Better With Time

The bus pulled up to the hotel around one in the morning. Randy looked back to Keri, who had fallen asleep some time ago. John was awake and stretching out the muscles in his back and grumbling something incoherent.

“Ker, wake up we’re here,” John said, gently shaking her shoulder. Keri stirred and looked around, her eyes adjusting to the sudden change of natural lighting. It was still light out when she went to sleep somewhere close to the border.

“You know, maybe you should go in the hotel and get a few more hours of sleep before you drive to your brother’s house,” Randy suggested as Keri rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

“I was asleep nearly five hours Randy, I’m awake enough to drive.” She replied.

“I agree with Randy Ker, you might be fine now, but what happens when you get on the road and start falling back asleep?”

“I’m fine guys, honest I am.” she replied with a smile. “It’s not that far from here, so I’ll be fine to make it there.”

“Okay, I can see we’re not going to change your mind.” John sighed. “Just, call me or Orton when you get there okay, just so we know.”

“I will,” Keri said, walking toward the bus that held all their luggage. She called for a rental car since her own was in New Hampshire at her apartment. The car was waiting for her in the hotel parking lot, so she put her luggage in the trunk and backseat, and climbed behind the wheel.

“See you guys later,” she said to Randy and John, who was watching her from the side of the bus.

“Call us!” John shouted after her as she started driving away.

“I have a bad feeling,” John admitted to Randy.

“Paul’s house is only about fifteen minutes from here John, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Randy said, though he didn’t sound to convinced himself. “Come on, we’re rooming together this week, let’s go check in and wait for her to call.” John nodded and grabbed his own luggage, dragging it into the lobby of the hotel. After they both checked in, they made their way to their room, both collapsing onto their own beds.

“Damn I hate bus rides like that,” John groaned. “I’m going to go shower,” he said, standing up and grabbing his clothes from his suitcase. Randy just sat up on the bed, glancing at the clock on his cell phone. She’d been gone for five minutes now, so she should get to the house within ten, give or take a few.

With a groan, Randy stood up and walked toward the stand that held the television. Grabbing the remote, and flicked it on and walked back to his bed, leaning against the headboard and flipping through the channels.

“Anything on?” John asked, a towel in his hand that he was using on his hair.

“Not that I’m finding,” Randy muttered, tossing the remote onto his bed.

“How long has it been?” John asked. Randy looked at his cell phone. “Twenty minutes.”

“She should have called by now,” John muttered, looking at his own cell phone. No missed calls and no text messages.

“Don’t go worrying yet Cena, she probably stopped some place to eat.” Randy pointed out.

“Yeah that’s true. She said she’ll be at her brother’s house by two, so we’ll give her until 2:15 to get there.” Randy looked down at his cell phone again, nothing that it was one thirty. He agreed that would be fair, so he picked the remote back up and started flipping through channels again.



Keri walked out of the convenience store with a bag of donuts and cup of coffee in hand. Opening her car door, she set the cup in the holder and threw the donuts onto the other seat. She slid in behind the wheel and started driving down the road again.

She never realized how much she missed being in Connecticut. She didn’t know what it was. May it was just that her brother and his family lived down here now. It was hard to tell with how long she’s been away from home.

A song started playing on the radio, but she didn’t feel like listening to that song, so she reached over and turned the knob, trying to find a different station to listen to. An upbeat rock song filled the car, and she knew the band and song, so she stuck with it.

“Say what you mean, tell me I’m right. And let the sun rain down on me,” she sang along with the singer. “Give me a sign, I wanna believe.”

Just as she was about to turn a corner, bright lights came out of nowhere, on her side of the street and running way too fast. Realizing she had no time to pull into the other lane, Keri screamed and pressed on the brakes, slowing the car down enough to where the collision wouldn’t be as bad as it could have been, and braced herself for the collision. Her head whipped back against the seat as the groaning of metal filled her ears.

“Shit, are you okay?” a voice asked. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to the road. I’m so sorry, are you hurt.” Keri tried to move her leg, but pain radiated through it, causing her to scream. She looked down and saw that the steering column had completely caved on her right leg.

“My-My leg,” she gasped, the pain making her head swim. “My leg’s stuck.” She felt darkness creep up on her, blurring her vision and making her grow weaker and weaker. Her head was splitting, her leg was on fire, but yet, against her better judgment, the darkness overtook her.



Paul paced around his living room, glancing at the clock on the cable box. Keri said she would be here around two in the morning, it was going on three o’clock now.

A knock on his door made him full out run and nearly throw the hinges off the door. His heart deflated when he saw Randy Orton and John Cena standing at the door.

“Keri isn’t here yet is she?” John asked, the worry all but obvious in his eyes.

“No, I thought you might have been her.” Paul admitted, moving back to let them in. “She’s never late like this, when she says she’ll be somewhere at a certain time, she’s always there right on time.”

“I know, I’m fucking scared now Paul.”

“Let’s go looking for her,” Randy said.

“I can’t, the girls,” Paul reminded him.

“I’ll stay, you two go out and find her,” John said.

“They’re just asleep, Vaughn might wake up for a diaper change,” Paul informed Cena. John just nodded and ushered them out of the house. Just as they got into the car, Paul’s cell phone rang.

“Paul, I’m sending Bethany to the house to watch the girls, you need to get to the hospital,” Stephanie’s voice said after he answered.

“Why, what happened?”

“Keri was in a car accident. She’s alive, but only just,” Stephanie replied, a sob making her voice crack.

“What!?” Paul roared as the front door opened. John was watching them with a confused look. Randy glanced over at him and gave him a look that had “bad news” written all over it.

“Just, as soon as you can get here,” Stephanie said, hanging up the phone. A car pulled up to the house, and an older woman got out.

“Go Paul, I have the girls, just go.” Bethany said to the younger man.

“Come on Cena, I’ll drive,” Randy said.

“Keri was in an accident,” Paul informed them as they drove down the road.

“How bad?”

“She’s not conscious, she’s alive, but she’s not awake.” Paul felt the worry bubble up in him to the point to where it was over flowing. His stomach was roiling and it was all he could do not to bring anything back up.

Stephanie was waiting for them in the lobby. She rushed up to Paul as soon as she seen him.

“What happened?” Paul asked her. “Where is she?”

“She’s still in surgery, she had internal bleeding in her head. I don’t know what happened. I guess a guy was driving recklessly and smashed into her front end. The dashboard collapsed and completely shattered her right leg. Her arm was broken and her head had internal bleeding. They’re trying to drain the blood from her brain before it causes too much damage.”

“Damn it,” John muttered, rubbing his hand over his face.

“I have to go call Dad,” Stephanie said. “They dialed the first number on her incoming calls and I was the last to call her. I got here and called Bethany then you. I have to go tell Dad what’s going on.”

“I know,” Paul said, kissing the top of her head. “We’ll be out here now, so go ahead and go. Do what you need to.” Stephanie nodded and rushed outside, dialing a number as she went.

“Fuck,” Randy whispered, sitting in a chair. He hated waiting, especially about news over the life of someone he cared about.

Paul sat next to Randy, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared at the linoleum flooring under his feet. He needed to call his parents and his other sister Lynn, but right now it didn’t seem as important as making sure Keri would be alright.

As Stephanie walked back into the waiting room, a doctor came out and looked around.

“Paul,” Steph said, walking up to the doctor. “This is Paul, he’s Kierra’s older brother,” Stephanie said to the doctor.

“Sir, your sister took a lot of damage to her brain. We won’t know the full extent for some time. Her right leg was shattered, and it’s most likely that without the right rehab, she may have difficulty walking after it heals up. Her left arm was damaged as well, torn muscles and a broken bone.”

“Fuck,” Paul muttered, feeling the tears finally fall down his face.

“Right now she’s in sedated and on a lot of pain medications. We’re going to keep her here for as long as we can, but something needs to be planned out for when she returns home. I wouldn’t advice her being on her own for right now.”

“Can we go see her?” Paul asked. The doctor nodded and gave them her room number.

“You guys go, I need to call my parents,” Paul muttered, turning around before anyone could say anything. He pulled out his cell phone, but he didn’t dial any numbers. He collapsed to the ground, sobs causing his large body to shake and tremor.

“Paul,” a voice said gently. He looked up to see his wife walked toward him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her down onto his lap.

“She’ll be fine Paul. She’s a fighter, she’ll come out of this.” Stephanie said, looking deep into his eyes.

“You heard the doctor, she’s not going to be the same Steph. She’s…”

“She’s still going to be your sister Paul, she needs you now more than ever.”

“I know,” Paul sighed, his head resting in his hands. “Why her though?”

“I don’t know, and we can’t beat ourselves up thinking like that. We need to go and see your sister Paul.”

“I know,” he said. “I really do need to call my parents though,” he said. “I’ll be in there in a minute.” Stephanie nodded and walked back into the hospital, leaving Paul to make possibly the hardest phone call to his parents he’s ever had to make.

Taking in a deep breath, he dialed the number, and waited for an answer.

“Paul?” his mother’s sleep filled voice asked. “What are you doing calling in the middle of the night.”

“I-I have some bad news Mom,” Paul said. “Kierra was in an accident. She’s in the hospital right now.”

“What?” her voice cleared up right away. He heard his father grunt in the background, and listened as his mother informed him of the news.

“What happened?” His father asked.

“I don’t exactly know, but she’s in a hospital bed right now. There was internal damage, her right leg is shattered, it’s just, it’s a mess right now Dad. They have her on a bunch of shit right now.”

“We’re heading down first thing in the morning,” his father replied. Paul hung up the phone a few minutes later, and dialed another number.

“Someone better be dying,” Lynn’s voice answered.

“Our sister just might be Lynn.” Paul replied.

“Wait, what?” Lynn asked. “What’s going with Keri?”

“She was in a crash, she’s not doing good sis.”

“Damn it, does Mom and Dad know?”

“Just got off the phone with them. They’re coming down in the morning.”

“I’ll be with them,” Lynn sighed. “Damn it Paul, what happened?”

“Head on collision from what I can tell.” Paul answered her. “Lynn, the doctors are saying she’s probably not going to be the same ever again.”

“Only time will tell.”