Looking For A New Life Chapter 2
Ali awoke a few hours later. She felt some pain and she was also irritated by the cast. She thought about calling to the front desk. But she decided to relax awhile. She got her iPhone out of her bag and she saw that she had a battery life left. She then remembered that she forgot to do something important. She had forgotten to call Hanna.
She dialed Hanna's number. After a few rings, she heard Hanna's voice say "Hello".
"It's me, I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. I just caught up in some things here." Ali said.
"I was starting to get worried. Are you ok Ali in that town?"
Ali looked down at the cast on her leg. She glanced towards the crutches resting on the bed.
"I'm ok except for one thing." Ali said.
"Do you need money or anything?" Hanna said with concern.
"I don't need money. I had an accident and my ankle is broken."
"What happend?" Hanna said.
"I'm staying at this boarding house here and last I slipped on the stairs. I'm ok. There is some pain. The doctor said I will be on crutches for four weeks. The cast will come off and I will have to use a walking boot for awhile after that. I think I will stay here until my ankle is healed." Ali said.
"I'll go over to that town and help you." Hanna said
"No. You need to stay in New York. You have that upcoming fashion show that is going to feature your designs. If you want to come after the fashion show, you are welcome to. Just be careful." Ali said.
"Ok. Just remember if you need help give me call. I love you." Hanna said.
"Love you too."
Awhile later, Ali heard a knock at the door.
"It's me Aria, I have your breakfast."
Ali said for her to go in.
Aria walked in carrying a tray that contained a plate of waffles, fruit, and scrambled eggs.
"Emily told me about what happened. She will bring lunch to you later on." Aria said as she set the tray over Ali's lap.
"Where is she?" Ali asked.
"She is asleep upstairs. Since taking ownership, she likes to do the books and other business stuff at night. We figure that she does some of that stuff to avoid people. People in town know about her and many would accept her and not care about the scars. But Emily is still having a hard time. I wish she would get counseling or something. But she refuses to." Aria said.
Ali took another bite out of the waffles and a few minutes later she said, "At the hospital, the doctor there, a British man he seemed to know Emily."
"Oh that is Wren Kingston. After the burn center in Philly released Emily, he took over as her general practitioner. He has been good to her." Aria said.
Ali took another bite of her food and then asked, "Does Emily still have health problems because of the burns?"
"She does. But they are minor at this point. She had a mix of second and third degree burns on her right side. She was flown to Philly right away. Over there, they prepared us for the worst. They didn't know if she was going to make it. They kept her in a medically induced coma for awhile to help her body heal. When she woke up, my parents had to break the news to her about her parents. She dealt with the complications from the burns like infections that caused different illnesses. Then there were the surgeries which fixed some of the damage. Right now, she has pain at times and she still has skin problems. Wren helps her with that by giving her medication and referring her to dermatologists and plastic surgeons. He says that with advances being made, it might possible for the scars to be fixed more. I think Emily has given up hope on that. I still have hope for her. She fought to live and she deserves to be happy." Aria said.
"She is a survivor. I can't imagine losing my parents and having my life changed so much. You said the fire happened three years ago. She was 18 at the time." Ali said.
"Yep. We had a graduated from high school, the week before the fire."
The short brunette went over to the table that had pictures. She picked up a frame and said, "This was probably one of the last pictures Emily took with her parents."
She looked towards Ali and said, "I'll let you finish your breakfast. I'll come back for the dishes later. If you need anything ring the front desk."
Ali said, "Thank you" to Aria.
She pulled out her phone and played some games, before falling asleep again. She awoke later to pain and she took some pain meds.
She saw that the clock read 12:30 pm.
Minutes later, she heard a knock and Emily came in. But she was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt. She had the hood on probably an attempt to cover part of her right side. Ali saw that the sweatshirt had a logo and the writing, "Rosewood Sharks Swim Team" on it.
"Hey, Ali here is lunch." Emily said as put the tray over Ali's lap.
"Thank you." Ali said.
The brunette asked, "How are you feeling?"
"I was in pain earlier. The meds helped. Thank you again for everything and thank you for sending Aria with breakfast earlier." Ali said.
"You don't need to thank me. I'm doing the proper thing for you. I have to ask if you are going to stay here longer than a week." Emily said.
"I plan to stay in Rosewood until my ankle heals. I have money to cover an additional seven weeks here." Ali said.
"You don't need to pay . You can stay here free of charge since you were hurt here." Emily said.
"I can't do that. You have a business.
"No. It will be fine." Emily said.
"Ok. But if you feel that I should be charged, let me know." Ali said.
Emily sat on the foot of the bed.
She looked at Ali and said, "Aria said that you are a photographer and that you came to Rosewood to take pictures of small town life."
"Yeah I did. It is probably going to be awhile before I'm taking pictures again. This town seems nice and it is good take capture images of beautiful things and beautiful people." Ali said.
The blonde then noticed that Emily looked sad and she decided to change the subject and she asked, "How long has this boarding house been in your family?"
Emily responded, "My grandmother was the first owner and then my mother inherited it. After I lost my mom and dad, I decided to change my path in life and carry the business on. Aria, Ella, and the others help me out a lot here and I'm grateful to them."
Ali wondered about what Emily meant about changing her path in life.
Emily got up from the bed and said, "I'm going to go into the office. I have to make some calls. I'll come back with dinner."
Ali nodded and said, "Ok, I'll see you later.
After she finished eating, Ali got up out of bed and with her crutches she made into the bathroom. She knew a bath or shower was out of the question. But she decided to clean herself up a little. With a clean washcloth and some soap, she freshened up and managed to slowly change into clean clothes.
She crutched over the book shelf and saw a few book titles that interested her. She then saw two scrapbooks. She managed to get book of them and with a one crutch she managed to go over to the bed with them. She sat on the bed.
She opened up one scrapbook and the title page read, "Emily Fields:The Early Years". In small writing beneath, there was a writing that read, "Made by her mom Pam Fields."
Ali turned the page and saw a pink birth announcement about Emily. She turned the page and saw pictures of baby Emily with her parents. After looking through that scrapbook, she looked through the second scrapbook which contained pictures of Emily at different ages. She came across a section that said, "High School Years". There were pictures of Emily with friends. Ali saw Aria and another dark haired girl in some of the pictures with Emily. She then saw pictures of Emily in a swimsuit standing with teammates of a swim team. She then saw a newspaper clipping that was titled, "Two Rosewood Swim Team Members Get Scholarship Offers from Stanford".
The article was brief and it mentioned that Emily and another swimmer, Paige McCullers had received swimming scholarships to Stanford. Ali wondered if that the path that Emily changed involved swimming. She put the scrapbooks away.
Ali then pulled out her phone and looked at some pictures of her own family. She scrolled through some recent pics. Some family pictures were from recent holidays in the past few years. As much as Ali wanted to be away from her mob family, she still loved and missed them.
The next chapter probably won't be up for a few days. I wanted to get two chapters out to set up the story well. Thank you to everyone who has added this to their favorite or follow lists.