Chapter 4- Unexpected Events
She lay in bed shaking, terrified. It wasn't a new emotion but she'd never felt it with quite so much depth and brevity before... she didn't know how to deal with it... what to do. He'd left about an hour ago, still with that insane grin on his face, a grin that she knew she'd never forget, that would haunt her dreams for years to come. The strange thing was she couldn't remember that much of it. She was vaguely aware of what he had done to her, but it had seemed so far removed from reality that she'd remained in a kind of trance like state until only a few minutes ago... Now it seemed to all come crashing down and she wept, feeling dirty... used. Feeling so much hate for herself that she wished she had the courage to do something... ANYTHING to take the feelings away.
"Chicken shit", she whispered and at that moment, looking back at her pale reflection, loathed herself even more. Unshed tears were lodged in her wide, unblinking crystal eyes and her mouth shook as if to try and hold back a wordless scream.
"You're chicken shit Gale..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
L.A.- 2002
Kristen looked at the huge sign that dwarfed the highway ahead of her. 70 miles. 70 miles to L.A. A place that she had no doubt would hold many surprises, she didn't even want to think about if they would be good or bad. Realising she hadn't even looked at a paper or heard a news bulletin that morning, she turned on the radio. For all she knew, this could all be over already. Gale could have woken up, told everybody what happened all those years ago, and this could all be completely irrelevant. But part of her knew that even if this WAS all over, she'd still keep going... She hadn't seen Gale for fifteen years but for that entire time she'd missed her. They hadn't exactly parted on good terms, 'Sheesh' she laughed slightly, 'THAT'S an understatement'. But still, she could remember everything before that day, how inseperable they'd been. Best friends since the age of six, they'd had the kind of relationship that was close but also pretty turbulent. There was so much competition between them back then. She found herself smiling at how different they'd been. Her, tall and ash blonde, all american and typical, almost cliched in her good looks. Gale, willowy and gorgeous. Dark haired and blue eyed, her beauty was transfixing, sometimes almost ethereal. Yet despite all their problems, they stuck together... through thick and thin. "Weathers and Taylor versus the world", they used to say, and that was the way that it had always been... until that night.
Kristen felt a warm tear drop from her left eye and roll down her face and into her slightly parted lips, hitting her taste buds with a familiar saltiness. She hadn't heard anything. Nothing had been mentioned about Gale, or her mother and the incessant whining of some teen pop star had driven her to distraction. She shut off the radio with a loud click. Glancing at her reflection in the rear- view mirror she noticed with disdain that she looked exhausted and white as a sheet, and she felt just as bad as she looked. Wiping her eyes quickly and taking a deep slow breath, she fought the demons and focused on the road infront of her. For her to crash was the last thing anyone needed right now...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Everything was still blurry but as she tried to focus, things seemed to become sharper. She was getting definate shapes... the wall infront of her... the machines next to her bed. She could even hear them now, the continous "bleep, bleep" that indicated her heartbeat. Well that was good, at least she knew she was alive... alive and feeling like absolute HELL. As feeling started to come back, all the pain seemed to rush at her at once. Her head pounded and her mid section and legs seemed to almost burn with pain, especially at the joints. She wasn't even going to try and move her neck, it felt completely numb. The strangest feeling overtook her... like she'd been drowning, but now someone was reaching out for her, grabbing her hand and hauling her out of the swirling, choppy water. It was an exhilarating feeling, liberating... almost beautiful if not for the sharp, terrible pain that came with it.
Normal things started to come back to her too... who she was, where she was. What had happened was still reluctant to come back... it was like a thick fog swirled all around it, reluctant to let her see what she needed. The pain that was so intense at first, started to dim a little as she got used to it and she was aware of more acute things... She could hear soft breathing. At first it seemed distant, like it was in the next room but as she listened closer, she realised that it was coming from right next to her. And the hand that she had imagined pulling her out of the thick ocean of her coma was still wrapped around hers... although, it wasn't tight or pulling, it was soft and reassuring. She didn't even have to turn her head to see who it was. She knew who it was. Her rock.... But no, he was so much more than that. He was the first person who had ever really loved her. He didn't act like he had to, like her parents, or pretend to love her because she was beautiful and rich, like so many men she'd dated in the past... He loved her and she never had to pretend that she was something she wasn't around him.
She tried to move her hand.
It felt like so much effort. Her movements were slow and sluggish and dull pain coursed it's way through the right side of her body as she tried to lift her hand, tried to wake him.
"Dewey?"... she tried desperately to speak but her throat felt drier than it had ever been, she could barely even open her mouth. And it made her head ache terribly. She felt tears coming, she felt so useless. Having no control over herself terrified her... it was something she wasn't used to. That was one of the vows that she'd made to herself that day, to NEVER lose control over her own life, to never let anyone else run it or take over.
She moved her hand again and as she did, felt a slight movement to her right, heard him yawn softly... He was awake. She felt a sudden surge of energy take over her and she gripped hold of his fingers and squeezed as hard as she could, trying to cough at the same time.
He felt it. He jerked himself upwards quickly, desperately and stared at her. She looked at the stunned, almost disbelieving look on his face and managed to smile weakly.
"Hey..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning Dewey sat by her bed again, still gripping her hand and squeezing her fingers gently every now and then. She was still awake but they all realised it would be a few days before she would have the strength to talk properly and carry out any kind of conversation. Dewey was ecstatic but somehow the awake but quiet Gale was even more upsetting. All he wanted was to hear her voice again, to listen to a sarcastic comment or a witty put-down... but to be able to see those striking blue eyes focused on him again gave him the kind of incredible happiness that he could of only dreamed of yesterday. It looked like there was hope at last. Nobody had told her about her mother and he'd spent the whole morning feeling awful about it, but the doctors had advised against it, not wanting to upset her when she was still so weak.
Instead he stuck to talking about other things, such as Sidney and Mark who everyone was pretty sure were dating, even though they hadn't told anyone as such. They'd both been by that morning to visit her but had left not too long after, sensing that Dewey was desperate to be alone with her.
"Mr Riley?", the Doctor at the door startled him and he turned sharply, gripping Gale's hand slightly tighter. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just wondering if I could have a word?" he smiled comfortingly and clicked his pen against his clipboard slowly.
"Yeah... sure.", he uttered slowly and brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles tenderly before leaning across to brush his mouth against her cheek, stand up and follow the doctor to the corridor. He could feel her eyes following him and he turned and looked back at her. She seemed to lean back a little and relaxed her eyes, indicating she needed sleep. He knew that leaving her for a minute would probably be best.
He shut the door quietly and looked curiously at the doctor who's name he noticed was "Dr M. Harrison" from his tag clipped to his white jacket.
"What's the problem?", he asked tentatively, praying it wouldn't be bad, whatever it was.
"Mr Riley, you may remember that we carried out some routine tests on Miss Weathers when she came in a few days ago..."
"Yeah, I remember", he nodded, feeling the knot in his stomach begin to tighten... what was going on?
"The results came back today from those tests", Dr Harrison shifted his feet and hugged the clipboard closer to him before carrying on. "For all the other tests, she's come out perfectly fine, apart from the obvious she's in good health... a very lucky woman"
Dewey was growing impatient. "Look, what's going on?" he urged "... is she ill? Is that what you're trying to tell me?!"
The Doctor looked stunned and held his hand out. "No Mr Riley, she's not ill... she's pregnant."
"What?!"
"Miss Weathers is two months pregnant... and despite her injuries, the baby seems to be perfectly fine."
Heehee, there's a nice ending to keep you all hanging... *evil* :-D Thanks for all the positive reviews, keep postin' 'em!! Chapter 5 coming soon...
She lay in bed shaking, terrified. It wasn't a new emotion but she'd never felt it with quite so much depth and brevity before... she didn't know how to deal with it... what to do. He'd left about an hour ago, still with that insane grin on his face, a grin that she knew she'd never forget, that would haunt her dreams for years to come. The strange thing was she couldn't remember that much of it. She was vaguely aware of what he had done to her, but it had seemed so far removed from reality that she'd remained in a kind of trance like state until only a few minutes ago... Now it seemed to all come crashing down and she wept, feeling dirty... used. Feeling so much hate for herself that she wished she had the courage to do something... ANYTHING to take the feelings away.
"Chicken shit", she whispered and at that moment, looking back at her pale reflection, loathed herself even more. Unshed tears were lodged in her wide, unblinking crystal eyes and her mouth shook as if to try and hold back a wordless scream.
"You're chicken shit Gale..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
L.A.- 2002
Kristen looked at the huge sign that dwarfed the highway ahead of her. 70 miles. 70 miles to L.A. A place that she had no doubt would hold many surprises, she didn't even want to think about if they would be good or bad. Realising she hadn't even looked at a paper or heard a news bulletin that morning, she turned on the radio. For all she knew, this could all be over already. Gale could have woken up, told everybody what happened all those years ago, and this could all be completely irrelevant. But part of her knew that even if this WAS all over, she'd still keep going... She hadn't seen Gale for fifteen years but for that entire time she'd missed her. They hadn't exactly parted on good terms, 'Sheesh' she laughed slightly, 'THAT'S an understatement'. But still, she could remember everything before that day, how inseperable they'd been. Best friends since the age of six, they'd had the kind of relationship that was close but also pretty turbulent. There was so much competition between them back then. She found herself smiling at how different they'd been. Her, tall and ash blonde, all american and typical, almost cliched in her good looks. Gale, willowy and gorgeous. Dark haired and blue eyed, her beauty was transfixing, sometimes almost ethereal. Yet despite all their problems, they stuck together... through thick and thin. "Weathers and Taylor versus the world", they used to say, and that was the way that it had always been... until that night.
Kristen felt a warm tear drop from her left eye and roll down her face and into her slightly parted lips, hitting her taste buds with a familiar saltiness. She hadn't heard anything. Nothing had been mentioned about Gale, or her mother and the incessant whining of some teen pop star had driven her to distraction. She shut off the radio with a loud click. Glancing at her reflection in the rear- view mirror she noticed with disdain that she looked exhausted and white as a sheet, and she felt just as bad as she looked. Wiping her eyes quickly and taking a deep slow breath, she fought the demons and focused on the road infront of her. For her to crash was the last thing anyone needed right now...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Everything was still blurry but as she tried to focus, things seemed to become sharper. She was getting definate shapes... the wall infront of her... the machines next to her bed. She could even hear them now, the continous "bleep, bleep" that indicated her heartbeat. Well that was good, at least she knew she was alive... alive and feeling like absolute HELL. As feeling started to come back, all the pain seemed to rush at her at once. Her head pounded and her mid section and legs seemed to almost burn with pain, especially at the joints. She wasn't even going to try and move her neck, it felt completely numb. The strangest feeling overtook her... like she'd been drowning, but now someone was reaching out for her, grabbing her hand and hauling her out of the swirling, choppy water. It was an exhilarating feeling, liberating... almost beautiful if not for the sharp, terrible pain that came with it.
Normal things started to come back to her too... who she was, where she was. What had happened was still reluctant to come back... it was like a thick fog swirled all around it, reluctant to let her see what she needed. The pain that was so intense at first, started to dim a little as she got used to it and she was aware of more acute things... She could hear soft breathing. At first it seemed distant, like it was in the next room but as she listened closer, she realised that it was coming from right next to her. And the hand that she had imagined pulling her out of the thick ocean of her coma was still wrapped around hers... although, it wasn't tight or pulling, it was soft and reassuring. She didn't even have to turn her head to see who it was. She knew who it was. Her rock.... But no, he was so much more than that. He was the first person who had ever really loved her. He didn't act like he had to, like her parents, or pretend to love her because she was beautiful and rich, like so many men she'd dated in the past... He loved her and she never had to pretend that she was something she wasn't around him.
She tried to move her hand.
It felt like so much effort. Her movements were slow and sluggish and dull pain coursed it's way through the right side of her body as she tried to lift her hand, tried to wake him.
"Dewey?"... she tried desperately to speak but her throat felt drier than it had ever been, she could barely even open her mouth. And it made her head ache terribly. She felt tears coming, she felt so useless. Having no control over herself terrified her... it was something she wasn't used to. That was one of the vows that she'd made to herself that day, to NEVER lose control over her own life, to never let anyone else run it or take over.
She moved her hand again and as she did, felt a slight movement to her right, heard him yawn softly... He was awake. She felt a sudden surge of energy take over her and she gripped hold of his fingers and squeezed as hard as she could, trying to cough at the same time.
He felt it. He jerked himself upwards quickly, desperately and stared at her. She looked at the stunned, almost disbelieving look on his face and managed to smile weakly.
"Hey..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning Dewey sat by her bed again, still gripping her hand and squeezing her fingers gently every now and then. She was still awake but they all realised it would be a few days before she would have the strength to talk properly and carry out any kind of conversation. Dewey was ecstatic but somehow the awake but quiet Gale was even more upsetting. All he wanted was to hear her voice again, to listen to a sarcastic comment or a witty put-down... but to be able to see those striking blue eyes focused on him again gave him the kind of incredible happiness that he could of only dreamed of yesterday. It looked like there was hope at last. Nobody had told her about her mother and he'd spent the whole morning feeling awful about it, but the doctors had advised against it, not wanting to upset her when she was still so weak.
Instead he stuck to talking about other things, such as Sidney and Mark who everyone was pretty sure were dating, even though they hadn't told anyone as such. They'd both been by that morning to visit her but had left not too long after, sensing that Dewey was desperate to be alone with her.
"Mr Riley?", the Doctor at the door startled him and he turned sharply, gripping Gale's hand slightly tighter. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just wondering if I could have a word?" he smiled comfortingly and clicked his pen against his clipboard slowly.
"Yeah... sure.", he uttered slowly and brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles tenderly before leaning across to brush his mouth against her cheek, stand up and follow the doctor to the corridor. He could feel her eyes following him and he turned and looked back at her. She seemed to lean back a little and relaxed her eyes, indicating she needed sleep. He knew that leaving her for a minute would probably be best.
He shut the door quietly and looked curiously at the doctor who's name he noticed was "Dr M. Harrison" from his tag clipped to his white jacket.
"What's the problem?", he asked tentatively, praying it wouldn't be bad, whatever it was.
"Mr Riley, you may remember that we carried out some routine tests on Miss Weathers when she came in a few days ago..."
"Yeah, I remember", he nodded, feeling the knot in his stomach begin to tighten... what was going on?
"The results came back today from those tests", Dr Harrison shifted his feet and hugged the clipboard closer to him before carrying on. "For all the other tests, she's come out perfectly fine, apart from the obvious she's in good health... a very lucky woman"
Dewey was growing impatient. "Look, what's going on?" he urged "... is she ill? Is that what you're trying to tell me?!"
The Doctor looked stunned and held his hand out. "No Mr Riley, she's not ill... she's pregnant."
"What?!"
"Miss Weathers is two months pregnant... and despite her injuries, the baby seems to be perfectly fine."
Heehee, there's a nice ending to keep you all hanging... *evil* :-D Thanks for all the positive reviews, keep postin' 'em!! Chapter 5 coming soon...