Better for You

I opened my eyes slowly and raised my head from the steering wheel, attempting to ignore the sharp pain that splintered across my body as I raised my head. Outside of the car there were crowds of people, some taking photos of the crash or making phone calls. Others looking in at me with deep concern painted on their faces. I looked down on my steering wheel and noticed a rather large amount of blood coating the material. I raised my hand to the top of my head. It felt damp. When I moved my hand away I saw blood trickling down my fingers and onto bare legs. This wasn’t good.

A knocking on my car window brought me out of my thoughts. I slowly turned around to face a middle aged women, maybe in her 40s staring in through the car window. She had her blonde hair tied back into a pony tail and light make-up covering her face with eye-liner around her soft brown eyes.

She then opened the door and asked, “Excuse me, are you alright?”

“Not really, my head hurts a lot.” It’s almost half as bad as the ache in my heart.

“You’re bleeding a lot. Don’t worry I’ve already called an ambulance and they should be here soon.
I’m so sorry about the crash. I just pulled an emergency stop because of the car in front of me and then you must have not been able to stop in time because of the slippery roads.” She informed me and I nodded.

“No, I should have been concentrating more.” I replied.

“I feel really bad, is there anything that I can do to help ease the pain?” She asked.

“No, the damage has been done” I sighed, “and now I have to suffer the consequences of what he has done.” I replied forgetting that she was referring to my head.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing, I’m sure I’ll be alright.” I lied.

Then flashing lights and a siren came into view and everything was happening too fast. Before everything had slowed down and I felt calmer but the lights and noise had made everything seem 10x faster. Everything then started spinning and I blacked out again.

I awoke to the noise of a heart monitor and my eyes blew wide open. I felt a hand on my hand and my heart jumped as I wondered if it was Harry’s, but there were no tingles, no fire, no fireworks. It wasn’t Harry. I looked over at my arm and noticed that it was in a sling. What? I looked over and saw my mum looking at me with worry etched on her face. “Calm down sweetheart, it’s alright. I’ll go call in your doctor.” She informed me calmly before leaving the room. Why was I in here? I tried to search my brain for an answer when I realised that I had been in a car crash. My hand immediately went to the top of my head to see if I was still bleeding but I felt stitches where the wound was. I thanked my lucky stars that the stitches were hidden by my hair and not visible.

“Hi Miss Hartley, my name is Doctor Davis and I have a couple of questions for you. Could I first ask you what you remember? What is your most recent memory?”

“Uhm, I was in a car crash, I was talking with a middle-aged woman who had really nice brown eyes, and then the ambulance came and… I-I don’t remember.” I answered and the doctor nodded while taking notes and my mum gave my hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

“Ok, that’s when we were told that you had blacked out so that means that you are not suffering from any amnesia which is usually common in these circumstances, so that is a good sign. How are you
feeling?” The doctor reassured me.

“Well I feel slightly light headed and dizzy but that’s it.” I told him and he nodded.

“Yes, that is to be expected after the amount of blood that you lost. However this is all positive results and if the blood tests come back clear then you should be able to leave later today.” Doctor Davis informed me before exiting the room.

“Oh, I’m so glad that you’re ok!” My mum smiled.

“When was the car crash mum?” I asked, wanting to know how long I’d been passed out for.

“Yesterday, but they had to put you under some heavy drugs to help with the pain so they’re not surprised that you didn’t wake up ‘till today.” She told me and I nodded slowly with my eyebrows furrowed together.

“Why is my arm in a cast?”]

"You fractured when you passed out the second time; I think that you banged it on the gear stick or something.” My mum answered and I began to feel tired again. “You should get some sleep sweetie.” My mum suggested and I nodded; the last thing that I noticed was my mum exiting the room to take a phone call.

“What time is it?” I murmured with closed eyes.

“7 o’clock, the doctor said that the results came back all positive so you’re free to leave. You’ve got some pain killers that you can take if your arm hurts but other than that you’re all good.” My mum told me and I nodded slowly.

“Did you bring any clothes?”

“Yes, Abby stopped by briefly with a bag full of clothes and god knows what else.” My mum let me know and I reluctantly got out of the bed and opened the bag of clothes to get changed into. My mum left the room again to make another phone call while I got changed. I got changed into white and black striped top, high-wasted jeans which had rips on the knees and white converse. Thankfully Abby packed some lip balm as my lips were as dry as a rock and she also packed my favourite perfume – eau so sexy by Victoria’s Secret which my mum had got me last year for my birthday. I took a glance in the mirror and noticed how worn out my face and hair looked. I quickly put my hair up into a bun and then slapped my cheeks to get some colour into them but something still looked out of place. It was my eyes. They had lost their sparkle. They looked burnt out.

My mum then came in and hurried me saying that she had a lot of work to do so we needed to be quick.

“How is my car?” I asked her as we got into her car.

“The dealership took it in yesterday and reckons that it should be done by Wednesday.” She answered and I nodded.

“How’s dad?” I asked and heard my mum inhale sharply.

“He’s uhm; he’s not doing too well. He, uhm - recent events haven’t made his recovery easier let’s just say.”

“What recent events?”

“Oh, nothing don’t you-“my mum began before being interrupted by her phone ringing. I reached into her handbag and saw ‘Daniel’ flashed up on the screen with a picture of her with a guy probably in his early twenties on the screen. He had light brown hair and blue eyes just like mine. His smile was accompanied by dimples and he was not bad looking.

“Who’s Daniel?” I asked and my mum’s face flushed red as she snatched the phone out of my hand and declined the call. “Who was that mum?” I asked as we neared her house.

“It was nobody. Don’t you worry about him.” She rushed and I just knew that she was lying.

“Who is he?” I pushed.

“Nobody, just drop it Izzy.”

“You’re lying mum! Tell me!” I was edging on becoming angry with her. What was she hiding?

“Drop it Izzy!” My mum shouted in reply. She had never shouted at me before.
The rest of the drive was continued in silence. When we reached her house I noticed another car, a red Toyota, waiting in the drive and my mum’s eyes widened immediately as horror was etched across her face. What was going on? What was she hiding?

She quickly parked up and got out of the car, rushing up to the other car as a guy got out of the Toyota. It was him. Daniel. I could tell straight away and I rushed out of the car.

“Who are you?” I shouted and Daniel turned around.

“Izzy?” He asked and a smile took over his face and he turned to face my mum whose face was a picture of horror.

“What’s going on here? What? Are you having an affair or something, mum?” My voice was dripping with bitterness. No my dad wasn’t the best and he had committed adultery to my mother but I had never considered her doing the same to him as well. That would make her just as bad.

“You haven’t told her about me have you?” Daniel asked and he looked hurt. My mum’s face looked so alarmed that I was frightened. What could she possibly be hiding?

“Izzy, let’s go back to your dormitory and I’ll tell you all about it, yes?” my mum asked, approaching me slowly and took my hand gently but I flinched away from her touch.

“I don’t want to go anywhere with you.” I spat out at her. “Who are you?”

“Don’t you recognise me?” He asked, walking towards me, his face began to look more familiar.

“I-I-I- I don’t know, why should I?” I stuttered.

“Because in a perfect world where your mother wasn’t so lying and manipulative” he began, but stopped to send a glare to my mother “you would know me. In fact you would have probably known me inside out. But instead I grew up in a different foster home every month without any type of real family.”

“What do you mean? How-what-how do you know my mother?”

“You mean our mother?”

“What?” I could feel my face pale and my feet almost give way. What?! I looked at my mother who was ashamedly staring at the floor with a tearing trailing down her face. I looked back at Daniel and he held my gaze for a couple of seconds as I put the pieces together and my hand immediately covered my mouth in shock. No way. No fucking way. This isn’t possible. It can’t be… Can it?

“You’re my little sis, Izzy.”