Hey y'all. I want to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter. You guys totally rock!
Now, on with the chapter.
Chapter Five
When she looked back on those days, Edwina was certain that that was the day that she had truly and royally screwed herself. But, back then, she hadn't even thought that things could get much worse than they were. Boy had she been wrong.
Things began to look up for Edwina after she met Bradin. She couldn't help but think that he was the most attractive boy that she'd ever met, and the fact that he had bothered to be nice to her had only made him even more gorgeous. When things got rough for her at home, she would call up the image of Bradin's face and things would suddenly seem all better. Sure it was only a quick fix, a brief break from reality, but it helped her to deal with all the crap that was going on in her life. Her parents' fighting had gotten worse, and there wasn't a day that went by when Edwina didn't hear them screaming. But the thought of Bradin always helped to get her through their shouting matches.
Maybe if he'd known how much he meant to her, he wouldn't have hurt her like he did.
> > > > >
A bright light flooded her eyes as her lids slowly fluttered open. Everything around her was a blur of muddled color and Edie found it difficult to make out distinct shapes.
Where am I? She wondered as her eyes searched the distorted room for clues. But she couldn't make anything out. A mass of color appeared over her face.
"How are you feeling today?" The voice came from all around her.
She tried to speak, to tell the Voice that she felt like hell, but she had no voice of her own. The best she could manage was a small groan. Something rested on her hand, something warm and comforting.
"You'll get your voice back soon enough," the Voice said, "right now I'm just glad that you're awake."
Her vision began to swim and her eyelids felt as if they were weighed down with lead. Her eyes began to close. She fought to keep them open, but the darkness was swiftly closing in on her again. But this time it was not menacing, but, rather, gentle and warm. Inviting.
The last thing she thought of before she let the darkness take her once more, was the fact that the Voice seemed so familiar to her.
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Bradin stood over the woman's bed. Edie. That was her name. One of the nurses had gone through her purse and found her driver's license. Edie Branwell. He knew that name from somewhere. But for the life of him, Bradin could not place it. The familiarity of it was as persistent as the woman's face.
He should know her. He was certain of it. But where could he have seen her before? He hardly ever got out of the house, and when he did, he was at the hospital. Bradin had no social life. So why, then, was this woman so familiar to him?
Gently, he traced her jaw line. Her face was bruised, but there was no hiding the beauty beneath those dark marks.
"Dr. Westerly," Bradin started as a nurse pushed aside the curtain surrounding Miss Branwell's bed.
"Yes?" Bradin turned his attention to the nurse. The young woman looked from him to the young patient suspiciously.
"You're needed in exam room 3." She said, her voice holding an edge.
"Thank you." Bradin said. He cast one last glance at the young woman that lay sleeping, before quickly heading towards the exam room.
> > > > >
He got home late that night and quickly headed for his computer. He was going to find out who Edie Branwell was if it was the last thing he did.
After he'd finished his shift that day, Bradin had returned to Edie's bedside to see if she'd woken up again. She hadn't. Nonetheless, Bradin remained by her side for nearly two hours, staring at her face and trying to remember where he knew her from.
He logged onto the internet and headed for a search engine. Typing quickly, he wrote Edie's name in the small box and pressed Enter. It took only seconds for the page of results to show.
It seemed as if a million links came up. Bradin sighed. It would take him hours to go through all this. But he readied himself for the long haul and clicked the mouse on the first link.
> > > > >
Edie felt as if her whole body were on fire. Pain swept through every limb, every muscle, every cell of her body. She wanted to scream from it all, but her throat was too raw to make noise. So she did the only thing she could- she cried.
Hot, wet tears slid down her cheeks one after the other. The tears rolled over her face, the wet trail quickly dried by her heated skin, and fell into her ears and hair and onto her pillow. The tears, however, would not absolve the pain, and Edie was left in a dark cocoon of anguish.
She was aware of life around her. She could hear an incessant beeping and garbled voices and footsteps that squeaked on tiled floor. Her sense of touch was unaffected, and she could feel the blankets that she lay on and their roughness. She smelled generic soaps and cleaning products, and the ever present smell of antiseptic. It was a smell that she had come to sense in her worst nightmares. The smells of a hospital- a place that she had sworn to herself she would never enter again. And yet here she was, smelling those smells again, and it was all she could do not to throw up.
"There, there, sweetheart." Edie felt a cool hand encompass her own. "I know it hurts. So I'm going to give you something for the pain." The sweet, musical voice of a woman continued to talk as Edie lay there, crying. She could hear the woman moving around, but Edie was uncertain of what she was doing.
But that didn't matter. Because a calming darkness was slowly seeping over her, enshrouding her in its warm embrace. Edie breathed in deeply, wanting to open her arms to the darkness and welcome it like a hug from an old friend. And as the darkness crept over her, that's exactly what she did.
> > > > >
Bradin walked into the hospital early the next morning, rested and anxious. He knew now who Edie Branwell was, and where he knew her from. He knew all too well.
It hadn't taken nearly as long as he'd thought for him to find her. One of the links on the third page of results had led Bradin to her. And what he had found, he had not liked.
It was a link for his old school, Playa Linda High- class year of 2006. Edwina Branwell's yearbook photograph had jumped onto the screen, her haunted eyes staring out at Bradin as if she were judging him and his selfish behavior. His heart had ached as he looked at that photograph, remember what he had done to her. How could he have been so cruel?
As he walked down the hall towards her room, Bradin wondered if she would remember him. If she would recognize him, too.
He stood over her bed. She was sleeping peacefully, eyes closed, chest moving slowly up and down with each breath. He couldn't believe that this was Edwina. No longer did she look like the misplaced girl, the ugly duckling that nobody wanted anything to do with. No, now she was a beautiful young woman.
He reached out slowly and took hold of her hand. A diamond ring glinted in the florescent lighting. Obviously someone had had the courage to do what Bradin had only wished he'd been able to. Someone else had taken the risk of asking Edwina out. And they had clearly fallen in love with her. And how could they not? She had been a great girl, one of the best that Bradin had ever known.
Sighing, he gripped her hand tighter. He'd always regretted the fact that he'd allowed his friends to influence him so much. Otherwise he would have asked her out. And, perhaps, he would have been the man lucky enough to have Edwina Branwell as his bride. For, even though she wasn't pretty by any means, she had a great heart and a lot to offer a person. As long as they were willing to reach out for it.
Bradin had often wished for a chance to do things over.
He studied Edie's peaceful face. Perhaps God had finally decided to give him that chance.
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Yippee, another chapter finished! I hope you guys liked it and will review.