Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who replied on the first chapter! I'm really excited to be starting an independent fan fiction that is not entirely based off the the show. I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)
Katara moaned. Her head was burning intensely with the biggest migraine of her life. In fact, her whole body felt like she had just run a marathon. She tried to think back to what would have put her body in this condition.
Hm, what? Oh right, the swim meet, she reminded herself.
She tried to think back to the event, but no matter how much she strained her mind, she could not remember it.
I wonder what happened. Well, considering the condition my body is in, I better have won.
Slowly, Katara opened her eyes.
At least, she thought she did.
Is this a dream or something? Where are the walls? What is this place? I can't see anything!
Katara searched wherever she was for the slightest hint of light, but she soon found there was none.
Katara growled in frustration. Where was everything? She felt like she was lying on something. She ran her fingers through the material. It was soft and sort of wrinkled… a bed? She sat up… and hit her head on something.
"Ah!" Katara felt as if her head split open and she immediately sat her head back on what she supposed was her pillow.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Then she opened them again. Nothing. She rubbed her eyelids. Still, a sheet of blackness obscured her vision.
She lifted her hands up and felt around, thinking that there might be some type of black blanket surrounding her or something. But she could not see her hands. They impacted with some sort of round object floating above her. She felt around it, and it moved a little like it was suspended in midair.
Katara was growing panicked, and she wondered if there was anybody at all around her.
"Hello?" she asked timidly, blushing. "Where am I?"
She suddenly became very aware of the sound of murmuring in the distance. She heard sirens from far away and a continuous beeping sound very close by. Her head felt compressed and she realized that there was something wrapped around it, as well as various other places on her body. She felt a long tube extending into her neck, and when she squeezed it with her fingers she found it difficult to breathe. There was shuffling of feet and the sound of machines running and the whole place reeked of disinfectant and old people.
Katara widened her eyes. Is this a hospital?
Her mind raced and she suddenly remembered the previous events that took place.
"Aang! Are you there? Can you hear me?" she shouted, hoping Aang could hear.
She heard loud talking somewhere before it all became hushed. The squeaking sound of brand-new shoes was heard before Katara heard someone close by call her by her name. However, she did not recognize the voice.
"What?" she asked cautiously.
"I'm Dr. Carney from the Manhattan Hospital. You were involved in a fatal car accident."
Katara looked every which way, trying to locate the voice, find the person who sounded like he was just feet from her.
"I know," she replied coldly, giving up on her search. Instead, she sternly stared straight ahead, at what she supposed was the ceiling.
"Well, Miss Katara," the man continued, sounding nervous. "It seems you have hit your head on something very hard. You've gained a concussion. Somebody called the 911 right away after seeing two cars swerve off the road, one with you in it. Help came just in time, the windows had caved in to the water pressure, and you almost drowned."
Katara swallowed. That was not easy news to hear. Her favorite element had almost been her demise.
"You're in pretty bad condition. Your stress levels were causing great damage to your body, you had a lot of water in your lungs and you could barely breathe, your body was greatly impacted by the crash, and your concussion was off the charts. We weren't sure at first what we could do, but your family told us you were a fighter—and you made it."
Katara's heart dropped. Her family had seen her like this—whatever this looked like she wasn't sure but it sure didn't feel like it looked too attractive.
"And one more thing you probably already noticed… the concussion damaged the section of your brain that allows vision, so… you're blind."
Katara's world stopped. That explained why she couldn't see anything. The whole world was going on around her and she couldn't see it. She felt like she wasn't part of the world and she was just listening to it all go on around her wishing she could be part of it. This wasn't happening to her. It couldn't be happening to her!
"No, no, no! You're lying. This isn't funny. Why is everything black? I'm going to get it back right?" Katara couldn't separate her thoughts and blurted out everything that was on her mind at once.
The doctor coughed. He sounded young and inexperienced. His voice was kind of high-pitched for a male and he didn't sound like the brave, heroic person that Katara had always pictured when she thought about doctors. This man couldn't seriously save lives, could he?
"Well," he explained. "If our statistics are correct, you should regain some of your eye-sight, but not much. All you will be able to see is blurs of colors… you'd be legally blind. I'm sorry."
Katara's heart dropped. Well, at least it was better than nothing.
"How long will it take until that happens?" she licked her lips, her whole throat felt dry.
The doctor paused, which made Katara feel uneasy.
"Six to eight months."
Katara nodded stoically. She wasn't sure if the doctor saw it or not.
An awkward silence filled the room. Katara heard the doctor breathing heavily.
"Um, well then… I'll just… get… going…" the doctor stuttered. Katara heard the sound of cloth ruffling and she imagined what awkward movement the young man must be making.
She heard the doctor's retreating footsteps.
"Wait!" she cried out desperately, but she didn't think he heard her.
Katara sighed, frustrated. She was so confused.
"Yes?" she heard the shy voice of the doctor ask.
Katara jumped. She didn't even notice the doctor come in! She thought he hadn't heard her…
"Um, well, I was just wondering… is there something right above my head?" Katara asked.
There was a pause. "Uh… why do you ask?"
Katara shook her head. "Long story… is there?"
Another pause resonated. "…Have you ever seen the lights that dentists use?"
Katara thought back to her dentist's appointments and how they always shone a light in her face so that they could get a better look at her teeth. She nodded.
"…Well, it's kind of like that."
"Oh," was all that Katara could say.
The doctor left again. Katara slumped even more into her pillow and huffed. She reached her hands out and felt the light above her, now realizing that it was attached to something at the top. She understood why it moved around a lot, now.
A few seconds later, the doctor came in again.
"Miss Katara?" he asked.
"Argh!" Katara shouted out involuntarily, quickly letting go of the light above her and laying her hands by her sides. "What do you want now?"
"I just wanted to let you know that your family will be coming tomorrow. We just called them and let them know that you are awake." The doctor sounded confused.
"Oh," Katara said dumbly. "Hey, can you tell me something?"
"What is it?"
"How is Aang doing?"
"What are you talking about?" the doctor asked.
"The boy that was in the car with me," Katara stated.
"I don't know what you mean," the doctor told her.
"What are you talking about?" Katara sounded angry. "What kind of hospital is this?"
"Miss Katara, please do not be upset!" The man pleaded with Katara. "It says here that you were the only one in the car."
Katara sat up. This time, she made sure to push the light aside before doing so.
"No, that's not possible."
"The only other person that came in here after the crash was the woman in the other car. She left weeks ago, she wasn't hurt badly. She was pretty secretive, didn't really tell us anything. Did you know her?"
"No," Katara replied bluntly.
"If you wish, I can speak with the police that saved you," the doctor suggested.
"Yes, I'd like that very much," Katara said, barely able to contain her rage, "and when you do, tell them that they missed one."
When Katara was sure that the doctor had left, she let one tear slip past her cheek... then another... then another. Soon, the tears were cascading down her cheeks relentlessly—like a never-ending waterfall. Sobs ripped out of her chest as despair surged through her entire body. She wrapped her arms around her knees and cried for Aang, her blindness, and for all the misfortune suddenly thrusted at her.
Aang, where are you?
Author's Note: I love being cliff-hangery. :D It's what makes this world that much more fun for me... Pretty much every single chapter in this is going to be a cliff-hanger since I'm in control now! I am not forced to obey plot of the show, I can bend this plot to my will! It feel good...
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that lots of people review! I also hope that there weren't any grammar/spelling errors that I've missed. -.- I re-read the last chapter after I posted it and I realized that I spelled "drive" wrong. *phails* Seriously, I spelled it "driv". How come the spell check didn't pick up on that? I hate errors. -.- I re-read it plenty of times, trust me. I write it, save it, get back to it later, before I start writing it again I re-read it so that it isn't obvious that you can tell where I stopped working on it and started up again, then once I'm finished, I re-read it again, add it as a document on here, read it again, then post it... then I re-read it again later after I post it and those errors have STILL eluded me. -.- I try guys, trust me.
R&R Peace out.