"Is she going to be okay?" I heard voices that sounded very far away talking near over me.
"She'll be fine. She'll come to in a bit. Just give her sometime."
I felt myself drifting toward consciousness. I used all my strength and opened my eyes. I looked up and saw a bleak white ceiling.
"Annemarie! Oh my god!" I turned and saw Gwen standing beside me, anxiously looking at me. "Are you okay?"
Still kind of confused, I didn't answer her, and looked around the room. "Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital, hon," a nurse answered as she prepared my arm to take my blood pressure.
"Huh?"
"You don't remember?" Gwen asked.
"Remember what?"
Gwen's face crumpled up and she began to cry. "Oh my god!" She ran out of the room and returned a few seconds later with my dad.
"Hey sweetie!" My dad said, smiling.
"Hi...OW!"
"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"The blood pressure thing hurts!"
"Oh. How are you feeling otherwise?"
I thought for a moment. "Well, my head hurts and so does my arm, but other than that, I guess I'm just fine and dandy. But, I don't know why I'm here. Can someone fill me in?"
The nurse suddenly spoke up. "Sorry to do this, sir, but visiting hours were over ten minutes ago. You'll have to leave. She needs her rest." My dad began to protest, but the nurse gave him a stern look and then ushered him and Gwen out of the room, leaving me all alone. Well, this was great. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
I glanced around the room. Hmmm. I had a TV and not much else. This sucked. I reached over and grabbed the little remote for the TV. It was kind of hard, with the IV stuck in my arm, but somehow, I managed. I turned the TV on and flipped through the channels. I finally settled on watching Jerry Springer. I sat back in my bed and nestled in my hard-as-a-rock pillow. Ah yes, all the comforts of home, I thought sarcastically. I laid my head down and watched as two women fought over some butt-ugly guy. I laughed to myself. These people were pathetic. As the crowd cheered, I felt my eyelids drooping. Not now! I couldn't miss another fight! But, try as I might, I couldn't keep my eyes open. They probably had given me some drugs or something to put me to sleep, anyhow, so I decided not to fight it anymore and closed my eyes.
The next thing I knew, someone was knocking softly on my door. I groaned and slowly opened one of my eyes. There were two guys standing in the doorway.
"Yeah?" I croaked sleepily.
"Um, hi. Can we come in?" The taller one asked.
"I guess." Once they had settled in the chairs beside my bed, I asked, "Who are you?"
"You don't remember us?" the younger one asked, surprised.
"Nope. Should I?"
"Well, we're the ones who were in the accident, too," the older one clarified.
"What accident?"
"The accident this afternoon. The one where my brother hit your sister's car." The older one glared at the younger one.
"Hey. What are your names?" I asked, realizing that I had no idea who they were.
"Oh. I'm Taylor," the oldest one said.
"And I'm Zac," the younger one added.
"Okay. Hi! I'm Annemarie."
"We know," said Taylor.
"Oh. Well, why did you guys come here?"
"We wanted to make sure that you were okay," Zac said.
"Well, I think I'm okay. I mean, my head hurts and it kinda hurts when I breathe, but other than that, I'm all right."
Taylor breathed out a sigh of relief. "That's good."
"Are you guys okay?" I asked.
Zac nodded. "Yup. Our necks are kind of sore, but otherwise, we're okay."
"I'm glad."
All of a sudden, the door was flung open and my Dad strode into the room. He glared at Taylor and Zac. "What are you doing in here?" he demanded.
Taylor looked flustered. "We were...just..."
"Leaving," Zac finished for him. He grabbed Taylor's arm and pulled him out of the room.
I looked strangely at my Dad. "What did you do that for, Daddy?"
He sat down on the edge of my bed and touched my cheek. "Because we're suing them, sweetie."
"What?! Why?"
"Taylor ran a red light and you were injured in the accident."
"But I feel okay!" I protested.
"Honey, you have a concussion and you broke two ribs and sprained your wrist."
"Really?"
He nodded. "I don't want to sue them, but they hurt my baby, so I don't feel that I have any choice." He leaned over and kissed my head. "Now, why don't you get some rest? I have to run back home to let your Mom know that you're doing okay. We'll be back by tonight to see how you're doing."
"All right. Bye, Daddy." I watched as he left the room. Once he'd shut the door, I began to cry. I didn't want him to sue Taylor and Zac...what was their last name? I felt like it was all my fault. And the worst thing was that if Dad was suing them, he'd win. And he'd make them pay.