A/N: Hello, everybody! I hope you enjoyed Weathering the Storm! I loved writing it! Now… I'm back. My two most recent stories have been Cori's. And guess what. This one's a Cori, too. Why wouldn't it be?! Cat and Tori are absolutely perfect for each other! No one tell me any different! UNDERSTAND?! Ahem. Excuse me. What I meant to say was: without further delay, here is my next story. Enjoy it.
This story will take place five years after graduation from Hollywood Arts.
I don't remember anything. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I don't know how I got here. It's like one of those times when you were little and you fell asleep on your parents, but when you were out, they put you in your bed without you remembering it. Does that make any sense? It does to me. Get over it.
All I know is I'm looking up at a white ceiling with a bunch of white walls around me. My vision is blurred. Am I delirious? How could I know if I'm delirious if I'm delirious?
All the noise around me is muffled. It feels like I have a set of plugs stuck in my ears. I'm looking around at the people beside me. They look like they're running. But I know I'm not. I'm actually lying down. What's going on?
I'm suddenly able to make out just what they're saying. Someone with a very deep voice is yelling at someone. "Okay, we have a car accident victim here! She's losing a little bit of blood! We need to get a sample and get the right kind of blood to give her. Get moving!"
Oh. I'm losing blood. That sounds wonderful.
"We have multiple small lacerations on the legs and face and a large laceration on the stomach. I've detected a broken collarbone and a three fractured vertebra. We need to get her lacerations taken care of and then we need to get an IV going for her. I need something with Calcium and Vitamin D supplements." A nurse yells.
Well shit. I'm losing blood. Got a bunch of cuts in multiple places. Broken bones. I love my life.
"Okay, sweetie." A rather handsome male doctor says. "We're going to move you from the stretcher to the bed now. Okay? Can you shake your head for me?" I do, but barely.
"Alright, this may hurt a little." They move me quick. What comes out of my mouth was so loud that the people all the way across the city of Los Angeles could've heard me. The pain is beyond unreal. I'd never felt anything like it.
"Did we get that blood test back?!"
"O negative!"
"Someone needs to get me some O negative blood, stat! We don't have a whole lot of time left!" The doctor says.
I muster up enough strength to raise my arm to tug on the doctor's sleeve. He turns around fast. His face is full of shock. Apparently he didn't think I was strong enough to communicate. And I'm really not.
He leans down close to me. "What is it, sweetheart?"
"Am I… am I… going to die?" I ask, weakly.
He smiles slightly and shakes his head. "No. You're not going to die. We're going to make sure of it. You've lost a little blood, but when we get the replacement in, which should be in a minute or two, you'll be just fine. Okay?"
I manage to smile amidst the pain I'm in.
"Now, we're going to put you under for a minute. But don't worry. You're going to wake up. I promise. Just stay strong and dream about something happy."
Yeah, this is scary. But I have enough trust in my faith that I'm going to wake up.
They place the mask over my face and I begin to feel sleepy. My eyes become heavy and my vision darkens. The last thing I see or hear is a little splash of red and a high pitched voice.
(LINE BREAK)
I don't even feel like I was put under. I feel like I was taking a nap, really. That's how fast it was. I'm sure I was under for most of the rest of the night and some of the day. But it doesn't feel like it.
I can hear the monitor that shows my vital signs beeping up a storm beside me and it's irritating me. Maybe irritated is the wrong word. Annoyed, maybe. Come on, you can't blame a girl for being grouchy when she wakes up from an undetermined amount of hours or days of unconsciousness.
Good lord, make it stop. It's the most annoying thing in the world.
But as you would expect, it doesn't.
"Somebody shut this damn thing up!" I scream.
A nurse runs quickly into my room. She looks at me with wide eyes. She looks scared or something. She tries to say something but she begins to stutter and trip over her words.
"What's your deal?" I ask, sharply.
She exits the room.
What the hell was that about? People confuse me. At least she shut the door. I want my privacy. But she didn't turn this stupid machine off. Does the hospital not know how to cater to its patients?
Doing my best to drown out the noise, I place a pillow over my ears and shut my eyes again. Ahh… there it is. Quiet. Sure, I've kind of had my fill of all the quiet, but that noise wants to make me shove forks into my ears. It's that bad.
Just as I become relaxed, I hear footsteps come into the room. They're obviously wearing heels because I can hear the clicking through my pillow. I guess it's just impossible to have voluntary silence. Apparently you can only be forced to sleep now.
Whoever is in the room grabs my foot and shakes it, trying to get my attention, supposedly. I reluctantly remove the pillow from my ears and open my eyes.
Oh my god.
"Hi, Tori. How are you?" Cat Valentine stands before me, holding a clipboard, and smiling ear to ear just as she did the last time I saw her. Five years doesn't change much.
"Um, I… I guess I've been better. I mean, there's a lot of new blood in me and I have a few broken parts." I say. "So you could say I've been better."
"Yeah, I have you're little chart here with a bunch of big stuff on it." She chuckles. I know she's trying to make me feel better and all, but I don't think it's working.
She sees me not laughing and quickly stops it. She clears her throat and continues talking.
"It's been quite a while. I just wish we were seeing each other under better circumstances." She walks over to my bedside and sits down beside me. She doesn't look down at the clipboard and doesn't look up.
"Do you need something, Cat?" I ask, probably sounding bitter.
She just looks at her paper. "Tori, you know why you're here, right?"
"Yeah, I got in a car crash. Does it not say that in your little report?"
"It does. I was just making sure you knew exactly what was going on. Do you? Do you know EXACTLY what's going on?" She asks.
"Okay, by the way you're approaching me about this, there's something going on that I don't know about. And I'd really appreciate it if you'd tell me just what the hell it is." I say, sternly.
"Do you have any recollection of anything after the crash? What anyone said to you after they pulled you out of the car?"
"Just the five minutes between the time I got to the hospital to the time I was put to sleep. Why do you ask? What happened, Cat?"
She places a hand over her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"I don't want you to worry yet because you're just waking up from being unconscious for a good three days… but… when we ran your blood through the test, it came back almost double California's maximum BAC level."
"Okay, so I get a DUI and my license revoked. Big deal." I shrug my shoulders.
"You didn't let me finish." She looks me directly in the eye. "Tori, the man woman you hit last night was named Cheryl Tomlinson. She died, Tori."
I completely freeze. Did she say what I think she just said? I killed someone? Are you serious?
"I killed someone?" I ask, quietly.
"Yes, you did. And another thing: they're saying because you're BAC was so high, you may be charged with Intoxication Manslaughter. That could be up to a year in prison."
My mind went blank. Completely blank. I can't believe I did something like this. I killed someone. I depraved someone of the rest of their life. I took away some of the experiences they could've had. And because I made a stupid choice to get drunk last night, I could be going to prison. How in the world…
I come out of my daze to see Cat staring at me.
"Cat, please tell me you're messing with me. Don't tell me this is real."
She exhales loudly. "I wish I could tell you that. And I'm so sorry, Tori." She says. "But the nurse that just came in here just told me that you were awake. She said she was freaking out and didn't know what to do so she came and got me."
I nod. "Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry that we're talking for the first time in years about this. You're talking to a killer."
You'd think I'd be bawling right now. And believe me, I want to. But there's this little thing called shock that makes you not feel anything. And I can bet every dime I own that I'll be crying my little eyes out soon.
I just can't believe it.
"They want to ask some questions. The police do… do you think you're up for it today?
"Absolutely not. I just woke up and found out that I killed someone. There's no way in the world I'm answering questions."
She nods. "Look, I'm almost constantly here. So if you need to talk to anyone, I'm always here. I know we haven't seen each other in years, but the same rules that applied in High School still apply. My ears are always open."
"Thank you, Cat. I'd just like to be alone, right now. Is that okay?"
"Of course. Just press that button on the wall if you need anything." She leans in, hugs me gently, and gives me one of her trademark kisses on my cheek. She stands up, smiles a small smile, and walks out the door.
It's great to know that after all these years that she still cares about me. And right now, I need all the care I can get. Because I, Tori Vega, killed someone.
A/N: Okay, so there's the prologue. I hope you guys see as much potential for this story as I do! Thank you for checking it out. I'll try to update as soon as I can.