Chapter 31
Bianca awoke extremely disoriented. Looking around, she found herself in an
unfamiliar room, decorated in white and shades of unappealing mint green. It took her a few minutes to realize she was
in a hospital room, lying in a hospital bed, the head part raised up slightly,
the sides lifted to hold her in, like a crib.
There was an IV running into the back of her left hand, and something –
an oxygen tube, she assumed – going into her nostrils.
The first question on her mind was, What the hell happened to
me?
She tried desperately to think, but her brain felt foggy and
muddled. The last thing she could
remember was fighting with Brian and leaving work. Brian was probably pissed at her. So was her boss, she was sure. But those things were the least of her
concern. She was confused and frightened
and frantically wanting to know why she was here. What had happened to her? What was wrong with her?
Bianca tried to pull herself into more of a sitting position… and
was immediately greeted with pain in her stomach and chest, so much pain that
she was forced to lie back down. Her
mind was racing, yet she still had no idea what had happened. Remembering where she was, she looked around
and found that there was a little control lying to one side of her on the bed
with buttons to control the TV and a nurse call button. She punched this right away, desperate for
answers.
A nurse came to her room within five minutes, though it seemed
like five hours. She was an older woman,
probably around fifty, and the nametag pinned to the front pocket of her scrubs
read Betsy.
“Well, nice to have you awake, sweetheart,” Betsy said, giving her
a comforting smile. It did little to
reassure Bianca though. Nothing would
comfort her until she knew what was going on.
“What happened to me?” Bianca asked shrilly.
“It was a car accident, Miss Parker. You drove your car into a guardrail, right
near Lake Winnopega. You don’t
remember?”
I drove my car into a guardrail?? Bianca’s mind cried out in shock. “No…” she said softly. “The last thing I remember was leaving work…”
“Well, don’t worry.
Short-term memory loss is common with this sort of thing. It’s just an affect of the drugs you took.”
“The drugs I took?” Bianca repeated, not sure she heard the nurse
correctly. “What drugs?”
“There were large quantities of barbiturates found in your
bloodstream on the scene of the crash,” Betsy informed her. “You don’t remember taking anything?”
“No! No, I wouldn’t do that!”
Bianca cried out agitatedly.
“Shhh, relax, honey. It’s
okay now, everything’s going to be fine,” Betsy said soothingly.
Bianca was not soothed.
“B-but how would drugs get into my bloodstream?!” she cried. “I swear, I didn’t take anything!”
“Okay. You can tell Dr.
Franklin that when he comes to talk to you later. Are you feeling okay physically? In any pain?”
Betsy went on ignoring Bianca’s protests as if she could not hear her.
“My stomach,” Bianca replied resignedly. “It hurts.”
“It’s from the seat belt,” said Betsy. “There’s some bruising on your stomach and
chest from the lap and shoulder belt and also on your face from the
airbag. But you were lucky – no internal
injuries and no broken bones.”
“Yay,” Bianca said dully.
“Is there anyone you’d like for me to call, dear?” Betsy asked,
studying her with a concerned expression.
“We weren’t able to track down any family members.”
“My family’s in North Carolina,” said Bianca, her voice flat.
“Any friends or anyone else I could call?”
Her first thought was of AJ – He’s dead, she thought. Her second was of Brianna – She’s in
North Carolina too. Finally, she
answered, “Howie. You can call Howie.”
“Howie,” Betsy repeated.
“And what’s Howie’s telephone number?”
Bianca had to have Betsy dig her cell phone out of her purse,
which was in a bag with her clothes under the bed – Howie’s number was in the
address bank of her phone. She found the
number and gave it to Betsy to copy down.
“I’ll call him for you, honey,” Betsy promised. “Now you get some rest. I’ll come back to check on you soon.”
Bianca nodded, knowing full well she would not be able to rest,
and watched Betsy leave the room. She
hoped Howie would come soon.
***
Half an hour later, Howie was scuttling down the hallway of the
hospital. He had been called by a nurse
there – Betsy something – who told him that Bianca had been involved in a car
accident.
“She’s in stable condition and wanted me to call you,” the nurse
had said. And that was all. Howie had tried to ask what had happened and
exactly what was wrong with Bianca, but Betsy had cut him off and said she
would talk to him when he got there. He
had left almost immediately and was now looking for the room Betsy had said
Bianca was in.
He found it – Room 219. The
door was closed. Howie reached for the
knob, but stopped when someone called his name.
“Howie?” A middle-aged
nurse was hurrying towards him. “Are you
Howie?” she asked, as she came up to him.
“Yeah,” said Howie. He
looked at the nurse’s nametag and realized this was the woman he had talked to
on the phone, Betsy. “This is Bianca’s
room, right?”
“Yes,” said Betsy. “Are you
a close friend to her?”
“Yeah, you could say that,” said Howie. “How’s she doing? And what happened, exactly?”
“Well, from what I heard from the nurses in the ER, the paramedics
found her car smashed into a guardrail on Winnopega Trail, right near Lake
Winnopega. There were no other cars on
the scene, so it looks like it was just a one-car accident.”
“So, what, she just crashed her car into the guardrail for no
reason?” Howie asked defensively.
“Well, a blood test revealed high levels of barbiturates in her
bloodstream, which surely would have impaired her driving.”
Howie gaped at the nurse.
“Wait… are you saying Bianca took something? Drugs?”
“According to her blood test, yes.”
Howie shook his head. “No,
no, there must be some mistake. Bianca
wouldn’t do that.”
“Well, you can talk to her about that if you’d like. I just wanted to fill you in on the situation
before you went in there,” Betsy said calmly.
“Yeah, thanks,” Howie replied, without gratitude. Then he grasped the doorknob, turned, and
hurried into the room.
***
