Standing in the Rain

When I awoke the next morning the house was empty. It was Saturday and after last night I expected Ryan to be there. After making sure there wasn’t a note somewhere and there were no messages on my phone I remembered the whiteboard on the back of my door. Nothing. I didn’t want to sit around waiting for them, I needed to do something, I could only think of one thing.

I went into Ryan’s room and took one of his shirts, a baseball hat, and his spare set of sunglasses and made my way back into my room. I changed into a pair of shorts and slipped his shirt on. I piled all of my hair on top of my head and slipped the hat over it before sliding the glasses on. Keys and phone in hand I made my way downstairs, set the alarm behind, and locked the door behind me.

A few minutes later I was in front of my house. The hood was up on my car, I didn’t want them to notice me staring. My mom was in the living room, I could see her through the window, she looked upset. My father walked up to her and said something then left she followed him A moment later the garage door went up I ducked down and watch as their car backed out of the driveway. I waited until the car was out of site and jumped out of the car. I ran around the back of the house and went through the back door.

Quietly I made my way up to my old room and opened the door. “Tallie?” My mother said turning to me. Fear gripped me and I couldn’t move. “Oh sweetie where have you been?” A tear slipped down her cheek. She was sober. I had only been gone a couple of days, and I wasn’t normally here on weekends I don’t see how she noticed I was gone. “Did I?” She was staring at my head. “Oh god baby I’m so sorry.” She stood up and started to walk towards me. I backed away slowly not realizing I had reached the stairs until I lost my footing tumbling down them.



I felt something around my index finger, I moved my arm towards me so I could see what it was but it hurt. I opened my eyes. There was a white board on the wall, scribbles on it I didn’t quite understand. My head was pounding. The door was open and it didn’t take me long to realize I was in a hospital. Great. The last thing I remembered was falling down the stairs of my house while my mother was…

She wasn’t trying to hurt me, at least I don’t think she was. Did she bring me here? I moved my right arm, it didn’t hurt as much, and pressed the call button on the side of the bed.

“Yes?” A nurse said coming in, she realized then that I had just woken up and had no recollection of how I got here. “Oh well it’s good to see you’re awake. I’m Stacey, your nurse.”

“How did I get here?” I asked, my throat felt like sandpaper and my voice was raspy.

“Your mother brought you here.” She informed me pouring me a glass of water. I thanked her when she handed it to me. “I’ll call and let your parents know you are awake.”

“No!” I said loudly. She raised a brow. “You can’t.” I pleaded. “They can’t be allowed near me.” Even if she had brought me here there would be no where for me to run if they came back mad.

“They’re your parents, don’t be silly.” She started to walk out of the room but I stopped her again.

“I’m 18 now. They don’t make my decisions. You have to keep them away from me.” Tears we’re brimming around my eyes. Her face was now full of worry.

“Well do you have anyone else I can call, keep in mind it’s three in the morning. You’ve been unconscious and sedated for several hours now.” What the hell. She walked over to me and handed me the phone beside my bed. I wasn’t sure where my cell pone was but I didn’t care. “I’ll go get your doctor while you call.” She smiled warmly and left the room.

I laid the phone in my lap and punched each number individually. The phone rang a few times before someone picked up the phone with a sleepy hello.

“Linda?” I said, I tried to sit up a bit but it hurt too bad and let out a whimper.

“Tallie?” The worry in her voice was heavy. “Tallie is that you? Where are you? Where have you been?” My eyes flickered to the whiteboard looking for the name of the hospital.

“St. Johns Memorial,” I said. She didn’t say anything, well to me at least, I heard her yell at Dave to get up.

“Alright sweetie just stay there, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” I heard a click signaling she hung up. I looked over the bare part of my arms but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary besides the IV in my hand and the pulse reader on my finger. With the pain I felt from both of my arms I didn’t bother to lift the sleeves. I knew something was wrong. I just wasn’t sure what. It took a few minutes for the doctor to come in. I then noticed the bulge on my left shoulder. Probably not good.

“Tallie, I’m Dr. Rieves.” He smiled at me warmly. “You had quite the tumble today. I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on.”

“Yes.” I knew he was just trying to be nice but I wanted to know what the hell was wrong with me.

“Your mother brought you in, she said you fell down the stairs?” I confirmed it. “Well, you bumped your head pretty good, nothing too serious there. Your left shoulder received the worst of it. It broke and the bone came out, your elbow was also fractured in the process. Don’t worry though, we stitched you back up and it will heal. Other than that you may be pretty sore. Many contusions but nothing else.” I nodded and asked about the IV. “Pain killers, you’ll be needing them for awhile.” He smiled softly. “Your keys, phone, and other personal effects are in the closet, except for the shirt. I’m afraid we had to cut it off to get to your shoulder. I’ll let you get some rest.” He said turning towards the door. “I’ll come by and check on you tomorrow.” He left the room but stayed by the door making notes in his chart.

“Excuse me?” I called out suddenly embarrassed. He looked over at me. “What do I do if I need to use the restroom.”

He stepped in and said softly, “You have a catheter, if you need to go just go.” Gross. So gross. I decided to carefully test my joints starting at the bottom, my toes were fine. Right ankle was a little sore. Both knees were in pain. I tried to lift my legs and it hurt but wasn’t too bad. Maybe it would be a good idea to try to sit up. I knew not to attempt it on my own and hit the call button again. Just as Stacey finished setting pillows behind me and I was in an upright position I heard Linda’s voice.

“Don’t tell me to calm down Dave.” She snapped. “She’s been missing all day and now she’s in the hospital!”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds!” I yelled out the door. Linda rushed through the door and ran over to give me a hug. I cried out in pain as she grabbed my shoulder.

“What happened?” I knew Dave and Ryan were in the room but I couldn’t see anything over her hair.

“Mom.” Ryan said, his voice sending butterflies through my stomach. “I’m sure she’ll tell us, just let go of her.” Linda released me smiling and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. I felt a squeeze on my big toe, something Dave had always done when he walked by if my feet were up. My eyes went to Ryan. He looked horrible. His eyes looked sunken, he was awfully pale. I smiled at him, he returned it with a weak one of his own.

I knew I better start speaking. “When I woke up this morning I noticed the house was empty. So I borrowed some of Ryan’s things and went incognito to watch my parents house.” Ryan’s jaw tensed. “I saw the car back out and decided to go sneak in through the back. Get a couple of things from my old bedroom.”

“Tallie.” He said sternly.

“Just let me finish. When I went upstairs my mom was in my room. She was sitting on the bed crying, completely sober. When she got up and came towards me I started to back away. I wasn’t paying attention and went backwards down the stairs.”

“Tallie.” he said again. His voice hard.

“She didn’t do anything. She wasn’t going to. She was the one that called the ambulance. I even told the nurse to not let my parents in here.”

“You don’t know that.” He said. “Are you sure you fell down the stairs and she didn’t throw you down them?”

“Ryan!” Dave snapped.

“No it’s fine,” I gestured towards the door. “Can I have a minute alone with him?” His parents nodded and left shutting the door behind them. Ryan leaned his back against the door crossing his arms. “Aside from some pain and a broken arm I’m fine.”

“Jesus Tallie!” He shouted, then in a much quieter voice he began to speak. “I came home to find you gone. No note. You didn’t answer your phone. We spent all day looking for you calling everyone we knew, everywhere you ever go thinking maybe someone saw you. The one place we thought you wouldn’t go is back there, and you did. Only to call us at three in the morning to say your in the hospital.”

“I would have called.” I said quietly. “You know that, I just… couldn’t. I was knocked out while they put my bone back in. As soon as I woke up I called your house. Do you think I thought any of this would happen? I didn’t. And I know you’re not going to believe me but I’m going to tell you again anyway. My mother didn’t push me. This was a complete accident for once.” He sighed and walked over to my bed. I moved my arm out of the way so he could sit down.

“Don’t you ever do that again. Do you hear me?” I nodded slightly tears in my eyes. He leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead. “I have never been so terrified in my life.”

“I’m sorry.” I said quietly. “Will you stay here? With me tonight I mean?” He smiled softly and nodded. I was in a private room so they would have to bring in a cot for him. “You may want to let your parents back in.” They came in and I assured them I was fine and they didn’t need to lose anymore sleep, they could always come see me in the morning. Reluctantly they left. Ryan wedged his cot in between my bed and the wall so he could sleep near my good arm, holding my hand as we both drifted off to sleep.