Chapter 44

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

 I'm officially freaking out and I excuse myself from our conversation in the living room because I am nearly in tears.
A few moments ago I got a text from Ruthanne's phone, probably from Kris that says

 Ruthanne fell down the stairs and got knocked unconcious. We're in the hospital.

I replied as soon as I made it to the bathroom, but Kris never replies.
I stay in the bathroom for a few minutes and all of a sudden Sidney is knocking at the door. "I know something's wrong," Sidney says after a few knocks and me not answering.
I open the door and let him in and just lean on his chest. "Ruthanne fell down the stairs and she was unconcious and she's in the hospital." I whimper into his chest and I try not to cry. I don't know that much about the situation.
"Oh my God," Sidney says. He holds my head to his chest and kisses the top of my hair. "It's gonna be alright," he says as he sways back and forth. It's comforting to have him say this to me and the rocking motion makes me close my eyes and relax. "It's gonna be alright," he says a few more times before letting me go. I'm nearly completely settled down. "hey, My parents are gonna worry," Sidney says after a minute and he squeezes my hand before he heads back to the living room.
 I follow him after a moment's hesitation to check my makeup in the mirror.
"Is everything all right?" I hear Trina ask as I'm walking out into the living room.
 "It could be better.." Sidney says slowly. "Our friend Ruthanne fell down the stairs, knocking herself unconscious and putting herself in the hospital." He explains after a moment.
 "Oh!" Trina says, surprised.
 "Yeah, it's Caitlin's best friend, sooo.." He trails off as I walk into the picture again. He pulls me into his side and gives me a squeeze.
Trina smiles but doesn't say anything, which makes me feel better. I like it when people know enough to just let it drop for the moment. I don't want to think about Ruthanne being in a coma or anything like that.

Ruthanne's point of view <3
 I blink my eyes and the bright white lights blind me for a moment. Suddenly there's movement around me and I hear kris's voice.
"Ruthanne!?" he says, sounding very worried. I open my eyes again, determined to see him and I'm stunned by the sudden pounding in my head. I am forced to close my eyes again. I can't handle the bright lights or something. Something is wrong.
 I try to talk. "kr. Kris?" I manage to squeak out.
"what?" I feel like Kris is moving towards my face and I flinch away. "can you turn the lights off?" I ask, trying to get used to the feel of words in my mouth again.
 I feel like it has been forever since I've talked, or even opened my eyes. It's like waking up in the morning except for the pounding in my head. And I don't remember falling asleep. I hear Kris moving away from me and I can tell that he has turned the lights out.
 "thank you," I say, yet again trying to open my eyes. This time I'm able to keep them open and see Kris. Then I look around. I'm in a hospital room? What the heck is going on?
"hey baby," Kris says, leaning down to my level beside where I'm laying. I look over and notice a bandage on my arm and an IV in it too. "I missed you," he smiles sweetly.
"what's going on? What happened?" I am so confused. "why am I here?"
"you fell down the stairs, and you have a concussion." he explains. I can't remember any of that at all. "and the bandage on your right arm is there because you cut your arm on something that was in the box you were carrying."
 "oh," I say. I trust him. It must have happened but I can't remember a thing.
 "I'm sorry." Kris says, his face suddenly looking sad and apologetic. "I should have carried the boxes down the stairs for you.
" "it's fine. It's my fault I'm just clumsy." I smile at him, trying to make it better even if I'm not sure how my fall went.
 "I feel guilty because I just watched it happen and I couldn't do anything about it and then you were knocked out on the floor and now you're all messed up and I could have stopped this from happening!" Kris goes on. He's really upset.
"it's ok, Kris," I say, "it's not your fault." I try to lift up my left arm to give him a hug but there's a shooting pain up my arm to accompany the motion. "owwww," I cry out in pain.
 Kris jumps up trying to think of something to do to help me. "just hug me, ok." I say, just wanting his body near mine.
"I love you Ruthanne," Kris says as he is embracing me.
 "I love you too," I say back, wincing in pain because he touched a spot that must be bruising. "when do I get out of here?"
 "whenever the doctor comes up and checks you out and gives you the ok. I can call a nurse now," he says helpfully.
"ok." I smile back weakly. "thank you."
The doctor comes up and asks me a series of questions which are hard to answer. I can't remember very much about anything. They tell me this is normal, I guess. I hated it. He writes down a bunch of stuff on his ugly brown clipboard  and tells me not to do a list of things and other stuff.
My head is pounding again and I'm not paying attention. Hopefully my mom or Kris is. My mom came in at about the same time as my nurse did. Finally, they give the ok for me to go home and Kris helps me walk out to his car. He's going to drive my home and my mom is going to stop at the grocery store to get some over the counter pain meds.
 It's dark by now and he loads me into the passenger seat, leaning over to buckle me in. I feel like it's been a long hard day, even though I wasn't awake for most of it.