X e n a
T H R E E Y E A R S L A T E R
It was currently 3am, I was laying down on my bed in my dorm room, my roommate Adalyn was fast asleep lightly snoring on the bed across from me. As much as I thought sharing a room with someone would not be that great I was completely wrong, Adalyn was a very bubbly and cheery person, she understood privacy and we had become very close since I first joined uni, we joined at the same time
I was on a call with Cam and Brie, we were all talking over one another all of us just too excited to tell all of us what was happening with our lives. We never lost contact through the 3 years we spent away from each other. We always made sure we never lost contact, we texted each other all the time and every Friday night we would call each other to catch up on all our lives.
Cam told us about everything going on in her life and she also mentioned that Vera gave birth to a small baby boy and she named him Ezra. He was turning 3 this year. She found someone else that was also rejected around 2 years ago and they were happy together. I was happy for her, even though she was a bitch to me in high school, it made me happy she found someone that cared for her. She didn’t really deserve what she went through in high school, even if she was a little bitch.
All three of us never lost contact of Archer, Owen or Felix, we all were doing just fine. Although Archer used to be a bit busy having to run a whole company and do uni at the same time, it never stopped him from calling me whenever he could. His dad retired just a year back meaning Archer was now the CEO of the magazine company, although this dad was always there if he needed any help. Archer was managing the business from Connecticut, he did fly back home to New York to handle business there as well. To say the least he was tired and stressed. All I wanted to do was to give him a big hug.
“Well what are you doing tomorrow Xena?” Brie asks
“Well, tomorrow is Adalyn’s birthday so we were going out, what about you guys?” I ask
“I’ll probably do what I usually do on Saturday, I stay inside and have some me time” Brie shrugs
“And I’ll probably do what I usually do on a Saturday, go for a party” Cam smiles and shrugs
They’re polar opposites, I smile as we started talking about anything and everything, I couldn’t wait to see them for winter holidays when we all go back to New York. It was currently August and it was our last year of being a junior in uni, One more years and we’re done with uni. Time really does fly.
We all talked for another hour before I got really tired, I told them I was going of to sleep and I’ll talk to them tomorrow. They both said bye before I ended the call and snuggled deeper into the blanket. I really miss my dad and Apollo. Apollo was really big now, he wasn’t a puppy anymore, but he was still my baby.
My eyes started to slowly shut and before I knew it I was fast asleep. What I didn’t know was how much my life would change after tomorrow.
———
“Aye psst, get up you skunk. I’m hungry” Adalyn whispers in my ear and vigorously shakes my sleeping body.
“Ugh, fine. I’m up, I’m up” I say and sit up in my bed, rubbing my eyes.
“Oh and Happy birthday to this old person, you’re 21, yuck you’re old” I smile at her and got off my bed to give her a big hug.
“Yeah yeah, you’ll be 21 too. And I’m not old” Adalyn rolls her eyes and hugs me back before telling me to get ready so we could go out to eat like how I promised her yesterday.
I went into the attached bathroom that Adalyn and I shared and took a quick shower and I got ready, we walked out of our room and out the buildings, walking to her favourite cafe that made the best breakfast ever. It was currently around 10:30 in the morning.
Adalyn was talking beside me, bragging about how she was now the legal age to drink and I wasn’t, that never stopped me from drinking when I was in high school though, I also didn’t go for that many parties in uni anymore, nor did I drink that much anymore.
We stop at the side of the side walk since we now had to cross the road to get to the coffee shop. The pedestrian light was still red that meant we had to wait, cars were still passing.
“I’m too hungry for this, there aren’t even any cars” Adalyn says impatiently and runs to the other side of the road even when I was calling for her to stop since it wasn’t safe. She reached the other side of the road and smirks at me.
“Just come there aren’t even any cars” Adalyn rolls her eyes.
“Ugh fine whatever” I roll my eyes and started to speed walk to the other side, where Adalyn was standing.
I didn’t see it coming when a car came speeding my way from the left side, too shocked to move quick enough the car hit me with a big amount of force, the driver too slow to press on the breaks. I was already down on the floor. The only thing I heard was Adalyn screaming for my name and shaking my body laying on the floor. Black dots scattered my vision, My ears were ringing and I was feeling dizzy and before I knew it everything was blank.
———
I woke up and the bright hospital lights greeted me. I quickly shut my eyes because of the brightness, after a few seconds I try to open them again and this time they adjusted to the brightness of the light. I groaned and rubbed my throbbing head.
“Oh my god you’re up, oh gosh. Are you okay? That was a stupid question. Of course you’re not, you got hit by a car. How are you feeling?” I heard Adalyn say and I saw her rush to my side.
“I’m okay, my head really hurts. What exactly happened?” I groan.
“Well, it was my birthday and you promised to take me for breakfast at cafe down the road from our college and then me being the stupid ass person I am, I decided to cross the road even when the pedestrian lights weren’t green yet and then I told you to do it too cause I was being an impatient bitch and then you were crossing the road and a car cane and hit you and then you fainted, and now 5 days later you wake up” Adalyn says, you could really see the guilt in her eyes.
“Hey it wasn’t your fault, please don’t think this happened because of you. I shouldn’t have crossed the road when the signal wasn’t green” I tell her and grab her hands in a way of telling her that I actually meant it. It wasn’t her fault at all, I shouldn’t have crossed the road like that.
“And hold on. You said 5 days? What the fuck?” I say as I let what she said sink in.
“Yeah, and um I need to tell you something important that the doctor told me” Adalyn says as she fidgets with her fingers and looks down at the floor, her eyes pooling with her unshed tears.
“Um.. the day that you got into the accident, the doctors did a check up and they told me that—that Um. You have monoplegia” Adalyn says and a tear rolls down her face.
“Wait hold on. What the fuck is that?” I ask her and I tried to sit up straighter on the hospital bed which is when I realised I couldn’t move my left leg at all, even if I tried to, it wasn’t working. I look back at Adalyn in confusion and she wiped her tears.
“You’re paralysed on your left leg for a bit, the doctor said for around 6 months max… I’m so sorry Xena. This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have told you to—” I cut Adalyn off my placing my hands over her mouth.
“Please shut up. This isn’t your fault. As long as I can walk after 6 months it will be fine, right?” I question.
“Yeah, I’m sure you will be able to. I didn’t call any of your friends or anything. But I did let your dad know… he’s arriving today” Adalyn says.
“Thank you, but how will I be doing my classes and lectures?” I ask, staring to worry again.
“Hey, don’t worry about that. You’re dad let the uni know, they’re allowing you to do them online” Adalyn ensures me.
“Oh thank god, do you have my phone?” I ask
“Yeah it’s in my bag, one sec” Adalyn grabs her school bag and hands me her phone. I look at the time and it was 4pm.
“I need to head back, I have another class in around an hour. If you need anything let me know, bye” Adalyn smiles and waves at me before walking out the door.
I look at all the notifications that I got, most of them were from Brie and Cam, most of them wondering why I wasn’t answering their text for almost 5 days now, I also had around 5 missed class from Archer.
Oh gosh. Archer. All these bad through started flooding inked my head, what if once Archer finds out about me being half paralysed he rejects me? Yes I know we’ve been together for almost 4 years now but there’s a chance he does end up leaving me. I don’t think I’ll tell him about me being paralysed from my leg. Or I won’t tell him till I at least get better and can walk again.
I could tell Brie and Cam though. I rang both of them up and waited for them to answer, they both answer and started bombarding me with questions.
“Bitch, what the fuck? You scared us. Where were you?” Brie asks through the phone.
“Yeah, are you okay? You haven’t been answering our texts for almost 5 days now. Where have you been” Cam inquires.
“Well first of all, apparently I’ve been sleeping for the past 5 days—” I start of but Brie cuts me off
“Wait what? How the fuck do you sleep for 5 days dude, what?” Brie says
“Can you chill out? I’m explaining” I say and I continued with what happened 5 days ago.
“Well, I was taking Adalyn to the coffee shop across our uni since it was her birthday and me being the dumbass I am, I decided to cross the road when the pedestrian signals were still red and a car came and hit me and I blanked out from there” I say. Should I tell them about me being paralysed?
“And Um… I can’t move my left leg. I’m temporarily paralysed on my left leg, it would take me a maximum of 6 months to be able to walks again” I say, this time I really wanted to cry, what if I can’t walk again?
“Oh my god, Xena. How are you holding up? Are you okay?” Cam ask, worry laced in her voice.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry Xena. We both know you’re strong and you will be able to heal fast.” Brie says, sorry laces in her voice too.
“Don’t tell Archer about this. I don’t want to tell him, what if he leaves me or something after finding out I’m paralysed?” I say, my voice started to quicker.
“Hey, don’t say that. We both know that he loves you so so so much, we know he wouldn’t leave you. He cares about you” Cam says
“And what if I can’t walk ever again guys? I won’t be able to surf anymore, that’s one thing that my mom taught me how to do” I ask them, they both knew how much I love my mom and how much I still love to surf, I used to feel connected with my mom when I surf.
“Legit stop saying that, or I’m going to come and smack you in the face. We both know you’re strong and that you will be able to walk again very very very soon. We’re rooting for you babe” Brie says. We talked for a bit more before we all needed to go.
Just as we ended the call, I heard the door open and my dad walked in. Dad was still the COO of the magazine company but he was talking about me taking over his position too, Archer didn’t mind either but I wasn’t sure if I did. I was getting a degree in business management but I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to take over as COO. Maybe my mind would change.
“Oh honey” my dad says and walks up to me and gives me the biggest hug ever. This was something I really needed right now.
“Please don’t do something so stupid like that, you scared me. I can’t lose you” dad says and a tear slipped from my eye.
“I’m sorry, I was being stupid and never really saw the consequences” I say as I look down at you fingers fidgeting with them a bit.
We talked for some time and I even ended up telling my dad about what I thought about what Archer would think if I told him what was wrong with me.
And dad said the exact same thing that Adalyn, Brie and Cam said. But I still couldn’t stop overthinking the situation.
I just real hope what they all are saying is true, not that I would be telling Archer anyways.
———