04

 6 Weeks Later

Age 12

            I wake up slowly. My eyes hurt from the blinding lights above me. I can’t scream out because there's something blocking my mouth. I flail around and get pushed back down by things I can only feel not see before I am pushed back under into the darkness.

I dream of the accident over and over again, and I know that I’m alone in this world now. My daddy is gone. My sister and her unborn baby are gone. I wouldn’t be alone every time I woke up if I wasn’t. My heart aches and tears flow freely down my face, but no one comes into the room in the moments over the last however many days before I pass out again and again. 

            I wake again and there is someone by my bed and I turn my head, a beautiful nurse with blood red hair is fiddling with my IV bag. She looks over at me and smiles.

            “Ah, sleeping beauty is finally awake.” She smiles and calls a doctor in as she takes my blood pressure and other vitals. I can’t say anything, there is a tube going down my throat still. I go to raise my hands, but they are restrained at my wrists to the bed. 

            Tears seep out of my eyes. I’m alive. How? I will never fully know, but I am. The doctor comes in with more nurses and they slowly remove the vent from my throat and put a cannula into my nose for safety. He tells me that I came in with punctured lungs and this was just a precaution to make sure my lungs were going to be okay without assistance.

            “Do you understand what happened to you?” he asks kindly.

            I nod, refusing to speak. My throat hurts but honestly, I don’t see the point in speaking right now. I’ve lost everything. There is no reason.

            “We have to tell you, your father Jackson Anderson and your sister Kara Anderson both died in the accident that put you in here. Did you know your sister was pregnant?” he asks his eyes locked on me.

            I nod and look down at my hands now folded in my lap.

            “Did you know she was carrying twins?” He says softly.

I gasp and cry softly, shaking my head. They killed more than just my sister and dad; they killed two innocent babies. The world isn’t fair. Tears flow freely down my face. I can’t believe how evil this world truly is. Innocent babies should never be harmed for someone's gain.

            “Aurora, one survived.” The doctor took my hand, and I look up at him shocked. “He’s in the NICU now just one floor above us. He’s a little fighter. He doesn’t have a name yet. If you want, we will wheel you up there to see him. You are his only family. We will be contacting DCS in the next few days, it has been very touch and go for the two of you. But do you know anyone, anyone at all who would take you in so you both don’t end up in the system.”

            I nod, “Phone?”

He smiles, “Your phone made it through the crash, the nurse will bring it to you. If you can contact someone, we will help them do whatever it takes to take the two of you into custody. You’ll need to stay for at least another week. You have a broken femur, a broken collar bone, four broken ribs, one which punctured your lung, we had to remove your spleen and one of your kidneys ruptured. I know we haven’t given you a chance to look at yourself yet, but there was a tree branch that went through your car and went through your body. I know you are now twelve seeing as you were in a coma on your birthday a week ago, but I have to tell you this now. We had to do a full hysterectomy. Your uterus, your fallopian tubes everything. You will never have a period. You will never have children of your own. I’m so sorry to have to put this one on you. We had no choice in order to save your life. You had become septic due to internal bleeding, and it was the only choice.” He squeezes my shoulder as he tells me the news.

            I’m twelve years old and just got informed that everything that was going to make me a woman someday is now gone. I close my eyes, and I don’t make a sound. I can’t focus on what I just found out I lost. My past, my present, my future, all gone because they were selfish. Choosing to save themselves. Men are supposed to protect women and children instead the Gravin’s, no the Wolfe’s failed that.

            “Do you understand everything?” he asks kindly. I just nod. I can’t force the words from my mouth. I swallow deeply and push away the sadness about what I’ve been told. My nephew is still alive, and I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. 

            “When can I go see the baby?” I ask.

            “Nurse Lily will go grab a wheelchair and take you up there in a few minutes. Can you call whoever you need to while she does that?”

            “Yes.”

            “The police would like to see you as well, soon.”

            I nod and bite my lip before reaching for the phone the red headed nurse was holding out to me. There were only two people I knew my father would trust. Our housekeeper Lena and her lawyer husband Jaxon.

            We had to keep the knowledge that the two of us survived safe. I was quickly realizing; this gave us a chance to never be found. The baby would never be part of the Gravins’. I could save us both. The nurses and doctor leave the room as I make a phone call. I feel so much older than twelve. Having to make these choices. But there aren’t any other options. I have to keep the baby safe.