Chapter 1 (Reem's POV)
I awoke to the sound of loud humming and beeping machines. I was mildly confused by this, until I opened my eyes. I was in a hospital; but why? I made a small grunting noise and attempted to get off of the bed, but then I noticed the needles stuck to my arm. Each one connected to a bag of liquid. I noticed that one of them was blood and winced, quickly looking away. I started looking around, searching for one small clue as to why I was in the hospital.
That's when I saw it. It was a picture, but I noticed that I wasn't in it, counting the kids in the picture. But as my eyes turned to look at the happy, married couple, memories flashed in my head, hitting me like a thousand bricks. Although, the last one made me let loose a loud, high pitched scream. My body instantly curled up as my eyes squeezed shut, my hands clamping over my ear. Sobs soon wracked through my body, as I struggled not to choke on my own tears.
The door flew open; I was only surprised that it had taken them so long to realize all the loud noises I was making. A nurse came running in, a syringe in one hand. This only made me even more afraid, my sobs getting louder. "Shhh, sweetie. I'm not going to hurt you, it's alright," she cooed as she laid a hand on my shoulder.
Slowly I calmed down until the tears stopped flowing and my sobs had been reduced to mere gasps and hiccups. I watched as the nurse slowly put the syringe away, and then check the needles in my arm. "Why am I hooked up to so many things?" I heard myself croak, gesturing at the needles and the bags of liquid.
The nurse smiled sympathetically, "Well in your case, we couldn't exactly give you a feeding tube, it's too dangerous. So we gave you the important stuff, like water, iron, calcium, fiber, all of those things. We can't exactly have a patient wasting away on her own bed…" she trailed off.
"Wait… what's the date today?" I asked, my mind still trying to wrap itself around everything.
"May 16th, 2008," she answered slowly.
"So wait, I've been here for two whole months," I felt the shock running through m body. "How come I don't remember anything?!"
"You've been in a coma Hun, these two whole months you've been lying on that bed, motionless. Quite honestly, we didn't think you'd make it, they were going to pull the plugs tomorrow, actually," she kindly explained as she grabbed a sharp too.
"But what happened to make me fall into a coma?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. I watched the nurse carefully as she walked over to the foot of my bed and started cutting the cast off my leg. Funny, I didn't notice it was there 'till now.
The nurse shrugged and sighed, "We don't know. You're parents brought you in here two months ago all bruised and beaten up," she slowly took the cast off my leg. I winced as I saw the dirty, sweaty skin on my leg, suddenly getting the urge to take a nice, hot shower. "Want to know what I think?" she raised her eyebrows at me. I nodded slowly, wondering if I really did want to know. "I think your parents did something to you, you know, child abuse?" I froze, and I saw her smirking. "I'm right, huh. Do you know what this means?" she asked as she easily sat me up, pulling my hospital gown down to my waist.
I was about to object, but then hesitated, realizing that my chest was tightly bound up in bandages. "No," I answered her question. I watched for a moment as she silently unwound the bandages from my chest.
"Unless your parents can prove themselves innocent, you're going to a foster home," the nurse looked at me with sympathy as I tried to figure out everything that was happening to me. I simply nodded, sighing softly.
"Do you know where my parents are?" I asked as she finally finished with the bandages on my head and pulled the hospital gown back up.
"I don't know, but I'll call them once I'm done," she said as she began to unravel the bandages on my head. I frowned; how many bandages did I have? I nodded my head slowly, careful not to move my head too much. She stood up when she was finally done and pointed to a duffel bag on the ground, next to the bed. "Go ahead and take a shower, the bathroom is over there," she pointed to a door in the corner. "Press the call nurse button if you need anything," she smiled before walking out of the room.
I sighed and got off the bed, slowly stripping the ugly hospital gown and throwing it in a small hamper in the corner. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt, along with some underwear and a fluffy towel. I shuffled quickly to the bathroom, goose bumps already running up and down my arms. I set my stuff carefully on the small shelf beside the sink. That's when I caught a reflection of myself in the mirror. I was gruesome.
I had defiantly lost a lot of weight. My legs were pencil thin, so thin that I was surprised that they didn't snap under my weight. My hip bones thursted out awkwardly, every single rib visible beneath my skin, my elbows were sharp, but my face was in the absolute worse condition. It was pale and thin, my eyes dull and almost black, my cheeks with absolutely no color, except for the veins which were too visible. I sighed, and turned away from the mirror, horrified and disgusted by my own body. I turned the water on and stepped into the shower, thoughts repeating themselves over and over in my head until they were absolutely meaningless. Why me? The only answer was: God must really hate me for no reason at all.
I absolutely detest you all. Humph!