Chapter 13
Ali’s POV:
My eyes fluttered halfway open. I felt groggy. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. It felt like I had been hit by a truck. I opened my eyes a bit more. For a second I couldn’t figure out where I was, and then the room slowly came into focus. White walls. Fluorescent lights above me. Some kind of medical-looking equipment to the left. A man in a white smock right above me on one side of my bed. And on the other side of the bed was Ashlyn. She was wearing her goalkeeper uniform.
“Hi”, she said softly.
“Hi”, I croaked out.
“Hi Ali, I’m Dr. Stroger”, the man in the white smock said. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay”, I croaked out again. I was half-sitting and half/laying down. I tried to sit up more.
“Relax”, he said. “Try not to move, at least right now.”
“What happened?” I said, my voice coming back a bit. “Where am I?”
“You’re at Holy Cross Hospital”, Dr. Stroger said. “You sustained a head injury during last night's game. Blunt force trauma.” I sat there for a minute and thought. It was starting to come back. The cross, the header, Jessica McDonald. “We operated on you last night”, Dr. Stroger continued. “There was some internal bleeding around the brain, but we managed to stem it. You should make a full recovery”, he said and smiled.
Wow, I thought. Blunt force trauma. Bleeding around the brain. This could have been serious. I could have been permanently injured. Maybe I could have even died. I sat there for a moment and thought about that, and then asked, “What time is it?”
“Almost noon”, Dr. Stroger said. “We’ve had you under sedation since you came out of the operation.”
I was silent for another moment and then turned to Ashlyn. “Hey”, I said.
“Hey”, she said and smiled at me.
“Thanks for being here.”
Ashlyn gave me a look that said, ‘Are you kidding?’ “Of course”, she said.
“When did you get here?”
“I came right after the game”, Ashlyn said.
Dr. Stroger looked at me. “Ashlyn has been here the whole night. She hasn’t left your side.”
I looked at him and then at Ashlyn. She’s been here the whole time? Wow. Thoughts started swirling in my head. Too many thoughts to comprehend right now. “Did we win?” were the only words I could get out.
“Doesn’t matter”, she said, and smiled slightly again.
I looked at her and smiled slightly back. I’m so glad she’s here. If I could see one person right now, it would be her. And here she is. With me. Hasn’t left my side since I got here. And then another thought hit me: shouldn’t it be Kate, my girlfriend, that I wished was here? Emotionally, that should be correct, right? I sat there, silent for another moment, staring at Ashlyn as she stared back at me, and then I heard the door to my room open.
“She’s in here”, I heard a voice say. I looked up and saw Kate. She thanked whoever had ushered her into my room and then turned to me.
“Hey Sweetie, how are you fee-“ she said, then stopped mid-sentence when she saw Ashlyn standing right next to my bed.