In The Blink Of An Eye

Chapter 4

Troy sat up in the hospital bed with a sudden jolt, and looked around him in a panic, not able to work out where he was at first. When he remembered he was in the hospital, he let out a sigh of relief. He looked over at the neon clock on the wall. It was 4am. Looking over, he saw Kelsi fast asleep on her side. There had been no word yet on how Ryan was, and worrying about him had exhausted her.
"Kelsi?" Troy whispered, trying to get her attention, but there was no waking her. Troy looked at her for a while to make sure she was okay, and she was. Lying back down, Troy turned on his side away from Kelsi, and tried to get back to sleep, hoping to dream of Gabriella.

Continuing on his quest, he carefully slid down the hill a little more into a valley opening, hoping to find some of his friends down there.
"Hello??" Said a voice, stumbling along. Troy looked down, and hobbled over to the figure.
"Taylor, you're okay!" Taylor looked at him confused.
"Troy?" She questioned, cautiously. He nodded, and Taylor smiled, giving Troy a tight hug. "I thought I'd lost you all! Have you found the others?" Troy bit his lip, and
shook his head.
"Not all of them." He said, pulling away. "I've found Kelsi and Sharpay."
"Not Gabriella? Or Chad? He was driving!" Asked Taylor, worried. Troy shook his head, and sat on the grass, carefully pulling Taylor down to sit with him. He looked up at the sky, and saw the sky was a soft orange colour - the sun was coming up. He was unsure how many hours had passed since the accident, but knew that it would only be a matter of time before people saw the wreckage on the ground.
"Sharpay can't feel her legs, and Kelsi's pretty burned. They should be okay though. I just haven't found any of the others yet." Troy looked over at Taylor, but she didn't look up from her lap. Troy sighed, and put his arm around her shoulders, figuring she was in shock, and taking all this in.
"You stay here." He said, looking at her. Taylor paused for a second, looking confused again.
"I'll…go and see if I can help the others." She said, standing up, and going in the opposite direction. Troy shrugged, and figured she'd be okay on her own as there didn't seem to be any injuries other than the scratches on her face. It meant there could be someone sitting with the people he found, while he carried on finding others. 'I'll find them all' he told himself, wiping the sweat from his eyes, and carrying on down the hill.

Troy felt himself being shook awake gently.
"Troy…You've got a visitor…" Said the nurse standing by his bed. "I can ask her to wait if you want…"
"N-no it's okay." Troy murmured. "I'm awake…" He carefully sat up in his bed, and blinked a few times to focus on the room. It was when he opened his eyes for the third time that Troy saw a dark-skinned girl standing next to the nurse.
"Taylor?" He asked gently. Taylor looked at the nurse nervously, who nodded at her.
"Can you…tell him?" She asked the nurse, quietly. Troy was confused. From what he remembered about Taylor, she was loud, and opinionated. He never dreamt in a million years Taylor would sound so tamed and…scared.
"Troy…You need to try and annunciate your words for Taylor. She um…She can't hear anything. She has to lip read." He looked from the nurse to Taylor, and stared at her.
"You're deaf?" He asked, confused. Taylor nodded, and sat on the chair next to the bed.
"If everything's okay in here, I'll just be outside." Troy nodded, and looked back at Taylor.
"When the engine exploded…" Taylor began slowly. "My head was near it. The loud noise ruptured something in my ears."
"Is it permanent?" He asked again. Taylor paused, trying to work out what he said, and then nodded. "Why didn't you tell me after the accident?"
"You had to find Gabriella and Chad." She sniffed. "I didn't want you worrying about me."
"I guess you weren't just ignoring me when you didn't answer me then." Troy said slowly, and Taylor laughed.
"Taylor? Is that you?" Troy looked over to see Kelsi stirring awake. Taylor of course, hadn't heard her, so Troy pointed over to Kelsi.
"Um Kelsi, she can't hear you, so she has to be looking at you." Explained Troy. Kelsi looked upset at this, but nodded.
"I'll be okay eventually." Said Taylor, suddenly. "I might not be able to hear, but I've always wanted to learn sign language. And at least I'm alive."
"Is anyone not?" Troy's voice shook as he asked, but by then Taylor had turned her head to speak to Kelsi. Kelsi looked over at him when he asked, but chose not to ask herself, because she knew neither of them really wanted to know the answer.

Taylor took turns between talking to Kelsi and Troy, before her parents came to pick her up. They were taking her to her sign language class, which they were also attending to make things easier on her.
"We'll do it to." Decided Troy, as Taylor left. "Once we're all better, we'll all take lessons to help Taylor out." Kelsi nodded, and they both fell silent.
"…Do you really want to know?" Asked Kelsi, all of a sudden. Troy looked at her confused.
"Know what?" He asked.
"How the others are….Chad, Gabriella…."
"Why wouldn't I?!" Troy sat up, looking at her angrily. How could she even suggest that he didn't want to know!
"I don't mean like that." She said. "…But what if the reason no-ones telling us, is because it's bad news? They didn't want me to know about Ryan, after all. And if they were okay--"
"Gabriella will be okay." Troy wiped his eyes, not even letting the thought cross his mind. "She'll be at home resting, or in the hospital somewhere. Chad too." Kelsi nodded.
"…Sorry I brought it up." She whispered, turning away from him to go back to sleep.

Just before visiting hours were over, there was a knock on Troy and Kelsi's door.
"Um….hey…Can I come in?" Kelsi looked up first, as Troy was half asleep. She smiled.
"Chad, you're okay…" Troy's head shot up at that, and his eyes widened.
"Dude! It's you!" Troy's face instantly lit up, but he saw that Chad's didn't do the same. Instead, Chad burst into tears, falling face down into Troy's blankets.
"It's my fault!" He sobbed, his whole body shaking. While Troy tried to calm him down, he blanked out again.

As Troy continued on his quest to find Chad, Troy and Gabriella, he saw a figure stumbling along, similar to him. Troy was wary at first, in case it was a murderer or something, but then he heard a familiar voice.
"Chad!" Troy called, rushing over to him. Chad limped along towards Troy, and Troy could see he was distraught.
"Tr-Troy you're okay.." He stuttered, visibly shaking. "The…the truck and…and I didn't know what to do, I'm sorry man I…I'm so sorry I…" Chad stuttered on, but Troy pulled him into a hug.
"Chad, you've gotta calm down, dude. Take deep breaths."
"No I…Taylor! Where…"
"She's okay." Said Troy, gently. "She's waiting with Sharpay and Kelsi. She's fine. She's okay." He repeated, and Chad ran a hand through his hair.
"Is anyone--"
"No. They're fine." Troy interrupted. "I'm looking for Ryan and Gabriella now. You go and sit with Taylor."
"No. N-no, I have to help.."
"Chad, you're in shock, you need to sit down and try and--"
"I WANT TO HELP, TROY! THIS IS MY FAULT! I WANTED TO DRIVE! I INSISTED ON NOT TURNING BACK!" Chad let out a sob, and Troy patted him on the back.
"Okay…Okay you can help. But if you start feeling ill…"
"I know. Then I'll go and see nurse Taylor." He sniffed. "Normal circumstances….wouldn't mind that." Troy smiled at the slight glimmer of his old friend, and the two carried on walking.

"Troy?" Troy looked down, and saw Chad looking up at him, rubbing his eyes. "…You did good that day, man."
"Just did what anyone would've." He said, patting his back.
"No…You're more of a man than I am." Chad sniffed, looking at the floor. "…I'm seeing a psychiatrist…to help me through it all, yknow? All…the guilt." He looked up at Troy again. "Dude, I made Taylor deaf…"
"It could've happened at any time, Chad." Comforted Kelsi, reaching out of her bed to pat his arm.
"…Sharpay can't live her dream because I've put her in a fucking wheelchair…
"She's told us she's okay with that. Don't worry about it." Troy tried his best to comfort him.
"And then….dude I'm sorry." Chad let out another sob. "Dude I'm so FUCKING SORRY!"
"It's not your fault, Chad. It's not your fault!"
"IT IS!" He pushed Troy away. "YOU SHOULDN'T WANT ME HERE! AFTER WHAT HAPPENED--" Troy looked confused.
"Chad?"
"You know--" They got interrupted by a nurse rushing in.

"Kelsi?" She looked up, suddenly scared by the urgency in the nurse's voice.
"What??"
"There's….been some problems downstairs. We're doing the best we can with Ryan--"
"What's wrong??" Troy interrupted, trying to put Chad's outburst at the back of his mind, and be there for Kelsi.
"We're trying to stabilise him, but--"
"I'm going down there." Troy said, getting out of bed quickly. He started lowering the bars to Kelsi's bed, but the nurse stopped him.
"Troy, Kelsi's too weak to walk at the moment. The burns are still severe--"
"But…" Began Kelsi.
"No. I don't want you getting hurt, Kels. You stay here. I'll be down there in your place." Said Troy. He looked around at Chad. "You coming?" But Chad, after his last outburst, had ran out the room as soon as he heard Ryan was worsening. Troy heard him crying somewhere, but couldn't listen to that. He turned to the nurse. "Let's go."