Zach was pacing back and forth in the waiting area of the hospital; the staff wouldn't tell him anything because he wasn't family and neither of Ness's parents had come out of her room yet. He was shaking as he walked and every now and then he punched his fist into his open palm and closing that hand around it, gripping so tight his knuckles turned white. He had no idea how much time had passed, but eventually Ness's mom came to find him, she had got permission for him to visit, and he hugged her tightly with the gratitude he felt.
"She's not awake Zachary, they've put her in a medically induced coma" Mrs. Godwin told him, "they say it'll speed up the healing." She added
"What are her recovery odds?" Zach asked quietly, stood outside Ness's room, his face drained of all color.
"Good, very good, the doctor thinks there should be no lasting problems, physically at least" her voice faded "you're used to seeing her with bruises or cuts, but she looks pretty bad this time, are you ready?" Mrs. Godwin's hand was on the door handle and when Zach nodded she opened it "Talk to her like you normally would, your voice should be calm don't let the anger show, it could agitate her, ok?" Again, Zach nodded, and she let him enter the room. Mr. Godwin stood,
"Good to see you Zach, thank you for being there." He said causing Zach to nod once more, not sure if his voice would hold out if he tried to speak. Her parents quietly left the room, closing the door behind them.
Zach took a couple of steps forward, looking at the floor, trying to find his courage which had apparently fled, another couple of steps brought him to the end of the bed, he took a deep breath and looked up.
"Geez Ness, you look like you took on the whole club at once." He whispered and swallowed hard and tried to get his voice to its normal tone and looked again at her face, blood had collected under the skin of most of it, and her lips were both split and swollen, he remembered watching her skid across the tarmac face down and he was amazed at how well she actually looked after that. Her left arm was in a cast as was her left leg which had taken the full force of the collision. Mrs. Godwin's words came back to him 'talk to her like you normally would' he took another deep breath and launched into a stream of inconsequential nonsense, once started he found it easier and easier to talk and if he kept his eyes from her face, he found he could answer himself for her.
Time passed quickly, and it seemed all too soon, her parents came in and gently sent him home, he only agreed to leave after they said he could visit again the next day. Once out of the hospital, the real World returned to him and he remembered he was supposed to have a date with Chloe, but he was now planning on being at the hospital, so he sent a quick text explaining that he needed a raincheck on their date and was relieved to get an understanding text reply. He had felt bad asking her on a date, knowing that he was just going through the motions, so he didn't look like he was hoping for Ness to see him as something other than a friend, Chloe's response made him feel even shittier about himself, she was so damn nice, she deserved better than he could offer.
It was the following Tuesday that Zach got an idea about who had been driving the car and once the idea was in his head, he struggled to shift it. He watched surreptitiously at lunch each day and by the end of the week he was convinced. Brad. Whenever Brad thought nobody was looking, he got a smug grin on his face, the sight of it made Zach's blood boil and it took every ounce of his willpower to remind himself he had no proof and not kill him there and then.
He raced to the hospital as soon as last bell rang and was met by Mrs. Godwin,
"They're reducing the medication and pulling her out of the coma." Her face showed signs of worry, Zach supposed because there was no way of knowing how Ness was going to be mentally
"She'll be ok Mrs. Godwin, you raised a super tough girl, it would take more than this to knock her down for long." He offered, bringing a smile to her mom's face.
"You're a good lad, Zachary, I'm glad you're her friend."
It wasn't until Saturday morning that Ness regained consciousness, but Zach was there when her eyes flickered open for the first time
"Hey Ness, welcome back" he said, a grin forming on his face,
"H…" Ness's voice was little more than a croak, Zach poured some water into a cup for her and held it, so she could sip a little of it.
"Hey" she managed "What happened?"
"Brad reversed into you, deliberately, at speed. You tried flying without wings, failed and instead kissed the tarmac, you've been out of it for a week and your bike is a total wreck."
"Fuck."
"I was kinda hoping you saw who was driving as I have absolutely no proof at all that it was Brad, just a hunch because of his behavior this last week." Zach let a hopeful tone creep into his voice, but Ness shook her head
"Sorry dude, I don't remember anything after telling you to have a good time with Chloe," she looked expectantly at him, "weren't you gonna tell me all about it?" she added.
"Took a raincheck, all your fault of course, but no way I could have a life for a week if you weren't around to rip it to shreds and tell me where and what I did wrong." Zach winked
"You are such a douche!" Ness grinned despite herself "Hold up, do you mean the guys don't know?"
"Shit, no, never thought about it, I was a bit too worried to think of anyone else, they probably figured we had something at school since neither of us showed up."
"Yeah well, you'd best make the meet today and let them know, I expect my parents will want to talk with me and try to talk me out of riding" her voice faded
"Hey! It wasn't your fault, you could wear a full-face helmet in future though, it was the way you skidded on your face that did most of the damage, how the hell you didn't break your goddamn nose is beyond me" Zach shook his head to clear the gruesome memory, it made him feel physically sick every time he replayed it, so he tried hard not to. Ness watched the blood drain out of her friend's face and made a silent vow right then that she would do what he suggested if she could convince her parents to let her keep riding.
"Go on, get outta here already" Ness waved her right arm at him and grinned again.