Avery

I take a bite of the slightly overcooked mac n' cheese and try to distract myself from the throbbing in my leg and my head by watching an old Batman cartoon. Ever since I woke up, my stomach has been killing me, I'm so hungry and I just can't seem to stop eating.

I scrape the last bite from the third bowl of the morning, but I still feel hungry. I stack the Styrofoam cup inside the other two and push it aside on my bed tray that sits in front of me. My doctor came in and checked on me maybe an hour ago, she said that the appetite was a good thing, but right now it just feels ridiculous.

Then again, I guess that's how it is when you've spent a month in a coma eating liquid food from a straw.

A whole month.

So that would make it…. July? I grab the remote and turn it to the news. A weatherman stands at the far right of the screen, his hand extending across the screen and pointing to the different temperatures under each day, "Today is gonna be a scorcher, with temperatures soaring into the mid-nineties, by tomorrow a cold front will blow in, so expect some heavy thunderstorms all day on Sunday beginning in the morning and spanning out all day…."

I look down to the corner of the screen, and find the icon that says the date.

July 16th

My head begins spinning as I realize, "I missed my birthday," I say as my eyes stare blankly at the screen. A pair of fingers come in front of my face and snap, and suddenly I hear a voice.

"Avery, how are you feeling?" I snap my head to the left and see a man standing by my side, a white lab coat covers his light blue scrubs, his face is chiseled and he looks like that doctor on that TV show in Seattle… what was the damn name of the show…..?

My head begins to throb worse than before as the man continues talking, "My name is Dr. Pierce, I'm the lead Neurologist here," the man has a small on his face as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small flashlight before bringing his fingers to hold my chin up and shining the light into each of my eyes, "you took a pretty good hit to the head," he said as he pulls away, pointing to the spot where the throbbing is coming from, "though the gash healed, there's bound to be some side effects," Dr. Pierce says as he takes a step back and sits in the chair by my bed, he leans forward, his elbows coming to rest on his knees as he laces his hands together.

"Like what?" I ask, my voice barely more than a whisper.

"Head injuries are tricky; you had swelling of the brain when you first arrived, but since you were…. Well, since you weren't active, your brain had plenty of time for healing. I'd like another CAT scan later this afternoon, just to make sure everything's alright." I give him a small nod, my head is aching and his voice is only making it worse. He sighs and crosses his arms, "The police want to talk to you, but I want to ask some basic questions just to make sure you're feeling yourself, okay?"

"Okay," I say, pulling myself up to a sitting position.

"Alright, what's your full name?"

"Avery Terrance Chastings," I answer quickly, the throb quickening in my head.

"And your age?"

"Eighteen-" I pause, realizing that June 8th had already come and gone, "Well, I guess nineteen, now." I say, taking a minute to look down at my hands. I look up to see him giving me a small smile, laced with pity.

I bite the inside of my mouth to hide my annoyance.

"And your parents' names?" Anger suddenly fills me, the steady beeps of my heart rate spikes on the monitor. His eyes flash to the screen, then back to me with a questioning look.

"Cheryl Reese and Joseph Chastings." I say flatly as I try to figure out why I'm angry. My head aches worse than ever, and I just wish he'd leave.

"Are you alright, Avery?" he says as he reaches out and places a hand on my shoulder. I force myself to take a deep breath before answering.

"I'm fine, do you, uh," I run my tongue along my lips, trying to concentrate on anything but the pain, "do you know where my mom is?" I squeeze my eyes closed, the lights seem to be getting brighter, and harsher by the second.

"Well….I had to come check on you to make sure you were up for visitors-"

"You mean she's not here already?" I ask, leaning back against the pillows.

"Well, no," he pauses, "I'll go call her now, you just relax and she'll be here soon, okay?" I don't open my eyes or make a sound; I just nod slowly and wince when I hear the door close.

It sounds as if he's slammed it, and the volume on the TV seems as though it'd been turned all the way up as the news anchor's voice booms through the room.

"-In other news, a man has begun protesting animal rights outside the capitol building in a hamster suit-" the man's voice grates against my ears, and I snatch the remote off the tray and turn the TV off.

For a moment, everything is silent and calm, my head stops aching and I feel at ease.

Then, all at once, noises fill my ears; the sound of the nurses' footsteps as they swiftly move through the hallways, the sound of machines beeping and carts rolling and people talking. One voice in particular stands out.

"Hi there, this is Dr. Pierce head Neurologist at Beacon Hills hospital; Avery's awake and ready for questioning. She passed the basic knowledge test but I advise you keep it short and simple, there's plenty of time for the more difficult questions later, Sheriff." His voice sounds as if he's still in the room, as if he's right next to me.

A short mumble sounds on the other end before he speaks again, "Yes, of course, I'll have the nurses postpone any pain medication until you arrive, she'll be less groggy that way." Another short mumble sounds from the other end.

"Sounds good, see you in a bit, Sheriff." After a few moments, his voice begins again, "Hello, Ms. Reese? This is Dr. Pierce head Neurologist at Beacon Hills hospital; Avery is awake and ready for visitors if you'd like to come see her," he pauses.

"Oh," he sounds genuinely taken back, "well, you can come by anytime before eight thirty tonight, that's when visiting hours are over."

Doctor Pierce says his goodbyes to my mother before calling my dad, saying the same greeting of, "Hello, this is Dr. Pierce; head Neurologist at Beacon Hills hospital…." Only this time, he ends with, "Yes, you can come by now, but the Sheriff is coming by too, you might have to wait till after he's done. Other than that, you can stop by anytime you like, visiting hours end at eight thirty though." He pauses as mumbles come from the other end, "No problem sir." Is all he says before the sound of footsteps drifts further down the hall.

I haven't seen my dad in years.

Not since he took that job in Japan with some big construction company.

And yet my dad is coming to see me now, and my mom isn't coming.

I hear my heart monitor beep unsteadily, and I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I think about my dad, and try not to think about my mom. After a few moments, the monitor slows and the noise of the hospital dissipates.

Suddenly, the door opens and a man, obviously the Sheriff, steps through with a polite smile on his face, "Good morning, Avery, I'm Sheriff Stilinski,"

"That was fast," I don't realize I said that out loud until he gives a small chuckle.

"I came right over," he says as he lowers himself in the chair by my bed, "I've been waiting a long time to talk to you," he pauses, "how're you feeling?"

I shrug, the motion pulls on the IV's in my arm. I try to not pay any attention to them. "Fine, I guess," I look down, not wanting to look at the man's warm, yet weathered face, "considering…"

He nods, "I need to know what happened, Avery, what's the last thing you remember?" He says gently.

I take a deep breath and try to think back, but my mind is foggy. I try harder, "Your mother said you went to a party….?" he asks.

A party…

I open my eyes, and narrow them at him in thought, "Jackson's party, right?" he gives me an encouraging smile and nods. I look down at the pale blue sheets, and it reminds me of my dress, "I was wearing a blue dress, like this," I say as I point to the sheet, flashes of my mom and I blur in my head, our muffled voices argue, "my mom- she didn't want me to go."

The throbbing in my head from earlier returns, "I remember sneaking out, starting the car," my memory blurs and fades to black as my car pulls out of the driveway, "but that's all." The Sheriff looks down, probably trying to hide his disappointment.

After a moment, he looks back up to me, "Was there anyone with you? Were you going to meet someone at the party?"

The throb turns into a stabbing pain as I try to push myself back to that night, but my heart monitor spikes again.

Why does it keep doing that!?

I can practically hear the blood pumping around in my body and Dr. Pierce's voice rings out in the room, "Sheriff," he says in a calm voice, "could I talk with you for a minute?"

The Sheriff nods and rises, "No," I say in a small voice, "I can do this," I push my mind back harder, trying my best to focus.

Dr. Pierce looks at me with a calming look, "Avery I don't want you to strain yourself," his voice is cool and rational, "you just woke up last night, you should be resting and taking it easy." I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

The Sheriff gives me a small smile, "If you happen to remember anything, without straining yourself of course," he glances up at Dr. Pierce, and I have to hold back a smile, "here's my number." He hands me a small card, "Have a good day Avery." He says as he walks to the door.

"Actually," I say stubbornly, the Sheriff turns back to me in surprise, as does Dr. Pierce, "I have a few questions myself, and since my doctors won't tell me anything," the beeps spike again. I sigh heavily and reach under my hospital gown and tear the monitor from my chest, "I'm sick of this thing," the monitor goes flat line, and I shudder inwardly at the sound screaming in my ear in a harsh droning.

Dr. Pierce rushes over and quickly shuts the machine off, I guess it's an unsettling noise to hear for the other patients in this place, but I couldn't care less right now.

"Avery, you have to-"

"I think she deserves a few questions answered." The Sheriff says with a small smile on his face. Dr. Pierce nods and slowly makes his way out of the room grumpily.

"Alright, what are these questions of yours?" I look down to my hands, trying to brace myself.

"I convinced one of the nurses to talk to me a bit earlier," I begin slowly, "she said when the ambulance brought me in," I take a breath, trying to get the courage up, "I had alcohol in my system, a lot of alcohol, is that true?"

The Sheriff lets out a heavy breath and looks down at his boots. "What happened that night Avery? I understand from your friends that your mom was… difficult… but why sneak out that night? What changed?"

My head feels foggy, clouded, but a voice rings out.

"You know, Jackson's having a party this Saturday, and I was hoping you'd go with me as my date."

"Jake," I breathe out.

"What?" Sheriff Stilinski asks quickly.

"I was supposed to go with Jake, I remember that." My eyes glaze over as I try to remember more…

"And, did you see this Jake at the party?" My mind goes blank. I let out a huff of frustration.

"I only remember talking to him about the party, nothing else." The Sheriff comes to stand at my side. I'm sitting up in bed, but I wish I could just disappear right now, until this all blows over.

"Anything else you can tell me about Jake?" He asks, taking out a pen and small notepad from his jacket.

"His name's Jake Reily, we're in the same grade, he goes to Beacon, he plays on the lacrosse team, but he's not-"

His radio chimes in.

"Sheriff, news broke of the girl waking up, reporters are outside the hospital; they want a press conference with you."

'The girl'? Seriously?

"Right," he says into the radio as he turns away and paces to the window on the far side of the room, "I'll be right out," he sighs when he looks out, "damn they move fast."

"Well it could've been a leak from one of the staff at the hospital, who knows?"

"Don't suppose it really matters now, I'll be right down." He paces back to me and gives me a sad smile. "You have my card, Avery; don't be scared to use it."

I give him a nod and look down as he makes his way out of the room.

I lay my head back and take in a deep breath, trying to calm down. I bring my hand up to brush my hair out of my face, only to find my hair feels greasy and thick. I quickly draw my hand back with a frustrated huff.

The room is silent; all the annoying, headache inducing sounds I'd heard several minutes earlier are gone. I nervously twist the sheets for a moment; silence has always made me nervous.

I give up and pick up the remote, turning the tv back on with a quick click.

The Sheriff stands outside the hospital with microphones and recorders pointed in his face, "-woke up late last night, she's currently resting and we ask that she and her family members are given her privacy from the media." Across the bottom of the screen the title is what catches my eye:

Avery Chastings Wakes From Coma; Remains In Hospital

I think I liked it better a few moments ago when I was 'the girl'. But there it is; my name on the screen, for everyone to see. For all those people to look at, shake their heads and say, 'what an idiot', or 'stupid teenager'.

One reporter speaks up, "Sheriff, is she still in the ICU or will she be moved into non-critical care soon?" The Sheriff looks down at the ground as the reporter finishes before lifting his head and speaking.

"I'm told she'll be transferred possibly sometime today or tomorrow, but I can't be certain." I look over to the window, wondering if I could…

I look at the IV's in my arm and follow the tubes to the portable IV rack. I toss my blankets to the side, and look down at my legs.

A huge bandage covers my right thigh, and I feel the sudden urge to pull the bandage away and see what's underneath, just to see how bad it is. I shake my head in disgust and shudder, realizing it's better not to know sometimes.

I slowly swing my legs over the side of the bed, a sharp pain cutting through my thigh as I slowly stand. Meanwhile, a different reporter asks another question, "Have you determined the cause of the crash yet?" The TV seems to echo through the empty room.

My eyes flash over to the screen. Sheriff Stilinski practically rolls his eyes at the question, "As I've been over before," he says in a stern tone, "I can't release information about ongoing investigations-"

"Sheriff, it's been an 'ongoing investigation' for weeks now, when can we expect some answers?" I push off the bed and put my full weight on my legs.

I pull the IV stand along with me as I take a few shaky steps. Sure, the pain is sharp in my leg, but I do my best to ignore it as I make my way to the window, all the while listening to the Sheriff as his voice becomes more and more stern.

My bare feet are stiff against the cold floor, but I look down after feeling something familiar. I smile when I see it's my toe ring and matching anklet; it's nice to have something I remember, at least.

"When the investigation is completed." I can feel the irritation in his voice. "Next question." He says bluntly.

I come to stand in front of the window and see two or three news vans, along with several cameras trained on the Sheriff. A man in a dark jacket begins walking toward the front of the hospital from across the street.

"Can we expect a formal statement from A-" The woman's question is cut off as a reporter suddenly breaks from the group and rushes toward the man.

"Mr. Chastings!" the man calls. Suddenly, all the camera men and reporters rush toward my dad as he makes his way up the stairs. Sheriff Stilinski and a couple other cops hold them back as my dad climbs the stairs.

"Dad," I whisper. My legs feel numb, and weird.

"Ms. Chastings!" the woman breathes in sharply. I turn to see a nurse rushing toward me, a shocked look on her elderly face. She holds out a weathered arm to help me stand. "You aren't supposed to be out of bed, dear, here I'll help you."

I give her a reassuring smile, "No, no thank you, I'm fine." she doesn't listen and grabs my arm. "No," I say, in an attempt to get her to look at my face, "I'm fine, I walked over here on my own and I can walk back, too." She keeps her grasp on my arm, and I give in.

She leads me back to the bed, kind of awkwardly too, seeing as how I'm almost a head taller than her. "Let me get a look at your leg, dear." She says in a hurried voice as I sit down.

"My leg is fine." I say stubbornly, wanting nothing more than her to leave all of a sudden. Her gaze snaps back to mine, and I let out a heavy sigh. She begins slowly pulling the medical tape from around the bandage; the tape pulls uncomfortably at my skin at a painfully slow pace, "Just tear it off." I say angrily, wanting this to be over already.

"If you say so," She takes a second before tearing the bandage off completely. I look down at my thigh, and find a big red scar over it, "your wound is still tender, dear." she says as she looks at the scar, prodding it gently with her fingers. No matter how gentle her prodding is, it sends sharp pains through me, "You're very lucky." She determines in a tone that doesn't make me feel lucky at all.

My eyes are focused on the scar.

It stretches down my thigh in an ugly twisted line. The nurse must sense my disgust, because she quickly pulls my hospital gown down to cover it. "Well, it seems as though it doesn't need a bandage anymore and it could do with some air."

When I still don't respond, she continues nervously, "You were losing a lot of blood from your leg when they brought you in, turns out you nicked the artery in your leg in the accident, Dr. Hughes –your surgeon- had to…well… patch you up."

My stomach churns uneasily, and I lay back against the pillows before I throw up. "Anyway," the nurse abruptly says as she walks back to the cart she'd pushed in earlier, "I've just come to give you your medication, dear."

Something churns in my stomach, but it's not nausea, it's….it's something else.

"Are you in pain, Avery?" The nurse says as she takes the empty IV drip from the metal hanger and begins replacing it with a full bag.

"I don't know." I say, trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with me. "I've felt so weird since I've been up," I say with a strained voice as the nausea gets worse, "I couldn't stop eating earlier and then my head was killing me and-"

My attention snaps back to the door when my dad walks in, a concerned look on his face, "Hi baby, how're you feeling?" He comes to stand by my side, and well, just stands there. Awkwardly.

Despite being happy to see him, I can't help but feel like my room has been nothing but a rotating door since I woke up this morning.

I haven't seen my dad in a long time. The most interaction we've had in that time is a phone call now and then. But other than that, we're practically strangers.

"I'm okay; my head's just a little foggy." He just nods and smiles before leaning in and giving me a tight hug.

"Dad," I say as he pulls away, "where's mom? Why isn't she here?" His smile slowly fades and his eyes seem to look past me as he inhales sharply.

Then it hits me: it's Saturday morning.

"Wait, there's no way she's," my dad's cool blue eyes tell me otherwise, "she's still having practice? I just woke up and she's busy with ballet class?" I say in a bitter tone as I look down to the small swirling design on the light blue sheets.

My dad doesn't say anything, and that's about as much as I can expect from him, there's not much he can say.

"Listen, honey," he says after a few empty moments, "I know I haven't been around lately, but you know that I love you, don't you? And I know how… how your mother can be, I just- you know you can talk to me, right?"

"Yeah dad, I know-"

"And I'm not just saying that Avery, I mean it," his voice is sincere, "if you ever need anything, you can call me."

I smile and look down again, "I know, dad." I hesitate before adding, "I've missed you." I say, trying to maybe close some distance between us. "How long are you staying for?" I ask in a hopeful voice.

He sighs, "I've been here a month already, I'm sorry Avery but now that you're okay I have to get back to work soon; I'll be leaving within the week."

I don't say anything, I just nod and smile, "How's Japan anyway?" I ask to make small talk.

"Oh! You should see the Cherry blossoms there; they're beautiful Avery! You have to come visit sometime, I'll have you flown over and you can stay with me-"

I let out a snort, "Good luck getting mom to agree to that." My dad's smile drops a bit at the mention of mom, but I can't help but to think of her, I've been awake for hours now and she's nowhere to be found.

A nurse peeks in with a smile, "Excuse me, but you have a visitor Avery." I smile, it took her long enough.

The nurse backs out and a moment later, Stiles walks in with a nervous smile on his face and his hands deep in his pockets. "Stiles?" The shock is apparent in my voice.

"Hey, Avery," he says, pulling his hand from his pocket and itching nervously behind his ear.

"Well, I'll go grab some coffee." My dad says before giving Stiles and I a nod and walking out of the room.

Stiles stands by the door, obviously unsure of what to say, or do. I can't say I know either. "You can come in if you want, you don't have to stand at the door." I give him a smile, which he mirrors as he steps further into the room.

"So, how-" I put my hand up to stop him.

"If one more person asks me how I'm doing, I think I'm going to scream." He gives an uneasy chuckle and a warm buzz spreads through my arm. I try to ignore it; it doesn't hurt, it actually feels nice…

"So," I begin as I bring my hand up and rub my arm a couple times, "what brings you by the hospital? Not exactly where I'd be spending my Saturday…" My head feels almost cloudy all of a sudden.

"Well, I heard you were up and I thought I'd come by and see you," I close my eyes, trying to push the pain out of my head, but a voice comes through.

"Hey, Avery," Stiles's voice rings out through blackness, "still not up yet, huh?" I hear a deep breath, "Listen, I know we don't really know each other that well, but I just want you to know I'm here. So, yeah, that's uh, that's all." His voice pauses, "There's a lot of people that care about you, people who want you to get better."

"-very?" I open my eyes, Stiles stands next to me and looks at me with wide brown eyes.

"Stiles? Have you… visited me here before?" I ask in a pained voice as my head throbs.

"Yeah," he says with a confused look on his face, "did your dad tell-"

"No, no," I shake my head, "I remember you talking to me, kinda." His eyes look up and down my face as a smile grows on his lips.

"Avery that's great!" My brow furrows at his words.

"It is?" I ask in a distant voice as voices start ringing through my head.

"Yeah!" he says happily as he leans forward in his chair, "That means you're beginning to remember, right?"

I close my eyes and listen to the voices….voices of my mom, dad, Stiles, Tori, of all my friends…all saying the same thing.

"Hey Ave," Tori sniffles, "I-I just came to tell you that I'm going to New York," her voice is thick with emotion and her sniffles interrupt her continuously, "God, I wish you were going with me. The doctor told me she didn't think it would be long now…. Nothing will be the same without you Avery, I love you."

The sound of a boy crying suddenly fades in as Tori's voice drifts off, "I'm so sorry this happened to you," I recognize the voice as Liam, a boy I met in my math class last year, we weren't the best of friends but we bonded over our hate for equations and formulas, "You were one of the best people in this town, I just wanted to tell you that."

"They were all saying goodbye," my eyes gloss over as tears fill them, my gaze snaps back to Stiles who now looks more solemn than before, "why were they all saying goodbye? How close was I to….?"

Stiles swallows and looks down, and clears his throat before he speaks, "They weren't really getting any brain activity the whole time you were asleep, Avery."

Stiles stops just short of saying it, but I know what he means; they were all getting ready to take me off life support. My whole body feels numb.

A Few Days Later….

"This is it Avery," the nurse named Melissa says as she smiles and pulls out the IV in my arm, "are you excited to finally go home?" she asks in a cheery tone.

"I can't go home soon enough," I say with a grin.

"What's the first thing you'll do?" she says as she wraps the tubes up and sets them on a metal tray on the side. My mom stands with her hands folded in front of her with my clothes slung over her arm.

The day the doctor called her she had finished her class before coming to see me, and I was pissed until she got there. But as soon as I saw her I had a bit of a breakdown, and I don't even know why I started crying really, I guess the fear and shock that I almost died just came to the surface.

No matter how much I resent or get mad at her, or how controlling she acts, nothing quite replaces the hug from your mom. No matter how shit of a mom they really are. It's depressing, really.

"Ummm, I think I'll take a long hot shower." I laugh nervously.

Melissa smiles and gives a polite laugh, "Well, you'll be there soon enough. I'll go ahead and give you some space to get dressed, Ms. Reese, if you'll follow me to fill out some final paperwork…?"

"Of course." my mom smiles and lays my clothes on my bed before moving towards the door.

Melissa makes a move to move to the door too, but I reach out and grab her arm, "Can I talk to you real quick first?" Melissa nods and my mom looks at me nervously from the doorway.

"I'll be there in a minute," Melissa says to my mom, who just stares at me before nodding and stepping out into the hallway, "what's wrong Avery?" Melissa whispers.

I'm sitting up in the hospital bed I've come to hate for good reason, my baggy hospital gown loosely clings to my shoulders and I nervously pull the fabric further up on my shoulder. "You keep a record of who visits, right?" I ask, staring into her dark eyes in hope she'll just let me have my way.

She stands up straight, her eyes narrowing, "Yes, but we're not really supposed to-"

Seeing where she's going, I quickly speak up before she has time to just say no, "I know, but you've got to understand, I haven't been awake in a month and-" I force tears into my eyes, glad that the old fake crying trick I learned as a kid hasn't left me.

"Okay, okay," she says, trying to calm me down by rubbing my shoulder, "but why do you want them?" I look up at her, my eyes still kind of cloudy with small tears.

"I need to know something." Is all I say in return, her eyes look between mine for a few tense moments before she sighs and turns away towards the door.

"I'll bring a copy of the visitor's list after you're dressed." She walks smoothly to the door before mumbling to herself "I could get in trouble for this." She walks out and pulls the door shut, leaving me alone in the room.

I push the sheets back from my legs and shakily set my feet on the ground. My right thigh still hurts when I walk, sometimes worse than others, but my doctor came by and gave me a black brace that slips over my thigh and supports it so I can walk with only a little pain.

Reaching behind myself, I untie the small strings keeping my gown on and the light fabric falls to the ground. I turn and grab the sports bra and slip it over my head and pull my hair from under it.

Next I grab the clean pair of black boyshort underwear and quickly slip them up my legs. The room is cold and a shiver runs up my back as I grab the pair of navy blue baggy athletic shorts and pull them up over the boyshorts. The loose fabric of the shorts gets caught on the big, blocky brace and I sigh in frustration as I struggle to pull the shorts free.

After I finish putting the shorts on, I turn and snag the thin long sleeved pale pink shirt and toss it over my head and pull it on. It's thin and my black sports bra shows clearly through it, but I'm a little past caring right now.

The shirt is nicely fitted, somewhat making up for my saggy unflattering pants. Next I pull on the mid-calf light pink socks my mom brought and slip on my slip on sandals.

I look like hell. But it really doesn't matter; I'm finally going home.

I lay the hospital gown on the bed and take one final look at the hollow feeling room before turning and walking to the door. I pull it open and see Melissa walking towards me with a paper folded in her hand. My mom is signing the final check out papers at the desk.

Melissa approaches me without a word, hands me the paper with a weary look on her face as if warning me to keep it to myself that she gave me these. I nod and she speaks lightly, "Take care of yourself Avery, nothing personal, but I never want to see you here again." She gives a small smile.

I give her another nod of agreement before she walks away down the hall.

I watch as she practically marches away and turn into a different room, when she's out of sight, I glance down at the paper folded in my hand. "Avery come on, let's go," my mom calls from down the hall, "it's getting late and I don't want to get caught in the storm."

"Coming," I say as I walk down the hall to her. They say that this summer has been one of the stormiest summers there's ever been, and it doesn't seem like it's going to end any time soon. Not that I mind, I've always liked the rain, and storms are even better.

We step into the elevator and suddenly my mom's phone rings, she scrambles through her overly sized purse for a minute before finding it and pulling it up to her ear with an angry sigh. "Hi Joe," she says hastily, after a moment my mom replies with, "yes, we're leaving now, when's your flight taking off?" I close my eyes and lean back against the wall of the elevator as I try to ignore my mom's voice.

"Oh, Avery," I open my eyes to see my mom covering the speaker on the phone, "your father's flight is about to take off for Japan, anything you want to say to him before he takes off?" I turn away so she won't see my face.

"Have a nice flight." I try my best to keep my tone free from bitterness, but I can't help sounding a little disappointed. I don't know why my hopes had skyrocketed when I realized my dad was back from Japan, there was no way he was staying. Maybe I was hoping he'd find a job in America, so we could see each other without needing a passport.

That would be something I guess.

My mom speaks back into the phone, "She says she hopes you have a nice flight," my mom echoes, "alright, yeah I'll make sure of it." She says in the same hurried tone. The elevator doors open and I quickly step out. I hurry towards the main automatic doors when my mom catches my arm and whirls me around.

"We're going out the side exit," she says as she holds her phone away from her mouth, "we don't want to be seen by the reporters, honey." She says as if it's a regular thing. I let her lead the way as she continues to talk to my dad on the phone. I don't listen to her voice, I rarely listen to them when they're talking to each other, a habit I forged after listening to them fight all the time as a kid.

We step outside into a darkened parking lot, cool night air blows uneasily and the trees behind the hospital shake warily. I follow behind my mom as she sets off towards the car; my leg is aching steadily, but I ignore it as I try to keep up with my mom's pace.

The side parking lot is practically empty; my mom's car sits alone in the middle row and a few scattered cars linger closer. My mom's voice echoes into the darkness, "I don't care Joe!" she says loudly, I just look down and will myself not to limp. "We'll talk about this later." She doesn't hang up as she reaches the car and fumbles to unlock the door.

Suddenly I feel weird, like someone is right behind me or near me or just…watching. I look to my left towards the front of the hospital; maybe one of the reporters has sneaked around….?

But there's nothing but parking lot lamp posts and the empty white line on the asphalt. I look to my right slowly, expecting to see someone in the parking lot to explain this feeling.

Okay calm down you idiot; you're being ridiculous there's no one-

My eyes lock on to a man leaning up against a black Camaro, arms folded over his chest, one boot resting on top of the other.

I swear I can see a smirk on his face. Suddenly a sharp pain stabs me in my arm and I clutch it tightly with my hand, I bite my lips together as I try to suppress a scream as my arm feels like it's burning.

I slowly sink to the ground as the pain consumes my formerly numbed nerves. "Fine!" my mom's voice fades back in as she tosses her phone back into her purse, she turns to me then, "Avery?" she calls out, more in confusion than worry. She rushes to me and helps me up hastily.

"Let's get you home." I sit down into the passenger seat and look through the windshield to see the man's head ducking into the car, the smirk still on his face and…..something glowing red.

I strain my eyes, trying to see him more clearly, but his face fades from view behind the dark tint of his windshield. As my mom continues to rummage around her car, the engine of the stranger's car roars to life and the Camaro peels out of the parking lot smoothly.

My mom doesn't seem to have noticed the man, she's turned around looking at something in the backseat. She turns back and starts the car, the radio comes on and I try to relax as a song I've never heard comes on.