Crystal Clear

Chapter Nine

In the hospital, it brought back numerous memories of New Year’s Eve. The smell of hospitals wasn’t a smell Ava liked, and it turned her stomach slightly when she thought of the hospital food. The never-ending corridors and the clinical white around her, made her head spin as she followed the signs to the ward where Richard was. When Ava found the right place, someone tapped her on the shoulder, she jumped a little when she saw a lady with tight grey curls framing her little face. Ava assumed this petite lady must be Sally.

“Hi Sally,” Ava said nervously.

“Hello” replied Sally shakily, “You turned up!”.

“Yeah, sorry about that, I didn’t have a clue who was calling and I don’t answer calls from unknown numbers on my mobile” Ava said apologetically.

Sally merely shook her head slightly “No worries, you’re here now!” and signalled to Ava it was time to go in, the ladies squirted some anti-bacterial wash on their hands and went into the room where Richard was. Ava caught sight of him lying in the bed closest to the window. His face cut and his arms heavily bruised; he still managed to look handsome even though he was injured. Machines whirred in the background, bleeping and purring away. Richard’s soft beautiful hair was gone, it had been shaved and there were bandages around his crown. Sally sat down in the chair next to Richard’s bed. Ava turned away and looked out the window, a tear streaked down her face. Sally then explained that Richard had been put in a medically induced coma so the swelling in his brain would go down. Richard looked so peaceful, lying there, in a sleep-like state. Another tear trickled down her other cheek. Sally sat down in a chair in the corner of the room flicking through a women’s gossip magazine and glanced up every so often to see what Ava was doing. Ava sat down in the chair the other side of Sally, next to Richard’s bed. A nurse came in to check Richard’s chart and darted out just as quick as they arrived. The room was silent other than the machines whirring away, neither woman spoke. This wasn’t how she had wanted to have met Richard’s adoptive mother. He’d always spoken about her and her caring nature, but Ava was getting the cold shoulder from Sally, but then again, she was the woman that lied and broke her son’s heart.

“Sally, can I have a moment with Richard?” Ava asked

“Sure, I need a coffee anyway” Sally grumpily replied, annoyed to have been removed from the room, “call me back in as soon as you can if he wakes up, they’ve removed him from the medically induced coma so it’s just a matter of him waking up now”

“Okay, will do,” Ava said as the door swung shut behind Sally “I love you Richard, and I’m so sorry. For everything. For the lies, for not telling you the whole truth!” Ava leaned in and placed a kiss on the back of his hand, trying to avoid the canula going into it. She rested her head on the pillow propping him up. The monitor Richard was connected to beeped, reminding her that Richard couldn’t hear her. Ava decided to use this opportunity to open up about a few more things.

“It was never about replacing Dan. Maybe at first, I thought you were cute because you looked like him but personality wise, it’s always been you. Seeing the way Dan has treated me in the past and mostly in the last few months have proved I picked the right person. I am truly sorry I kept in contact with him, but it was difficult in a way as he’s been such a big part of my life for years. I should have told you when we met the truth about my past with Dan, but I couldn’t ruin things because they were so perfect. I carried around the guilt of not telling you and that spoilt so much. I love you. I love the way your eyes twinkle when you see me, the way our hands fit perfectly together, the way you kiss my nose and tell me I’m beautiful even when I look rough. I’m sorry I took you for granted and I can’t live without you” Ava’s eyes were now filled with big heavy tears that escaped out of the corner of her eyes. The monitor beeps got louder and closer together before making the flat-lining sound and Ava reached for the orange emergency button to get a doctor or a nurse to come over. She slammed it down, “Don’t die, Richard! I love you so much!”