asked.
“Bree, don’t.” He said as he sat down after he placed the flowers in a vase that already had water in it. “What happened?”
“I don’t remember.” She said as she closed her eyes.
“Don’t lie to me.” He said softly.
“They were chasing us,” Bree said as she felt a tear fall from her eye. She looked at the man who was holding her hand. She didn’t even feel him take it into his.
“Bree.” He said softly.
“Next thing I know, they are hitting the back end of my car. They kept pushing it. Then they rammed us.” Bree said. “I woke up before they worked on me here and heard them talking.”
“What did they say?” he asked softly.
“They said my mother was dead, and she owed a debt. She paid for it with me.” Bree said.
“No,” he said as he shook his head. “Bree, I am so sorry. I knew I should have stopped you that night.”
“How could you have stopped me?” Bree asked as she looked at him.
“I should have done anything more than I did.” He said as he just held her hand. “That day was so bad. I watched for you to come back and when it was the morning, I knew something was wrong. I waited through until the class, and you weren’t there. I called the police.”
“You did what?” she asked.
“Bree, they found you after my call.” He said. “If I had called sooner.”
“This isn’t your fault,” Bree said as she saw the pain in his eyes and the way he was trying to talk. “This is my mother's.”
“Miss Wilson.” The doctor said as he walked into the room. He looked at the man that was there holding her hand, “Who are you?”
“My brother,” Bree said as she looked at the doctor.
“Oh.” The doctor said. “Can you make medical decisions for her?”
“Her father would be the one who could do that,” Gabe said as he looked at the doctor.
“So different fathers?” The doctor asked.
“Yes,” Gabe said.
“I am sorry for your loss then.” The doctor said.
“Sure,” Gabe said as he looked at Bree. The doctor also looked at Bree.
“Do you give consent for me to talk in front of your brother?” The man asked as he walked a little closer to her.
“Why not,” Bree said as she leaned back on the bed and winced as she felt the first wave of pain hit her back.
An hour later, the doctor left the room after going into detail about what they had done to her and the damage the accident had caused. She was somewhat surprised that she had survived. “Do you want me to call your father?” Gabe asked as he looked at her.
“Why?” Bree asked.
“So he knows you are okay.” He said, surprised that she would ask that.
“No,” Bree said. “He will come, or he won’t.”
“Bree.” He said as he looked at her.
“No, Mr. Danner.” She started to say.
“I think we are beyond the Mister thing, don’t you?” Gabe asked, “Call me Gabe like everyone else does.”
“My father won’t come,” Bree said. “His new wife will stop him. Something will come up with his new kids. He doesn’t care about me.”
“He is your father,” Gabe said.
“And that hasn’t mattered at all in the past four years,” Bree said. “So it won’t matter now either.”
“Bree.” He said.
“Gabe.” She said as she looked at him. He smiled at her when she did say his name.
“You know you sound like my sister when she is mad at me.” He laughed.
“I feel her pain,” Bree said as she closed her eyes. “Right now, that is all I feel.”
“Well, it is something.” He said as she tried resting.
“Bree, before you go to sleep, I am going to leave my phone number. If you need anything, call me.” Gabe said as he stood up, and she struggled to open her eyes.
“I don’t know where my phone is.” She said softly.
“Then I will get you one to use in the meantime.” He said as he stood above her, “I will be back later.”
She went back into a sleep state as he walked out of the room. He stood in the door and knew that he was over his head. He was torn between what he should do and what he knew he had to do. Though he looked at her, and she looked like a broken little doll at the moment, he knew that he wanted to protect her more than anything else.
Bree woke up again and was alone in the room. She began thinking of the man who had come in before when the doctor was there. She thought he was so new to this teaching thing that he was going to burn himself out by caring too much. He somehow blamed himself for the accident. She had to let him know that it wasn’t his fault at all. It was her mother’s.Somehow that didn’t surprise her that she was a part of this. Her mother had shown very little interest in her since she was born. The woman only cared about her freedom and what she could get out of life. The other person who should have cared was nowhere to be found. Though she didn’t have all that much, she needed to figure out a way to get it out of the apartment now there was no way to pay for it. The time was going to come quick, and the doctor seemed like she was going to be there for a while.She had no doubt her f
Gabe sat there looking at the small girl asleep in the bed. Though she was clear-headed at the moment, he knew she was in a lot of pain still. The doctors were telling her that a few more surgeries would be necessary to help her in the long run. She nodded her head and didn’t seem to care that they were basically telling her she was going to be bound to the hospital for at least the next month. He needed to clear his own mind. He got up and left his jacket on the seat and went to the door and looked out. Two of the nurses were staring at him. He hated that even though he could see that he often did it himself to a pretty woman.He looked back at Bree, and then he started to the elevator so he could get a quick breath of fresh air. He was only gone for a few minutes when he went back up to the room and saw an older man there looking at the girl. He turned and looked at Gabe, “Who the hell are you?” the older man asked.&ldqu
The new morning Gabe woke up and sent a text off to the phone he had given Bree the night before. It was a simple good morning and a quick question of if she wanted anything when he dropped by after school. He wasn’t surprised when he received an answer that he didn’t have to come by at all.He knew that he shouldn’t have taken such a personal interest in this. He just felt responsible. That was what he kept telling himself anyway though the voice in his head was telling him the truth that he didn’t want to hear. He couldn’t listen to it. It just seemed so wrong to him, though. If he stopped fighting with himself, he knew it was true. He had fallen for the girl the first day he met her when he took over the class at the beginning of the school year.Though she had hid in the back of the classroom in her band tee and jeans that were too big, he could see her completely. She was stunningly beautif
Gabe had to wait all day for any news on Bree. He raced over to the hospital when he was finally done for the day. Unfortunately, he had been in teacher meetings for all of his free periods. With everything else that was going on at the school and him having to do this new pilot program that the people all thought would be a great idea, he had to explain what was going on a few times, and that was a few times too many. When he got there, he saw Bree in the bed as the nurses were watching her as it seemed like she was waking up from the surgery.She was looking around and saw the people in the room. She couldn’t speak and then she looked at him. He was relieved that she seemed to focus on him. He walked around the bed to the chair he had spent most of the last few days in and just looked at her. He waited until she could focus even more before asking her anything. It seemed like a few hours though it was probably only a half hour. He just sat there.
The silence went was drowning out all the other noise in the hallways from the people that were passing by. Neither of them was thinking about the other people. Gabe had just sat there and looked at the wall waiting for her to speak again.“You know I spent the majority of my life so far thinking of ways that I would be better than my mom.” Bree said as she turned her head to look at him, “I was good. I could be left alone. I never had a boyfriend. I did my work in school. I got a job as soon as I could. I was the freaking responsible one out of everyone in my life, and she somehow hated me so much that she took all of that away from me and left me the same as her.”“But you aren’t like her,” Gabe said as he squeezed her hand. “I mean, you can do something about it. No one has to know.”“But I would know,” Bree said softly. “I can’t do that.”&l
Gabe stayed with Bree until she was near asleep, and then he took her keys and went back to the apartments. He knew which one was hers, and she had told him the things to take from the apartment first. He had stopped off at a store first and got some baskets and bags so he could move her stuff quicker.When he reached the parking lot, he scanned the area for any cars he knew as he didn’t want to bring attention to the fact he was moving the girl's stuff into his apartment. He knew this was the beginning of toeing the line for the next few weeks until the girl was done with his class. Though the way the doctors were talking, she would be in the hospital even after she graduated and also when she turned eighteen.He was okay with the things he was doing right now. He knew that being proactive with helping here right now would be a good help to help ease her and maybe help her recovery. He looked at the building across from his after he had scanned the
He sat down on the couch and ate his frozen pizza that was still burning hot from the oven. He looked around and wondered if she could make as much in his apartment as she had done in her own one. It wasn't that he couldn’t do what he wanted in the place. It was more that he didn’t know how to. Ann had thrown ideas out at him, but he had vetoed all of them because they would cost thousands of dollars, and he hoped in the next few years he would be out of the apartment and in his own house.That was his plan anyway. He thought of Bree in the hospital and didn’t like the idea she was there by herself. It bothered him for some reason. He had spent the day worrying about her, and then he was mentally slammed against the wall with her when the doctor had given her the news. He had not wanted to think about the rape that had happened. She didn’t either, but now it seemed that wasn't all that possible.She h
Three weeks was what it took for her to be able to walk out of the hospital. The doctors had done four surgeries over those weeks. Bree handled each one with a sense of grace. Though she hated being trapped in the bed. She hated nearly everything and everyone who stepped forward into her room. Though she tolerated Gabe. She wasn’t happy about anything.On the second to last day, though, she was allowed to stand for the first time by herself. She was so happy they had let her do something. Then she got to take a shower. When she got out, she was allowed to put on clothes for the first time since the accident. Gabe had brought some from her things. He smiled when he saw her.“Come here.” He said softly when she walked into the room.“They don’t fit anymore,” Bree said.“Sweetheart, you have lost a lot of weight.” He said as she got nearer. “I will try to do something with your hair.”