Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 170

They ended up taking Vivian to the hospital. With the injury to her hand, it was decided an orthopaedic hand surgeon would need to look at it, and no one on her father’s payroll had that sort of expertise. The police were also aware of her disappearing act, since she’d been in the middle of giving her testimony about the crash, so if she didn’t make an appearance it would only cause more trouble later.

Vivian’s shock began to wear off by the time they’d reached the hospital. The panic, fear, and intense anxiety hit her all at once, as a nurse was attempting to clean up her hand. It was so bad they’d been forced to sedate her in fear she’d cause herself undue harm.

How long she was out for was unknown. When consciousness returned, Vivian found herself lying in a hospital bed, without any memory of how she’d gotten there. Since this wasn’t the first time she’d been moved while she slept, she didn’t panic. Or maybe whatever drugs were in her system, making her feel like she was floating, were the reason her response to waking in this unknown environment was only mild confusion and little else.

Someone had cleaned her up and changed her clothes, as she now wore her usual sleeping attire. Had someone gone home to get her clothes? They must have, as her pink elephant plush was also tucked under her left arm. She’d been sleeping with it most nights since Theo had given it to her; having something to hold, to cling to at night, helped ease her mind just a little. It seems others had noticed this, making her feel a bit self conscious, but it didn’t last.

“Good morning,” she heard Sebastian say, drawing her attention to his bed. They were sharing a hospital room?

“Morning…” she mumbled, pushing herself into a sitting position. Everything in her body protested the movement, but the pain wasn’t as bad as it should have been. This was when she took note her right hand was covered in a bandage. She looked at it for a moment, turning it this way and that before letting it settle on her lap. “What happened?”

Sebastian had raised the head of his bed so he could sit up without issue, which meant he had an unobstructed view of his sister. “Which part?”

It took Vivian a minute to understand the question. Her brain felt like it was full of cotton and moving at half speed. “I remember getting here…”

“I was told you started panicking,” he explained, looking grim. “They were worried you’d make your injuries worse, so they gave you a sedative to calm down. They said they gave you the lowest dose, but it still knocked you out cold.”

“Is that… why I feel like I’m floating?” She asked, knowing this should bother her but unable to find the will to feel much of anything.

He nodded. “With everything that’s been going on with you this last week, it was decided you needed the rest; if that meant keeping you on a low dose for a bit, then that’s what they’d do. Now that you’re awake you probably won’t get anymore.”

It should bother her, that they made this decision without asking for her input, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel annoyed. “How long was I asleep?”

“Almost a day and a half.”

This surprised her, though only a little. Sleep hadn’t been a friend lately, and when she did sleep it hadn’t been restful. Her body must have finally crashed the moment whatever they gave her took effect. “…where’s Laurent? Isn’t he suppose to be here?”

Sebastian shook his head. “He was discharged Tuesday evening. You were given his bed, which means we now get to hang out.”

That didn’t sound so bad to Vivian. The fingers on her bandage free hand played with the plush’s ear as she looked around the room. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Well… Dad and Gabriel are being cared for by our own doctors,” he began as he watched her fiddle with the plush. “Gilbert is around somewhere, managing everyone, and Tyrell is here, making sure no one bothers us.”

“What about Jacques?”

There was some hesitation in her brother at her question, but she didn’t think much of it in the moment. “He should still be here, somewhere, too. Since you went to him for help, it was… decided he should be kept close by.”

“I didn’t go to him,” she explained. “I ran into him. He agreed to help.”

“That’s what he said, too, but you still asked him for help.”

Vivian looked over at her brother when she said, “Because no one here would listen.”

Even with the drugs in her system, she noted how her oldest brother tensed at her words. She hadn’t said them to be mean, or to make anyone feel guilty; all she’d said was the truth.

“Vivian… You have to understa—“

“So do you,” she interjected, arms tightening on her plush. “I wasn’t letting someone else die trying to protect me. I won’t let anyone do that, ever again, Sebastian. Ever.”

He was quiet for a long time, watching his sister who looked away after she’d finished saying her piece. They would understand, or they wouldn’t; it wasn’t up to her if they forgave her for what she’d done, and she wasn’t about to apologize for it either. It’d been the right thing to do. Whether they agreed or not didn’t matter. What mattered was everyone had come out alive.

There was a light knock at the door before it opened. “You’re awake,” Tyrell noted as he stepped into the room, a smile brightening his face. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” she automatically replied, earning a chuckle from the man.

After he’d stepped into the room, a woman in her mid-thirties entered. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, with wisps of it escaping to frame a round face with dark eyes and full lips. Her skin was tanned, almost like copper, and offset the white lab coat and pale blue scrubs she wore.

“Glad to see you awake, Vivian,” the woman said in greeting as she moved to stand by the girl’s bed. “I am Doctor Rani Ahuja, an orthopaedic hand surgeon.”

Vivian stared at the doctor with wide eyes, enthralled by her accent. It was a mix of British English and Indian. Blended together, it made her sound like some higher being. Or, maybe it was the drugs talking. It was hard to know one way or another. “Hello…”

“I am going to take a look at your hand, to make sure it has begun to heal properly,” Dr Ahuja explained as she pulled out a stool with wheels from where it’d been stashed in a corner. “How is the pain level?”

“Oh, uh… I don’t know?” Vivian replied as she watched the doctor slowly remove the bandage, looking away once she caught sight of the stitches. Blood was fine, but stitches made her feel queasy. “I’m kind floaty right now… and sore everywhere.”

“That is expected,” the doctor nodded as she checked the work she’d done on the girl’s hand. “I want you to move your fingers, just a little bit, please.”

Vivian did as requested, twitching each of her fingers one after another. It hurt to do, but the pain didn’t last overly long. If anything, her hand felt uncomfortable and a bit itchy.

“Everything looks very good, Vivian,” Dr Ahuja told the girl with a smile. She began wrapping up the wound again while she continued to speak. “Try not to use your hand for the next week or two, as you could tear out the stitches. You will need to keep it clean and dry while it heals. I will have a nurse go over how to properly clean and bandage your hand before you are sent home.”

“Am I being discharged?” Vivian asked, a bit surprised.

Dr Ahuja shook her head. “I cannot say. I am only in charge of your hand. The rest of you is for Dr Romero to oversee. She is the one who decides when you will be discharged.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t feel too bad, Viv,” Sebastian told her with a lopsided smile. “We get to hang out while you’re here.”

Vivian nodded. That was true enough, and there hadn’t been a lot of opportunities for her to spend time with Sebastian one-on-one. Hanging out in a hospital room, confined to each their own bed, didn’t sound like a great time, but it was *something*.

The doctor left soon after. Tyrell hovered near the door for a few seconds before he turned to Vivian and said, “The police have been adamant about talking to you the moment you wake up. Mr Montague and Mr Morris also want to have a word with you, about what happened Tuesday.”

Letting out a sigh, Vivian knew this would be the case sooner or later. She’d disobeyed a direct order, ran away from all of them, and returned bloody and bruised; ‘returned’ wasn’t the right word, but ‘rescued’ made her feel too much like a damsel.

“Tell them I’ll only talk once everyone is able to make it,” she replied after taking a bit to think about it. “I’m not interested in going over it more than once.”