Chapter Five

Alice

"What happened to your knuckles?" asked the red-haired male nurse, who was assessing Owens injuries. He was the nice one, the doctor that we'd seen when we'd first arrived at the hospital hadn't been so nice. Still in shock, I hadn't been able to answer any of her questions. I wasn't sure where hurt the most, if at all, my brain felt clouded and heavy.

We' been here several hours now, and as I sat on a gurney in a consultation room, a trail of swamp water pooling at my feet and running off toward the door, I wondered why nobody had offered me a towel or something to change out of my sodden clothes. I'd had an x-ray of a few choice areas but seemed to generally be physically ok, just in shock they'd said. Owen had a couple of cracked ribs from seemingly taking off his seatbelt mid-accident and tumbling into the boot of the car, but they couldn't do anything for that nowadays. The red-haired nurse had come in to check on us shortly after the doctor had left, letting us know that our parents had been called. A sharp panic set in, as I awaited their arrival, and whatever would come after that.

"My knuckles?" Owen lifted his hand. His knuckles were a mixture of dirt and dried blood.

When had he gotten those injuries? I couldn't recall seeing them before.

"Oh, well," Owen began, letting the nurse take a closer look. "We were trapped in the car and we couldn't get any of the doors open from the inside. So, I had to smash open the windscreen and swim out under the car through the river."

The nurse looked up in surprise, his expression kind and soft. "That must have been scary."

"It was pretty bad," Owen agreed, no longer appearing to be as shaken as he had earlier that evening. "I was able to open the door from the outside, but Alice couldn't get out, so I had to carry her from the car."

I looked at Owen as if he'd grown another head. What on earth was he talking about? None of that happened at all.

The nurse finished cleaning up Owen's hand, and left us alone.

"They're going to kill me," Owen stated, repeating his earlier tirade now that there was nobody else around. "I should run away before they get here." He looked up at me from his sturdy hospital chair. "Let's both run away together."

I didn't know what to say. He was clearly in shock; however, I wasn't in the right mind myself to calm him down. "It's going to be fine," I said, unsure whether I really believed that myself. Not only had he driven the car illegally, but I'd gotten into the car knowing it, and then he crashed the damn thing. Nothing felt alright about any of that.

His eyes filled with tears. "I love you Alice, no matter what happens, I love you."

Before I could speak again, my family came bursting through the door. I prepared myself for the worst but that's not what I got.

"Oh, thank god," cried my mum, coming straight to my side. "When I got that call, I thought they were going to tell me you were dead. You were so lucky, so lucky."

"What the hell happened?" asked my dad, looking between us both. I spotted Cat slip back out of the room without saying anything and felt immediately hurt. I needed my sister. Where was she going?

"It was really wet, and I just lost control of the car," said Owen, his arms reflexively wrapping around himself. "It flipped and we ended up in the water." He continued his story and this time I didn't flinch when he stretched the truth. I realised that maybe it was his way of softening the blow of what he did, or I guess what we did. Making himself a hero certainly made the whole situation seem less villainous.

Cat came back in the room just as Owen got to the part of the story about him carrying me, an image I couldn't quite put together in my head. As nice as Owen had generally been to me, he was not exactly the gentlemanly type, it just didn't come naturally to him.

Cat was armed with a blanket, and quickly wrapped one around my shoulders. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking down at the puddle at my feet.

I followed her gaze, noticing some random leaves and sticks now in the puddle that weren't there before. When I looked back up, I felt tears stinging at my eyes. "I-I don't know," I stuttered. I didn't want it to be a big deal, I wanted to compartmentalise it and get on with my day, and yet I knew it was. It was a big big deal.

"You know you look a mess, right?" Cat smiled and reached in her pocket, producing her mobile. "Maybe we should get a photo for the yearbook?"

"Don't you dare!" I went from tearful to full blown ready to fight in two seconds flat. Those yearbooks were sacred, and I wouldn't have my memories of this year tainted with stupid decisions.

Cat swiped through her phone and then hopped up on the bed next to me. "How about a selfie?" She held up the phone in front of her, flipping through the filters before finding the perfect one. "Smile." She commanded and took a shot of us both, me frowning and Cat with her tongue stuck out.

"I hate you," I admonished, knowing that she wouldn't post this online, just maybe use it as fuel when making some sort of point in later life. That was more her style.

Cat pulled me in for a hug, covering herself in gross swamp water too. It was then that I noticed she was still in the clothes she disappeared off in earlier that night. I wondered if our parents had caught us both out that night and how much trouble Cat had avoided because of my stunt.

Cat winked at me slyly, as if listening in on my thoughts. Not that that was a thing that we could do. We were normal people, not horror demons sent from the pits of hell.

"I'm so sorry," cried Owen. Drawing both of our attention. "I almost killed your daughter; you'll probably want me to never see her again now."

Our parents flashed a look between them, but it was my mum who sat on a seat beside Owen. "I think most parents would want that for their children after what happened tonight," she said with a sigh. "However, I know that if you kids want to see each other enough, you'll do it with or without our permission, and I would prefer you didn't do it secretly. I mean, look how well that turned out tonight."

Cat nodded along and Alice glared at her. They both knew she had enough of her own secrets.

"Mum I want to go home," I said. I had school tomorrow and it was late, it was going to take me long enough to clean myself up, I just wanted to be in bed. "Can we go?"

"Yes, let's get you home," my dad agreed, then looked thoughtful. "I think I have some plastic in the car you can sit on. Owen your parents are outside with the doctor, will you be alright here for now?"

Owen nodded, then drew his face into his hands. I didn't envy him the conversation he was about to have with them, in fact I was relieved I wouldn't even have to watch it. I'd not even met his family; this was not how I'd wanted to meet them for the first time.

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