Chapter 1 When The Snow Settles #2
“A COMA?” LANA choked in disbelief, barely able to believe the words. Paula sat on the corner of her bed and held her bruised hand when Maureen walked in.
“A medically induced coma. The swelling in his brain...” she started, but couldn’t continue.
“I understand the reason why,” Lana admitted.
As a nurse herself, she was very familiar with the reasons. When they put someone in a medically induced coma, it helps to aid the repair of head trauma and reduce any risk of brain damage.
“Where is she?” Lana demanded, as her sadness morphed into stone-cold fury. The “she” in question? Kim, his maniacal ex-girlfriend, who used a police car to run them down like vermin. Paula glanced up at Maureen and dropped her head silently.
“We don’t know. She took off during the chaos of it all,” Maureen admitted.
Lana slowly lay her head back down on the pillow, feeling her rage bubble up in a place so deep inside, she never knew it existed before.
“So, she’s out there, and can pretty much come back and finish what she started?” Lana replied, amazed by the turn of events.
“She won’t be getting far, I can assure you,” Maureen stated steely, her eyes the color of glacial ice.
“He’s in room three-fifteen, literally down the hall, and there’s a cop assigned to both your rooms,” Paula explained.
“Regardless, I think you need to come home,” Rupert interjected, grabbing hold of her hand.
“I’m not leaving him, Dad. No way’s going to happen,” she objected.
“Because of all this, you should be running for the hills in my opinion,” Veronica chimed.
Maureen shot Veronica a glare, and the two women eye challenged each other for several tense moments.
“I think we’ll let you rest, OK?” Paula blurted, feeling the energy in the room turn from sad to dangerous in a nanosecond.
Lana nodded at her, then Maureen leaned in close.
“I know we didn’t get off to a great start, Lana, and I’m sorry about that, truly. As far as Kim goes, there won’t be a crevice in hell that bitch can hide in that I won’t find,” she declared and then stalked out of the room, cool, calm, and collected. The most dangerous trifecta Maureen possessed.
“I need to sleep,” Lana stated, glaring at Sam, hoping he would take the hint.
Veronica planted another kiss on her forehead and didn’t push the issue anymore, and Lana appreciated it.
“We’re staying at Tavarian Inn, not two blocks away. If you need anything, you can call us. Please,” she said, grabbing her purse from the couch.
“I will, but I’ll be fine here,” Lana insisted.
Rupert leaned in and kissed her head, “Goodnight, baby girl.”
They both left the room, leaving Sam behind.
He leaned over her now that the coast was clear and gazed down at her. He wore the same expression he had when she fell on her ass in front of him and his girlfriend at a grocery store a few months ago.
“I don’t need your damned pity, Sam,” she chided, sick of looking like a charity case to him.
“I know. You’re a big girl,” he replied, “But I’m going to stick around a while longer.”
Lana knew it was useless to argue and shifted her weight in the bed away from him and closed her eyes. Sam grabbed a worn magazine from the bedside table and made himself comfortable on the loveseat. She said a silent prayer for Kayden and then drifted off to sleep.
KIM GASPED, WINDED as she climbed the final flight of stairs to the third floor of Shelby General in search of Kayden’s room.
Earlier that evening, she overheard a nurse talking about his condition at the local bar amongst her friends.
It was a place most of the employees frequented after their shifts, and she herself had been sticking to the dark corners nightly, keeping herself out of sight and her ears wide open.
Kayden was located in room three-fifteen, and that was all Kim needed to know before she set off into the night.
Being on the lam sucked, and her face was on every news station and the local paper in town.
She managed to find a motel that only required cash and didn’t ask for ID, so it was perfect for her immediate needs.
With cops at every turn, her disguise was a pair of huge dark sunglasses and a hat; not original, but it was all she could put together in a pinch.
Hearing about the condition Kayden was in, almost killed her inside, and she couldn’t leave town yet without seeing him first. It was risky, but she couldn’t help herself.
She had to say goodbye—even if it meant getting caught.
The look on his face as the car slammed into him kept playing over and over in her head.
She was blinded with rage watching them stand on that sidewalk—the way he looked at her, the way he kissed her. They were so happy. It felt like everyone got what they wanted that night, except her, and no one cared about her feelings or what she had just gone through.
Lana would get to ride off into the sunset and live the life she should have had, that she worked so hard to get, and she had to stop it. Kim finally stood outside the large metal door of the third-floor landing, pulled on the handle, and entered the wing.
“Ready or not, here goes,” she whispered under her breath and marched down the hall.
A BUMP AGAINST the bed woke Lana from her deep sleep. As she adjusted her eyes to the darkened room, she found someone standing over her bed. Her heart beat against her chest violently. Was it Sam, or worse, Kim? What would she do in her condition? Besides, there was no time to react if it was her.
“I’m sorry to wake you, sweetie, but I have to give you your shot,” the Nurse explained in a soothing tone.
Lana let out the breath she was holding as her eyes adjusted. She could now see the meds arranged on her overbed table. She gave the room a quick scan as the nurse turned on the overhead light above her bed. It was dim, but enough to see she was alone—Sam had gone.
Probably to his hotel for the night, she thought. The nurse rubbed the inside of her arm with an alcohol pad, then tied an uncomfortable tourniquet around her bicep, in search of a vein. That’s when the idea struck. She would go and see Kayden tonight, broken leg or not.
“Is there a wheelchair for me anywhere?” she asked, hoping that the Nurse didn’t get suspicious of the question.
“Um... yes, there’s one folded in the closet. Maybe after the doctor sees you tomorrow, we can get ya in it for a quick spin?”
Lana smiled, and her eyes rested on her badge.
Nurse AlMaria Thompson. She was an older lady with big brown eyes, exceptionally nurturing in the way she spoke and moved, and Lana could tell she was great at her job.
She was already applying a band-aid to her arm when Lana realized she had never felt the prick from the huge four-gauge needle go in.
The wheelchair information was great news because as soon as she left, Lana had plans to go on a spin of her own.
“Now, you lie back and get some rest, OK? I’ll be back in about four hours to help you clean up before breakfast.”
Lana nodded and felt the drug begin to do its job.
As Nurse Thompson closed the door behind her, Lana threw the blanket from her body and looked down at her mangled leg.
Slowly, she shifted her weight to the right and raised her bed in an upright position.
Next, she lowered the bed to the lowest point, so she didn’t have far to go when she figured out how to get down.
Grabbing her calf with both hands, she inched her heavy leg over the edge until it hung over the side.
Bad idea. The weight of the cast tugged on her broken extremity, shooting pain up her leg and thigh, and nestling in her lower back.
Lana howled out loud and thought she might even pass out when that prickly feeling tickled her head again.
Covering her mouth and preparing for what she had to do next, she tossed her right leg over, balanced on it, and slowly dragged the broken one toward the closet a few feet from her bed.
Scorching tears rolled down her face, but she didn’t care how much pain it caused her anymore.
It was too late to turn back, and she needed to lay her eyes on him.
Luckily, the loveseat Sam used earlier that night was against the wall, so she used it to balance on as she opened the closet door.
Lana reached in and pulled out the folded wheelchair, then lowered herself on the arm of the loveseat.
Her entire leg throbbed deep as she fought to open the wheelchair with one arm and her good leg.
When it finally relented, she was winded from the struggle but scooted as close to the handles of the chair that she could, then locked the wheel closest to her.
In a swift motion, she semi-turned and plopped down hard in the chair.
The resulting blast of pain had dulled since the medication started kicking in, but she almost regretted the idiotic plan.
Her mind flashed back to Kayden lying helpless, covered in blood, and pushed all her pain deep down.
She fixed her left leg inside the calf strap and footplate, her face covered in sweat and tears, then unlocked the tire and rolled the chair forward.
Slowly, she wheeled herself to her room door and cracked it open.
No nurses were at the station directly in front of her, so she turned herself around, backed up, and poked her head out the door to check the hallway to the right and left.
Still no one. In a flurry, Lana rolled herself back, then down the hall in search of room three-fifteen.
She scanned the room doors and got to the end of the hall, where the last door was three-twelve.
Lana turned the corner and slowed the wheelchair to a crawl when she came upon the police officer outside Kayden’s room.
He was fast asleep, his head slung over on his shoulder with visible drool oozing from the corner of his mouth.