Graceful Scars

by Savannah Stewart

I took a seat beside Talon and slowly ran my hand up and down his back. I knew he felt helpless. Hell, I felt helpless. We were well over a thirty minute drive from the University of Chicago Medical Center, and in that weather…it would take even longer.

  My phone began buzzing beside me on the bed, it was Adalynn calling back. I quickly answered. “I hope you have some good news.”

  “My dad’s ten minutes away from you. He had a call in the neighborhood about a tree hanging too close to a power line. He’s coming for you all as we speak.”

  I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Adalynn.”

  “Keep me posted on our girl.”

  “I will.”

  Exactly an hour later Jim, Adalynn’s father, was dropping us off at the emergency exit of the hospital. “I really appreciate you going out of the way for us,” Talon extended his shaky hand. Jim took it in return and firmly shook.

  “Don’t mention it, son. I hope your sister is okay.”

  Talon nodded, seeming to be at a loss for words.

  As soon as the truck door shut we took off through the emergency doors. I followed on Talon’s heels as he stepped up to the information desk. “My sister was admitted a little over an hour ago, four wheeler accident. Her name is Zoey Fisher,” he rattled off quickly. We watched as the lady behind the desk typed away on her keyboard.

  “She’s in ICU.” She paused for a moment. “If you would please have a seat in the waiting area just over there,” She pointed to our right, “the doctor will be out momentarily.”

  “Thank you,” I smiled weakly at the nurse as Talon stalked to the designated waiting area. I followed behind him, watching the tenseness of his shoulders rise and fall with every breath he inhaled, and then exhaled. His nerves were wound tightly. I didn’t expect anything less, but seeing this side of him surprised me. The waiting room was empty, so I took a seat at the end of the row facing where the doctor would come out. Talon was pacing beside me before finally taking a seat directly in front of me, not beside me like I thought he would. The sound of the clock on the wall ticking away was the only noise that filled the room. Neither of us had spoken since the nurse informed us to have a seat, and the silence was becoming deafening.

  “She’s going to be okay…” I scooted my chair forward and took his hands in mine. Talon lifted his head so that he was looking directly at me. His dark eyes were rimmed brightly in red and the happiness that usually filled them was gone.

  “You don’t know that,” he replied sadly through gritted teeth.

  I didn’t know what to say, because honestly, I didn’t know that she was going to be okay. I was running on pure optimism and faith. “You’re right. I don’t know that. But I know that she loves you just as much as you love her. She’s a fighter, Talon, and she is going to fight through hell and high water to stay.”

  Before he could respond an older woman dressed in a long white lab coat stepped through the ICU doors. “Family of Miss Zoey Fisher?” She called out, which was pointless since we were the only two in the room.

  Talon shot to his feet, and I followed. “That’s us.” Even though I shouldn’t have been happy about him saying ‘us,’ given the situation at hand, my heart squeezed at his words. We were Zoey’s family, not just him.

  “I’m Doctor Melanie Andrews.” She extended her hand to each of us. “And you are?”

  “Talon Fisher, her brother…and legal guardian,” Hearing him say that he was Zoey’s legal guardian had me wondering again what had happened to their parents. Neither of them ever mentioned them, and even when all the secrets of my past had come spilling out, he hadn’t mentioned his. I felt guilty for even thinking about it when I should have been focusing on Zoey, but I couldn’t help my wondering mind. “and this is Tegan, my girlfriend.”

  I smiled.

  “Zoey took quite the spill.” Doctor Andrews flipped through the chart in her hands. “She has a mild concussion, but seems to be doing okay. When the ambulance brought her in she was still unconscious so we would like to monitor her for the night. When someone is out for that long it can possibly cause brain trauma, we just want to make sure that she is okay before she can be released.”

  Talon grabbed my hand and squeezed. “She’s awake now?!” He asked.

  “Yes, she’s awake. Resting, but awake.”

  “Can we see her?” I chimed in.

  “Of course.” Doctor Andrews smiled and pushed a button on the wall beside the double doors. “You can go on back. She’s in room two thirty-two.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” He shook her hand once more and she nodded back with a smile.

  It didn’t take us long to locate her room. Talon slowly pushed the door open to reveal a sleeping and battered Zoey. The left side of her face was covered in scrapes and deep bruising had settled in. Both of her arms were bandaged, but nothing seemed too major. Numerous machines were monitoring her heart rate, oxygen levels, and so on. She looked even smaller than usual lying in that bed.

  Talon pulled a chair close to her bed side and took a seat, covering her hand with his. I stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder as he dipped his head to kiss the back of her hand. “She looks so fragile.” His voice was quiet and thick with sadness. I didn’t know what to say, so I simply gave his shoulder a squeeze and made my way to an empty chair on the other side of her bed.

  The only sounds that filled the room were the noises the machines made. Talon hadn’t taken his eyes off of Zoey and I hadn’t taken mine off of him. Seeing the two of them so broken was tearing me up inside. Yes, she was going to be completely fine, but I felt guilty for being the reason that she wasn’t home in the first place. If Talon hadn’t invited me over Zoey wouldn’t have been at Layla’s house and they would have never gotten on the four wheeler, let alone wrecked it. It was a snowball effect…that all started with yours truly.

  I never did well with silence; much less the kind where you felt like you shouldn’t, or couldn’t, speak. I didn’t know what to say to Talon, but I wanted to say something. I squirmed in the chair, trying to get somewhat comfortable when I heard him clear his throat.

  “I hope she wakes up soon…”

  My hands were braced on the arms of the chair as I swung a leg up and into it beneath me. The change in position helped me feel a little at ease, and hearing his voice of course. “I hope so too,” I smiled sympathetically at him when his eyes connected with mine.

  He dropped his eyes to where his and Zoey’s hands were intertwined. “Zoey is the only family I have left.” That sentence made my heart hurt. Talon and Zoey were alone. “Three years, seven months, and twenty-one days ago was the worst day of our lives. We had gone to sleep like any other night. Zoey cried her eyes out because our mother was trying to get her to sleep in her own bed instead of mine. She had always been clingy; maybe because I was protective over her, or because I hated to see her cry and always comforted her when she did. I don’t really know... We had a baby brother, he was just under a year old—” Talon’s voice broke, causing him to stop talking. I knew the story didn’t have a happy ending, that was obvious, but I still hoped like hell I could be wrong somehow.

  He cleared his throat once more, “He reminded me a lot of Zoey when she was his age, always smiling, but when he cried…it was hellacious.” He huffed as he smiled, thinking about his brother. “That night Zoey woke me up when she crawled into my bed hiccupping from an apparent nightmare that had terrified her. I knew our parents would be furious if they found her in my room the next morning so I tried my best to convince her that she needed to sleep in her own room. I carried her back in there and tucked her in before lying on top of her covers until she fell asleep, but I fell asleep too.” Talon inhaled deeply before letting out a long shaky breath. His eyes were still fixated on Zoey. “We lived in a three bedroom house in the suburbs of Ashton, Illinois. It was a nice neighborhood where neighbors helped one another when need be…but that night nobody could help us.” I watched as tears spilled from Talon�
�s eyes, matching the ones flowing down my own face. My body was moving before I realized it. I kneeled down beside his chair and placed a hand on his thigh. He turned his face towards me and the pain I saw in his eyes was much like the pain I had witnessed in my own ever since that horrible night when my innocence was taken from me. “The sound of our fire alarms screaming for us to get out of the house is what woke me. I scrambled to gather Zoey in my arms but when I hit the hallway the other two bedrooms were already engulfed in flames. I knew I had to get her out.” A sob escaped him. “The smoke was choking the both of us as I ran through the living room and out into the front yard. I sat Zoey down as neighbors started coming over to help. I had to go back in!” Talon dropped his head against the hospital bed. “Before I could get back to the front porch most of the house was glowing from the fire and I had no way to get to the back of the house where our parents and Madden were.” I ran a hand into his hair to try and soothe the pain away, even though I knew it wouldn’t work. “The fire department said the fire started due to a candle…one of those fucking Christmas candles my mother liked to burn in their bedroom during the holidays.” He gritted his teeth as I caught a tear with my thumb. Talon grabbed my wrist and flattened my palm against his cheek.

  I was crying just as freely as he was. I knew that kind of pain…mine was different, but yet the same. Darkness consumes you when you lose someone you love. For me, it was myself. For Talon, it was the remainder of his family. Now I understood just how close the bound between him and Zoey was. It went farther than the normal brother and sisterly love. They were all each other had; they were the last of their blood line and they were both desperately holding onto that.

  “I tried to stay in Ashton. But as time passed things didn’t get easier, they got harder. Until one day I packed us up and moved to Chicago. Now here I am staring at my baby sister, praying that she is going to recover fully from this.” Talon sat back in his chair, running his hands roughly down his face.

  I crawled into his lap, straddling his legs with my own and cupped his face. “Zoey is going to be just fine with a man like you by her side,” I tried to get through his head.

  “I’m not sure what I did to deserve someone like you, Tegan, but I’m beyond grateful that Zoey found that flyer for your studio.” He pressed his lips firmly against mine. “I love you, sweet girl,” he whispered against my lips before claiming them again.

  “Groooossss…” Zoey’s small voice was like a breath of fresh air.

  I hopped up from Talon’s lap and spun around to take in her weak, but beautiful smile. “Zoey!” Talon cried out as he got to his feet and leaned over Zoey, smoothing a hand across her hair and tucking a piece behind her ear.

  “I’m sorry,” her sad eyes pleaded with Talon.

  “There’s no need for an apology, Zoey, I’m just glad that you’re okay.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead before sitting back in the chair, pulling it even closer to her bed.

  “Is Layla okay?” She asked the both of us.

  Layla…I hadn’t even checked on her!

  I was about to say I hadn’t heard anything when Talon spoke up, “When Mandi called about you she said Layla was okay. They had her in a room waiting for the X-ray results on her leg. They thought it might be broken.”

  The thought of Layla breaking her leg gutted me. That very well could have happened to Zoey. A broken leg or foot can easily destroy a dancer’s career. I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case for Layla.

  Talon took a step back so that I could see Zoey. “Hey, pretty girl,” I squeezed her hand as a tear slipped down my cheek.

  “Don’t cry, Tegan. I’m okay. I promise,” she smiled back at me. That girl was strong, a fighter. “I just wanna get back to dancing,” she huffed.

  “All in due time, pretty girl,” I giggled. “All in due time.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Why do they make you wear those gross hospital gowns?” Zoey made a gagging noise as Talon and I stifled our laughs. She smoothed her hands down her bright green and black polka dot shirt and ran a brush through her hair in the mirror of the hospital room’s bathroom. Zoey had left the door open as she inspected the bruising on her face. She was being released and we were all beyond ecstatic about it.

  “It’s just one of their rules.” Talon shook his head at her silliness.

  “Well, I don’t ever want to come back here.” The disgusted look on her face made me lose all hope of not busting out laughing.

  “Thanks for the backup, Tegan,” Talon’s musical laughter chimed in as I mouthed the word ‘sorry’ back at him.

  “What’s so funny?!” Zoey placed her hands on her hips.

  She’s back to her normal self.

  I wrapped an arm around her tiny little frame and squeezed her, not as hard as usual, but hard enough. “I’m just happy that you’re going home and feeling better.” I kissed the top of her head.

  I walked Zoey to the car while Talon signed all the paperwork at the front desk so we could leave. The snow had melted quite a bit in the two days we had spent at the hospital and thankfully Adalynn and her father had brought my car over for us. Not to mention a duffle bag of clothes so we weren’t stuck wearing the same thing day after day. Doctor Andrews had suggested keeping Zoey a day longer than anticipated because of the extent of the four wheeler wreck; she would rather be safe than sorry. Doctors like her were a blessing.

  I opened the trunk and put our bags in before helping Zoey into the backseat. She was still quite a bit sore from the wreck, and her arm wasn’t moving at full range yet; the doctor had informed us that it could take up to a month or longer for her to feel like her normal self. I shut the door and got into the driver’s seat. I cranked the car and blasted the heat as we waited for Talon. I noticed a white envelope resting in the passenger’s seat so I leaned over and retrieved it. There wasn’t anything written on the front of the envelope so I pulled the note card from it.

  Tegan,

  Don’t worry about classes, I’ve got them. If you all need anything don’t hesitate to call. Give Zoey this and a kiss for me, please.

  Love,

  Adalynn

  The card was such a sweet gesture, but the best part of it all was the charm bracelet that I pulled from the envelope. A ballet slipper was dangling from a silver chain that had pink ribbon threaded through it. It was adorable!

  “What’s that?!” Zoey asked from the backseat. I slid the bracelet into the card and handed it back to her.

  “A little something for you, from Adalynn.” I turned my body in the seat just in time to see her eyes light up when the bracelet slid from the card and into her lap.

  “It’s a ballet slipper!” She squealed, holding it in the air to show me.

  I smiled, “It is! Very sweet of her, huh?”

  She was staring at the bracelet in awe when the happiness left her face. “I’m not going to be able to dance for a while, am I?” Zoey looked up at me. Her eyes were glossed over from un-spilled tears.

  I sighed, “You have to sit out until you’re healed.” I hated having to tell her that. Dancing was Zoey’s everything. She lived and breathed it, and I knew exactly how she felt by having it momentarily taken away from you.

  A small sob escaped Zoey as she laid herself across the backseat and cried. My heart was breaking for the poor girl, but there was absolutely nothing I could do for her. The passenger’s door opened and Talon slid into the seat before closing the door back. “Brrrr…” He started taking his gloves off but stopped when he realized Zoey was crying.

  The confused look he gave me earned a sad smile from me. “Dance,” I whispered. Realization settled in fast. He leaned back and rubbed a hand down her back to try and soothe her.

  “Zoey, you’ll be able to dance in no time. It’s okay, sweetheart.” She shook her head back and forth in a negative manner. It was life-altering for her even if it didn’t seem so to others.

  It was the day I had agreed to bring Zoey to the gym and start h
er stretching so when she was released to dance again, it wouldn’t make her as sore. For the past three weeks she had been moping around; she hadn’t even attempted to change the radio to her usual Pop madness when she was in the car with me. A zombie-like Zoey was odd, and I didn’t like it one bit.

  “Are you excited?” I squeezed her leg as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

  “Eh…yes and no.” She shrugged her shoulders, a small smile barely touching her lips.

  “Oh, come on!” I shoved her shoulder. “We’ll be in the studio AND you’ll get to see the dance routine Adalynn has been working on with the girls.”

  “Fun…” She faked excitement, but the tone of her voice was far from sounding thrilled about much of anything.

  I sighed heavily. “Zoey, I know it’s not the same…but I’m really trying here.” I dropped my head against the steering wheel. “I know how it feels to have something you love taken from you…I know how you feel,” I whispered.

  A whoosh of cold air and the sound of the passenger’s car door slamming shut had me lifting my head from its resting spot on the steering wheel to see if what I assumed had just happened, indeed just happened. Sure enough, I found the passenger’s seat empty, and when I moved my eyes to outside the car I saw her walking swiftly in the opposite direction from the dance studio.

  “What the hell...” I huffed, jumping out of the car. “Zoey!!!” I called after her, but she didn’t even bother to acknowledge me. I quickly locked the vehicle and took off sprinting in her direction so that I could catch up with her.

  “Leave me alone,” she barked before I could get another word out from my heaving lungs. I hadn’t run in a long time, and the desperate need to stop and bend over to catch my breath let me know just how out of shape I was becoming.

  Not good, Tegan, not good at all.

  “Leave you alone?!”I scoffed, grabbing her healed arm and pulling her to a stop. “Zoey Fisher, I swear…” The muscle in my jaw was ticking from how mad I was at her for running off. “You can’t just run away from me—from anybody! You’re seven years old! Do you not realize the things that could happen?!” I knew all too well some of those horrible things…