Fragments

After the phone call from Beth, Elena’s best friend’s mother, Alyson sobbed. Her head bowed down into her hands, unbearable heavy with the constant worried thoughts. Her family was with her, but it was only half a family, fractured with missing people. Elena was still unconscious in a hospital bed and Toby was nowhere to be found. She almost felt guilty for being more focused on Elena, but she knew Toby was probably at a friend’s or even home by now.

Courtney pulled her chair over and wrapped her arms around her mum, pained by such an awful display of emotion. This was her mother, who didn’t ever cry, not in the presence of her children. Though maybe it didn’t matter anymore, because she was an adult now and Elena wasn’t really there.

“I should’ve protected her,” her mother whispered almost inaudibly into Courtney’s shoulder. The only response the girl gave was to pat her mother’s hair.

Her father sat in a chair on the other side of the bed, his blank, expressionless face staring at the face of his poor daughter, also blank and expressionless. Every now and then, he thought he saw slight movement from her – a twitch of an eyelid, a finger, the slight parting and closing of her lips. It made his hopes soar every time, even though the nurse he’d asked had said they were involuntary, not at all indicating that she was to wake up soon.

A nurse entered the room, following by a small, pale boy. He stood shivering, though he wore warm clothes, and his face remained fixated at the floor. Neither of Courtney’s parents turned to them but she did and a washed out shock slid through her thoughts. Nothing could compare to her shock of seeing Elena in a hospital bed, a bandage wrapped around the top of her head; all other emotions felt pale in comparison.

“Toby,” she breathed, and then looked up at the nurse. “How did he get here?” At the mention of his name, Toby glanced up; his entire physical appearance seemed lost, small…broken. The Toby Courtney knew was optimistic, bouncing off anything even slightly negative with a smile and just general happiness. She couldn’t remember any time over the age of five when Toby had cried – and yet, here he was, eyes red rimmed and cheeks tear stained.

Alyson jumped out of the chair, finally realising her missing son was in the room, and she wrapped her slightly plump arms around him. “I know, I know,” she said softly, voice soothing. “It’s hard on all of us to see Elena here…”

But his mother’s words didn’t break his expression; he just shook his head and stepped out of her embrace. His eyes lowered to the floor again and he spoke not a word. Again, Courtney looked to the nurse, and repeated, “How did he get here?”

The nurse, a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties, kept eye contact with the young adult in front of her as she explained. “He was found at the crash site and he’s practically unharmed, because he was sitting in the middle seat of the car. He hasn’t spoken a word to any of us, which is why we didn’t know he was related to you or your family…” The nurse’s eyes unmistakably flickered to Elena in the bed as she said ‘your family’. “But the other girl found there who is conscious told us Elena and this boy is related. She said his name was Toby?” Her voice rose on the last sentence, a question for them to confirm that yes, his name is Toby, yes, he belongs to us.

Courtney nodded and then asked, “Who is the other girl? What’s her name?” Curiosity etched into her features as she considered who it might be. One of Elena’s friends, probably. Or maybe a friend of Toby’s since he was there. And then another question entered her mind, one that she should’ve thought of a while ago. Elena doesn’t have a car; she doesn’t even know how to drive a car. Neither does Toby, obviously. Whose car did they use? This other girl’s?

“She says her name is Leana…Leana Donnelly, I think.” The nurse scratched her neck. She stood in front of a white, sterile wall, bleeding memories of sick patients, sad patients, hurt patients. Who else had resided within these walls?

Courtney caught her breath. “Wait, what?” Surely, surely it couldn’t be.

The nurse shot her a strange look. “Her name is Leana Donnelly.”

Her blonde hair swished around her as she stood, some hidden emotion blooming in her eyes. “Where is she? Take me to her. Is she okay? How badly is she hurt?” Relief fluttered through her as she remembered something the nurse had said: the girl is conscious. Maybe she was not too badly hurt. But there was confusion crossing her mind as well; why on earth would this particular girl, woman really, be with Elena?

The nurse nodded and led Courtney to a different room, somewhere that seemed a long way away from Elena’s room but probably wasn’t too far. Inside the room were four beds: one was empty and the other three bore three different people. An overweight man with a bandage around his ankle, an elderly woman with her blanket pulled right up to her chin and – there. There she was.

“Lee!”

Her face jerked up as Courtney appeared at her side in a flash. She stared down at the girl sitting on the bed, shocked, sharp stabs of pain rushing through her. In a way, it was a relief to feel something vivid instead of pale and washed out.

Lee’s face was covered with scratches, some deep and long but most small. Her arms and neck were the same. They stood out against her skin in angry red. “Lee,” Courtney breathed. “Are you okay? Do they hurt? How come you have them and Elena doesn’t? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Lee’s voice was so quiet and her eyes never met Courtney’s. Something seemed different about her. As she glanced up, she focused on someone behind her and Courtney turned to see – it was the nurse who’d led her here, just about to leave the room. When Lee next spoke, her voice was sharp. “Why did you bring her here? You need to take her back.” She was addressing the nurse as though Courtney wasn’t even there. Hurt squeezed in her heart.

“It’s okay, I’ll leave,” she said, her hurt feelings so obvious in her voice. That was the first time Lee glanced at her and in her eyes was something like fear, something Courtney didn’t want to think about. “I’ll just…be in Elena’s room. If you want me.” And she walked out, back to her family, back to the pain and worry and washed out feelings.

After she pushed away her feelings of hurt and worry about Lee, she realised something: Lee also didn’t have a car. She borrowed Courtney’s when she had to, but mostly she used public transport – and Courtney’s car was in the hospital’s parking lot right now. Who else was in that car and who was driving? And why hadn’t she wondered about these things before?