Broken

Chapter Eleven Where Am I...

"Um... I can take you to the state line." He replies back.

"Okay. Take me there," I say as I close the door.

"Aren't you a little too young to be traveling alone?"

"Aren't you a little too nosy to be a taxi driver?" I spit back.

"No, It's just if you're a runaway I can be charged."

"My mom and dad got divorced last week. I have to stay for one week with my dad and one week with my mom. It's Monday so it's time to go to my dad's house."

"Oh, I'm sorry for asking. I shouldn't have," He turns forwards, pushing the meter button we head off. I can't help but look around to see if my brother has found me yet. Only stranger's insight. 

I've made it! 

I actually made it away from that place. Deep in my thought, I start feeling tired. I don't know why it suddenly hit me. The right side of my back burns like crazy.  It feels like someone's poking me with a fire poker. 

I just need to take a nap. 

I only have twenty minutes until I hit the state line. That should be plenty of time for me to rest up before I hike to the nearest motel. 

By the time we reach the state line I don't feel so good. I really have overdone it this time. I pay the taxi driver and hop out of the car. I can feel myself dragging my feet but I don't care. I'm half a mile away from the motel. I begin to jog again. I can barely keep my eyes open at this point. 

When the lights of the motel come into sight I breathe a sigh of relief. Just a little more and you can go to bed. By the time I run the distance I'm winded. I walk up to the counter and the man looks at me like I'm crazy. 

"I'd like to get one of your cheapest rooms for the night please," I ask in my plight voice. 

"Show me your ID..."

"Um... I don't have an ID. I have cash. I can pay upfront for the room," I pull my money out of my bag and show it to him.

"No ID... No room... That's the rules," He grabs a newspaper off the counter and opens it all the way to block my view of him. 

Well, what am I supposed to do now... I walk out of the motel office and look around for any benches to sleep on. 

"What are you doing out here all alone?" A rough voice calls out behind me. I turn to see three men in business suits. They look way too overdressed for a place like this. 

"I was trying to get a room here but they won't let me," I can hear my own voice slurring. 

A fourth man steps into view but sadly for me, I can't really see anything that's going on. My vision is blurring by the minute. 

He's talking to me but I can't make out what he's saying. I can tell is, he's getting annoyed at me because I'm not replying back to him. A small light is shined into my eyes but I'm too tired to close them. My bag is ripped off my shoulder and probably thrown somewhere. For all I know, they're robbing me blind. Literally. Someone from behind me starts pulling off my jacket. They touch the burning spot on my back. The only thing I remember before passing out is hearing my own screams of pain and then strong arms wrapping around my body. 

*****

I wake up to the sound of a heart monitor beeping ever so slowly. I try to open my eyes but they just don't seem to want to comply with my demands no matter how much I try. I stop trying to move when I hear the door open. 

"Well, she is really malnourished. Poor girl must have been starving wherever she came from, and from the looks of her feet, the twigs in her hair, and the lack of clothes covering her body I'd say she's been in the woods for weeks," What I can assume is a doctor must be talking to my parents. 

"Will she make it?" An unfamiliar voice asks the nurse. 

"Well we have her on an IV drip so that will help her some but..." The nurse stops talking.

"But what?"

"My gosh, Emily. Why do you even care? It's not like you know this girl," An unfamiliar male's voice says. 

"Nurse Ross, will you please ignore my heartless brother and tell me the bad news."

Nurse Ross continues, "Well, as I said before, She hasn't really eaten anything and that has made her very weak. She goes in for surgery today to remove the bullet that is in her back. I'm afraid her odds of making it out of the surgery are slim to none... And the baby... She's only three months along in her pregnancy. There will be no way we could deliver the baby out if she passes. I'm very sorry to have to tell you the news."

Now I'm freaking out. I'm about to die during surgery... I can't let them take me in there. I have to get the hell out of this place. 

Wait... I'm PREGNANT! 

No! 

No! 

NO! 

NOOO!

The heart monitor starts beeping faster and faster.

"What's happening? You need to help her!" The girl screams. I can feel the bed beside me move as cold hands take my hand in theirs. I can't open my eyes or move but I can still feel it. 

"Everything is going to be okay. I promise you're in good hands. Now you have to promise me you're going to make it back to us," She starts sobbing as she kisses my hand. I have to let her know somehow that I hear her. I try to grip her hand as hard as I can but nothing happens.

"I'm sorry but you have to go to the waiting room. The Dr. is on his way,' Nurse Ross says as she comes back into the room. I have to do this for the girl that's fighting for my own life. I try it again.

"Please come back to me, "She sobs again. I can feel her tears fall on my hands Just as she starts to let go, I feel my hand slightly tighten around hers. 

"She squeezed my hand, Aiden. She hears us..." 

Before I can hear Aiden say anything back, I'm stuck with a needle. I grunt at the harshness the nurse uses but it's soon forgotten as darkness swallows me fully. 

I wake up again to the sound of the heart monitor slowly beeping. This time it's different though. I don't feel as drowsy. I can feel my eyes starting to open. Everything is a little blurry but I can make out the shapes. Three people are sitting across the room from me. I hope that isn't mom, dad, and Danny. I squint my eyes as the lights become too bright for me to handle. 

"She's awake," The girl whispers but I can tell she's excited. I hear the call button sound for one of the nurses to come into my room. 

"Heeeeyyyy sleepyhead. How are you feeling?" The girl takes my hand again.

"The baby...." I croak out. My throat hurts like someone is pouring acid down it. 

"Shhhh. Your throat is still hurting from the tube they used during the surgery. Can you write?" I nod my head yes so the girl exits the room. I guess she's going to get some paper for me to write on.

"Can we go home? I have so many wedding details to look through and it's not like we know this b***h anyways," A high-class looking woman whines.

"You know I'm not going to leave my sister with a stranger," Aiden scolds her. 

"Ugh. This is so unfair. Our wedding is on hold because your sister wanted to save some poor girl? She's awake now so I don't see why we're here still."

"I'll tell Emily we're leaving when she gets back. Go ahead and get in the car and I'll be down in a minute," Aiden says to her. You'd think that was the best news she's ever heard by the way she claps her hands and kisses him.

When she leaves the room, Aiden stands up and runs his hands through his hair. He notices me staring at him and turns to face me, "What? Am I that sexy you can't take your eyes off me?" I hold up my fingers to signal 'Just a little bit'. I can see the sides of his mouth twitch at that but he quickly covers it with a cough. 

My face changes from amusement to worry just like that. 

"What is it?" He asks as he steps towards me. I point to my stomach and now it's his turn to look worried.

"After the surgery... They uh... They couldn't find a heartbeat. I'm sorry for your loss."

I can't stop the tears from flowing. The heart monitor starts beeping like crazy. 

"You have to calm down before the nurses come back and say your unstable again," Aiden comes to my side to hold my hand, "Did you know?" I shake my head no right as Emily comes back into the room. Aiden pulls his hands away from mine. As soon as I grabbed the pen and paper I begin writing ' I didn't find out until just before the surgery. I haven't done anything since I left...' I stop right there and realize I wrote too much. I rip the paper out of the notebook and begin wading it up. Aiden grabs it out of my hands before I can stop him. 

"Since you left? Where did you leave?" He turns into an interrogator in an instant. 

I shake my head again. I'll never talk about this to anyone. I left for a reason. I won't let some stranger take me back. 

"This is stupid. Sadie is waiting in the car. The girl is fine so we're leaving," Aiden stands up, walking around the bed, Emily stops him from leaving.

"I can't leave her."

"You don't even know her. We're leaving now," Aiden grabs her arm and pulls her towards the door. 

"Let go of me Aiden. I have to stay with her. She needs me!" I can hear Emily screaming all the way down the hallway. I don't understand why she wants to stay. He's right. There's no reason for them to stay. Emily says I'm being released today anyway so... The nurse comes in before I can finish my thoughts.

"Okay sweetheart. You're being discharged today. Now, we don't know who your parents are so you'll have to tell us who your parents are so we can release you into their custody," Nurse Ross says without knowing that single sentence was going to send me into a warpath to get out of here. 

"I'm 19 years old. I don't have to have a guardian."

"That you don't but because you just had major surgery, you can't drive yourself out of here so you must be released to someone who can. But I'm sure you already know that." She gives me a knowing look. 

"The truth is. I don't know where my parents are..." I look down at my hands as I fidget with my gown. 

"I'm going to have to see what we can do but you can't leave unless someone picks you up." Nurse Ross leaves my room so I get to work on taking these things out of my arm. I wait to take the heart monitor off last. As soon as I pull the sticky things off my chest the alarm sounds for a cold blue over the intercom. I leave the room as fast as I can. I make my way down the hallway before anyone spots me. 

The tricky part about escaping this hospital is, I have no clue where I'm going. If I was at the hospital by mom and dads' house I would have already been outside. I keep following the signs until I'm on the second floor. For some dumb reason, I can't take the elevator down to the lobby floor. 

This elevator takes me to the second floor where I have to find the second elevator to take me to the first floor... Yeah, I know. It sounds so stupid. I'm sure the lobby will be full of guards and other staff waiting for me to show up. I've already hit the first-floor button so it'll stop there regardless of me choosing a different floor. I have to be smart about this. I won't go back. I look around hoping a solution will pop up into my mind... I look over at the panel and see a B button on it. 

Oh my gosh! 

That's it! 

The basement! 

If I'm correct then the basement will technically be the first floor. I know this because my mom has designed so many hospitals in the past. If this is one of hers then I'll be saved. She always made the basement the first floor but added a sloping road to the front entrance for patients and guests. It makes it easier for the janitors and garbage men to drive around back and get the trash out without anyone seeing it. Now the real question is... Did she have anything to do with the design of this one? Only one way to find out. I hit the B button on the panel and step out of the view for when the elevator doors open. 

The elevator comes to a halt on the first floor and the doors open up. I catch a glimpse of several guards waiting for me at the front desk. I hit the 'close doors' button like a hundred times I know hitting the button more than once is completely useless and it doesn't make the elevator realize I'm in a hurry but it makes me feel like I'm doing something to get out of this situation. The doors slowly close shut. Once they're completely sealed shut I close my eyes as a breath of relief leaves my body. If I can't escape from the basement I'll have no other option but to go through the lobby. 

As soon as the elevator doors open I'm hit in the face with heat from the water heater tank boiling water. It's almost suffocating down here. I feel sorry for the people who have to work down here. 

I slowly walk through this nasty basement looking for a way out of here. My bare feet seem to find all of the wet, sticky surfaces of the floor. As I cut the corner I see natural light coming from the left. Maybe there's a door I can go through to get to the outside. I hear the echo of the elevator bell ringing, signaling someone has come down to the basement with me. I closer I get to the light the more stressed I become. They're going to find me if I don't get out of here. And just when I thought I found a way out... I didn't. The natural light isn't coming from a door... No, it had to be a freaking window that looks to be two stores up... The tall shelf going up to it will make it easy access but I have no idea what lies on the other side. 

I hear footsteps in the direction I just came from. Time to take a chance and get out of here. As I start climbing up the huge shelf I hear a familiar voice call, "Get down from there." I look to see Nurse Ross on the phone. I ignore her attempts at persuading me to get down and make it to the window. And there is no way to open it... Buuut I can think of one way to get through the window.