Waking Charley Vaughan (7 page)

“I thought they wouldn’t let me go with them if I told the truth. I panicked, and l I told them I was her fiancé. It was the only way to get into the room.” There was a hint of panic to my tone. Some of it because of Charley, some of it because of Sara, and most of it because I didn’t want to deal with the kind of trouble I could be in for lying to that cop.

“She went to a bar?”

“Yeah, it’s just a little pub downtown. She sat in the back corner all night. We talked some. She told me about what happened. It sounded like she was hiding from Matt.”

“This is all that idiot brother of mine’s fault. She never would have been there if he would have left her the hell alone.” Her eyes were beginning to fill up with tears now.

“Did you see the accident? What happened? Where is the doctor?” She fired questions at me with the speed of auctioneer. She must have seen the ‘deer in the headlights’ look I was giving off because she slowed down. “I’m sorry. I just…I feel horrible. I should have been there for her, and now,” she exhaled and put her head in her hands. When she spoke again, her voice was that high-pitched cry-scream that only girls seem to be able to achieve.

“I’m just so scared. What if she isn’t OK? What am I going to do? It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left her alone. I should have…” at this her sobs became full blown. The next thing I knew, she was leaning her head against my chest. Her shoulders shook with each sob. I stood very still.  I wasn’t great at consolation, but I gave it my best effort. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with my hands.

I finally gave a couple of pats to her back, and muttered “she’s going to be okay,” a few times. Aside from that, I was at a total loss.

“I’m sorry,” she said after a couple of minutes. She pulled away from me.  “ What did you say your name was again?”

“Brennan.” I gave her a questioning look, not sure what was coming next.

When she said nothing, I said “Don’t be so hard on yourself. How could you have known?” With that, Sara burst into tears again. The next thing I knew, her forehead was pressed into my chest once again, and this time she let out a stream of high-pitched, tear-filled words that I couldn’t even begin to understand.

The words that I could successfully make out were not helpful. Something about yoga and Matt being an asshole. That much I could gather. Thankfully, a raspy cry came from Charley’s hospital bed, and saved me from having to do any more comforting. We both looked over toward the bed.

“Sara? What are you doing here? What happened?”  Charley’s brown eyes were full of panic and confusion.

“Charley!” Sara took a step closer to the bed. “You were in an accident, Charley.” She looked down, wiping away tears as she did.

“The driver just took off,” I chimed in. “I’m really sorry. I was trying to get you home safe. You just wouldn’t stand still… I turned around to lock up the pub…the next thing I knew…”

“Brennan probably saved your life, Charley. He called 911, and stopped some of your bleeding.”

I looked at her. Had she just said I saved Charley’s life? I was a little shocked. It amazed me how quickly two people could become so friendly so quickly. 

“What accident?” Her questions were directed at Sara, and I made my way to a corner of the room. Out of nowhere, Sara grabbed Charley up in a hug so tight that the poor girl finally squeaked. Sara pulled back immediately.

“I’m so sorry. I never should have left you. This is all my fault,” her words were coming out at breakneck speeds. “I guess you went to a pub—that’s where Brennan works—he was trying to take you home and you got hit by a car.”

Charley’s face was scrunched up when she turned to look at me. “Who hit me?”

“We aren’t sure. The asshole took off.” I spoke up again from my corner. Charley gave me a confused look. I had no doubt she was still trying to remember how I fit into everything.

“Do you remember anything, Charley?” Sara asked.

“No, not really,” Charley made a face like she was trying to remember. “Bits and pieces, but it’s all a little disjointed. What was I doing in a bar?” Her tone told me I had been right earlier when I assumed she was not a regular bar hopper.

“You were…upset” Sara said softly.  “You and Matt kind of had a fight. I took you home. I shouldn’t have left you there alone. You were so upset.”

“Wh—what? What was I so upset about? Why were we fighting?”

Sara and I gave each other a look. Did she really not remember anything? And were we supposed to fill her in on the details? I wasn’t about to make her horrible night worse. It had messed her up enough the first time. There was no way of knowing what retelling her would do.

“I don’t think we should worry about that right now. Let’s just focus on getting you well. We can talk about all of this in the morning,” Sara said. I assumed she was just protecting her friend from the truth for a little bit longer. What was it about Charley that brought out that instinct in people? 

It looked like Charley was about to protest. In my short time with her that night, I already felt pretty confident when it came to recognizing her fight face, and this was it. Luckily for her and Sara—and frankly, for me, too— I didn’t need any more emotions tonight—the Doctor came in, accompanied by a nurse. He introduced himself as Dr. Sutherland, and asked Sara and I to step out into the hall with him as the nurse took Charley’s vitals.

“I understand that you’re her fiancé and future sister in law?” He looked at each of us. We nodded.

“Charley is experiencing some memory loss due to her accident. It’s not uncommon in a situation like this. She was bagged up pretty badly. We haven’t been able to ascertain exactly how far back the memory loss goes. Did she recognize both of you?

Sara jumped in, “She recognized me, but not Matt,” she said, giving me a look that said both ‘you’re welcome’ and ‘shut up’ at the same time. I did as I was silently told.

“How long will the memory loss last?” Sara asked the doctor.

“We don’t really have any way of knowing to be honest. Some patients regain all memory within hours or days, and others struggle with memory gaps for years following the accident. There really isn’t any way to tell. It’s a waiting game.”

The doctor went on to give Sara and I the full list of Charley’s injuries: one broken arm, several bruised ribs, a concussion, a few cuts on her head that were deep enough for stitches, and of course, a fracture to her skull. Then, there was the selection of minor cuts and bruises that could be located on any given part of her body.

“All told, though, your fiancé is a lucky girl. This could have been a lot worse for her, had the driver been going any faster,” he said. I guess that was Dr. Sutherland’s offering of consolation. I barely knew the girl, and it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t imagine how Sara was feeling.

I threw my hands up in frustration.

“LUCKY?! You call this ‘lucky’? She’s sitting in that room, hurting and confused, and without a memory of how she got that way! Meanwhile the jerk that hit her takes off and she has to live with the consequences?! How is that
lucky
?” My face was red. I knew it had to be because it felt like it was on fire. It was just so…wrong…and unfair. I didn’t know much of anything about this girl, but I knew that she deserved better than this.

Sara put a hand on my shoulder in what I guess was a gesture meant to either calm me down or shut me up. Either way, it worked. I stared down at my shoes. They still had a little bit of Charley’s blood on them from where I had run over to her after the accident.

“I’m sorry, Dr. I’m just…a little worked up,” I said.

“Completely understandable, son. Please understand what I meant. She is not lucky to have been put in this situation, but she is very lucky to have survived it.”

He went on to talk to Sara about the next few days being important factors in deciding when Charley could be released, and other information that I tuned out. After a few minutes, he went in to speak to Charley, patting both Sara and I on the shoulders before he left us in the hall. I was still upset, so I offered to go get a couple of coffees while Sara went in to explain to Charley what had really happened with Matt. That was a lot of potential tears and girly emotions that I just didn’t think I could handle any more of that night. I could kill some time. 

I finally found a machine that dispensed what had to be horrible coffee on the hospital’s third floor. I sat down next to the machine and pulled out my cell phone. It was late—or early, but I knew I could count on Adam to be awake.

I dialed his number. It rang a few times before the voice of my groggy roommate and slightly younger brother.

“Hullo,” he croaked.

“Hey it’s me.”

“What time is it? Where are you?” I heard rustling on the other end of the phone. “Dude, it’s 4:30 in the morning.”

“I know, Adam. just listen,” I cut him off. “I had to take a girl from the bar to the hospital…”

“Oh God,” Adam sighed. “Brennan to the rescue. What happened?”

“It was a pretty bad accident outside of the bar. Hit and run. It was pretty bad. She’s pretty banged up.”

“That sucks, man. I’m sorry. Is she a friend of yours or something? Why are you with her?”

“I didn’t know her well. She was at the bar most of the night. We talked a little. She was already having a pretty shitty night, and now this”

“So, is she gonna be okay or what?”

“Yeah, I think so. She’s got some memory loss, a cracked head and a broken arm to name a few things. I just can’t believe the asshole that hit her took off. Just left her there bleeding on the ground…” I trailed off

“You’re at the hospital, aren’t you?” he said. I could hear his eyes roll. 

After a short pause, I came clean.  “I kind of said I was her Fiancé.”

“Oh God, Brennan. This sounds like the beginning of some God-awful teen movie. Why did you do that?”

“I know,” I almost laughed. It did sound ridiculous when I heard it said aloud. “I just needed to know she was okay. There was a lot of blood, and she wasn’t conscious. I couldn’t just go home and have no idea if she made it.”

“I don’t know how you manage to do it, B, but the world’s problems always end up being your problems somehow.” 

"I know, Adam. But this girl, her night was messed up before she ever came into the bar. I only heard a small part of it, and trust me, it was messed up enough without this whole shit fest happening to her. I can't just leave her hanging. I've gotta help find out who did this to her."

"Oh yeah? And how the hell do you think you're going to do that, Sherlock?" He was being an ass, but I knew he was only joking with me at this point.

"I don't know that yet. I'm going to start by hanging around here with her for a while; which is part of why I called."

"You need your best friend and dearest brother to cover your shift at the pub tomorrow, even though, I'm not supposed to be on at the pub this week, because I have projects at that garage."

"I know, I know. But this is important. Just cover for me for a couple of hours. I won't leave you there all day."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it, man. I've got you covered. Should I expect you home any time soon, or should I set the alarm?"

"I've told you, Adam. Putting your bike in front of the door so I'll trip over it when I come in, is NOT an alarm."

"Whatever. It gets results," Adam said.

"I'll call you when I'm heading home."

I put my phone back in the pocket of my jeans as I stood to examine the coffee machine again. This was going to taste terrible. I looked at my watch. Not yet early enough to catch a coffee shop open. This was going to have to do. I bought two cups and headed back to Charley's room to talk to Sara.

By the time I got in, Charley was asleep again, and Sara was sitting in a chair next to the bed.

“Here’s your coffee,” I said softly. “Fair warning, I think it tastes like shit.” Sara smiled, looking exhausted.

“Thanks,” she said. She took a sip, “Oh GAWD,” her face was priceless. “‘shit’ does not BEGIN to describe it.” She put the cup down. “Thanks for everything,” she said sincerely. “I can’t tell you how important Charley is to me, and a lot of other people. I’m so thankful that you were there to look out for her.”

“No problem.” I told her. “Tell Charley ‘bye’ for me. Do you think it’d be ok if I came to check in on her later?”

Sara  gave me another weak smile. “Only if you bring me some better coffee.” 

“I’ll see what I can do,” I told her before I left.

Chapter 4 – sara

I woke up with an awful pain in my neck. When I opened my eyes, I understood why. I was sprawled out in the chair—the very small chair—next to Charley’s hospital bed. I straightened myself out and sat up, finding that Charley was sitting up, and staring at me.

“How long have you been up?” I asked her