There's pain. So much pain.
Her head pounds, her limbs seem to be on fire and she can't form a single coherent thought. Everything just hurts so much. Something is heavily pushing down on her chest, almost crushing her ribcage, she's sure about that, because it's so, so hard to breathe.
"Jade? Jade, do you hear me?"
There's a voice, a man's voice but she doesn't know who it is. It sounds as if… is she under water? No, it can't be. The blare of a siren reaches her ears but Jade can't figure out where the sound is coming from or if it's even there at all. She tries to open her eyes but it just hurts and she doesn't know if she can do it. This smell that drifts up her nose… wait. Why does she smell blood? What's happening? Despite the searing pain that shoots through her entire body, Jade manages to crack her eyes open, but immediately gets the urge to close them again. She flinches. The lights are so bright but then a blurry figure appears in front of her vision and blocks the abnormal brightness from hitting her pupils. "Jade," he says her name, again in that weird under water voice, "are you in pain?"
She can't nod her head, the pain way too strong but she doesn't want to talk either, it's just way too exhausting. But it hurts so much and she wants it to go away. "Yes." Her voice must be barely audible but the man seems to understand her. She sees him nod before she lets her eyes drift shut again.
Something descends onto her mouth at the same time as something cool shoots up her arm and she snaps her eyes open again, despite the pain, panicking. She tries to move but she just can't and then, the bubbling voice of the man sounds again. "Don't move. Everything is fine. We'll help you."
She lets her body relax, welcoming the oxygen that freely flows into her mouth and nose. Something flickers in the corner of her eye and with great effort she tries to look what it is. "I'm here, Jade." It's Tori – oh thank God, Tori – and she's smiling at her, that beautiful smile. Worry creases her forehead and her eyes try not to let the fear show she must be feeling. Jade's mouth tries to form words, anything, to let her know that she's so happy she's here but nothing comes out. Tori, noticing her struggle, steps closer to her. "Don't." Unlike the man's voice, Tori's is so much clearer. "Just relax, okay? You are going to be fine."
She starts to blur, the lines of her body barely there anymore and Jade would think she's imagining things if Tori wouldn't look so damn scared all of sudden. The brunette looks down at her body that gets more and more translucent by every second ticking by. Her wide brown eyes snap up, and even through her pain filled haze Jade can see the horror in them. "Jade, what's happening?"
It's the last thing Jade hears before she falls into pitch black darkness.
x.X.x
The faint sound of a door closing reverberates in her ears, so loud, that Jade thinks her eardrums might burst. Then, there's shuffling beside her. Her eyes seem to be stapled shut as she tries to open them and she stops trying, settling for just lying there. The pain she was feeling earlier is almost completely gone, but a tight soreness still remains. But what exactly had happened? She tries to think back but there's nothing. She can't remember a single thing but then, everything comes rushing back. Her foot pushed down on the brakes but it was too late. The car hit her side, her ears taking in the screeching of the tires and then, metal clanking on metal. She flew forward and all air got knocked out of her body and there was so much pain all of sudden, as her head hit something hard and glass all around her shattered. Soon enough, everything went black. Right. She had been in an accident. And then… she woke up again and there was so much pain everywhere. Tori was there too but then… she disappeared.
Tori's gone.
Jade's heart pumps faster as she remembers Tori's fear stricken voice, her panicked eyes looking at her as her body faded away. "Jade, what's happening to me?" It's the last thing she can remember but it's not helping her, she has to know what had happened to Tori. Her lungs take in as much air as they can, despite the piercing pain that shoots up her chest, and after taking together all of her strength, Jade opens her eyes. She has to blink various times to bring the spinning room in focus but when she finally manages, a flash of bright red is the first thing she sees.
"Jade?"
Cat.
"Are you okay?"
She sounds scared, she looks scared out of her mind, and Jade doesn't think she could handle it if she'd say she isn't okay. Jade slightly nods her head and watches Cat puff out a shaky breath. "I really was so worried. We all were. I'm so glad you finally woke up." Her wide brown eyes look to the door, then back at Jade. "I should probably tell your dad you woke up."
"I'm fine," she croaks out but a coughing fit immediately takes over her body, her chest heaving and pricking as if a thousand needles sink into her skin, and her dry throat burning. Cat quickly gets up and retrieves the water bottle from the little table next to the bed. After pouring some into a glass, she helps Jade prop herself up a bit so she could drink. It felt like heaven, the water lapping at her dry throat, cooling it and easing the pain. She lies back down and closes her eyes. "Tori…" Fatigue quickly takes over her body again but Jade won't go to sleep, she has to know what happened.
Cat's eyebrows knit together, her head tilting. "What?"
"I need to see her," Jade breathes, her eyelids getting too heavy for her to open them, "I need to make sure she's okay."
"Who?"
"Tori. I can't just let her go, Cat. I need her to be here with me. She can't go away. I need her." A cool hand touches Jade's forehead and smoothes her hair back.
"Go to sleep, Jade. You're exhausted."
And even if she wants to, she doesn't have the strength to fight Cat, so sleep wins once again.
x.X.x
The next time Jade wakes up, everything is so much clearer.
This time, Andre and Robbie sit by her side, both brightly smiling when they see that she opened her eyes. "Hey! Look who finally awoke from her beauty sleep," Andre chirps while taking her hand in his large one.
"Not that she needs a beauty sleep," Robbie butts in, "Jade is always such a feast for the eye."
A light laugh fights its way through Jade's throat, and a smile tugs at Andre's lips too as he shakes his head in amusement at Robbie's bizarre way of complementing. In a much quieter voice and with a soft smile Robbie asks "How are you feeling?"
Jade shifts a little to get more comfortable before answering him, her voice raspy. "Better than the last time I woke up." She looks around until her eyes come to rest on a water bottle, reaching for it.
"I got it," Andre interferes, grabbing the bottle and pouring her a glass before handing it to her. "Well, you've been out for two weeks before you woke up yesterday, no wonder you felt weird." Jade chokes a little but quickly composes herself. Did he say two weeks? Andre looks at her cautiously. "Everything okay? Do you need the nurse?"
"No, I… Two weeks? That… that can't be. I wasn't…" she trails off, looks down at her lap and shakes her head. Two weeks that means… if something happened to Tori then she couldn't have done anything.
"Yes, you were. Your injuries were pretty bad and well…" Robbie shrugs before continuing, "Your body shut down until yesterday. But don't worry. You're going to be as good as new in a couple of days."
"Yeah," Andre agrees, "And until then, you'll have us, your personal entertainment crew."
"But I can't-"Her eyes widen and a pain filled gasp escapes her as a sharp sting shoots through her chest and ribs from sitting up so suddenly. Slightly getting dizzy, Jade welcomes the way Andre gently pushes her back down. "You have to go slowly, girl. You're still healing." His hand reaches around her body to make sure that the blanket is still securely tucked around Jade before he gets up from his chair. "I'll go tell the doctor you woke up. He probably wants to check up on you."
Jade watches him go before she turns her head towards Robbie, slightly shifting onto her side to face him more properly. "Robbie, come closer."
His eyebrows move together but he complies Jade's request, getting up from his seat to move to the chair Andre previously had occupied. He looks at her questioningly and Jade takes a deep breath, wincing slightly at the dull pain in her ribs at doing so. "I need you to do me a favor."
"Does it involve violence?"
"What?" Jade's eyebrows furrow. "No! No, it doesn't."
Robbie lets out a relieved breath and then nods. "Okay. What is it?"
"You have to go and search for a girl named Tori Vega. She's a patient here. Or better, search for her parents. If you find any of them, tell them they have to come see me, it's really important. You got that?"
Robbie's confused expression only increases. "But why do you-"
"Just do it! Don't tell anyone about this, just…" She sighs and closes her eyes for a moment. This is her only chance of finding out where Tori is. Or… if she's still here at all. She has to be. Jade's eyes open again, her mouth releasing a sigh. "Please do it. I need to… find something out and they are the only ones who can help me."
The sound of the door opening catches both of their attention, their eyes falling on Andre and a man with grayish hair and a friendly smile, accompanied by a young nurse. "Ms. West," he nods, smiling at her, "I'm Doctor Gordon. How are you feeling?"
"Perfectly fine," she snaps with a glare, although the throbbing pain in her ribcage is telling a different story. The doctor doesn't seem fazed by Jade's attitude, only chuckling and taking a look at his clipboard.
"Well, I'd like to see for myself," he says and raises his eyebrows at Robbie and Andre, "Gentlemen, would you wait outside?"
"Oh, yeah sure," Andre nods and motions for Robbie to come with him. Shooting a look at the curly haired boy, Jade sees him pressing his lips together as he stands up, then, he looks at her and slightly nods his head before following Andre out of the room.
x.X.x
"Hiiii Jade!"
The cheerful redhead doesn't even bother to wait for Jade to say 'come in', instead she just barges through the door with a bright smile on her face. She skips over to Jade's bed, the big plastic bag she's carrying rustling with every move she makes. Before Jade can really do anything, Cat's arms wound themselves around her, squeezing and almost making her double over in pain. "Oh God, Cat let go! Let go of me!" A pained hiss escapes her mouth when Cat finally releases her, her ribcage throbbing with the erratic pain the little redhead had caused with her embrace. "Don't hug me!"
Cat's face takes on a look of confusion for a moment before her eyes widen in shock. "Oh my God! Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry, Jade. I'm just so happy you're awake."
It always had been a problem for Jade to stay mad at Cat, the way she looks at you with her big innocent eyes just hits you right in your heart and you can't do anything but forgive her. "Whatever," Jade mumbles dismissively and leans back in her bed, "It's fine."
The smile quickly returns to Cat's face and she takes a seat on the chair next to Jade's bed, her hands tightly clutching the plastic bag. "I've brought some gifts for you," she exclaims excitedly and reaches into the bag to pull something out.
Jade's eyebrows crease when her eyes fall on the round object in Cat's hands. "A coconut?"
"It's from Sikowitz! He said that coconut milk will bring you to your feet in no time! You should try it!" Jade slowly nods and takes the coconut from her hands, the soft hair tickling her palms. When Jade looks back at Cat, she sees her hesitate before pulling the next item out of her bag. "This is from Sinjin." She frowns as she holds up an old water bottle with a purple liquid in it. "He told me he mixed it especially for you. But," she pauses and Jade raises an eyebrow when Cat moves closer to her, almost whispering the last part, "I wouldn't drink it if I were you. Sinjin's kinda weird."
Cat shoots her a look and leans back, gently placing the bottle on the little table next to Jade's bed. Her face lights up again as she pulls the last gift out, a purple elephant. "This is from me! I thought you could need someone here with you, whenever you're alone! His name is Harry," she squeaks out and thrusts the elephant into Jade's face.
Taking the stuffed animal out of Cat's fingers, Jade gives it a light squeeze before forcing herself to shoot her best friend a smile. "Thanks. I appreciate it."
The next hour was spent with Jade listening to Cat chatter about her brother and his newest adventures, a visit from a nurse and Cat telling her about everything she's been missing in school lately.
"Well, and then Sikowitz threw the golf club out of the window." Cat sighs and lets out a little giggle. "It was funny."
"Hm. I can imagine." It's silent for a little while, with Cat having told Jade everything she's missed in the last two weeks and Jade not really in the mood to talk about anything. But sure enough, Cat finds a new topic for them.
"Say Jade… who is Tori?"
Jade freezes when Tori's name leaves Cat's lips, her head slowly turning towards the curious redhead. "How… Tori? Why do you ask?"
Cat takes a deep breath, shrugs her shoulders and innocently looks at Jade. "You were saying that when you woke up yesterday. That you wanted to see her." Her eyebrows crease together and she shakes her head. "But I don't know any Toris. Who is she?"
The urge to lie to Cat and tell her that she doesn't know what she's talking about or that she doesn't know why she even said Tori's name arises in Jade because, well, what should she tell her? 'Tori is the ghost I spent my time with before the accident, but she's most likely dead right now'? No, as much of a crazy person Cat could be sometimes, she would never believe that Jade had encountered some kind of lost soul. With no clue of what to say, Jade shakes her head when a knock sounds at the door and saves her from answering Cat's question. At least for now.
"Yeah, come in!"
The door opens to reveal Robbie sticking his head inside, awkwardly smiling at Jade. "Hey Jade. I've uh…" His eyes flick to Cat for a short moment before settling back on Jade. "I did what you wanted me to do and I think I... found someone."