Chapter 162

Carter mumbled loudly and rolled over in her sleep. Her chair that she was sitting in flipped over and she landed underneathe it with her scratchy, cold, hospital blanket wrapped around her face. "Son of a bitch!" She shrieked as she tried to pull herself free from the blanket and chair. She couldn't believe she had even fallen asleep. She had been extremely uncomfortable and cold all night. Her exhaustion must have taken over.

"Excuse me?!" A loud, shrill voice screamed from the doorway. Melissa's nurse was standing with her hands on her hips. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Don't you know this girl needs her rest???"

Carter finally pulled herself up from the floor and threw the blanket a few feet away, glaring at it. Then, her gaze turned to the loud nurse. "What was it you were saying?"

"How do you expect this girl to get any better if you keep waking disrupting her rest?!"

Carter wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Disrupting her rest? Ok, first of all, you're ten times louder than me. Second of all, she's used to be falling and swearing in the middle of the night."

"She is? Wait, what?" The nurse looked completely confused.

"Wow." Carter chuckled. "They assigned her a winner. She's my sister."

"Oh. Excuse me... did you just insult me?"

"Wow, you're quick, too!" Carter shivered. "By the way, it's freaking cold in here. How do you expect her to get better if you keep the AC cranked up to warp speed?"

The nurse turned on her heel and left in a huff. Carter smiled with satisfaction and flipped the chair back over so that it was sitting upright. She sighed and sat down in it, surprised and worried that Melissa was still asleep. She had been asleep for three days, the only noises in the room being the rythmic hum of the oxygen and the annoying beep coming from the machine that calculated her heart rate.

"Mmph. Flowers." A small, very strained voice came from Melissa's bed. She hadn't moved though and Carter wasn't sure if she had really heard her.

"Meli?" She leaned forward and touched her arm lightly.

"I smell flowers." Melissa opened her eyes slowly looking almost like it hurt to move even that much.

"Oh!" Carter nodded and pointed to the end table on her left. "Lots of people sent you stuff."

Melissa smiled lightly but didn't turn her head to look. "Show me."

It took a few seconds for Carter to realize that maybe she couldn't turn her head to look. She seemed to be in a lot of pain now, as if all of the pain killers she was given had worn off. "Oh." She frowned and got up, walking to the other side of the bed.

She held up a large vase full of dark purple tulips and light lavender lilacs and held them in front of Melissa. "Tanis sent these a couple days ago. I've been changing the water. I wanted to make sure they stayed pretty."

Melissa took a deep breath and smiled. "That's what I smelled. I love lilacs."

"That's why she sent them." Carter nodded and grabbed a small box and held it out for Melissa to see. "I don't know what this is but Jesse sent it." She smiled. She hadn't thought of Jesse in months.

"What is it?"

Carter opened it and laughed. "Jesse sent you fudge." She looked up at the bags that hung from a tall metal post. Melissa wasn't allowed to eat real food yet. "Apparently... Jesse is an idiot. But it's the thought that counts."

Melissa laughed and winced slightly, changing her face back to a smile, hoping that Carter hadn't noticed.

Carter's heart fell but she ignored it, pretending she hadn't noticed the pain her sister was in. "Uhm. Oh and Isaac sent..." She chuckled. "A lot of stuff."

Melissa's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Carter nodded. "He's sent stuff every day. He's been in here a lot, too. He would have slept here if they let him but the nurse said he couldn't because he isn't family. He even tried to convince her that he's your cousin but that didn't go over very well."

"Freaking nazi bitch." Melissa smiled again. And Carter laughed.

"He wrote you a letter."

"He what?" It looked like she almost tried to sit up in surprise. "Isaac doesn't write letters."

"I know. It's long too. He didn't want you to read it while I was here." Carter shrugged. "But don't worry about it now. You'll have plenty of time to read it when you're all better."

Melissa said nothing. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. It looked as if she was having trouble, almost fighting with the machines. "How is school?" She asked, suddenly remembering that her sister was supposed to be taking summer classes.

Carter blushed. "Uhm... great."

Melissa opened her eyes. "You haven't gone in the past few days, have you?"

Carter sighed and shook her head. "I have like three essays to do for three different teachers. I just don't see the point right now. It's not important."

"Like hell it isn't!" Melissa glared at her sister. "You have to go to classes. I won't let you fall behind because of me."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

Melissa's glare deepened. "YES."

"Fine." Carter let out with a sigh.

"And I'll help you with your homework and stuff."

Carter shook her head. "You're my little sister and you're in a hospital with like... a billion broken bones and a collapsed lung. There are so many things wrong with you helping me with schoolwork."

"But I'll help you anyway, so you might as well stop bitching about it."

Carter laughed lightly. "Fine." She sat back down in her chair and yawned.

"Dammit, Carter. You're exhausted. Why don't you go home?"

Carter shook her head. "Oh no. You're not going to make me feel bad and make me go home. I'm staying here."

"You don't have to." Melissa's voice was getting quieter and quieter. She was obviously tired.

"Yes I do."

"Car... I don't want to be this huge burden... you don't have to stay here all day and all night."

"Yes I do."

"Why?"

Carter sighed and looked down at the ground. "You know why." After a long pause, Carter continued. "I never got to be there for Mom. I know the situation was different but... she'd want me to be here with you. You know she would." She finally looked up at Melissa, who nodded slowly.

"You're right."

"Of course I am..." Carter was cut off by a light "Ahem" from the doorway. She turned, expecting to see the nurse but instead, it was Abbie. Her hair was pulled into a low ponytail and her ears held large silver hoops. She was wearing tight, dark blue jeans and grey tanktop. There was a large bruise stretching diagonally across her left shoulder, appearing to be from the seatbelt that had saved her. She also had a small cut on her forehead that appeared to have healed quite a bit since the accident. She smiled at Melissa and waved.

"Get out." Carter stood up instantly and glared at Abbie.

"What?" Abbie looked genuinely surprised and took a step back, afraid that Carter would hit her.

"I said, get out!" Carter's eyes were filled with rage and she herself took a step back, afraid that she was going to lose her cool and knock Abbie right out of the doorway.

"Carter, no." Melissa whimpered, she looked like she was going to try to sit up.

Carter rushed to her side and touched her shoulder gently, silently convincing her to not move. "I don't want her in here."

"Why?" Abbie whispered from the door. She looked as if she was going to cry.

"Because it's your damn fault!" Carter took a deep breath when Abbie didn't move at all. "Now please... get out before I start screaming. Please. Get OUT!"

Abbie stared at Melissa for a minute, who also looked about to cry, and turned on her heal, leaving the doorway.

Melissa let out a light whimper and winced again. Her broken arm was throbbing and her head had started to hurt as well. "Go apologize."

"What?!" Carter looked shocked. "No!"

"Dammit, Carter. You know in ten minutes you're going to feel bad for accusing her and there's not going to be anything you can do about it because she'll be gone. Now go apologize before she leaves. Now."

Carter grunted and turned around. "Fine!" She let out loudly as she left the room. She didn't have to go far. Abbie was sitting in the waiting room, her face in her hands. "Look... Abbie..." Carter sat down next to her and sighed. "I'm just..."

Abbie lifted her head and smiled. "I know. Don't apologize. It was my fault and I'll just have to deal with it. I am very sorry though. I wish you knew that."

"I do know that. I just feel like I have to protect her, you know? Like it's my job and it has been ever since my mom died. And now I feel like I've totally let her down so I'm looking for other people to blame. I guess."

Abbie nodded. "Completely understandable."

Carter sighed. "I hate to admit this but," She paused, trying to find words, "You have changed. A lot. You've been a good friend to her."

"Thank you. It means a lot."

"Alright then, let's go back to Meli and keep her company. We can eat the fudge that Jesse..." She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a loud beep from the nurses station. Several nurses started to run to Melissa's room and her doctor was paged loudly over the intercom. Carter grabbed Abbie's hand and started to run back to the room. But when they got there the door was closed and nobody would let them in.

Carter
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