Chapter 4 - The Forgotten Lifeline
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“She’s lying!” Luke roared, lunging forward. “She’s completely out of her mind!”
Before he could lay another hand on me, two heavy-set security guards slammed through the door, grabbing Luke by his arms and forcing him back against the wall.
“Get your hands off me!” Luke screamed, thrashing against their grip. “I saved her! I brought her to this damn hospital! You have nothing without me, Caroline! You hear me? No money! No family! Nobody!”
The security guards dragged him down the hallway, his furious screams echoing off the tiled walls until the heavy double doors clicked shut.
The room fell terrifyingly silent, save for the rapid beep of my heart monitor.
Dr. Patel motioned for a woman in business casual attire to step inside. “Caroline, this is Elaine from our patient advocacy and crisis team. You are safe here. He will not be allowed back onto this floor.”
Elaine pulled a chair up to my bedside. “Caroline, we need to know if there is anyone we can contact for you. A relative? A friend?”
“He controlled everything,” I choked out, tears finally spilling over my bandaged cheeks. “My bank accounts. My phone. My car keys. He told me everyone stopped caring about me.”
“Is there anyone you remember?” Elaine asked gently. “A number you used to know?”
Luke had deleted my contacts years ago. He had changed my phone number three times to make sure nobody from my past could reach me. But there was one number I had memorized when I was ten years old—a number written on the back of my school notebook, recited every time I stayed out late.
My sister’s number.
“Ten,” I whispered. “Two, five, five...”
Nurse Maya immediately pulled out her hospital desk phone and began punching in the digits I dictated through my tears.
She put the phone on speaker mode.
It rang once.
Twice.
Three times.
A click sounded over the line.
“Hello?”
My throat closed up entirely. I hadn't heard that warm, familiar voice in seven years.
“Becca?” I sobbed.
There was a sudden, sharp gasp on the other end of the line. A chair scraped loudly against a floor.
“Caroline?” Rebecca’s voice trembled, but there was no confusion in it. There was no hesitation.
“Becca, I’m in the hospital...”
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Before I could apologize for disappearing, before I could explain the years of silence, my sister spoke six words that made the floor feel like it was shifting beneath me:
“Caroline, I’ve been waiting for this.”
