The Love Triangle
The Love Triangle
Violet Jackson
Chapter 1 - Grace
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the smell of citrus. It was sharp and sweet, pushing through the waves of darkness that undulated around me.
When I opened my eyes, my surroundings didn't match the smell. Everything was clinically white, the floors and the walls and the ceiling all looked the same, and there were monitors and tubes everywhere. It really hit me that I was in a hospital when the citrus smell was replaced by the chemical smell that hung in the air.
I suddenly couldn't breathe. My chest tightened. I gasped for air, reaching my arms up, but the tubes that went into the crook of my elbow tugged at the skin and it hurt.
"She's crashing," I heard a nurse say.
"We need to intubate," another said.
"Don't," a male voice said. I saw white spots dancing in my vision, felt like I was drowning. "Look at the machines. Everything is normal. She's having a panic attack."
I felt a sharp prick in my arm, and then suddenly everything stopped. It was like a curtain slowly opened, and I could see everything normally, everyone standing around me looked worried. The nurse on my left had a syringe in her hand. I let my eyes slide over the faces. All strangers. I was just about to start panicking again when I found one that I knew.
Elijah stood at the foot of my bed, his hand gripping the footboard so tightly his knuckles turned white. His face was serious, a deep crease between his blond eyebrows. The scar that ran across his left cheek looked more prominent when he wasn't smiling.
"Elijah?" I said and my voice didn't sound like my own. But his face changed, relief relaxing the tightness around his eyes, and he smiled.
"I'm here, sweetheart," he said. "You're going to be fine."
"Where's Justin?" I asked. His face clouded over, the smile draining from his face, and I had a sinking feeling that something was terribly wrong.
The nurses closed around me, blocking my view of him. One of them shone a bright light into my eyes and I blinked. And then the ache in my head crashed down on me like I'd been holding it at bay and the constraints had finally broken.
"My head," I said, pressing my palm against my forehead and squeezing my eyes shut. My fingertips touched the top of my head, where I should have felt hair, but instead they touched cloth. I opened my eyes and ran my fingers over my head. It was bandaged almost all the way from what I could tell, running all the way around. My fingers slowed down, my body knowing that I was nearing the part that really hurt before my mind caught up.
"Do you know your name?" the nurse with the little flashlight asked me.
"Grace Davis," I said.
It seemed like a silly question, but the nurse smiled and nodded. "Okay, Grace. You're in the hospital. You were in an accident. You're at Fort Atkinson Medical Center. We're going to keep you a couple of days just to make sure you're okay."
I covered my eyes with my hands. The pain throbbed behind my eyelids. "What kind of accident? Where's Justin?"
Elijah cleared his throat.
"I can't stay. I have a very important meeting to get to," I said. The merger with Bennett Brothers was the biggest deal so far for Magna Solutions.
"You're not going anywhere until we know you're alright," Elijah said.
"If we lose Bennett Brothers, we're in trouble. You can't do the meeting without me."
Elijah stepped around to the side of the bed so that he was in the circle of heads bowing over me.
"Bennett Brothers? Darling, that meeting happened over six months ago." He looked worried again. His fingers fiddled with each other, with nothing to hold. They would be better curled around a whiskey tumbler. They always were.
"What?" I asked. I suddenly felt like a veil had dropped again, like they were all talking through foam. The nurse with the flashlight got into my eyes again and I turned my head away to get rid of her. Every time she did it, my headache got worse.
Violet Jackson
Chapter 1 - Grace
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the smell of citrus. It was sharp and sweet, pushing through the waves of darkness that undulated around me.
When I opened my eyes, my surroundings didn't match the smell. Everything was clinically white, the floors and the walls and the ceiling all looked the same, and there were monitors and tubes everywhere. It really hit me that I was in a hospital when the citrus smell was replaced by the chemical smell that hung in the air.
I suddenly couldn't breathe. My chest tightened. I gasped for air, reaching my arms up, but the tubes that went into the crook of my elbow tugged at the skin and it hurt.
"She's crashing," I heard a nurse say.
"We need to intubate," another said.
"Don't," a male voice said. I saw white spots dancing in my vision, felt like I was drowning. "Look at the machines. Everything is normal. She's having a panic attack."
I felt a sharp prick in my arm, and then suddenly everything stopped. It was like a curtain slowly opened, and I could see everything normally, everyone standing around me looked worried. The nurse on my left had a syringe in her hand. I let my eyes slide over the faces. All strangers. I was just about to start panicking again when I found one that I knew.
Elijah stood at the foot of my bed, his hand gripping the footboard so tightly his knuckles turned white. His face was serious, a deep crease between his blond eyebrows. The scar that ran across his left cheek looked more prominent when he wasn't smiling.
"Elijah?" I said and my voice didn't sound like my own. But his face changed, relief relaxing the tightness around his eyes, and he smiled.
"I'm here, sweetheart," he said. "You're going to be fine."
"Where's Justin?" I asked. His face clouded over, the smile draining from his face, and I had a sinking feeling that something was terribly wrong.
The nurses closed around me, blocking my view of him. One of them shone a bright light into my eyes and I blinked. And then the ache in my head crashed down on me like I'd been holding it at bay and the constraints had finally broken.
"My head," I said, pressing my palm against my forehead and squeezing my eyes shut. My fingertips touched the top of my head, where I should have felt hair, but instead they touched cloth. I opened my eyes and ran my fingers over my head. It was bandaged almost all the way from what I could tell, running all the way around. My fingers slowed down, my body knowing that I was nearing the part that really hurt before my mind caught up.
"Do you know your name?" the nurse with the little flashlight asked me.
"Grace Davis," I said.
It seemed like a silly question, but the nurse smiled and nodded. "Okay, Grace. You're in the hospital. You were in an accident. You're at Fort Atkinson Medical Center. We're going to keep you a couple of days just to make sure you're okay."
I covered my eyes with my hands. The pain throbbed behind my eyelids. "What kind of accident? Where's Justin?"
Elijah cleared his throat.
"I can't stay. I have a very important meeting to get to," I said. The merger with Bennett Brothers was the biggest deal so far for Magna Solutions.
"You're not going anywhere until we know you're alright," Elijah said.
"If we lose Bennett Brothers, we're in trouble. You can't do the meeting without me."
Elijah stepped around to the side of the bed so that he was in the circle of heads bowing over me.
"Bennett Brothers? Darling, that meeting happened over six months ago." He looked worried again. His fingers fiddled with each other, with nothing to hold. They would be better curled around a whiskey tumbler. They always were.
"What?" I asked. I suddenly felt like a veil had dropped again, like they were all talking through foam. The nurse with the flashlight got into my eyes again and I turned my head away to get rid of her. Every time she did it, my headache got worse.
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