Hidden Temptations

Chapter Five

I have been in the hospital for five days now, unconscious for two and three sitting waiting to go home. I am still as sore as I came in and still as confused as before. My mom left the hospital last night, on my orders, to get some sleep and shower. She will be back to bring me home in about an hour. I haven’t attempted to get out of bed, but now I have to attempt to get back in the car.

“Addie, are you ready to go home?” Nurse Helen walks in pushing a wheelchair. Helen is the nurse that has been assigned to me since the day I arrived at the hospital.

“Yes, I am. Do I really need that?” I point at the wheelchair and raise my eyebrow.

“You will need this for the next week, you can’t put any pressure on your knee for a little while. You can’t use crutches because of your wrist.” She slaps the breaks on the wheelchair right next to my bed.

My mother walks in, not looking rested or showered. “I just filled out your discharge papers, we can go home now. I brought you a change of clothes.” Nurse Helen helps me sit up on the bed and basically lifts me into the wheelchair. She grabs the clothes from my mother and wheels me into the bathroom.

“I can change myself.” I look back at her.

“Trust me you’re gonna want some help, dear.” She helps me get dressed in the bathroom. I’ve never been in so much pain while getting dressed.

It was time to go home. I can’t stop thinking about getting in a car. Shaking and sweating at the thought of it. Maybe I’m not ready to leave. Why me..? Why am I the one that was hit? Was it fate? Was it related to the note or text? Was it the suburban that hit me? Was it intentional, or was it just really an “accident”? So many questions run through my mind.

In the blink of an eye my mother wheels me out of the hospital and to the rental car our insurance gave her. Sweat still rolling down my face, I clench onto my wheelchair.

“Adeline, I know you’re scared, but we have to do this.” My mother put her hand on my shoulder. She opened the door and lifted me into the car. I buckled my seat belt, strapped it tight and held onto the door handle till my knuckles turned white. I don’t want to do this. I just wanted to walk home, but right now I have no choice. I can hear my mom shove the wheelchair into the trunk, she gets into the driver's seat and takes a big sigh. Laying her hand on my thigh, I start to feel a little better. She started the car and I instantly thought back to the moment I was told my father had died.

I had just come home from school with Sarah on a Friday, ready for the sleepover weekend we had planned for a week.

“Adeline, Sarah needs to go home.” I threw a big fit, not noticing my mother had been broken, not noticing her pain, her puffy red eyes or tears.

“Mom! You knew Sarah was going to be over!”

“ADELINE!” Once my mother yelled that I knew this was serious. Did I have to move away from my best friend? What was going on? I gave Sarah a hug, she left knowing my mom was serious and not messing around.

“Really mom? You ruin everything.” I threw my backpack on the ground right at her feet. My mom fell to her knees and started to cry. Before this I have never seen my mother cry. She was the strongest person in my life. I couldn’t help myself, I threw my body onto hers giving her a strong hug.

“Mom.”

“Adeline, your father.”

“Dad? What’s wrong with dad.”

“He’s...” She could get the words out. She could only cry. “He’s gone.”

“Gone?” I stood up, looked down at her.

“Dead. Your father has died.”

“What the hell! This car has been following me since we left the hospital.” I snap back not realizing we have been driving for a while now. I look back behind the car, my body instantly tenses up. It is the same black suburban that was following me the day of the accident.

“Mom.” I snapped forward, I tightened every muscle in my body. “We need to stop.”

“What? Why?” She looks at me confused.

“STOP.” She slams on the breaks and pulls over into an empty parking lot.

“Are you okay? What’s going on?” She thought it was just from my nerves from the accident. She has no clue about what I am about to tell her. What I think she should know.

“I..” I don’t know how to tell her, or even if I should. “Do you have pictures?”

“Pictures? Of what?” I am just trying to distract her from the suburban, I watched it continue on as we turned into the parking lot.

“Of my accident, of the car.” She looks forward, I can tell she is thinking about telling me the truth about it.

“I do.” My heart drops. I was hoping she didn’t have any. With her being a lawyer of course she does. She is probably building a case against whoever hit me.

“Can I see them?” My voice is shaking, do I really want to see them? Put myself in the situation of more fear.

“Not till you’re ready. You are not ready.” I just nod at her, knowing that she is right and thankful she is right. I am not ready. “Is that all honey? There’s nothing else on your mind?”

“No mom, that’s all. We can go home now.” The rest of the drive home I didn’t see the Suburban. I am in the clear for now. Time to rest, and get this worry out of my head.