Lost Lies

“Ouch.”

I rubbed the side of my head, eyes half closed as I tried to figure out what had happened to make me feel this amount of pain.

I sat up, rubbing sleep from my eyes, and tried to focus on my surroundings. It seemed as though I was in a Land Rover, guessing by the interior.

My right arm felt funny and hard to move; it felt out of place and broken, yet I felt no pain.

The door opened beside me and cold breeze bit at my bare arms. In the doorway, Danny stood, leaning against the car looking in with a wicked grin on his face.

“She’s awake, then,” he announced menacingly.

A second body popped in the door way - Alex. “Jeez, Danny, no need to shout it out. You hungry, Winter?”

I scuttled to the furthest corner of the car and curled into a ball.

“I don’t think she remembers you, not after that blow to the head.” Danny sat in the seat beside me and a second person I didn’t recognize appeared. I curled up more, hiding my face and my fear of what was going on.

“This is my brother.” Danny slowly spoke, jabbing a thumb towards the other person. “Winter, do you remember who you are and who I am?”

“I’m not five; there’s no need to talk to me like that. Yes, I remember you and I know who I am.

“Now let me ask the questions: where am I? Why am I here? And why does my arm and head hurt?” I took a deep breath, trying to settle the frustration building up inside me.

“Someone’s cranky and aggressive,” the other guy – Casper – joked.

“Casper, leave her alone; she just woke up,” Alex hissed as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Here, Winter, come sit in the front - away from them two.” He turned and offered his hand to help me climb to the front.

I looked at Alex’s hand, to the front passenger seat and then to my right, where Danny and Casper sat grinning, and back to Alex’s hand. Finally, I grabbed it and hauled myself to the front of the car and buckled myself in. The engine growled quietly and the car pulled out of the car park of Sarah’s Cafe.

“To answer your questions: you’re in my car; you banged your head and landed on your arm funny; that’s why you’re here. I was on the way to get you checked out, but someone lost a bet and lost his car with it.” Alex looked into the mirror and flipping Casper of, who instantly replied back with two.

“Jeez, man, give a brother some love. I lost a bet to someone for the first time.” Casper pulled out a bunch of car keys from his pocket and jingled them. “He won’t be getting very far without keys though.” All three of them began to laugh.

I leaned my head against the window and slowly tapped to the rhythm of a song in my head out of boredom.

“What’s up, Winter? You seem frustrated,” Danny asked, leaning over the seat to see my face.

“I’m tired, I’m hungry and I want to go home, now.” I stressed the word ‘now’, making sure they knew I really didn’t want to be stuck in this vehicle with them.

“We will take you home, just as soon as you get checked out. Your arm seems broken and dislocated. Can you move it?” Alex gave a quick glance my way.

I tested my arm, but it was still useless. I shook my head.

“Exactly: it’s either you suffer or you get better, your choice. I know what I would go for.”

“Fine, but that’s it. Hospital, and then you’re taking me home,” I warned.

“Oh, yeah, here; I got you this.” Alex popped open the compartment in front of me and pulled out a brown paper bag. “I didn’t know what to get you so I just picked up a bottle of Cherry Coke, a chicken sandwich and a blueberry muffin.”

I took the bag from his hand and pulled out the chicken sandwich, pulling it to pieces on my lap with the one hand I had working while I ate.

After a long while, I asked the most vital question: “So, what happened to me to put me in this state?”

“You were at the Swinton Leisure pool hall. You slipped on a fallen drink mat and smacked your head of the side of the pool table, and fell on your arm at the wrong angle. You were out cold a second later,” Alex answered smoothly, pulling up outside Hope hospital. “Come on; I’ll stay with you. You two can take a cab home.” He pulled out a twenty from his pocket and handed it to Danny.

Alex got out the car first and came round to the passenger side. He helped me out the car and Casper and Danny climbed out after me.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Casper called over his shoulder as he and Danny walked away. I stared at them as they walked away with devilish grins plastered on their faces.

“Ignore them; they’re just kidding with you.” Alex’s voice came from behind me. “Come on. Let’s get you fixed up, shall we?” He sounded chirpy as he placed his arm round my shoulders and held up my dislocated arm with his other hand.

There was something off about the way he was being nice to me. I took a peek at his face as he stared straight ahead. His expression was neutral but something danced in his eyes, something almost lethal, and something told me that I really didn’t want to identify it...unless I wanted to end up dead.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

His eyes were focused on me but I never realized it until his voice shook me out of my sudden fear. His tone seemed to almost weaken me, sending my fear and instincts crazy.

“Nothing; I-I thought I saw something.” I stumbled on my words, trying to make an excuse, any excuse that seemed to be true since I managed not to do my usual habit of rubbing the back of my neck.

I suddenly felt dizzy as searing pain began to splice down my shoulder and through my broken, dislocated arm. I let out a small cry. Alex snapped his head round to look at me fully, and several people stopped short and stared at me. I felt my legs buckle from under me, but Alex caught me before I hit the ground.

“Winter, are you ok?”

My voice was strained as I answered, “No, I-I feel so weak.”

“Come on; we need to get you sorted.” Alex’s voice sounded so distant suddenly.

I felt his arms lift me up and carry me to the warm hospital reception, my head resting on his chest. There were phones ringing, alarms beeping and people crying and talking, making my head hurt more.

“Please, help me; there’s something wrong with her. She dislocated her arm, but she felt fine until we got here.” Alex explained, weary panic creeping into his voice.

“Ok, now. What’s the girl’s name?” A feminine voice asked, and there was a soothing quality to her tone.

“Winter.”

“We’ll get someone here right away to check her over.”

It felt like hours passed before a male doctor’s voice sounded close to me. “Right this way, please.”

Alex followed the doctor; he came into focus for a couple of seconds before my vision blurred again and I rested my head back against Alex’s chest.

“Ok, lay her down here.”

I felt my body slowly fall, and then lie flat and straight on a hospital bed. My vision began to come back in focus, and the pain faded, just a little.

The doctor was just a bit smaller than me, with chocolate coloured eyes and brown hair cut short, wearing typical hospital scrubs.

Alex sat impatiently in the chair next to me. I turned my head and gave a weak, weary smile. I soon turned to face the ceiling when I noticed he looked paler than usual. He looked strained, even annoyed, about something.

“Winter, can you hear me? My name is Tom. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Tom’s voice was deep but soothing as he came round to my side and held my eyes open one at a time, shining a light into them.

“I can hear you. I have a dislocated and broken arm; the pain has just faded a little.” I answered flatly.

“Ok, then. So, Winter, how did this happen?”

“Ask him.” I pointed to Alex with my working arm and turned my head towards him.

“What’s his name?”

“Alex.”

Alex whipped his head around on the sound of his name, focusing his attention back on us.

“What about me?” He questioned, frowning.

“You know what happened to me, so you tell him.” My words came out a bit too harsh, but now that I think about it, he knew a lot more than I did about how it happened.

“It sounds like your blaming me for it.” His tone sounded bitter with anger as he glared at me.

“Yes, I am. It’s funny how you know more than me!” I pointed out heatedly.

“You think I did this to you?” Alex demanded; he was clearly offended and shock was evident in his green eyes.

“Well, funnily enough, yes, yes I do, actually!” I could hear the frustration in my voice, my mouth metallic with anger.

“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be here getting sorted out.”

“Yeah, but you put your brothers before me. You stopped for something to eat and picked up your brothers instead of taking me straight to the hospital!” I snapped, only now registering my outrage at that.

“You were out cold!”

“Hey, now, this is a hospital; quiet, please.” The doctor cut in, warning in his tone.

“Well, he started it!” I thundered.

“No, you started it!” Alex stood up so fast, his chair moved back several inches, screeching against the linoleum floor.

“Enough, or Alex will have to go.” The doctor interrupted again, his gaze like steel as he looked between us.

“I was leaving anyway.” The anger in Alex’s tone had faded, but there was still an edge in his voice.

“You’re still taking me home though.” I told him quickly.

“On what grounds?”

I smiled as I pointed out, “You brought me here, so you need to take me home.”

“Not my problem.” He shrugged and buried his hands in his jeans pocket. He turned to walk away.

“Please,” I begged. Jeez, I sounded needy.

I could tell he was grinning before he even turned to face me. As he turned on his heels, I saw a glimpse of something evil about him and began to rethink my plea for him to take me home. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be alone with him.

“Oh, so now you don’t want me to leave you?” There was a taunt in his tone as he came to my side.

“No, I just want you to take me home after this.” I corrected him, glaring.

“Uh huh, I believe you.” He smirked.

“Ok, have you two sorted out your problems?” I completely forgot the doctor was still standing there.

“Yes, we have.” I sighed, giving up the argument...for now.

“Ok, well, let’s get you fixed up.” The doctor gave a quick chuckle and closed the curtain around us.