Chapter 2
I woke up from the accident exactly three weeks after it happened. I thought at first after I opened my eyes that the room was just dark. I could hear a steady beeping next to me that started chiming out faster and faster.
"Dad," I had called out in a panic. I didn't know where I was and the last thing I remembered was seeing the deer walking out in front of my car. "Hello?"
"Bella!" My mom cried out. "Oh, baby, we were so worried. Charlie! Go get the nurse."
I could feel her touching my face and kissing my forehead. Realising that the room wasn't dark, I reached up to take whatever was covering my eyes off.
"Renee, just give her a minute." My dad said. I felt a rough calloused hand grasp mine. "How do you feel, Bells?"
"What's on my face?" I croaked. My voice was hoarse and I felt like I hadn't had a drink of water in months. "Get it off!" I tried to remove whatever was on my eyes off but when my fingers landed on my face there was nothing there.
"Bella, stop you're going to hurt yourself!" My mom said, trying to take my hand in hers. "Please, just calm down, sweetie."
"I can't see," I cried out. "Why can't I see you?" I could hear the beeping of the machine speed up and I realised that it was my pulse. "What's happening?"
"Bella," My dad said, grabbing my flailing arms and gently, but firmly, keeping them in his grasp. "Listen to me. Calm down. Just take nice and steady breaths and I'll explain everything, okay? Renee, get the nurse."
I did as he asked and it took a few minutes but eventually my breathing slowed down and I could feel my pulse decreasing as well – it was no longer pounding in my ears.
"Bella, you were in a car crash three weeks ago."
I gasped out. Of course, I already knew that I had crashed my car but three weeks?
"You hit your head pretty hard," Dad continued, "You've ben unconscious all that time because you've had a concussion. A bad one."
"But what does hitting my head have to do with me not being able to see?" I said. I could feel tears welling in my eyes and running down my cheeks. I felt my mom's soft hands wiping them away and laying another kiss upon my forehead.
"Bella, I've brought the nurse in okay? She's going to explain everything to you? Alright, baby?"
"Mom," I sobbed. "Why can't I see anything?"
"Bella, My name is Irina," a voice said, it was vaguely familiar. "Irina Denali. We went to school together. I'm one of the nurses who's been looking after you, Bella."
"Please, help me?" I pleaded. "I can't see."
"Bella, your dad told you that you had a concussion and that's right. But a side effect from having the concussion is that as well as becoming unconscious it can sometimes affect your vision. Now I think that's what's happened to you but I've paged your doctor, Dr Gerandy, and he's going to be here in a little bit, alright?"
I tried to process what she was telling me. "So it might come back?" I had no idea what would happen if my sight didn't return. How was I meant to cope with this and live my life independently if I was blind?
"Dr Gerandy will give you a better idea, Bella. He'll be here very quickly, so just try to relax for a minute, okay? I know that's easier said than done but just try for me."
I took a deep breath and gripped my dad's hands tighter. "Can I sit up?"
"I'll raise your bed up a little bit," Irina said and I heard her shoes clicking on the floor as she walked down to the foot of the bed that I was lying on. The bed gave a tiny jolt and then the back began rising.
There was a knock at the door and I instinctively turned my head towards the noise.
"Hello, Isabella." A gruff voice said from, where I assumed, the door was. "My name is Dr Gerandy. I was hoping that it would be alright if I examined you and then I'll walk you through what's happening. Is that alright?"
"Is it alright if my parents stay?" I asked.
"Of course, I've gotten to know Renee and Charlie very well." I heard his footsteps draw closer and took a deep breath to prepare myself for what was to come. I had no idea what to expect.
"Is it alright if I touch your head?" he asked.
"Okay."
I could feel his presence moving closer to me and forced myself to open my eyes. Even if I couldn't actually see anything. I practically jumped up from the bed when I heard a loud snap echo through the air.
"What's that?" I asked in a panic, my pulse picked up once again. A quiet beep came from the machine beside me and then quietened down. Someone must have pushed the button to silence my racing heartbeat.
"It's just my gloves, Isabella," Dr Gerandy said. "I'm sorry to startle you. I'm going to begin my examination, alright?"
A few minutes later, after my tender head had been poked at and it had been established that I definitely couldn't see anything, the doctor began explaining what was going on.
"So," I said, making sure that I had understood correctly. "I will get my sight back?"
"That's difficult to answer. You see when vision loss occurs after a concussion, it usually corrects itself within a few hours or days. Sometimes it can take a few weeks to come back and then sometimes it's lost altogether," He paused. "I'm afraid it's just a waiting game right now until we found out if your sight will return."
"How long until I know it's definitely not coming back?"
"I'm sorry, Isabella, but I don't know. We've been routinely monitor your brain for signs of injury or swelling but the swelling that was their when you were first admitted is gone now. Now, for the past few days, you've been drifting in and out of consciousness and now that you are fully awake I've full confidence that you will recover in no time."
I heard my parents sigh in relief. "What do we do in the mean time?" My dad asked.
"I've called in a specialist from Seattle to read over your notes but as far as I can tell for now, your sight will return. We just have to give your body time to fully heal. I'll arrange for you to have occupational therapy to help you get used to moving around without your vision and for a counsellor to help you adjust to this."
"Do I have to see a counsellor?" I asked. No matter how messed up I was, I didn't want to sit down and bare my soul to a shrink.
"I'm afraid you do, Isabella. It's not just your body that needs to adapt to this change."
And that was that. Over the next few weeks, I regularly met with Dr Gerandy for update and more tests; I met with Riley the occupational therapist to learn how to get around when I couldn't see and I met with Mike to "help me" cope with my new found disability.
"My name is Emmett McCarty," The loud voice – Emmett - said, calling this little get together to attention. "I've met some of you before and for the other's it's nice to meet you."
I could hear chairs scraping along the floor and guessed that there were a few more people at this gathering than Irina had let on. Since I woke up, I haven't really been great with crowds and a lot of people. We would be having words later.
"Everyone have a seat," Emmett called. "And then we'll go round the circle and introduce ourselves. Why don't we start with you? Just tell us your name, age and, if you want to, why you're here."
"I'm not telling you anything," Someone said. "This is bullshit!"
"Alright, thanks for sharing, Tyler," Emmett said wryly. "Next?"
"Katie. I'm fifteen and I'd rather not say why I'm here."
"Okay, that's fine, Katie. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Phil," The man to my left said. "I'm 51."
There was silence for a few moments then. I felt a small tap on my right leg and realised with a jolt that they were waiting for me.
"Uh, I'm Bella," I mumbled. More silence. Oh shit! "I'm 21."
I did think about saying I'd been in a car accident and that I was here because the hospital and my parents didn't think I was coping well with my new found blindness, but in the end didn't.
"My Name's Edward, I'm 24 and I'm here because… well, you can kinda see that for yourself."
I snorted.
Oops! The room went silent for a few beats before the next person continued on.
Ugh! Great going, Bella. Not even here for ten minutes before practically insulting the one person who's spoke to you. I made a mental note to apologise to Edward after.
"Thanks everyone." Emmett said. "So I thought that since this is the first meeting that we'd start with something simple. I want you to partner up with the person next to you and then tell them two things about yourself. Make one the truth and one a lie. Whoever guesses right wins a treat!" There was chatter for a couple seconds before "Tyler, don't even think about it. You're with me."
"Partners?" Edward asked. Well this was awkward? Was he talking to me?
When I didn't answer he asked again.
"Me?" I squeaked in a small voice. I figured if I asked quietly and he wasn't talking to me then he probably wouldn't here over the chatter.
"Yeah, you," He laughed. "So, partners?"
"Okay. You start."
He laughed again. I liked his laugh - it was warm and hearty… Comforting.
"Let's see," He paused and made an hmm sound. "Okay, got it. I once rescued a puppy from being eaten in Mexico and one time I gave my little sister a bowl cut."
"Umm, okay" I snorted. "Those were random. I'm gonna go with the puppy as the lie."
"Yup. You're right."
"My turn?" Geez, this was hard. "I can speak French and I love cooking."
"Cooking?" He guessed. Wrong.
"Nope, I do love cooking."
"Cool. What do you like making?"
"All kinds of things." I said. "I usually just go the fridge and see what I've got before deciding."
Which I couldn't really do anymore. Great, way to bum yourself out, Bella. Which reminds me.
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier."
"For what?" Edward asked.
"You know when you were introducing yourself, I didn't mean to be rude."
"0h. it's okay. What did I say that was so amusing though?"
"It was stupid." I mumbled, feeling even more ridiculous for bringing it up. "Just when you said that we could see for ourselves why you're here. Not that it's any of my business! I mean, I didn't even say my reason and you did. That's brave, you should…"
"Bella," He interrupted, stopping my rambling. "It's okay, slow down."
"Sorry."
"It's not a big deal. Not like I'm hiding the fact that I'm in a wheelchair."
What? "You're in a wheelchair?"
"What you think they just ran out of chairs in here?" He laughed.
"Umm, no," I sighed. I guess he hadn't noticed earlier then. I'm not sure how he missed it though. It's not like I would be wearing my sunglasses inside for no reason. "I didn't notice."
"Sure, Bella." He mocked. "Of course you didn't."
I frowned, unsure how to deal with this. Most people that I came across these days already knew that I was blind. I hadn't had to tell anyone before.
"I'm blind." I stated. There, that was easy. Simple, straightforward and to the point.
"Oh."
I waited to see what else he would say. Would be laugh? Probably not. If Edward was in a wheelchair then he would probably be more accepting of my disability. Maybe. Please don't laugh?
"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't realise." I felt his hand touch my arm and jumped at the spark. What was that?
"Uh, it's okay..."
"We all finished?" Emmett called out. I heard a chair scrapping back "Great. Well that's us done for the day, this was just a short meet and greet with each other. We'll meet back on Monday for a longer meeting. If you guys want to talk to me about anything, I'll hand around for a few minutes after everyone leaves."
I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Hey Bella, ready to go?" Irena.
"Yup." I said, beginning to stand. "Uh, it was nice meeting you, Edward."
"You too, Bella." I felt him grasp my hand and squeezed gently. "I'll see you around."
A/N: Thanks for reading :]
