7 Guilt

Sitting in an office Adelyn spoke to her lawyer hoping she would never have to meet with Margret in person for this lawsuit, which would destroy any chance of seeing Sandra ever again.

"Miss Tracy you do understand what this lawsuit is about and why your here today, correct?" a brash woman with a sharp nose questioned.

"Yes...I just want to settle this quickly and if at all possible, without meeting the other party." Adelyn's face looked pale and thin; she obviously hasn't been sleeping.

"Even though you have a case here?" the woman insisting on fighting it.

"I don't have a case it was my fault, I know that, the red light I ran knows that, the woman I put into a god-damned coma knows that!" her lack of sleep is apparent as her emotions escape for a brief but startling moment. "I'm ... I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell."

Unphased by her sudden uproar "It's quite alright, now if you'll take a look at this." she slides a stack of papers over to Adelyn. Flipping through she skims the details.

"Other accidents? Why are you showing me these?" confused she looks at her lawyer.

"These are all accidents reported at that exact intersection, with a detailed report on a system malfunction of that set of stop lights. Detailing faulty wiring causing a shortage which changed the timing of the lights... which includes the date of your accident. This my dear is your get out of jail free card. literally in the case that the coma patient dies." the words passed her lips as easily as if she were asking to pass the sugar. This cold-hearted woman wanted Adelyn to lean on a coincidence to get out of paying for the woman's hospital bills.

"How could you say such a thing! With a smile no less! This is a woman's life at stake, a woman that had no choice when I took that life away!" leaning on the pain of a distant memory Adelyn proclaimed "No! I will not fight this." she stood from her seat "tell their lawyer I'll settle, I don't care what it entails." she storms out, gripping her chest tears threatening to spill forth. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did what you propose, your heartless scumbag!" she says out loud while riding the elevator. 'Ding' the doors open allowing others to step in. She wipes her face and tries to regain composure taking deep slow breath's.

Adelyn decided it's a nice night to walk home, after a couple blocks, she found herself at a bar knocking them back one by one. Her guilt and a recently locked memory eating away at her self-worth. Her long hair disheveled as she ran her fingers through it. Three shots in and a severe lack of food, she had forgotten about nearly everything and began letting the music envelop her existence. For a time, she felt weightlessness in the crowd of people. A stranger began dancing beside her then made their way closer until they were dancing together. The strange woman pulled Adelyn close to her almost forcefully taking what she wanted. Adelyn's aloof attitude attracted the woman further, making her work for her attention. The somewhat Butch female clad in cargo pants and a tank top showed off to the more femininely dressed Adelyn. Before she knew it, she was up against a wall of the bar being kissed by this stranger. Adelyn going through the motions kissing her back with closed eyes. Sandra's lips faded into her mind's eye; this drew her in kissing deeper imagining those soft supple lips against hers. Lost in the imagery of her own drunken imagination she barely noticed she had followed the strange woman home. Imagining the curve of Sandra's body as a slender gown is taught around her breasts her thoughts were only of Sandra's soft skin. The woman touched her naked body squeezing her breasts and slipping into her wetness Adelyn let's out a moan her eyes unfocused, her mind elsewhere as her body is filled with pleasure.

The smell of sex hung in the air as the sun shined true through the window in this awfully unfamiliar room. A hand hung across her hips, she gently picks it up and dropped it onto the bed where this slightly heavy-set woman lay passed out on her stomach drooling onto the pillow. "I gotta stop drinking" she thought inwardly. Suddenly 'brrrrrrrrr.... brrrrrrrrr' a phones vibration repeating sounds muffled by the carpet. "shit, where the hell is my phone!" Adelyn still in the nude gets on all fours to search under the bed for the phone. "Got you now!" she reaches as far as she can barely touching it with her fingertips. Slowly she can pull it closer until at last she grasps it. Popping her head back up hoping the noise hadn't disturbed the sleeping stranger, to her surprise the bed was empty. She stood up and as she did, she felt this thing slip between her thighs as hands slipped around her waist and up her breasts "Ready for round two?" the somewhat raspy voice whispered into her ear. Adelyn pulled away "uh sorry I uh have to get to work." she quickly interjected as she turned to face the woman, she had inadvertently slept with, standing there wearing a strap on, which the woman is rubbing in seduction.

"I'll call you" she was not going to call her.

The woman watched as Adelyn was scrambling around looking for her things, before casually strolling over to the door still only wearing the hardened member. When Adelyn came to the door the woman pursed her lips and leaned forward, Adelyn gave her a quick peck and ran out hoping shell never see her again.

When Adelyn got back to her apartment she flopped onto her couch and vowed to get her shit together "I need to start looking for a new job .... maybe I'll volunteer or something. Anything to occupy my time obviously I can't be trusted." she kicks off her shoes and takes one more moment to relax. Sniffing she smells herself "eew, God I stink" she slips off her clothes and enters her cozy glass door shower. The water steams off her body, traveling down the path of her scarred arm. She studies the pink scars with her finger starting from mid bicep. She sees tearing jagged scars spidering out then a clean slice around towards the back across her elbow obviously from where the doctors cut her open, further down more jagged pink scars across the forarm. "god I was lucky it wasn't my right arm; my career would be over." the arm shakes with a tremor she grabs it with the other hand, the nerves were damaged due to the multiple fractures. "they said my arm must have gotten caught in the steering wheel just before the airbag deployed...looks like a lawnmower got to it first." she leans against the wall while the hot water rushes past her face fragments of the night before come back to her. ".... Sandy....why would I think of her at a time like that? I don't even know her.. not really..." the image of her kissing Sandra brought blood to her cheeks, the flashes of pleasure when she pictures her. "I must have gotten some wires crossed when I drunkenly slept with that woman while my guilt over Sandy was all over my mind. That's gotta be it." the blush on her cheeks doesn't disappear even after her reasoning.

The next few weeks Adelyn began a new routine, searching for work and ending her days at the hospital checking in on Sandra. Spending all her free time at the hospital was helping ease some of the guilt she is carrying, but she couldn't help but feel like she could do more. One day as she was making her daily visit the lady at the front desk stopped her "Miss, I've seen you here nearly every day, would you be interested in our volunteer program?"

Adelyn thought about it quizzically then replied "What would I have to do?"

"Oh not to much really, I'll grab the forms and you can read them over ok?" the woman rummaged through some papers then pushed a small stack towards Adelyn "Here we are, there will be orientation next week and there may be a short training session after that, but I'm sure that you wont have any trouble."

"It says here I need a health screening test? How much does that cost? I'm kinda on a budget at the moment." she looks over the paperwork she see's in bold big letters MUST DECLARE CRIMINAL RECORD. Thinking about Sandra she wonders if she will have a criminal record to declare. Shaking it from her mind she decides that volunteering at the hospital would be good for her and maybe this way she will be able to be here when Sandra wakes up. As her mind wonders teeter tottering back and forth from yes and no the front desk lady is still telling her about the volunteer program, but the only information that Adelyn was concerned with is "Would I be here after visiting hours?" she blurts out in the middle of the poor office woman's explanations.

"Yes, you would tend to the patients dietary and social needs as well as access to the hospitals physical fitness center." The young woman was happy to induct a new volunteer albeit a little annoyed that she didn't seem to have a large attention span.

"Great yeah, sure I'll do it" Adelyn decides before she can chicken out. Though she is worried about her less than perfect people skills she hopes that she will be able to make up for it in persistence. She hurries away from the desk with a rush of excitement and fear filling her gut. Popping her head into the room that Sandra is kept, she wonders what they do to keep her tended to. Taking a seat she looks at Sandra's sleeping face feeling like she has seen her somewhere before in a distant memory but can't recollect the time or place. She rests her head on her arms folded together on the edge of the bed for just a moment. That moment was all it took to put her to sleep. Unable to rest without nightmares anywhere else, she fell into a deep overwhelming slumber.

--------

Adelyn finds herself in a vaguely familiar part of town. She's walking down the street when she hears a voice calling out to her seemingly from down the street. "Hey! funny seeing you here." a car pulls up beside her.

"Who? Me?" Adelyn looks around confused.

"Yeah of course you Del, do you need a ride?" sweet tones and sincerity in her voice though her face is obscured somehow.

"You know me?" the slight panic in Adelyn's voice carried well.

"Ouch, that stung a bit, not gonna lie" the feminine voice wavers slightly unsure if she should continue the conversation or run away. "I know our blind date was a bit awkward but you don't have to act like you don't know me. How about I give you a lift and start over?" the disappointment in her voice only slightly audible.

"I ... uh" Adelyn tries to get a better view of the woman speaking to her but something intangible is blocking her way. Now focused on trying to figure out who this woman is she attempts to enter the vehicle. But before her foot touches the inside of the car a large dark hole opens up and she falls into it. Tumbling further and further until she suddenly stops, the feeling of something hard and cold against her face.

---------

Adelyn is woken up by a nurse who found her passed out on Sandra's leg, deep in sleep. She groggily gets up realizing she is still at the hospital. "I'm sorry, I must have dozed off for a bit." she wipes the drool from her cheek and begins walking to the bus stop, hoping she hadn't missed the last one.