- Alternate universe
+15 BONUS
My head is throbbing. Actually scratch that. My entire body is in pain. I try opening my eyes but I
can’t. It felt like they were weighed down by stones I try calling out to Noah, to anyone, but no
sound leaves my mouth.
I am moving. Or someone is moving me. Every movement jolts me and just makes the pain all the more excruciating. I wish they would go slowly. Or just stop all together.
“We need a doctor!” someone shouts.
I didn’t understand what they were talking about or why they needed a doctor. Or what was going on. I tried staying conscious but darkness embraced me once more and I fell into it willingly.
When I came back to myself again, I’m not in pain but I still can’t open my eyes. Nor can I move my body. I feel like my limbs were laden with cement. Like I was trapped inside my own body.
I can hear people talking but it all sounds so far away. As their words are submerged under water
or something. Nothing made sense and I didn’t understand why this was happening to me.
I was desperate to see Noah, to hear him. He must be so worried that I hadn’t called him. Yet there
was nothing I could do.
I fall back to the nothingness, unable to keep up with what was happening around me. My last
thought is Noah and how sad he would be that I haven’t called
I wake up and the room is shrouded in light. The brightness of it makes me wince.
“You’re awake” an unfamiliar female voice says,
I try opening my eyes again but with the lights accosting them it’s nearly impossible.
“I’m so sorry about this” she pauses and I hear movements. “You can now open your eyes, the light
won’t be a problem”
True to her words, when I open my eyes, curtains are closed and the light are turned low. I turn to
the woman who seems to be in her late thirties. She’s wearing a nurse uniform and a quick survey
of the room makes me conclude that I’m in a hospital.
“Thank you” I croak out, my voice feeling hoarse
“Here, have this while I go call you doctor. Your family will be relieved to know you’re okay” she
hands me a glass of water before leaving.
+15 BONUS
I sip the water slowly, reveling in the cold water as it cooled my throat. I stare at the room I was in. It’s full of flowers, balloons and teddy bears. There was also a bunch of cards on the table next to
- me.
I was about to pick one and open it when the door opens and Rowan walks in.
“You look like hell” I tell him, my voice almost back to its normal pitch.
His hair was disheveled, clothes were wrinkled and he looked tired. I have never seen Rowan like this. He is always impeccable and neat. His eyes are tortured and he seems he had been to hell
and back.
“How are you feeling?” he asks sitting down next to my bed.
“Like I’ve been hit by a train…what are you doing here?”
He surprises me when he takes my hand in his large one. I go to pull it away but he tightens his.
“Please don’t” he pleads in a small voice. “I need this, I need to remind myself that you’re alive, that I’m not dreaming”
My brows pull together in confusion. Did I wake up in an alternate universe or something? Because things were just not adding up.
“Are you okay, Rowan, you didn’t hit your head or something, right?” I ask, feeling his forehead
with my other hand.
He doesn’t get to answer because the door opens and a doctor walks in. He looked at my chart.
before his eyes find me.
“Miss Sharp, so glad that you’re up…we were worried for a minute there” he begins with a smile. Now, do you know where you are and what happened to you?”
I nod my head. “The hospital… something forceful pushed me back when I unlocked my car. I hit
my head from the impact.”
I’ve tried blocking out what happened to me since I woke up. Afraid of accepting the fact that I
almost died.
“Yes, your car was bombed and the force of it blowing is what threw you back “he pauses. “And
what year is it?”
I tell him and he notes it down. Rowan squeezes my hand and I look at him briefly. Something
passes in his eyes but it gone before I can interpret it.
I was in shock. Never would I have thought that my car would be bombed. With the stress of everything, I feel a headache coming on and pain sipping in
+15 BONUS
“The fact that you know the year, you recognize your own name and you know who Mr. Wood is, is
a good sign. We will have to perform more tests though, just to make sure you aren’t suffering
from any type of amnesia”
“Okay” I whisper.
“Now on to your injuries, you dislocated your shoulder so we had to set it right. You have three broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, traumatic brain injury which caused a buildup of fluid in your brain which we had to drain and also some swelling. The stitch from your shoulder wound reopened and we had to re–stitch it. Our main concern right now is you head injury, any
questions?”
My other hand goes to my head since Rowan has refused to let go of my right. The bandage I feel
there just makes everything that happened more real.
“How long have I been here?” I ask him.
“This is your fourth day. We had to induce a coma because of the swelling….Some complications
might arise with your type of head injury so we will keep you here for a few more days and rule
them out. Okay?”
I nod my head. I felt drained and I just wanted to go back to sleep. He writes something before
looking up at me again.
“I’ll let you and your husband have a private moment. I’ll be back later” with that he walks out,
closing the door softly behind him.
“Husband?” I ask Rowan with a raised eyebrow.
He looks at me sheepishly and I almost laugh. He looks cute.
“They wouldn’t let me see you otherwise”
“How’s Noah? Please tell me no one has told him what happened, I don’t want him worrying”
His name brings tears to my eyes. I can’t believe how close I had been to never seeing him again. It breaks my heart to know that the last memory he would have had of me if things had been worse,
was me saying goodbye to him.
“Hey, it’s okay…you’re okay and so is Noah, he misses you a lot though.” Rowan comforts me, while
wiping away my tears..
“You’re acting really weird” I cry–laugh, making him chuckle.
This is the Rowan I wish I had back when we were married. I know he’s only behaving like this
because of what happened. Once I’m better he’ll probably go back to hating me. That thought
weighs down on my heart, making me really sad.
+15 BONUS
I sigh when my eyes began to droop. I try to stay awake but my body refuses to obey, instead demanding sleep.
“Sleep, Ava…I promise not to leave you” I hear Rowan telling me right before I feel soft lips on my
forehead.
I really must have woken up in an alternate universe because there is no way Rowan would be so
soft towards me, right?
Synopsis
Ava: Nine years ago I did something terrible. it wasn’t one of my best moments but I saw an opportunity to have the guy I’ve loved since I was a young girl and I took it. Fast forward to years later and I’m tired of living in a loveless marriage. I want to free both of us from a marriage that should never have taken place. They say if you love something…. It was time to let him go. I know he’ll never love me and that I’ll never be his choice. His heart will always belong to Her and despite my sins, I deserve to be loved. Rowan: Nine years ago, I was so in love I could barely see right. I ruined it when I made the worst mistake of my life and in the process I lost the love of my life. I knew I had to step up in my responsibility and so I did, with an unwanted wife. With the wrong woman. Now she has once again flipped my life by divorcing me. To make matters even more complicated, the love of my life is back in town. Now the only question is, who is the right woman? Is it the girl I fell head over heels in love with years ago? or is it my ex wife, the woman I never wanted but had to marry?
