it’s Complicated Ch 8

Posted by Adminj, ? Views, Released on January 10, 2025

Chapter 8

Tala’s Point of View

“Please wake up.” A voice breaks through the dark haze in my mind. It sounds almost desperate. “Come on!” A guy’s voice pleads. I frown.

What does he possibly want?

Just then, pain shoots through my entire body and I bolt straight upright in a sitting position, dutching at my stomach where it hurts the most. My whole body feels like I’ve been hit by a truck and then someone lit my stomach on fire from how much it’s burning. Something wet starts running down the side of my face, but I cant seem to control any of my limbs at the moment to do something about it.

I pry my eyes open as far as they go and take look around. My eyes have trouble focusing, but I fight to keep them opening.

Smoke is rising slowly towards the sky from some sort of wreck close by. The car doesn’t have a front window anymore and the entire front of the vehicle smashed into a tree. The smell of burnt rubber has me gagging and I cover my mouth with my only free hand.

The sun is just peeking over the horizon, leaving the world in an orange glow before night arrives. I fight with my own body to make it move and manage to lift my hand to wipe the hair from my face.

“Are you okay?” My head snaps to where the voice came from and I immediately regret it as my vision blurs. I groan in pain and feel an arm wrap around my shoulders to help keep me sitting up. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“This is all your fault.” My throat is dry and feels like sandpaper with every word I said.

know, but I’ll apologize a million times later. Right now I need to get you to a hospital.” I kinda see a mop of dark, curly hair, but the rest of his face is in shadow.

“My phone was on the passenger’s seat.” I whisper, hating how weak I sound.

“Try not to move too much. I’ll be right back.” He lays me down on the cold ground and I hear his quickly retreating footsteps. I start to see stars and realize they might actually be real stars. Back in California, the city lights were too bright to see any stars most of the time.

As I struggle to sit up again, a searing pain settles into the pit of my stomach that feels as if a knife is being twisted inside of me. I bite my lip to keep from making any noises and look around in search of the guy. I see him pulling on the passenger door to try to get it open, but failing.

I let out a weary sigh and end up coughing. This draws the guy’s attention back to me and he hurriedly comes to my side. Slinging his arm around by back, he easily lifts me to my feet and pretty much carries me to edge of the road. Sitting my down with my back against a tree, I slump down and try to relieve any pressure on my abdomen.

“Was anyone expecting you somewhere?” He asks, sitting beside me. Looks to me like I got the worst of everything. He hardly has a scratch from what I can see while I feel like I could die any minute.

“Home and what’s your name so I can stop calling you ‘guy‘?” He chuckles, which I think is very inappropriate for the situation.

“Gabriel and I think I see a car coming.” I tum to look down the road and sure enough, Jason’s Porsche is speeding down the road. It screeches to a halt and my brother jumps out of the car befom Jase even turns it off.

“Talal” He rushes to my side and ignores Gabriel on the ground a few feet away. He tilts my face up so my eyes meet his. “Shit! Jason! Start the car! Tala, I’m going to pick you up, but it’s gonna hurt.” I nod weakly, not in the mood to fight right now.

pain

He lifts me up into his arms and I rest my head on his chest. My eyes start to droop as sleep beckons to

US

“Stay awake.” Barron orders, but his voice is starting to sound far away.

“I’m so tired,” My body starts to go numb, but I still feel him lay me down in Jason’s car, in my opinion, numb is definitely better than stabbing

The car comes 1

hes to life underneath me and the purring of the engine is only helping to lull me to sleep.

“Stay with me.” I press my cheek into the cold, leather interior and sigh contently. “Tala!”

You know in those movies how your mind is conscious, but you look like you’re sleeping? Well that’s how the next two days have been.

Chapter 8

I remember in extreme detall how Barron and Jason drove me to the house. The entire way there, Barron kept his hand on my throat, feeling for a pulse. As soon as the car pulled, the door was ripped open from the outside and of all the people I expected it to be, Asher carefully picked me up from the seat. He shouted out orders to anyone around as he carried me into the house. He set me carefully on the living room couch and my mom stood off to the side crying.

Soon, a woman came running into the room and kneeled at my side. I take it she’s the doctor because she started cleaning my head and other cuts I got from the crash. The room is silent as the doctor takes care of me. It’s only when she’s finished that someone speaks.

“What happened?”

“Crashed the car into a tree around a bend. How it happened, I don’t know exactly, but she’ll be okay right?”

“She had a good hit to the head so I’d say she’s got a concussion and from the way she curls around her stomach, she might have some broken ribs. The best I can do for them is wrap her sides.” Smart doc, but it sucks for me. “She’ll need to be woken up every hour for the first

twenty four hours.”

I passed out again after that and woke up who knows how much later in my own room.

i stare at my white ceiling for a few minutes before becoming really bored, Gingerly, I sit up and grab the TV remote off my bed side table. Flipping it on, I find a random channel and settle back down into the pillows.

I lay with my arm resting on my stomach lightly for another forty five minutes, before my door cracks open. As soon as they see I’m awake, Jason bursts into the room like he owns the place and sits down on the edge of my bed.

“How are you feeling?” I shrug.

“Been better. Can you get me a drink?” He nods and disappears out the door. I wait a minute before he runs back in holding a glass of

lemonade. Thanks.”

“Wow, that’s the first nice thing you’ve said to me since yesterday.” I give him a questioning glare and he chuckles. “You don’t even remember

any of last night do you?”

“If I remembered. I wouldn’t be asking. Now what did I say?”

“Well, we were all gonna take turns waking you up since you have a concussion and all and I went first. Long story short, you yelled at me to

get the hell away from you before you sent the magic unicoms after me.” My mouth drops and he bursts out laughing.

“Are you serious?” He nods and I groan. I could have said anything, and that’s what comes out of my big mouth. “Anything else?”

“You pretty much just yelled at whoever woke you up to leave you alone because you were tired. We all knew from the first wake up that you’d

be fine.” He gives me a cheeky smile..

“Har har. If all you’re going to do is make fun of me, then go away.” He places a

the a hand

over his heart.

“Who knew you were such a grouch after getting

getting into an accident?” I lean forward to push him off the bed. He rolls over backwards and hits

his leg on my table on the way down.

“have a killer headache and

my

stomach hurts. Who wouldn’t be a grouch?” He rubs his leg before standing up.

“Only you.” He pauses and a hesitant look passes over his features,

“Spit it out.” I order and he sighs.

“Everyone knows you’re awake now. They want to know if you’re up for visitors.” I cross my arms across my chest and rest my back against

the headboard

“Who’s they?” I ack, keeping my face blank.

“Uh, Barron, your mom, Asher, my nickname for him has rubbed off on Jason because that’s all I call him now. “And my, uh, sister.”

“Tell them I’m sleeping. I don’t want to talk to any of them right now, especially Barron. He’s probably ready to kill me for wrecking his car.”

“He cares more that you’re alright then about his car” He replies befom walking away, shutting the door quietly behind him.

275

I groan and lift one of my pillows over my

face

Why must he make me feel guilty! I know that they’re all worried about me, but my head is pounding. I wasn’t lying when I said that and I am

still really tired.

I keep the TV on low volume and drift back to sleep.

It’s been three days. THREE DAYS and everyone is hovering around me like I’ll just fall over and break I am not a china doll and I can certainly make a bowl of cereal without anyone offering to clean up after me. I can walk to and from the bathroom without anyone offering to carry me. I

mean, come on! It’s across the room

Barron has been the worst next to my mother. Asher looks like he wants to ask if I need anything, but ends up keeping quiet. At least he knows when to shut up. I am slowly losing my mind! The only things I can do is watch TV, read a book, draw, or talk to someone. I won’t do the last one because everyone’s pissing me off! Even Jason is annoying… well, more than usual!

I’ve already gone through the couple books I brought with me from back home and as much as I love drawing, I can only do it for so long. With my concussion, it’s hard to focus on something for long and I hate it. I feel like a fish. Look a squirrel! Omg I found five bucks in my pocket! What was I just doing again? Yea, that’s me.

Yesterday I found an all–day Castle marathon so the day wasn’t bad. Everyone either had school or quick errands to do which left me along for a little. So far, that’s been the highlight of my week. The quiet was nice, but then mom came home and I just wanted to get another car to run

myself over.

“Tala, are you hungry?” Speak of the devil

“Nope. “I also began smuggling food into my room so I can eat in peace which is what I’m doing right now. Is it healthy food? Not all of it

“But you should probably eat something. You haven’t had anything since breakfast. I look down at the bowl of grapes in my lap.

“I’m good”

Thear her sigh, even from the other side of the door.

“Dinner will be ready in an hour.” She says before walking away. I smile at my roommate, who’s officially claimed my extra pillow.

od girl?” She wags her tail excitedly and jumps across the short space to get into my lap.

“Whos my good

Just to give Barron something to do, I had him buy Ash a tag for her collar. Now there’s a red heart with her name on it to go along with her vaccination tags.

She’s become my buddy. Everywhere I go, she follows dosely behind. I don’t mind when she hovers because she can’t talk. That’s certainly a sonus to the whole situation. Plus, she’s adorable! I couldn’t order her away.

I move her off of me and stick my bowel on my desk Going into the bathroom, I grab the bottle of pain killers and swallow a few with a gulp of water. Curious as to how my sides look today, I lift up my shirt and carefully unwrap the bandages. Yup… still black and blue and painful just to ook at. Imagine having to work around your daily routine with them. Trust me, it’s a bitch.

I re–wrap everything and move to my window seat. Opening the window, I think about how I want to do this. Seeing no other way, I stick my eet through first, followed by my upper body. At the last second, I bump my ribs and let out a hiss of pain. Moving at a snail’s pace to make sure hat doesn’t happen again, I finally get my whole body out onto the roof.

I lay on my back so I can do some cloud watching, but with my attention span of late, I won’t be doing this long.

I find a whale, a smiley face, a blob, a wave, a foot, a bear, a blob and another blob. Half of the time, the sun blinded me from actually being able to see anything and I think I drifted in and out of consciousness a few times.

“Think we should wake her up?”

“Probably. Mom would have a cow if she knew Tala climbed out onto the roof.”

“Touch me and someone will die.” I say aloud and the guys stop talking. They must have heard me, otherwise they’d still be debating what to Jo with me.

“Come inside then. One says, but I don’t move an inch from my spot. Surprisingly, the roof is pretty comfortable.

“Nah, I’m good.” I roll onto my side, my back now facing the window. The slightest pressure is put on my sides, but it isn’t painful.

“Why must you be so difficult?” Barron sighs at the end and I finally open my eyes to gaze at the forest straight ahead of me.

“Nothing like this would have happened if I were back in California. I state simply,

“You still never told us exactly what happened.” I feel him sit directly behind me so I roll back onto my back.

“I saw something jump out into the road and tried to avoid it.” I don’t tell him it was Gabriel was who jumped out into the road. I don’t need him hunted down and beat up. I know Barron and that’s what he’d do if he knew.

“I’m sorry.” I tum to my brother for the first time with a hard look

“You can’t apologize for everything and expect me to just forgive you. Plus, this wasn’t your fault so you shouldn’t be saying sorry” We stare, unblinking at one another, daring the other to look away first. It always used to be me because I knew I could never win, but the new me feels like I can finally beat him.

“Are you guys really having a staring contest?” Jason asks, resting his elbows on the ledge.

“Shut up Jase.” We both order at the same time.

‘Figures that’s where she got it from.” He mumbles to himself, though I’m not sure if I was meant to hear it or not.

I notice Barron’s eyes start to twitch and I smirk. I’ll admit that I used to practice in a mirror but I never thought it’s actually work. He finally

blinks and rubs his face with both hands.

“I win.” I sit up and hide my smile behind my knees. I wrap my arms around my legs to keep them against my body and it probably looks like

I’m in a fetal position.

“How is th

that possible? I always win these.” His look is one of pure shock.

“You’re a loser. I think even you can figure that out.” I stand up and carefully stretch out my stiff limbs.

*Coming in?” Jason asks as I approach the window and he stands up. “Give me your arms. I hold them out and he grasps my quickly pulls me through the window, upper body first and then the rest of me. He sets me on my feet and lets go. “There you go.”

‘Thanks dude. Now come on, I’m hungry.” I begin pulling him out of the room when he stops. “What?”

forearms. He

1 need to talk to Barron quick. You go ahead down and we’ll be down soon.” I shrug and start walking down the hall. As soon as my door shuts, I quietly go to it and press my ear against the wood.

“I don’t get how you do it.”

Do what?”

“Get her to talk to you. I’ve tried everything I can think of and none of it has worked yet you come into the picture and BAM! She smiles and laughs.” Barron sounds jealous and I frown slightly.

“I don’t really know man. I saw her at the mall the first day she was there. I bought her a slice of pizza after I ate her first one and then we played paintball I hear the distinct sound of a slap.

“Of course, you got her food. Usually it’s the way to a guy’s heart, but the same can be said for my sister too.” One of them chuckles.

“I figured that out myself, but you shouldn’t give up on her. She sometimes gets this sad look in her eyes when she looks at you. I’m sure she’ll come around eventually.”

“You don’t know my sister Jase. She can be stubborn.”

“Yeah, well, if she goes through the change like we all suspect, then I think she’ll come around.”

“She definitely has the short temper and stubborn nature. Barron laughs and I make a face at the door. Are they really talking about me and I do not have a short tempert I admit I have one, but it’s not short.

“I agree, though it hasn’t been directed at me.” Jason sounds happy and I roll my eyes.

“Whatever, man. I’m starving so let’s go down before dinner is over” I hold my breath and back away from the door.

Running down the stairs, I slow down and casually walk into the kitchen. I quickly grab a plate and spoon some chicken casserole onto my dish. Hoping no one can hear my heart pounding loudly at almost being caught eavesdropping. I sit at the seat farthest away from people and

start eating.

About a minute later, the boys walk in. They don’t accuse me of eavesdropping so I relax into the chair and enjoy the food.

After everyone is seated, including Asher, my mom, and Jason’s parents, I start to think about the conversation I just heard.

They talked about me going through a change. It sounds like the same thing I heard Asher talking about on my first day here. Of course, I wasn’t supposed to hear these things, but I’m a ninja. I hear everything. Just kidding, I don’t, but I do seem to be in the right place at the right time to hear stuff. That’s how I knew I was getting a puppy for my twelfth birthday.

Anywho, back to the change. What the heck are they talking about? And seriously, why does my temper come into this? Sure I’m stubborn, with good reason, but everyone is stubborn at times. My personality shouldn’t have anything to do with anything, but if they’re talking about it then something has to be up.

“You look like you’re thinking really hard.” Jason moves to sit in the chair across from me and and I smile slightly.

“I guess I am.”

“What about?” I point my fork at him.

“Isn’t someone extra nosy today?” He gives me a pointed look and I roll my eyes. “Im going to have so much to make up when I get back to school.” I’m not technically lying. I will have lots to make up since someone, *cough* Barron *cough* refused to bring my work home because he thinks I need to rest. My head hardly hurts anymore because I haven’t done anything in so long.

“You’ll be able to do it.” If only he knew exactly what I do at school all day. Actually work isn’t high on my things to do anymore. I do my homework, but then answer some things wrong so I don’t get pegged as a nerd.