Zac's eyes opened slowly and he took a few moments for them to adjust to the bright lights. He felt fine, he was just tired, as if he had just come out of a deep sleep. "Unnnggg." He groaned and lifted his hand to see a large cut across the back of it.
"Hello there." A short, round woman with black, curly hair smiled down at him. She looked familiar but he had no idea where he'd seen before. "It's about time you woke up."
"Huh?"
She laughed. "You've been asleep for twenty four hours."
"Why am I not in my bed?" Zac looked around and sighed. Then, everything came back to him. He woke up the day before in the hospital to his family surrounding him. They all looked worried but the doctor explained to them that he had just been knocked out. Most of the damage was done to the driver's side of the car. Then, the doctor gave him some drugs that put him back to sleep. Zac felt a lump form in his throat. "Thea..."
"Thea? Oh, you mean the girl who was driving. She's in a different room."
"Can I go see her?"
The nurse thought for a minute. "Well, it would be a good idea for you to walk around a bit. You're going home today and you could use the exercise. You were very lucky you weren't driving. That side of the car was totalled."
Zac glared. "Thea. Can I go see her?"
"She's not supposed to have visiters other than family."
"Why? What's wrong with her?"
The nurse sighed. "Don't get all worked up now. I guess you can go see her. But only for a few minutes. Let me help you out of bed." The nurse helped pull Zac up and handed him his clothes. "You'll probably want to change. It's fine since you're going home. Let me know when you're done visiting your friend so I can give her the rest of her meds."
Zac nodded and waited for her to leave before getting dressed. Then, he slowly walked out of his hospital room, holding onto his back. He was sore, like he had just been in a serious earthquake or something. His muscles and bones felt rattled. He made his way down to the room number that the nurse had given him. His breath caught when he realized he was in the Intensive Care Unit. He pushed open the door to Thea's room to find her laying in a bed, hooked to machines. She was bruised everywhere and her head was wrapped in gauze.
When he sat down next to her, her eyes opened at once. She turned her head slowly as if she were in intense pain and she smiled. "Hi!" She smiled with as much energy as she could.
"Hey. How do you feel?"
"Like... shit. They told me you were ok but they wouldn't let me go see you."
Zac laughed. "I'm fine. Did you think they were going to let you crawl down the hallway with machines hooked up behind you? It would be pretty funny to watch but, I don't think it'd be the best idea."
Thea laughed lightly and then coughed.
"Are you ok?"
"It just hurts to talk too loudly and to laugh." She yawned deeply. "I'm really tired."
"Do you want me to leave?"
Thea didn't answer. She just closed her eyes and shook her head. Zac wrapped his large hand around her tiny, black fingernail polished hand and closed his own eyes. When he opened his, he found her staring at him. "I know who you are." She whispered.
"What?"
She smiled a smile that made her look like she was three years old and suddenly her personality seemed to change completely. "I know who you are. But it's ok. I won't tell my sister."
"I think she knows."
"Damn. Jigs up." She laughed and closed her eyes again, taking a deep breath. Then, her eyes shot back open. "Did I break your car?"
"We took your car."
"Oh yeah." She closed her eyes again and sighed. "Are you going home today?"
"Yeah."
"Will you come visit me?"
"Sure. But, you probably won't be in here much longer. I'm sure you'll be out in no time."
Thea didn't answer, she just opened her eyes and smiled at Zac. "Thanks for coming to see me."
Zac nodded. "I better get going. My parents will probably be here soon to come get me." He squeezed her hand lightly and turned to leave.
"Zac?"
Zac turned around and waited.
"Did I hit the bunny?"
Zac laughed. She had swerved to miss a rabbit. "I don't think so."
"Good." Thea smiled and fell asleep in minutes.
Two days later, Zac pulled himself out of bed and practically crawled into his car. They decided to take a week or two off of recording until Zac felt better. Somehow they had managed to keep the press from learning about his accident.
After ten minutes of driving he found himself sitting in his car in front of Thea's house. He didn't know if she was home or if she was still in the hospital. The thought hadn't occured to him to call the hospital or her house to find out. When he looked up, he saw Madison sitting on the steps of the front porch. She was wearing a light yellow sundress and her hair was pulled into two braids, hanging down her shoulders.
He turned his car off and walked up the front walk. Madison didn't seem to notice him until he was sitting next to her. She turned to him. "Thea isn't home."
"I wasn't sure. I didn't know how long she'd be in the hospital." He waited a minute when she didn't bother to answer him. "Uhm... is she going to be ok?"
Madison didn't answer for what seemed to be five minutes. "She can't walk. Can't feel anything below her waist. The doctor said he had no idea if she will ever be able to walk again."
Zac found himself blurting out something that seemed ridiculous the moment he said it. "What about her job?" He made a face. "Ok that was dumb."
Madison laughed loudly for what seemed to be the first time in days. "I think they'll understand. I mean, they'll probably want a doctor' note."
Zac laughed. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I don't know. I guess I feel responsible."
"Why? It was her idea to drive through the woods. And when Thea wants to do something, she does it."
"I can see that."
Madison seemed to soften up suddenly. "It wasn't your fault. And, I mean, if you have the time... I'm sure you're probably too busy, I'm sure Thea would like it if you hung around a little and visit her."
"I'm not too busy." He shook his head. "If you guys need anything you can ask. I'll be home for the next week or so and after that I'll be in and out of Tulsa until we're done recording."
"Thanks." She nodded. "Maybe I'll see you around at the hospital?"
"Yeah. I'll go there a little later today. Uhm, how is she doing? Last time I saw her she was a little out of it. She would talk like she was three years old for a minute and then she'd be back to normal."
"They said that's the medicine she's one. She wasn't as out of it yesterday but... she's a little depressed. And I don't know how to cheer her up. I'd be a loser and ask you to sing to her or something but I'm sure she'd rather have Ozzy sing to her or something. We don't really have the same taste in music."
"Ozzy, huh? Well, maybe I could just sing some Ozzy."
Madison laughed. "Yeah I'm sure that will go over graet. Zac Hanson sings 'Bark at the Moon'."
"Hey don't knock it till you've tried it."
Madison smiled. "You're funny."
"This I've been told."
"You still think I'm a bitch don't you?"
"No. Not really."
"I get judged too you know. Just like Thea gets called a freak, I get called a prep. It's really easy to be categorized. And once you're there, there's no way out."
Zac nodded. "I know what you mean."
Madison looked down at her watch. "Hey, thanks for stopping by. I have to get going to work though. I'm saving my personal days for when Thea starts her physical therapy. I'll see you later though."
Zac stood up and brushed off his pants. "Cool. I'll see you later. If you see Thea before I do, tell her I'll be there later and I'll bring her some junkfood or something. Hospital food sucks."
Madison laughed. "Alright. See ya."
Zac waited until Madison disappeared inside before he headed back to his car. He sighed and headed back home to take a nap.
Not Exactly Paradise
Home
Stories