The Perfect Stranger

Chapter 3: Lizzie

The sky is dark tonight. Almost no stars are shining and only a sliver of the moon and the streetlights light the night. I can only see the sky. That’s the only thing I want to see right now. The only thing I want to focus on right now. I don’t want to hear the deep breaths of passion coming from my fiancee. The moans of pleasure coming from my best friend as my fiancee slams into her.

I don’t want to think about it. I keep running, faster and and faster, face toward the sky, keeping as much space between me and that apartment as possible. My feet sting as they slam into the sidewalk in my heels. This cannot be my reality right now. Wow the sky is really dark tonight. I keep going, practically sprinting. My pace is picking up, but I can’t stop. The sting in my feet is getting worse with the tempo of the pace.

Something hits my face, it’s wet. Is that rain? It’s so dark, I can’t see the rain. I keep going. It’s cold now, and I’m wet but I can’t stop. There’s a light coming towards me, I can see it, but my feet won’t stop. It’s getting closer and closer, and I keep going faster and faster. I need to get away, far away. The light is almost at me now but I can’t stop. It hits me! The light hits me and it hurts, oh how it hurts all over.

My eyes flash open. I try to breathe, but it hurts. I try to move my legs but it even hurts to think about moving my body. I struggle to take a deep breath and look around at my surroundings. Where am I? Is this a hospital room? How did I get here? I slowly turn my neck, making a slight grunting noise in the process that has seemingly disturbed a mysteriously handsome man from reading a newspaper. Do I know him? Does he know what happened to me and how I got here? I try to speak but my throat is dry. He can tell and leaps from his chair next to my bed.

“Don’t speak,” he says. “You’re okay. You’re at Lake County Hospital. My name is Jackson. Jackson Daniels. I brought you here almost two weeks ago. I don’t want to alarm you more than what you must be already, but you were hit by a car in a hit and run accident. You have been in a coma for almost two weeks now.”

I can’t believe what this gorgeous man with green eyes is saying to me. I was hit by a car and have been in coma for almost two weeks. Then everything hits me. My memory of that night comes flashing back. My engagement party, I was at my party. I was enjoying myself, having a great time until I noticed I couldn’t find Kassie anywhere. She wasn’t answering her phone and had sent such a strange text that had me worried. So, Eric being ever so the gentlemen, went to check on her for me so I could continue to enjoy our party. He was supposed to be right back, with Kassie in tow. He had promised me, but after about an hour of them being gone with no contact with me I got a weird feeling. I decided to go see if every- thing was okay. Did he find her and was she hurt? So, I went to her apartment building and decided to go up for the first time to find her.

I reached Kassie’s apartment door and found them. The image of my best friend since sixth grade and my boyfriend of five years, my fiancee, intertwined in the most intimate of positions. Next thing I remember is running out of her apartment and down the hall to the elevators in my dress and heels, quickly making my way onto the street turning my escape into a double dare marathon in heels, look- ing up when a raindrop hit me, then lights and pain. The same pain I feel now lay- ing in this bed.

A tear falls down from my eye. What happened? What was that light? I try to move again and this time I can feel the concentrated pain in my leg. Oh god, is my leg broken? I bet my leg is broken. “Can you help me sit up a bit?” I ask Jackson. “This position is uncomfortable. I want to sit up.”

“Of course, I think there are some buttons on your bed to help you sit up a bit.” He reaches over to press the buttons on the other side of the bed to help lift me up. He smells good. So good I almost forget where I am for a split second. The bed lifts as he pushed the button slowly. There’s a slight discomfort, but not too bad. I think I am more sore than hurt.

Sitting up I am better able to assess my situation. Yeah, just like I thought, I’m mostly sore but my leg is definitely broken or something. There’s a thick white plaster cast on my left leg that spans from knee down to my foot. There’s an I.V. hooked up to my left arm and I have a breathing thing in my nose. I reach to pull it out. Ah, that feels better.

I turn to see Jackson, the mystery man, looking at me. He is utterly gorgeous, and smells divine but I honestly can’t remember meeting or knowing a Jackson ever in my lifetime. So why is he here with me in this room, my hospital room? I go to ask him and I’m interrupted by a young lady in a nursing uniform.

“Oh, Miss Franklin, you’re awake. I’m glad,” she says excitedly. “Oh, you’ve taken your oxygen out, that must mean you’re feeling somewhat okay. My name is Nurse Dixie and I am your nurse on duty. How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Is that what happened to me?” I ask, my brain finally putting two and two together. I was running down the street not paying attention and then BAM! lights and I’m waking up from a strange dream in the local hospital. Not to mention, a random man that I’ve never met is in the room. He probably carried me or called in the accident. It was probably the latter, because you know, it makes the most sense.

Nurse Dixie’s smile wanes a little as she confirms what I thought happened but informs me that instead of a truck, it was car that hit me. A driver that was going way too fast through an intersection and not paying attention. I remember Jackson telling me that when I first woke up. Go figure; it’s just my luck that I wasn’t noticed. Then I remember I am not alone here, there’s a stranger here. A stranger that noticed the accident and brought me here. Jackson, the mysterious good look- ing, good smelling, kind stranger. Oh, and Nurse Dixie.

The nurse continues on about the events that led to me being in the hospital. I feel like my head is spinning. I got hit by a car and the fact a stranger brought me into the hospital is all I can focus on. Jackson, the good looking, good smelling, and seemingly delicious man. I don’t even remember his last name or why he decided to help me. Meanwhile, Nurse Dixie focuses her attention on Jackson and then back to me before she speaks.

“Miss Franklin, there is some other news I’d like to discuss with you but it’s a little more personal than the events of your accident. Maybe you’d like to discuss this in privacy.” She turns toward Jackson and he quickly comprehends what she is saying and excuses himself from the room. Turning back to me, Nurse Dixie be- gins to speak, “Miss Franklin, may I call you Lizzie?”

“Yes, yes you may.” I reply. Nurse Dixie walks over closer to my bed and lifts my hand sans I.V. and strokes it ever so softly. This must be bad, am I dying? Oh god its probably cancer! How am I going to tell my parents I’m dying?

“Lizzie, after we got you stable, we decided to go ahead and start protocol screenings on you for anything that might have been missed during your first moments here at the hospital. Upon our further investigations, we noticed that you are a very healthy individual besides the injuries you sustained during the accident. We also discovered that you are also about eight weeks pregnant.” She practically whispers that last part.

I can tell she doesn’t know how I will receive this information, considering I just woke from a coma. I’m pregnant. I can’t believe this. I’m eight weeks pregnant and I’m laying in a hospital bed with a broken leg, some bruised ribs, and the perfect stranger hanging around for some unknown reason. This is my life now. Pregnant by a man that has been cheating on me with my best friend for who knows how long. Five years down the drain with this man and the only product is this child who will have to grow up in this world without a two parent household. I’ve let my parents down. What will they say? The emotion of everything finally catches up with me and I can feel the tears welling up in the back of my eyes. I can feel the sting of them as I try to hold them back in front of Nurse Dixie.