Two
Days Before Christmas
Jack had been awake for the last hour staring up at the ceiling and replaying the events that had taken place two days earlier. Darren was already gone, probably getting breakfast as he usually did Sunday mornings. Becoming sick and tired of thinking, she started to reach over to the nightstand to her left to grab the TV remote. Her neck brace was proving to be one of the major problems that kept her from having a full range of motion. She’d be glad to get the bulky thing off after Christmas. As her hand moved closer to the remote, she suddenly felt a rush of air fly past her, and before she knew it, Jack was on the floor. She landed with a hard thud on the wooden floor atop her arm and her head slammed into the wood. Her eyes came in and out of focus as she struggled to stay conscious.
Jack rolled onto her back, a shooting pain running through her arm. Her eyes finally gave way to the unconscious state she couldn’t fight off anymore, and she passed out. Downstairs, Darren was walking through the front door, groceries for that morning’s breakfast in hand. He threw his keys into the dist in the foyer and went into the kitchen where Dan was reading the morning paper.
“Good morning,” Darren cheerfully said as he set the groceries down on the counter. Dan nodded, turning the page and continuing the story he was reading. Darren shrugged off his response and began putting away the food. It would be half an hour before her finally headed upstairs to awaken Nadia and Jack. Since Nadia’s room was the first one near the stairs, her went in. He found her already bustling around doing her hair and makeup.
“Morning, Daz!” she said, finishing a curl in her blond hair.
“You’re up early,” Darren replied.
“Yeah, well, I probably would still be asleep if I hadn’t heard that thud around 8:45 this morning. It sounded like someone dropped a heavy book onto the floor,” Nadia explained as she put her curly hair up into a ponytail above her head.
“Thud?” he curiously questioned.
“Yeah, it sounded like it came from Jack’s room.”
“Hm… I don’t remember Jack reading a book last night.” Darren walked out of Nadia’s room and headed to Jack’s. With an overly strange feeling running through his body, he slowly opened the door to find that Jack was not in bed. He walked into the room wondering where she could be. As he walked around the bed, he finally found her laying on the floor unconscious from her fall.
Darren dropped to his knees and quickly lifted her listless body off the cold wood and laid her back onto the bed. His hand felt her wrist as he tried frantically to find a pulse. “Jack!” he yelled into her ear. “Wake up, baby! Come on!”
Nadia walked into the room to find out what the fuss was about. She saw Darren close to tears and realized something what very wrong with Jack. She ran out of the room screaming, “Dan! Dan!”
Dan heard Nadia’s screams from the kitchen and ran upstairs to see what was going on. “What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked, running into Nadia at the top of the stairs.
“Something’s wrong with Jack,” she answered. Nadia took his hand and dragged him to her room where Darren was worriedly trying to revive her.
“Jack, wake up, please,” he was begging when Dan walked in. A low groan escaped from Jack’s lips as her eyes fluttered. He let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the floor beside the bed. He took her hand and gently kissed it as he stroked her hair with his other hand.
“What happened?” Dan quietly asked as he lay down on the bed beside Jack. Darren shrugged, shaking his head. ‘Jack, can you hear me?” She nodded as she opened her eyes. “What happened? How did you fall?”
“I don’t know,” she whimpered. “I was reaching for the remote and I just fell. I remember bumping my head, but that’s about it.”
“I’ll go get some ice. You stay here with her,” Darren volunteered as he stood up and left the room.
Nadia was still watching from the door as Dan and Jack whispered between each other. When Darren came back to place the ice on her head and took her hand again, Nadia ran away from the room and into hers. She slammed the door and lay on her bed as she began to cry. No one seemed to be paying attention to her. Everything was about Jack. Nadia knew this was the wrong time to be feeling so horrible, but she couldn’t help it. Her hormones were raging, and she couldn’t stop them.
Dan had seen Nadia run off and herd the door to her room slam. He rolled off Jack’s bed, kissed the top of her forehead, and walked down the hall to make sure Nadia was okay. He knocked on her door and asked, “Are you okay?”
“No,” Nadia retorted, sniffling.
“Can I come in?” Dan replied. She didn’t answer. He went inside anyway. Dan found her lying on the bed facing the opposite wall and crying. “What’s wrong?” He sat down on her bed and ran his fingers down her bare arm.
“I feel so neglected. I look at you and Darren and Jack then wonder why I even came here. I wish I had an abortion. At least then I wouldn’t have to be in this position,” she said.
“Nadia, don’t say that,” he comforted. “I’m somewhat glad you came into my life when you did. Things between Darren and Jack have begun to heat up, and I feel in the way most of the time. I’m glad that I have someone to feel neglected with.” Nadia smiled. “I’d better get going. I need to check on Jack. I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,” Nadia replied.
“Bye,” Dan said as he walked out of the room towards the other room.