Chapter 3
Everything went really fast. I heard Cat´s scream, my head shot in the direction where the sound came from and my eyes went wide in shock. Cat was standing waist deep in the water, when a surfer came straight in her direction, he didn´t even have the time to react as the front of his surfboard hit Cat right on the head.
I tried to get to her as fast as I could. Somebody shouted for a phone to call an ambulance. I think it was Beck but I didn´t care. All I was thinking about was Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat.
When I finally reached her, she was unconscious and blood was streaming down her head. I carried her out of the water and carefully laid her down in the sand. By now her face and shoulders were almost as red as her hair. There was just so much blood, so damn much blood... I screamed for someone to help me, to make her stop bleeding, to do something, to do ANYthing. I pressed my hand on her wound, it felt warm and wet and I was close to freaking out, but at least it helped a little bit to weaken the bloodstream. I felt tears running down my cheeks. My heart broke a hundred times, seeing her that hurt.
"Please, Cat... Don´t die… Don´t leave me… Don´t do this to me." I begged, my voice was merely a whisper and even though I knew she didn´t hear me I kept on mumbling things to her.
Moments later I heard the ambulance coming and I was pushed away by some paramedics.
"Are you hurt?" One of them asked me. New tears started to flow down my face. Why didn´t this stupid guy hit me? Why did it have to be her? Why Cat?
"Are you ok?" The woman asked again. A soundless "no" was all I could manage. The woman looked at me and searched for any signs that I could be injured, but though I had blood on my hands and bikini, she came to the conclusion that I wasn´t.
"Do you want to stay with your friend?" The woman gave me a warm smile and I nodded. She led me to the ambulance vehicle, where they were carrying Cat to.
Before I got into the car, I looked around me and saw Beck standing with Jade, who didn´t look so well. Her face was paler than usual and her cheeks were wet like she had been crying too. Though she never really showed it, Jade liked Cat a lot and I bet she was going to crush that stupid surfer worse than he crushed Cat. Beck gave me a sign that told me he would be right behind me.
The drive to the hospital was short, but to me it seemed like forever. The paramedics asked me a lot about Cat. Her name, her age, where she lived, who her parents were and a few other things that I couldn´t remember. I answered them all, but couldn´t take my eyes off Cat the whole drive long. Was she going to be okay? She looked so damn bad. There was still blood on her forehead and I wished it would just disappear. The only red thing I wanted on Cat was her hair. My brain kept repeating the scene of her getting hit. It was horrible and I just craved for it to shut up.
When we arrived at the hospital, they immediately took her to the emergency room, while telling me to wait and then they left me alone with myself. I sat down on one of the uncomfortable chairs, placed my head into my hands and started to sob. This was unfair. Cat was the sweetest and loveliest girl in the world, she didn´t deserve this.
A few minutes later I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Beck´s sad eyes looking down on me. I threw myself into his arms and started to cry even harder than before. Beck tried to calm me down and told me that everything was going to be okay, Cat was going to be okay. I wanted so much to believe him, but he couldn´t stop me from worrying. It was the first time that Jade didn´t threat me for getting that close to Beck. She just stood behind him with an empty face, looking to the ground.
"Where are André and Robbie?" I sniveled as I let go of Beck.
"They went to grab some clothes and stuff from Cat´s house." Beck told me and looked around the room. "Are Cat´s parents here yet?"
"No, at least I didn´t see them." I answered.
"That´s weird. I called them and left a message on their mailbox. Maybe they aren´t at home." He said and sat on the chair beside me.
The next hours went by silently and very slowly. Now and then one of us would stand up and walk around, but we were always quiet, because nobody knew what to say. Every time a door went open, our heads turned, but it was never someone that could tell us anything about our friend.
"I can´t stand this! Not knowing, it´s killing me! It´s freaking me out-!" But I was cut off by a voice.
"Cat Valentine?" A man in a white coat entered the waiting room, hopefully her doctor.
"Yes! Can you tell us anything about her condition?" Beck asked with a serious face.
"Are you related to her?" I watched enough Grey´s Anatomy to know that I should lie.
"Yes. I´m her cousin." I told the doctor without any hesitation. Beck looked at me with his eyebrows raised, but didn´t say anything, which I was really grateful for.
"Well, Miss Valentine has a cerebrum collisum, in other words, a brain contusion. Furthermore she has lost a lot of blood, which is not usual at this kind of injury, but it seems like the surfboard hit her on a certain spot, which caused the heavy loss of blood." The doctor explained.
"And what exactly means this for her? Is she going to be okay?" I held my breath as I waited for him to answer.
"Miss Valentine is stable. Due to the quick intake and operation, we could prevent further damage and your cousin is going to recover completely." I exhaled and a small smile spread across my face.
"Can we see her?" I asked for permission.
"Of course. According to my papers, she is in room A315. You just have to walk along this corridor and turn left at the end of it." He showed us the way, excused himself and went to look after a patient.
We almost ran down the hallway, but as my hand gripped the handle of the door, they were so shaky that I barely managed to push it down, afraid of what I was going to see. I stepped into the room, very slowly and my gaze moved from the floor, up to a bed that was covered in white, to a monitor that showed a frequently beating heart rate and finally to her face. Cat´s face. She looked like she was asleep, having the same peaceful expression as if she was dreaming. She didn´t look bad. Her head was bandaged and there were a few tubes that were connected with the monitor, but at least the blood was gone.
Beck and Jade sat down on the couch that was standing across the bed, I grabbed a chair and placed it as close to Cat as possible. I took Cat´s hand into mine and stroked a strand of red hair out of her face and behind her ear.
"You love Cat, don´t you?" Jade commented. I turned around to look at her.
"She is my best friend, of course I love her." I stated and though it seemed like she wanted to add something else, she didn´t say anything. I wondered what she was thinking, but left the conversation undone. I could ask her another time. She wouldn´t tell me now anyway, if I questioned her.
The door opened and André and Robbie came in. Robbie carried a bag in his hands and placed it next to the couch.
"How is she?" The boys wanted to know. Both of them looked concerned. Robbie was staring at the monitor with Cat´s heartbeat on it.
"She´s going to be okay, but she has lost a lot of blood and if Tori hadn´t been, well I don´t know if there would have been enough blood left." Beck´s words gave me shudders down my back. Just thinking about what could have happened made me feel sick.
My friends started to chat about casual things. I listened to their babbling, but didn´t enter the conversation. I wordlessly sat on my chair and watched Cat´s face, hoping that she would open her eyes soon.