A Different Light

Chapter 1

Hannah POV 

I open my eyes and see a too-bright light overhead. I squint and try to sit up. My head feels like a dwarf with a hammer is in there beating s**t around. I blink a few times, but my eyes aren't wanting to adjust. Looking around I can tell I'm in a hospital room. Off to the side, my dad is snoring loudly. Each snore brings another hit from the dwarf and I feel like I'm going to pass out. There's an IV in my arm and a tube under my nose that I rip off. The door opens and my mother walks in, carrying two coffees and a greasy brown paper bag. She jumps, realizing that I'm sitting up in my bed. 

"Hi mom," I croak, my throat feels like I just drank sand. 

"Oh honey! You're awake! Thank God! HAROLD WAKE UP!" my mom yells. 

My dad jolts up, mid snore. It would be so funny if my head didn't feel like a ton of bricks. My mother sets down the coffees and food and rushes over to hug me tightly while my dad dashes out the door. A moment later, he returns with a nurse who is holding a clipboard. 

"Hello Miss Silver," she says to me. 

"Erm hi," I croak out again. My dad hands me a cup of cold water and it is nirvana, as if I have stepped through the gates of Valhalla, and entered Heaven. 

"Looking at your blood work this morning, your blood levels are normal and your tox screen came back- it looks like you were given a mixture of drugs that entered your system quicker than usual thanks to the water that was used as a suspension. Basically, you were drugged quite heavily. You, along with several other young women all have similar tox screens and all came from the same party. The drugs have all cleared your system and you were slightly dehydrated but you've been on IV fluids for a few hours now to counteract that. If you wish to go home, we can start your discharge paperwork," she tells, flipping through her clipboard as she spoke before finally peeking up at me. 

"She obviously wants to get home," my mother says, petting my head. It's mine and Harper's favorite thing she does. 

The nurse's gaze goes from my mom to me and settles there, awaiting my response. 

"Uh yes please. I would like to go home. But first, I have a horrible headache- can I have something for that?" I ask. 

On cue she reaches into the pocket on her blue scrubs and extracts a small clear cup with two pills in it. 

"Here is ibuprofen. You may want to take this every 4-6 hours over the next few days. If the pain gets intolerable, please give us a call, but you may also try alternating tylenol and ibuprofen every 2 hours. That won't hurt your system at all- one is broken down by the liver and the other is broken down by the kidneys." 

"Oh. Okay," I say. I just want to get out of here. 

"I will have the discharge papers started. It shouldn't take too long," she says, then turns on her heel and rushes out, closing the door behind her. 

My dad walks over and picks up his cup of coffee, sipping it slowly. My mother just sits on the bed with me, petting my hair. I'm amazed nobody has told me I'm in trouble yet...I was never supposed to be at that party....

Tobias POV

Light filters in through the big bay window and right into my face. It takes me a minute to realize where I'm at- not my bedroom at all, but Hannah's parent's living room. I sit up, rubbing my face, and swing my legs over the side of the couch. I slept in only boxers, so I pull my jeans back up and decide to leave the shirt off. I rarely wear them at home during the summer. I find my phone to check the time, but it's deader than a doornail. I walk into the kitchen and check the time on the stove, which reads 9:45am. I definitely overslept. I run upstairs to check on Harper, who is happily sitting in her bed watching TV. She jumps up when she sees me and comes right over. 

"T! Can we make pancakes??" she asks me. 

"Sure we can, princess. What kinda pancakes do you want?" 

She taps her chin and her eyes light up, "CHOCOLATE CHIP!" 

She squeals and runs downstairs, me trailing behind her. I find her in the kitchen with a mixing bowl, a whisk, and standing on a chair. 

"Give me 5 minutes, Harper. I gotta make coffee," I tell her. 

I search through the cupboards and find coffee cups, coffee, coffee filters, and the pancake mix. I dump out the old coffee, rinse the pot, fill the machine, add the filter, and dump in the coffee adding a little extra- I expect the Silvers are gonna need a little strength on their side. While that brews, I pull out fresh blueberries, eggs, milk, a pan, and vegetable oil. I set the pan on the stove with the veggie oil and bring everything else over to Harper. 30 minutes later, we have a messy floor, I am covered in pancake mix, and we have the last of the batter cooking in the pan. I hear the front door open and Harper runs out of the kitchen and out towards the living room. 

"Mommy! Daddy! Hannah!" she screams and I nearly choke on my coffee. I didn't expect to see Hannah today, I thought for sure she would stay another night... 

I flip the pancake and it sizzles in the pan. Hannah walks in first and stops in her tracks looking at me. 

"Good morning," I tell her, focusing on the task at hand. I gesture to the pile of pancakes on the plate next to me. "Help yourself, I bet you're starving." 

I flip the last pancake out of the pan and then add butter to it. I grab a bowl, crack a dozen eggs into it, and then move to the cutting board and chop and onion and a pepper, adding them and some olive oil to the pan. Then I whisk the eggs with a fork and add those as well, along with some shredded cheddar cheese. The rest of Hannah's family enters the kitchen just as I dump the scramble into a serving bowl. 

"Wow. It smells great in here! It's nice that a boy your age is able to cook so well," Hannah's mom tells me and elbows Hannah conspicuously. 

I almost choke on my coffee again. That woman has always tried to get Hannah and I together. Her and my mother conspired about it for years. 

"My uncle doesn't cook much. I had to learn quickly," I tell her, and her face falls. 

My parents died in a car accident when I was 11. Hope was the first one at the hospital and held my hand while she told me that my parents were gone. I never told anyone how I cried and cried into her shirt while she comforted me. She had always been like a second mother to me- but that event made it more permanent somehow. I thought I would always be a part of this family, even without my own..and then Hannah went and became Queen b***h, taking yet another set of people I considered parents away. Don't get me wrong, they checked in every now and then, but I didn't come over for dinner every night, Mrs. Silver didn't make me birthday cakes on my birthday, and to be honest, I hardly got any physical affection from my uncle. He treated me well- but I owe my personality, sense of responsibility, and determination to the family in front of me. Without Hope and Harold, I wouldn't have stayed afloat like I did. I sometimes think about how different my life would have been without Hannah's family apart of my life. 

I lean against the counter as the family sits and chats for a bit, forgetting I am completely naked from the waist up until I catch Hannah checking me out. Her eye catches mine and her face turns red. Damn straight, doll. I'm not the same boring nerd you dumped like yesterday's garbage,  I think to myself, sipping more of my coffee. Hope notices and sets her sights on me. 

"Well come on! We don't let family sit around without eating some of the delicious food they made!" She says with a bright smile. There's that word. Family.  It's gonna be a long morning.