Marie's pov.
The wind ruffles my long blond hair, blowing it into my face. I watch the waves hit the sandy Australian shores.
"Hey mommy look what I found!" I turn to see my seven-year old daughter Megan waving a large seashell above her head. I smile.
"That's a lovely shell Megan, leave it here with me and we can take it home after okay?" I call.
"Ok" she says enthusiastically, bounding over and placing the shell at me feet, before skipping off to play in the sand. I examine the shell, it is soft pink in colour and has small points covering the top. A few moments later Megan comes running back.
"Hey mom, there's a giant hole in the ground, you need to come see!" She says excitedly, pulling on my arm. I smirk.
"Alright, alright I'm coming" I say, standing up and following her over to a larger crater in the ground. I frown how did that get there, and better yet how come we didn't notice it when we drove in? Megan interrupts my thoughts.
"Hey what's that?" She asks point to a blue object at the bottom.
"I'm not sure" I say.
"Let's check it out!" She says, running towards the edge. I grab her arm.
"No you stay up here, I'll go take a look, but you have to promise to stay here." I tell her.
"Fine" she says and sits down. Carefully I make my way down to the bottom of the crater. Walking toward the middle, I notice the blue shape again, getting closer I realize it's a body. Rushing over, I kneel down beside it. The cloak cover most of the body, but a pair of long slender legs poke out the bottom. The skin is sort of grayish and both legs are covered in bruises and angry red welts. One of the legs is twisted at an odd angle. I quickly identify it as broken, while the other has a long gash from the knee down. Carefully I place my hand on the shoulder and turn the figure over. I gasp and cover my mouth with my other hand. The body is that of a young girl, maybe sixteen years old. Other than the cloak she is wearing a black leotard that covers her arms but leaves her legs bare, and a small golden belt hangs loosely from her waist. One of her wrists is twisted as well, and both her and her sleeves are stained red where many sharp rocks have pierced through both fabric and skin. With a shaking hand I pull the hood away from her face. Her eyes are closed and her face is framed by short violet colored hair. There's a small cut on her lip where she mays have bitten it, and a large gash running from the side of her temple and down her cheek. I wonder how she could have obtained all these injuries. I would have thought her dead if it wasn't for the faint rise and fall of her chest. I check her pulse. Its weak and irregular, but there. Knowing it's not safe to move her, because she may have a concussion, I stand up and make my way over to the edge of the crater.
"Megan." I call up. Her small face appears.
"Honey do you remember the emergency number they taught you in school?" I ask. She nods.
"Ok, I want you get my phone out of my bag and call it ok? Tell them where we are and that someone has been badly hurt. Then come back alright?" I watch as she disappears from view. A few minutes later she reappears.
"Did you call?" I ask.
"Yeah they say they are sending an amblence." She replies. I don't bother to correct her pronunciation. Instead I move back over to the girl, and kneel down beside her. She stirs slightly and a small sigh escapes her lips before she slips back into a still state. I quickly check to make sure she's still breathing (she is), before turning around.
"Megan honey, are you okay up there?" I ask.
"Yeah" she calls "can I come down?"
"No honey stay up there, now listen, when the paramedics get here I need you to show them where we are ok?"
"Alright" she says in a shaky voice. A gaze around at the crater walls, and wonder what could have created it. I don't see any meteors or anything, just the girl... I begin to wonder if she could be from space. But surely if she had hit the earth with enough force to create this, it would have killed her? I shake my head. I'm just think irrationally, but still... I wonder... My thoughts are interrupted by the wail of sirens. Megan disappears again and reappears a few minutes later. Two paramedics descend into the hole. I get up and walk over to them, one is a shorter man with brown hair, and the other is a woman with black hair. The female paramedic hurries over to examine the girl.
"Can you tell us what happened?" The other paramedic asks me. I shake my head.
"I'm not sure" I reply. "Me and my daughter came to the beach about an hour and a half ago. We were the only ones around. We found her..." I gesture to the girl, "like this already. I haven't tried to move her though, she has a large gash on the side of her head and I believe her leg and wrist are broken. She's been unconscious since we found her, possibly longer." The paramedic nods.
"Thank you" he says. "Any chance you know who she is?" Again I shake my head.
"I have no idea, I've never seen her before." I reply. He nods.
"Alright well..."
"Hey John we need to get her to the hospital." The female paramedic says. John nods.
"We'll take it from here, go back to your daughter." He says. No way he's getting rid of me that easily.
"No let me help." I say. He looks at me quizzically.
"I have a pHd in medicine, I worked at the hospital in Sydney for several years, I just didn't go back after my daughter Megan was born." I explain.
"That may be but we have everything under control, go back to your daughter." He says dismissively. Then her uses the walkie-talkie attached to his uniform.
"Hey Joe? We're going to need a stretcher down here." He says. With one last look at that poor girl, I turn and climb back out of the crater. As I climb out, two more paramedics climb it carrying a stretcher. Megan is standing at the top with a scared look on her face, I'm reminded that she's only seven. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and kiss her forehead.
"You did a good job today." I tell her.
"Mommy what happened? Why did I have to call the amblence?" She asks.
"Ambulance dear, and..." I break off as the paramedics appear carrying the now loaded stretcher. I quickly try to cover Megan's eyes, I don't want her to get nightmares from the gruesome scene. But I'm not fast enough, Megan's eyes widen as the paramedics walk by. I quickly cover her eyes before she can see too much more. I move my hand away once they've passed. Megan turns to me with tears brimming in her eyes.
"What's wrong with her mommy?" She asks sadly.
"She's been hurt Meg" I explain as gently as I can.
"Will she be ok?" She asks.
"I'm sure she will, don't worry." I tell her.
"Are we gonna go to the hospital and see?"
"No, you aren't, I might, but first I'm going to take you home and see if auntie can come babysit you." I say. I take her hand and we walk back to the car. The drive home is quiet (mostly because Megan fell asleep). I pull into the driveway and wake her up.
"No mom sleeping." She complains. With a sigh I pick her up and carry her into the house. Setting Megan down on the couch, I pick up the phone, and dial my sisters number.
'Hello, Catherine speaking'
'Hey Catherine its Marie'
'Hey, what's up?'
'Well...'
'Uh oh I know that voice, what's wrong'
'There was an accident down at the beach...'
'Oh gosh, is Meg ok?'
'Meg is fine, we didn't know the girl, she was really banged up though'
'And know you want to go down there, and you want me to come watch Megan while you're gone right?'
'Please'
'Hey no problem, I'll be there in ten minutes'
'Thanks Catherine' I hang up and look at Megan's sleeping form, then I climb the stairs to my room and change out of my beach clothing. Nine minutes later I'm ready and at the door. I look through the window and see Catherine's brown car pull into the driveway. I head into the living room and gently shake Megan awake.
"Hey sweetie, time to wake up auntie is here."
"Ok" she says groggily. I hear a knock at the door.
"Come in" I yell. Catherine walks in the front door.
"Hi Marie" she says. "Its been a while."
"Catherine you were here two weeks ago" I point out.
"Well that's too long to go without seeing my favorite sister and niece." She states happily, going over and pulling Megan into a giant hug.
"But auntie Catherine, I'm your only niece." Megan points out.
"And I'm your only sibling" I say. "Will you two be alright here?"
"Yeah we're fine, know go." Catherine says. I smile and walk out the door...
An hour later I reach the general hospital. I walk up to the front desk. A young woman in her early thirties is sitting behind the desk.
"Excuse me, but did an ambulance bring in a young girl in an accident at the beach about two hours ago?" I ask politely. She looks up from her typing.
"I'm sorry, I'm not really supposed to give out that information to anyone but relatives at the moment. Are you a family member?" She asks. I shake my head.
"No but me and my daughter are the ones that found her, and there's no way my daughter will fall asleep tonight unless I can tell her that that girl is going to be alright, but I can't bring myself to lie to her, and frankly I want to know the same thing." I explain. She gives me a sympathetic look.
"I totally understand. Look how about you go sit over there." She points to some white plastic chairs on the other side of the room. "And I'll talk to Dr. Phillips, see what he says."
"Thank you," I say, before making my way over to the chairs. Ten minutes later a tall man with short black hair approaches me.
"You're the woman who made the 911 call at the beach earlier right?" He asks in a gruff voice. I stand up.
"Yes, that's me." I reply.
"I'm Dr. Phillips, follow me please." He says, walking away. I follow him down a long white corridor.
"So you're here because you wish to know how the patient fares correct?" He asks.
"Yes please." I confirm.
"I must say not many people tend to care if they don't know the person, though I must say it isn't pretty. The girl's left leg is broken, and her right wrist is shattered. As I'm sure you saw, she has many cuts, a few of which are quite deep, and her ribs are badly bruised. She's pretty banged up, but luckily she doesn't have a concussion or any damage to her brain, though she remains unconscious, she should be alright." He explains. I go from worrying, to pity for the girl, to relief that she should recover.
"Would you like to see her?" Dr. Phillips asks me.
"May I?" I ask.
"We don't know who she is, so we don't know who her family is and I don't think they know she's here, no one has come around. Obviously she doesn't know you, but it might be nice for her to wake up to a friendly face. Perhaps you can even find out who she is.
"I can certainly try." I agree. Dr Phillips leads me into room 107. A nurse with be around at five to check on the girl. If you need anything the nurses office is two doors down" he says. I thank him, and he turns and leaves. Pulling up a plastic chair I sit near the hospital bed. The girl is now wearing a green and white striped hospital gown, her wrist and leg are in casts and she is covered in bandages. You can see the stitches in her leg and running down the side of her face. A loose strand of violet hair has fallen in her eyes. I reach over and gently push it back into place. Most people would wonder why I care so much, I mean I don't even know this girl. But the thing is, when I was seventeen, I watched one of my friends die. We were hiking in the forest. She wanted to go off the trail, I thought it was a bad idea, but I didn't say anything, instead I followed her. Well she slipped and went sliding down the slope. I scrambled down after her, cutting my leg open in the process, when I got to the bottom I called 911, but it was going to take half an hour for the ambulance to get there. She had split her head open on a rock and blood was everywhere. At the time I didn't know what to do and she died right in front of me. That's why I chose to study medicine. So when I saw this girl laying there I knew I had to do everything I could to help her. Suddenly a nurse with long brown hair tied in a loose ponytail walks in, interrupting my thoughts.
"Oh, hello!" She says as she notices me. "Are you family with this young lady?" She asks.
"No" I reply. She frowns.
"Family visitors are the only ones allowed to see her at this time ma'am." She says.
"I know, but I have permission from Dr. Phillips to be here." I explain.
"Well alright" she says reluctantly. She fluffs up the pillows on the bed, and examines the monitors on the wall, before leaving. I notice that some of the girl's hair has fallen back into her face. I gently push it back behind her ear. A small sigh escapes her lips. She groans lightly and stirs, before slowly opening her eyelids to reveal a pair of violet eyes...
Hope you guys are enjoying the new story, and please don't hesitate to leave comments and advice.
Pixiedragon25: this update good enough for you sis? And you know if you kill me in my sleep like you threatened i can't very well finish the story now can i?
-Enchantedforest33