Break the Distance

Chapter 45

Friday 30th of September, 2016

Wellington, New Zealand

Richelle Smith

I wake up in a strange room. I look confused around, but can't figure out where I am until a nurse walks in and that's when I remember. I had a car accident yesterday. "Hello," the nurse says, "how're you feeling." "Hi," I say, my voice is weak and I make barely a sound, "I don't exactly know how I feel." "You've been lucky," she says, "you didn't broke a bone." I smile slightly, but feel now the pain I have in my whole body. "You bruised some bruised, you have a concussion and probably your whole body is sore," she continues. I nod slightly.

"So we really want to know who you are," the nurse says then, "you didn't have a phone with you and we kept you asleep yesterday so you wouldn't feel the pain." "I'm Richelle Smith," I say, "my phone broke down last week." "Unfortunate," the nurse says, "can I have the phone numbers of your parents?" "Yea sure," I say and give my dad's number. "

For a few minutes I'm alone again while the nurse calls my dad. I close my eyes and try to think about what happened, but all I can feel is pain.

"They don't pick up," the nurse says walking in, "is there someone else I can call?" "Eh yea," I say and give Katie's number.

"Katie is coming," she says when she walks in again after a few minutes. "Thanks," I say not opening my eyes because it hurts too much, "for how long do I have to be here?" "The doctor wants to run some tests later today, but if everything is fine you can go home," she says. "Thanks," I say and smile slightly even though it's kind of hard to smile.

I must have fallen asleep again because it feels like it's just 10 seconds later when I hear Katie's voice. " Richelle?!" she says worried, "are you okay? What happened?" "I'm fine," I say, my voice is still weak, "just in a little pain." Katie sits down on the chair besides my bed. "What happened?" she asks again. "I was late," I say, "I ran to work, but there was a car out of nowhere and he hit me." "Oh my gosh," Katie says.

"Well I didn't broke a bone," I say, "so I'll be fine." "We were really worried about you!" she says, "I'm glad you're fine." "We?" I ask a little confused. "Yea," Katie says carefully, " Noah was here in Wellington yesterday."

I close my eyes again to fight against the tears. This whole accident just became a lot worse. "Why was he here?" I ask when I calmed down a bit. "To see you," Katie says quietly like she's afraid for my reaction. "And where is he now?" I ask her, tears running over my cheeks. "To Sydney," she says.

"I was so close," I say after a while. Now I'm crying I'm pretty sure Katie can't ever hear what I say. She lays her hand on my arm and looks understanding. So she finally believes me, I guess that's something good.

"You're still really close," Katie says and suddenly grabs out her phone. When I look better I see that it isn't her phone, but I've no Idea who's phone it is. "Here," she says and she gives her phone to me, "I had an old SIM so you can use it." I look confused when she gives me the phone. "What's this?" I ask her. "Present from Noah," Katie says and I start to smile.

"He left his phone?" I ask surprised. "Yea," Katie says, "I was surprised too, but he insisted that I gave it to you." "Thanks," I say. "So he did keep his own SIM so you won't get stalked." I laugh slightly but close my eyes instantly because it hurts.

"Doesn't he need a phone?" I ask. "Yea I don't know," Katie says, "he said that he would fix something." I turn the phone on and smile when I see the background. It's a picture of Noah and his little sister, so cute.

"Oh and he gave me this," Katie says suddenly and hands me an envelope.

Hi Richelle,

Hope you're alright, this didn't go as planned but we're not going to give up.

I don't know when and I don't care where, but we're going to meet.

Please call me when you can.

XX Noah

I smile and read it again. "What's it?" Katie asks and looks at it. "Ah that's so sweet," she says after she read it. "Yea," I say wiping my tears away. "So are you going to call him now?" Katie asks. "No," I say, "my voice sounds horrible and I don't even know what number to call." "So?" Katie says, "you just had a freaking car accident, no wonder that you're voice sounds like s**t. And his number is probably somewhere on the phone.

I turn the phone back on and go to the contacts. There's just one contact, but right now that's all I need. ' Noah,' I read.

I press on 'call' and hold the phone against my ear. Katie claps excited in her hands and I roll my eyes slightly. Okay I'm even more excited, but still.

"What time is it actually?" I ask Katie while the phone goes over. "Eh almost 11 AM," Katie says when she looks at her phone.

After a while I hear the voicemail coming up and I sigh disappointed. "He doesn't pick up," I say laying the phone down. "I'm sure he'll call back as soon as he sees it," Katie says. "What if he doesn't have a phone?" I ask worried. "I'm sure he'll fix one soon, living without phone is almost impossible," Katie says.

"Let's hope," I say and close my eyes again.

"why isn't your dad actually here?" Katie asks after a while of silence. I did really like the silence. Sometimes I wonder how Katie and I became friends. Katie is like allergic to silence and I really like silence.

"He didn't pick up his phone," I response, "and I didn't know anyone else to call, so gave the nurse your number. Sorry." "Oh don't say sorry," Katie says, "I'm glad you gave my number, I was a lot more than just worried."

The rest of the morning Katie stays with me, but unfortunately she has to go somewhere in the afternoon and since the doctor doesn't have time to run the tests until later this afternoon, I'm alone right now. But I like the silence so it's fine. In the end my body still hurts like hell and I'm kind of exhausted from Katie's visit.

I'm about to fall asleep when I suddenly hear a phone. First I'm annoyed that someone's ringtone is so loud, then I'm worried that Katie left her phone, but when I look up I see the phone Katie gave me light up. I literally forgot.

Without looking at the caller ID I accept the call and hold the phone against my ear. "Hello?" I say not bothering about how horrible my voice sounds.

"Hi," I hear through the phone, "it's Noah."