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Evan

M y head pounded, and I was lucky I hadn’t lost my breakfast. I had no idea what hit me except it must have been something fierce. My handsome driver, Cary, rushed me to the hospital, still not talking, thank God, because my head hurt too much for conversation.

By the time he’d unloaded me at the ER, I was feeling so nauseous I thought I wouldn’t be able to resist puking after all.

Luckily, once they got me settled in, my stomach relaxed. The guy who brought me into the room introduced himself, checked my vitals, and assured me the doctor would be by soon. I was surprised because soon wasn’t long, and I wondered what kind of ER got to patients that fast.

Thanks to my grandmother’s illness, the one that finally took her, I’d had enough run-ins with hospitals to know it was never quick.

The nurse left, and a nice woman came in to get all my information, including my insurance, which was brand new since I’d never had the money for such frivolities before. I’d used some of Dad’s life insurance to buy a policy. Guessed I was about to break it in.

Then the doctor arrived, pronounced me concussed, gave me a friendly smile, patted my shoulder, and disappeared. The male nurse returned, told me I was free to go, and that was that. All told, I’d been there maybe thirty minutes.

I had no idea whether Cary had stuck around when I was wheeled inside. And, in fact, he was nowhere to be seen. So, I took the bull by the horns and ordered an Uber, though it surprised me they had them out in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t know what the fuck had happened at the manor, but I did know I wasn’t planning on sitting around all day staring at the hospital lobby.

By the time the Uber got to me, which incidentally took longer than the ER visit, it was getting dark. I didn’t want to return to the manor, especially not knowing who’d attacked me, so I checked into an over-the-top, pink hotel the Uber driver suggested. My head still pounded, and with the doctor’s assurance that sleeping was fine, I decided to call the attorney tomorrow to work out all the details. Right now, I just wanted some Ibuprofen and sleep.