1 Accident

BANG!!!

Natasha felt the world swim before her eyes as she traveled through the air. There was an immense pain that flooded her whole body. For a brief moment, she felt her surroundings become clearer.

Alas, it didn't last for long.

With a harsh sound of flesh meeting a solid object, her body slammed into the ground. She felt her breath knocked out of her. Before she could process everything that happened to her in the past few seconds, her head slammed hard on the concrete.

"Oh shit!"

Those were the last words she registered as darkness engulfed her. Just before the darkness engulfed her, she felt a sticky feeling at the back of her head. Before she could process the feeling further, she was off to la la land.

*****

"… we need to…monitor…."

"….wakes up…"

"….serious…troubling…can't guarant…"

"…hope….there…out…"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"…patient…assistance…waking up…"

"…danger has passed…check to assure…aftereffects…"

"…head injury was the worst. There might be some amnesia…"

Natasha felt it was hard to even open her eyes. Words drifted in and out of her ears as felt way too tired to even move. There was a blinding headache as well. Still, something told her that this was only temporary.

"She is past the danger period. There may be some consequences due to the head injury. She might experience some amnesia. But, overall, she is in fine health."

"Any concussions?"

"We detected some abnormal activities caused by shock and impact in her brain. But, they seem to be stabilizing. She will be fine with some rest. There isn't any concussion or sign regarding it as far as we observed."

"Thank god! I am going to kill Pete when I get my hands on him!"

"Honey, don't be too angry…"

"Don't be angry? Henry, are you out of your mind? He drove your car without a license. And if that isn't enough, he was speeding. He had hospitalized that poor girl…"

The voices faded away into the distance causing Natasha to stir a bit. Overhearing those words was enough for Natasha to recall what happened to her. Hearing about the speeding car seemed to trigger some memory within her.

Next moment, a large deluge of information slammed into Natasha's head causing her to groan. Her headache intensified for a brief moment to unbearable levels. Just when she thought that the pain would stop, it only intensified further.

Natasha stiffened as the headache peaked. Her body started shutting down automatically to protect itself. Yet, the headache still persisted. It was as if a dam was opened.

Blood oozed out of her nose and ears. The monitoring equipment near her went haywire causing mayhem to the attending nurses. A doctor was quickly summoned. By the time the doctor arrived, Natasha had already passed out. The leaking blood from her orifices persisted for a bit before slowing down as well.

The doctor who examined Natasha was baffled. Never in his career has he seen such a reaction from a patient who was on the verge of waking up. Soon, a bevy of further tests were conducted urgently to see if anything else was wrong with Natasha.

*****

"Your son is lucky," the doctor said with a grim face to the couple that was sitting before him. "There was an unidentified blood clot in that girl's brain due to injury. It hadn't come up in the previous scans. We almost missed it."

The doctor said in a grim tone trying to express the severity of the situation. The couple before him paled upon hearing that.

"Luckily, whatever caused that reaction also eliminated that problem. Now the blood clot is dissolved and she is in perfect health. She will wake up within the next 24 hours," the doctor said softening his tone.

"Thank god!" the woman whispered letting out a huge sigh.

"Doctor, it doesn't matter how much it costs. Just make sure that girl is fine. If anything happened to her…"

"Henry, I know you love your son. But, what he did was reckless. He wasn't just going above the speed limit in that area. He was going over 100 miles per hour. That region has a speed limit of 40 MPH for a reason. Furthermore, tests have indicated that your son wasn't entirely sober at that time."

"What do you mean?" the woman asked worriedly.

"Pete was high on drugs. He was drugged to his gills. If anything happened to that girl, you can forget about your son escaping punishment with a slap on the wrist," the doctor said avoiding the woman's eyes.

"My son is not going to jail…" Henry growled angrily.

"Hmmph," the doctor sneered. "Get off your high horse Henry. This wasn't some accident on a highway outside of the city. This accident happened in broad daylight. There were plenty of witnesses. Even reporters have picked up on the news. They are all waiting for the verdict on the girl's life."

"I have made sure that this won't be reported. You don't need to be worried about it…"

"Henry, are you mad? Do you think you can stop those vampires from reporting on such a piece of big news? Your family may be influential, but this news will become very big if that girl died," the doctor said irritably. "The prodigal son of Ropier Group causing an accident after getting high on drugs is one thing. That may be some news that will be like a blip. But…"

"Pete killing someone after driving while taking drugs will become a sensation," the woman whispered horrified.

"Exactly, that is why I said your son was lucky," the doctor snorted angrily. "I advise you to make peace with that young girl. Accommodate her as much as you can so that she doesn't open her mouth when she goes out."

"Hmmmph," Henry sneered. "Isn't it enough that I pay for her medical care? Do you want me to spend more on her?"

"The medical fees you pay are caused by your son. That is the rightful compensation. But, you need to shut her mouth as well. It will be good if she disappeared from the city. Do you think I give such advice to everyone? I am telling you this as your friend. If you don't want Pete's name to be dragged into the mud, you better think fast," the doctor said wearily.

"You think I am…"

"We will do as you say," the woman cut off Henry's rant. "And help us find a good rehab center for Pete. It is time he went to some rehab. I didn't know that he was this far gone."

"Marlene, is that necessary? Pete may have made some mistakes. But, I am sure he knows his actions were wrong. Do we need to send him to rehab?" Henry asked dissatisfiedly.

"If you want your son to live past his thirties, I would recommend following Marlene's suggestion, Henry. I have seen kids like Pete getting lost in this stuff. And from a professional standpoint, Pete is already heading down a dangerous road," the doctor interjected before the woman could respond.

"And it will be good for him to be out of the public eye as well," Marlene said taking a deep breath. "Thank you, Xavier. I don't know what we could have done if not for your timely help."

"No need, Marlene. Pete is like one of my boys. Let's hope he grows from this experience…"

*****

Natasha woke with a sudden start.

The panic that had engulfed her before she fainted made her heart beat faster. As she frantically checked around her to see if anything was wrong, her heartbeat slowly calmed down.

Yet, the lingering fear deep in her heart didn't abate.

Relaxing on her hospital bed slowly, Natasha looked at her surroundings. The room she was in didn't look like an ordinary hospital room. There was a rich atmosphere that made her feel uncomfortable a little bit.

Wriggling uncomfortably, Natasha looked beside her bed to see several monitoring machines nearby. Just looking at them was enough to make her feel a little bit of unease. She followed the tubes and wires coming out of them and traced them back to her body.

Before her unease could take root further, she saw a nurse pop her head back in. It was clear from the nurse's expression that she was surprised to find Natasha had woken up. The nurse stood still in shock for a moment before she began hollering.

The next hour was a whirlwind of activity around Natasha. Natasha could only stare mutely in shock as the nurses and doctors went about their work. The whole spectacle scared her a bit, to be honest.

"Miss Natasha," an amicable doctor with a pleasant smile sat beside Natasha and spoke to her, "I am Dr. Xavier Horton. You don't need to worry about anything. While your situation may have been a little unfortunate, I am glad to inform you that you will not have any lasting effects due to this accident."

Natasha squinted her eyes in doubt. If the situation wasn't serious, why would so many nurses and doctors be surprised to see her awake? She didn't buy the bullcrap this man was spouting.

"Do you remember anything about the accident?" Dr. Xavier asked a little hesitantly after seeing that Natasha didn't respond.

"I remember…remember crossing… the road. A speeding car, no… sports car, came out of nowhere and slammed into me. I remember hitting my head on the concrete," Natasha began a little hesitantly, but by the end her words were confident.

Natasha furrowed her brows as she began to recall the accident. The sports car wasn't speeding normally. It was abnormally fast. And she remembered crossing the road only after seeing the red light. So, the driver ran over a red light and was speeding as well.

Just remembering about it was enough to anger Natasha. Her blood pressure rose sharply and her nostrils flared. Which bastard thought it was a good idea to run over a red light and cause an accident due to speeding in broad daylight?

"Ahem…" Dr. Xavier coughed seeing Natasha's angry expression. "Ah, about the accident, I think there are a few more things to discuss. Do you feel fine? I wouldn't impose this on a patient normally, but things are somewhat tricky…"

Natasha saw the doctor nervously trail off under her confused gaze. A bad premonition overtook her heart. She didn't know what was wrong. But, from the look on the doctor's face, it didn't look like things were simple.

Natasha meekly nodded…

*****

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