Who Could Have Known

Kaley's POV

Darkness. All there was was darkness.

I could hear a faint sound, but I couldn't make out what it was.

What is that? my curiosity pressed me to find out.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to open my eyes. Why did they feel so heavy?

Come on, Kaley, I urged myself. Open your eyes.

As I continued my struggle, the sound that I had heard before was starting to become clearer. It was a voice, I think. But they weren't talking, no, it was more melodic. Someone was singing.

Finally, after much struggling, my eyes slid open. I blinked wearily as I took in my surroundings. All I could see was whiteness. Everything was white.

As I started to regain consciousness, all of my senses slowly started to return. I could feel the plastic tube that was pressed up to my nose. I could feel the weird sensation of something sticking into my arm.

Ugh, needles! I realized unhappily. I hate needles! Wait... Needles?

I blinked in surprise as I glanced down at my arm. Sure enough, there were a couple of needles, one of them being an IV sticking out of my arm.

And then suddenly my surroundings started to become more clear.

And so did the singing.

I turned my head gently and looked down at the person beside me who was singing. It was Darren. And he was crying.

"Don't cry!" I wanted to say, but when I opened my mouth, no words came out. My throat felt raw and dry. I felt my brows knit in confusion. What was going on? Why couldn't I talk? Why was Darren crying? And, most importantly, where was I?

I was so lost in thought that I nearly missed the ending of Darren's song.

I'm falling to pieces yeah

I'm falling to pieces

Why are you falling to pieces, Darren? I wondered sadly. I wish that there was some way that I could console him...

I wanted to lean forward and wrap my arms around him, but my body felt strangely weak. I frowned as I looked down at Darren. He wasn't looking at me.

But then I felt it. The tight, yet weak grip on my hand. One that said I don't want to let go, but I feel so drained.

It's okay, Darren, I thought, giving the hand a light squeeze. Everything's going to be okay.

Darren's head suddenly shot up to look at me, his eyes wide with shock. I watched as millions of emotions flooded through his eyes. Surprise, shock, worry, panic, but then relief, joy, and, most importantly, love.

"Kaley!" he exclaimed breathlessly, looking at me with awe.

I opened my mouth to reply, but again, nothing came out.

"Oh!" Darren exclaimed, suddenly pulling his hand out of mine and bending down to pick up something by his feet. When he sat back up, he had a water bottle in his hand. "Here, this might help."

He quickly opened it and slid a straw into it before holding it up to me.

"Slow, small sips," he warned softly. I nodded as I slowly closed my mouth around the straw and took a small sip. The water stung slightly as it went down my throat, but after a couple more sips, it became more and more soothing. Once I felt satisfied, I pulled away from the straw.

"Thank you," my voice croaked slightly. Darren didn't even comment on how I sounded like a frog. He just smiled.

"Oh, Kaley, I was so worried about you," he sighed, a slight bit of worry still hanging in his eyes.

"Why?" I asked, my voice still cracking. "What happened? Where am I?"

"You don't remember?" he asked, surprised. When I shook my head, he continued on to ask, "Kaley, what's the last thing you remember?"

I blinked a couple times as I struggled to remember what I had been doing last. I remembered leaving the house, our house, and getting into our black Mercedes... I was on my way to-

"The meeting!" I exclaimed, suddenly shooting up straight. "I'm going to miss the meeting! I-"

"Kaley!" Darren gently, but with enough pressure, pushed me back down. "You already missed it."

"But I-" I stammered. My head felt like it was spinning. How had I missed the most important meeting of my life?

"Kaley, do you know where you are?" Darren asked gently. I blinked as I looked around the room. It didn't look familiar to me at all.

"No," I replied slowly, gently shaking my head, though that action just made my head hurt even more.

"Kaley, you're in the hospital," Darren said softly.

And then suddenly it all made sense. The needles, the tubes, the white walls, that annoying beeping sound that had been consistently beeping throughout our whole conversation. I was in a hospital.

"How-" I started to ask, but stopped suddenly. What was I trying to ask? How did I get here? How long had I been here? There were just too many questions, but not enough answers.

"Do you remember anything that happened after you left our place?" Darren pressed gently. I closed my eyes, trying hard to recall anything, any little detail, but failed. I opened my eyes again and shook my head. Darren sighed, running his fingers back through his hair.

Wait, that was his nervous habit! Why was he nervous? What had happened?

"What happened?" I asked softly. Darren looked up at me sadly and sighed again.

"You were in a car crash," he finally said.

It took a few minutes for his words to sink in.

A car crash? Me? But things like that happened to other people, not to me.

But then again, a lot of things had been happening to me lately that I had never thought would have happened.

I was still struggling to process all the information that Darren had shared with me when suddenly, the door opened.

"Hey, Dare, Leah and I are-" Chris stopped mid-sentence as our eyes met.

"Kaley?" he gasped breathlessly, almost like as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing was real.

"Hi?" I croaked softly.

"Oh my gosh! Kaley!" Chris exclaimed, opening the door further as he moved into the room. "You're awake!"

"I am?" I replied, slightly confused.

I wish I wasn't, I thought. I wish I were sleeping and that this was all just a dream.

"Leah, get in here!" Chris called back over his shoulder.

"What happened?" Leah asked, quickly appearing in the doorway. "Is she-" Leah's voice cut out as she saw me.

"Kaley!" she exclaimed, quickly shoving past Chris to come over to my bedside. She took my free hand, the other still holding onto Darren's, and squeezed it tightly.

"How are you?" she asked anxiously. "How do you feel? Does anything hurt? Do-"

"Leah!" Chris exclaimed, chuckling slightly. "Give her a chance to answer!"

"Sorry," Leah blushed slightly, quickly sticking her tongue out at Chris before returning her attention to me. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," I replied slowly. "Still trying to process everything, I guess."

"Does anything hurt?" Leah persisted.

"I believe that's a question that I'm supposed to ask," a familiar voice chuckled. We all turned to look at the door, where Doctor Hanover was standing.

"Doctor Hanover?" I blinked with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm on record as being your last Doctor and so I was the one they called when you were brought in," he explained effortlessly. "Which I'm happy about because you never did come back for that check up. The cut healed up nicely though."

I found myself self-consciously reaching for where I had scraped my forehead what seemed like forever ago with the whole James incident. I had completely forgotten about it.

"So I guess you won't have a Harry Potter scar then, huh," Darren frowned teasingly.

"Sorry," I grinned. "You could always draw one on your forehead if you really want one."

"Don't tempt me," he warned.

"It's nice to see that you two haven't changed since I last saw you," Doctor Hanover chuckled lightly. "I hate to be the one to break you two apart, but I need to run a few tests with Miss Grant, so I'll need you all to step out of the room for a few minutes."

The thought of Darren leaving me made my heart tighten with fear.

"I'll just be right outside that door," Darren promised, pointing to the door. "And I'll be back the second the Doctor lets me."

"It's okay, Kaley," Doctor Hanover said softly. "It's just a couple tests. They won't take long."

"Okay," I nodded slowly. Darren gave my hand an encouraging squeeze as he stood up to leave.

"We'll be right outside the door," Leah promised as she too started to leave.

"Darren?" I called out after him, making him stop. He turned back to me with a quizzical look on his face.

"I love you," I said softly. I watched as his face slowly melted with love.

"I love you too," he replied. "I'll be back as soon as I possibly can. I promise." And with that, my three friends left the room, closing the door behind them and leaving me alone with Doctor Hanover.

"So Kaley," he smiled at me as he walked over and took a seat beside me. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore," I replied lightly but seriously. "What happened?"

"Another vehicle T-boned yours," Doctor Hanover explained carefully. "The impact sent your car spiralling into a post, very nearly hitting another vehicle. The car hit closer to the back of your car than the front, which is very fortunate for you, because if it had been any closer to the front, there is a very high chance that you wouldn't have survived. The other driver was killed upon impact. You're a very lucky girl to not have suffered the same fate."

It took me a couple of minutes to process everything that Doctor Hanover was telling me. The thought that I had been that close to death frightened me.

What if I had died? I panicked. What would Darren have done? If I lost him… well, I can't even imagine what that'd be like! And Leah! Leah's my best friend! It would have torn her apart! And my parents…

"My parents!" I exclaimed. "They must be freaking out right now. Are they here?"

"No, Kaley," Doctor Hanover shook his head. "No one has been able to reach your parents or any of your siblings yet. Miss Tanner mentioned something about them having gone on a cruise or some sort?"

"Right…" it was starting to come back to me now. My parents had won a cruise and they must have taken advantage of their prize.

"If you're up for it, I do have to run a couple of tests," Doctor Hanover continued.

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, my thoughts still on my parents. They would flip when they found out that I was in an accident.

"Follow this light with your eyes for me," he said, holding up a small flashlight to my eyes. I blinked as the light suddenly hit my eyes, but followed his instructions as he moved the light to the left, right, up, and down.

"Alright, good," he smiled. "Now can you tell me if there is anywhere that really hurts right now?"

"Ummm," I mentally checked over my body. I was sore, but nothing was too overly bad. "My throat's sore and my head hurts a bit. And I guess my left shoulder is kinda sore too."

"That makes sense," Doctor Hanover nodded. "You were hit on the left side so it may have been jarred a bit. You might have a bit of a bruise from the seat belt as well. I can prescribe something to help with the pain in your head as well as your shoulder, but I don't believe it will be anything too serious. If the pain continues, we'll have you come back in and I can run some more tests, if you'd like. As for your throat, that's just because it hasn't been used much in the past week. It'll heal quickly."

"A week?!?!" I exclaimed, my eyes shooting wide open. "I've been out for a week?"

"Yes, we were a bit worried about you, but all of the tests we've run have come back clear," Doctor Hanover reassured. "And the cognitive response that you've shown today is also a very promising sign that you'll make a full recovery. You should be able to go home by the end of the week at the latest."

"I'd like that," I sighed happily, sinking back into the pillows behind me.

"Me too," Darren's voice came from the door.

"Sorry," he grinned as he moved further into the room. "I couldn't wait anymore."

"That's alright," Doctor Hanover chuckled, rising from the chair and allowing Darren to take his place. "I think we're done for the day anyways. We'll run a couple more tests tomorrow."

"Thank you, Doctor Hanover," I smiled.

"Alright then," he said with a slight, playful smirk. "I'll let you two get reacquainted then."

I barely noticed the Doctor leave because all of my attention was now on Darren.

"Oh Kaley," he sighed, gently stroking my face. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm sorry," I said softly.

"It's not your fault," he replied quickly. "It was the other vehicle that hit you. This wasn't your fault."

"I know," I sighed. "I'm just sorry that I caused all of you so much worry."

"Knowing that you're okay makes it all worth it," Darren smiled. "I love you so much, Kaley."

"I love-" I was suddenly cut off by a loud knock on the door.

"Leah, you don't have to knock!" I giggled. "You can come right in." The door slowly opened to reveal someone who was not Leah.

"Kaley Grant?" a tall, middle-aged man stood in the doorway, looking inquisitively into the room. He had dark hair with thin wisps of grey hair streaking through it.

"Yes, that's me," I replied cautiously. I'd never seen this man before and was wary of his presence.

"Miss Grant, my name is Officer Rowly," he explained, entering the room further. "I was told that you were awake and I was wondering if you would be willing to answer a few questions."

"Of course," I nodded, relaxing only slightly. "Though I don't know how much help I'll be. I don't even remember the accident."

"Well, that answers one question," he grinned only slightly, quickly jotting something down on the notepad in his hands. "So you don't remember where you were when the accident happened then?"

"No, Sir," I shook my head. "Sorry."

"That's alright," he nodded, writing something else down on his pad. He wrote and then looked at his notes for a couple minutes before looking back up at me again.

"Just one more question for now," he said. "Do you know a Jordan Carter?"

My heart sunk at the mention of his name.

"He and his brother worked at Radio City Music Hall with us," Darren answered for me. "We had… issues with James, his brother, and so Jordan developed a hatred for us as well. We hadn't very much contact with him though. Why? What does he have to do with this?"

"A lot," Officer Rowly replied seriously, lowering his notepad and focusing more intently on the two of us. "Jordan Carter was in the car that hit you. And he was the driver."