Where Forever Lies (30 page)

They
finally came to a stop, and within seconds the back door flew open.
Paige hurriedly got down and stepped to the side, making room for the
stretcher that was hauling Kyra. She watched everyone hustling around
as they got her wheeled into the hospital. Before the stretcher was
able to get out of her sight, she ran up and pushed through a couple
of guys, making them come to a stop. She stood there and stared down
at her daughter’s face. A big gash ran across her forehead,
smaller scratches and black marks covered the rest of her face along
with tubes and an oxygen mask. She leaned down and planted a kiss on
her forehead and studied every inch of her face, scared to let her go
and risk never seeing her again. A guy gently touched her elbow,
letting her know the urgency of the situation and she drew back and
watched them walk out of sight.

As she
stood there, alone in the hallway of the hospital, she felt someone
come up behind her and take her arm. She looked behind her and saw
the old guy from the accident scene, cradling a brown and white
stuffed dog. Her eyes filled with tears as she reached out and took
Bob from his hand.

As Paige
sat in the waiting room with Bob clutched in her lap, she dialed her
mom’s number with shaky hands and told her everything that had
happened. It seemed like forever since they had wheeled Kyra away,
but it had actually only been ten minutes so far. She was praying she
would hear something soon, but time seemed to be standing still right
now.

As soon as
she had told her the details about the accident, her mother began
sobbing in the phone, telling Paige she was on her way. Once she hung
up with her mom, she called Tyler.

“Tyler,”
she said and then began sobbing again.

“Paige?
What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked, his voice
lowering as her sobs took over.

She got
herself calmed down enough to say, “It’s Kyra. There was
an accident. Can you come? I need you here with me.”

“Yes,
Paige. I’m on my way. Which hospital?” he asked, his
voice lit with urgency.

“We’re
at Dalton Memorial,” she said, looking down at the stuffed dog
on her lap and the blue emergency room sign on the wall in the
hallway.

“Is
she okay?” he asked in a low voice, sounding scared at what her
answer was going to be.

“I...
I don’t know, yet,” she said, her voice cracking
mid-sentence as silent tears careened down her flushed cheeks.

“It’ll
be okay. I’m leaving now. I’ll be there in twenty
minutes.”

She hung
up the phone feeling lost, alone and scared.

As she
waited for news and for her mom and Tyler to show up, Paige’s
mind stormed with terrible thoughts about what was taking the doctors
so long to come talk to her. It was all her fault this happened, she
should have had a better grip on her hand when they were walking down
such a busy street. She was stupid to park so far away. She dropped
her face into her hands and began crying again. She felt an anxiety
attack wanting to creep up but she did her best to hold it down. She
couldn’t lose herself when Kyra needed her. She had to be
strong for her right now.

As she
was pacing the small waiting room, she heard her mom yell her name as
she walked in, her eyes wide with concern.

“Have
you heard anything yet?” her mom asked as she pulled her into a
hug.

“No,
not yet,” Paige said, crying again.

“Well,
she’ll be okay,” her mom said, as if stating it
confidently would make all the difference.

They took
a seat, neither saying a word as they held onto one another for
support. The wait was beginning to drive her mad. “I’m
going to see if I can get any information. I can’t take this
any longer,” she told her mom. As she got up and walked out of
the waiting room, she bumped into Tyler.

“Paige,
is everything okay?” he asked, grabbing both her arms as he
studied her face. His jaw was clenched and his face was tight with
concern and Paige wanted to bury her fears in him.

“I
haven’t heard anything yet. I was on my way to ask about her,”
she said as she lost herself in his arms. Her tears started again as
she said, “I’m just so scared, Tyler. It’s all my
fault, I should have been holding onto her hand tighter.”

His arms
tightened around her as he said, “No, no, Paige. It was an
accident. It wasn’t your fault. What exactly happened?”
he asked as he held her hand and started walking to find someone to
get some answers from.

As they
walked to the nurse’s station, Paige filled him in on
everything, reliving the horror of that moment. She wiped her nose
with her tattered tissue as they got to the nurse’s station,
and then asked the nurse at the desk, “I need to know if my
baby is okay. Can someone please tell me what’s going on?”

The nurse
asked for her daughter’s name, reassuring Paige that she would
get someone out here as soon as possible. “Thank you,”
she whispered and they turned to leave, slowly walking down the hall
to where her mom was waiting for her.

“It’s
all going to be okay, Paige. She’ll get through this,”
Tyler said as he bent down and kissed her on the top of the head.

As they
rounded the corner to the waiting room, Paige sucked in a sharp
breath as she saw the doctor standing there waiting for her. She
quickened her steps, feeling like she couldn’t get to him fast
enough. “Doctor, is my baby okay?” she asked frantically.

He
motioned for her to take a seat, and with Tyler urging her down, she
hesitantly sat, her eyes fixed on the doctor’s as he looked at
her with too much sympathy. Her heart sank at his expression. It
didn’t look good. She clutched her chest, feeling her heart
breaking in half. “Tell me how she is, please?” she
begged, as she held her mom’s hand with one hand and Tyler’s
with the other.

“Mrs.
Griffin,” he began, “your daughter has suffered a skull
fracture, her left leg is broken, along with a couple of ribs, and
she is badly bruised, but after running several tests, I do not see
anything life threatening at the moment. Of course we need to keep an
eye out for any swelling of the brain but as of right now she is
doing okay, considering the circumstance. She is in her room now,
sleeping, so she won’t know you’re here, but you can go
in and see her.”

Paige
began crying again, this time out of reassurance that her daughter
was going to be okay. She felt her mom squeeze her hand and felt
Tyler rub her back, trying his best to soothe her. She jumped up,
ready to get to Kyra, to touch her and see with her own eyes that she
was alive and okay.

As she
hurried down the hall towards Kyra’s room, her mind kept
telling her that this was a horrible nightmare and she would wake up
soon with Kyra safe and sound in her bed, with her comforter,
portraying a mix of different cartoon animals, pulled up to her chin
as she slept safe and sound. But as she turned the corner and stepped
into the room, all the tubes coming out of her made her look lifeless
and frail, proving that she really was living in the nightmare. With
each beep of the machine, each tube her eyes fell on, and every
bruise that covered her daughter, she knew there was no escaping this
reality.

She rushed
over to her and lightly touched her pale cheek. She couldn’t
believe this had all happened on a day when they were supposed to be
enjoying their day together. She couldn’t believe it had
happened, period.

She tucked
Bob under the cover beside her so Kyra would have it when she woke
up. Her eyes took her all in. She was breathing, she was alive and
the doctor said everything looked okay despite what had happened to
her. She thought back to the accident. She knew the car wasn’t
going really fast, they were on the side roads that surrounded the
mall area, plus she knew he was trying to slow down. All that must
have factored in to help Kyra’s injuries not being life
threatening. She was lucky and Paige was grateful.

Her mom
stood on the other side of Kyra, holding her hand and absently wiping
her face as tears streamed down. Tyler’s arm was around her
shoulders as he stared at Kyra, and Paige was thankful that he could
come and be by her side while she was dealing with this. She had her
mom here with her, but having Tyler gave her something that her mom
couldn’t give her. He was the calmness in her stormy mind. He
gave her the strength she needed to overcome all the obstacles that
hit her. She reached up and kissed him. “Thank you, for coming.
It really means a lot to me to have you here.”

He pulled
her into his arms and breathed, “I’m just glad she’s
okay.”

As the
minutes turned to hours and still no sign of Kyra waking up, Paige’s
nerves were beginning to consume her. It was getting late and she was
exhausted but there was no way she could sleep right now, so she sat
in the uncomfortable chair next to Kyra’s bed, praying she
would see some movement out of her soon. She didn’t want to
fall asleep and miss out on Kyra opening up her eyes.

Her mom
had gone down to the cafeteria to get something to drink and Tyler
sat on the other side of Kyra, dozing off and on. She had told her
mom she could leave and that she would call her when Kyra woke up,
but her mom was adamant that she was not leaving until she saw Kyra’s
beautiful blue eyes.

She heard
a rustling noise from Tyler and looked over to see him moving around.
He yawned, stretched and then said, “I’m going down to
get some coffee, do you want me to bring you something back?”

She shook
her head, “No, I’m fine.”

He came
around to her side, gave her a kiss, and slowly shuffled out the
door.

Paige
leaned back in her chair as she watched Kyra sleep, her body
beginning to yearn for sleep itself. She told herself she would just
rest her eyes for a moment when suddenly she felt someone nudging her
side. She bolted up and adrenaline rushed through her body as the
memories of what had happened earlier quickly came to her mine.
“What’s wrong? Is Kyra okay?” she asked her voice
borderline panic.

“Mommy?”
she heard a tiny voice in the distance call for her and then faint
crying. Finally her eyes focused and she saw Kyra trying to focus in
on her as well, tears welling up in her eyes. Paige jumped up and
went to her side, giving her mom a smile as she stood on the opposite
side.

“Hi,
honey,” Paige whispered in a soothing tone. “How are you
feeling?”

She
watched as Kyra licked her lips and swallowed before saying. “I’m
thirsty,” and she began crying again, trying to pull on the
tubes that were in her arm.

“Shh,
it’s okay, honey. We’ll get you some water, okay?”
Paige said as she ran her hand gently across her arm to keep her from
pulling anything out. She knew the pain medicine was keeping her from
feeling too much of the pain, and for that she was grateful.

Tyler came
up behind her and gave Kyra a small wave. “Hi, Kyra, look what
I have for you,” he said as he held up a small stuffed white
pony. “Remember the pony named Marshmallow you rode at my
house?” he asked gently. When she shook her head, he continued,
“Well, I saw this one and thought you might like it.”

She raised
her arm up just an inch and Paige watched as Tyler leaned in and
placed the stuffed pony under her arm. A small smile formed on her
chapped lips and the tears decreased for a moment. Paige smiled as
well, wondering when he had time to sneak off and buy the stuffed
pony and keep it out of her view.

Paige only
left Kyra’s side for the brief moments when nurses needed to
check her vital signs and the doctor came in to examine her, again.
Kyra was taking everything as well as a three year old could and
Paige was proud of her. The doctors said that there were no serious
complications with her skull fracture and everything else was healing
up nicely. This was the best news Paige could ever receive.

A week and
a half later, they were packing up their things, finally able to put
the hospital stay behind them and be on their way home. Kyra had
plenty of stuffed animals from when Brooke, Kyleigh and David had
stopped by, among the ones from her, Tyler and her mom.

Despite
the accident, Paige felt blessed. After dealing with everything and
almost losing her daughter, she knew they were incredibly lucky. She
was thankful that things didn’t end up worse than they could
have.

Two Months Later:

The
country road that led to Tyler’s was becoming more and more
like home. She knew every bump and every twist like the back of her
hand. It seemed that she was out here almost as much as she was at
her house but that was okay because she loved it out here and Kyra
loved it even more. The past two months since Kyra’s accident
had been difficult, but with her mom and Tyler’s help, they had
finally gotten over the worst of it and Kyra was now in the clear and
on her way to a full recovery.

Kyra had
just gotten her cast off yesterday and was already steady while
walking. Paige had taken quite a bit of time off work in the
beginning to stay with Kyra and their life was finally getting back
on track and getting into a steady routine.

As she
headed out to Tyler’s, she felt her nerves firing, causing her
stomach to twist into knots. He said he had a date night planned for
them and something in his tone made her think he had something up his
sleeve. She didn’t have a clue as to what, but with Tyler, it
was hard telling. He was definitely more adventurous than she was but
she assumed that was one of the reasons why she was attracted to him.
He was her complete opposite, one who made her try things that she
wouldn’t normally do.

With Kyra
safely at her mom’s house, she knew she wouldn’t have to
worry about her for a few hours. Since Kyra’s accident, anxiety
had crept back into her life, and she had been dealing with that on
top of taking care of an injured and cranky Kyra. She knew she had to
work on getting it under control again, and she would, but she also
knew it was something she would have to fight against her whole life.