Em's world was dark. Her sleep was dreamless, a medicated fog.
Am I dead? I think I'm dead. I'm better off dead.
When the bright flourescant lights of the hospital began to creep into Em's hazy vision, she knew she wasn't dead. The smell of disinfectant which was far too clean filled her nostrils and all that once she was filled with panic. She would have sat up, but she was in too much pain. Was it pain? She didn't know. She couldn't tell. The next thing she heard was a loud beeping sound from her heart monitor, the scuttle of nurses. She felt a pinch in her arm and then there was darkness.
More sedatives. They'd given her more sedatives. What was that all about? Ben thought she was finally going to wake up. She'd begun to stir, but then again the look of panic on her face was shocking. Then her heart rate went nuts and he couldn't take much more of this. Em, his Em... Oh God, why was he calling her that? She wasn't even his. He wanted her to be his. No, she was his. In his mind, she was. She was his Em.
Lisa remained in the room by Ben's side all morning. She'd slept, of course, but seeing her baby boy in so much pain was like being stabbed in the heart for her. It truly was. She knew he was infatuated with this Em girl, but this was beyond what she'd thought. He was sticking by her side without sleep, just about as loyal as a good husband is to a wife. It was like they'd been through years together in the span of a couple weeks.
Ben continued to keep watch at her side. Lisa hated to leave but Ben insisted that she go to work instead of staying with him. He insisted he could handle it. By lunch time he was alone again; Just him, Em, and the boatload of machines. He just wished this was all a bad joke, some nightmare that he could wake up from. If only...
Out of the sedated haze came light again. Light.
Why aren't I dead?
Em didn't understand. But she knew if she panicked they'd give her medicine again. Her eyes opened slowly and she glanced around the room, saw Ben, who was praying under his breath. There was a subtle ringing in her ears. Was it pain that was throbbing in her whole body? Pain? Maybe it was pain, a very dull ache, but there was that drugged haze to it that just confused her even more.
Wait.
Ben was there. At her bedside. The last thing she could remember was running from her house as fast as she could with a broken leg. Her chest feeling all too heavy and breath seeming just out of her reach. Then the rumble of a car and then... she could 't remember anything else. Her eyes opened completely and she took a sharp breath, tightening her hand around Ben's, squeezing tightly. Holding onto him like an anchor in the middle of a storm.
Ben's eyes flew open when he felt the pressure on his hand.
She's awake.
His heart lept and he stared at her, wide eyed, before containing himself and squeezing her hand back ever so gently. "...Hey you," he said, voice heavy with exhaustion. "How are you feeling?"
Em reached and pulled her oxygen mask off. "Like shit," she rasped, before realizing she still couldn't catch her breath and pulling the thing back on desperately. After a few hits she tugged it off again to speak. "What the hell happened?"
"You don't remember?" Ben said incredilously. Em rolled her eyes, pulling off the mask momentarily. "Last thing I remember was a car pulling up to me on the street and that was it."
Ben blinked a few times. Of course she remembered what her dad had done to her. Of course. He wasn't about to tell her that one of the police officers had told him her father had skipped town like some kind of playground bully. Just thinking about it twisted his gut in knots.
"Well, you texted me," he explained, keeping his voice calm and even. "I came to get you, and brought you here to the hospital. You almost died." Ben's voice caught in his throat and he swallowed thickly. "But you're alive now. You're alive and you're safe and I'm never gonna let him hurt you again, Em. I'm not gonna let you get hurt ever again okay?" He closed his eyes and sighed. "Never again."
Em's eyes fluttered closed and she let the sound of his voice soothe her to sleep. She wasn't alone. She didn't feel safe, but maybe she was. Maybe she was going to be happy after all. Em's world was dark. Her sleep was dreamless, a medicated fog.