The next morning was definitely one of my lazy ones. After tossing and turning all night, thinking of nothing but Amber, I was a little upset when my light flickered on.

"Blair, you have to get up. Right now." I cracked my eyelids open to see Aunt Lily rummaging through my drawers. When I sat up, a pair of pants and a shirt were thrown in my direction.

"What's going on?" I asked lazily, standing up and stretching. Aunt Lily turned around to face me, and I felt my stomach drop. Slight bags were visible under her eyes and her features were solemn. Slowly, she walked over and took my face in her hands.

"I got a call... your mom is in the hospital." She whispered, still looking at me. I felt my mouth drop open slightly and my stomach flip.

"W-What? How? She hasn't been out of her room-" 

"I know, but last night she said she wanted to run by her work and get some paperwork. I didn't care, but she never came back home. I stayed up until I fell asleep... the hospital just called and said she was admitted. They wouldn't say what happened, though. So hurry up!" She ended, letting go of me and walking towards the door. "We're going to head over there as soon as you're ready." 

When she left, I ran around my room frantically, slipping on the clothes Aunt Lily threw at me. My mother was in the hospital. The hospital. How the hell did she end up in there? A car accident, maybe? Or she went out and got drunk which ended in a bad bar fight? I threw on my beat up converse and ran to my bathroom to brush my teeth, the sinking feeling in my stomach not letting up. It seemed too unreal... too sudden. She had been cooped up in her room all this time, and the one time she leaves she gets admitted into the hospital. That didn't sound like my mother.

As soon as I had finished getting ready, I ran down the stairs, skipping two at a time. My aunt was there in front of the door, car keys in hand. 

"Ready?" She asked, opening up the door. I nodded and followed her out. It was still dark outside, and the cold winter air sent a shiver down my spine. I slipped into her car silently and kept my gaze forward, hoping this wouldn't be as bad as I thought it was.

We arrived at the hospital only fifteen minutes later, and pulled into the Emergency side. I had to practically run to keep up with my aunt's pace but I wasn't complaining. I guess even through all the trash talk, my aunt still loved my mom, and that was comforting.

"We're here to so Minnie Abrams. She was admitted into here about...  Oh I don't know! Just can we see her?" My Aunt asked in exasperation. The nurse behind the counter eyed us disapprovingly, and moved at snails pace on the computer. 

"Minnie Abrams... She just got out of a check up so you should be able to go and see her. Are you older than fifteen?" She asked me. I felt my face flush before I nodded, keeping my eyes down. "Okay then, you both can go back. You can find her... right down this left hall, Room 307 on the left." After she gave us the information, the busty nurse turned her chair and started chatting up the woman beside her. Taking that as our que to leave, I followed Aunt Lily down the hallway until we found the room. It was the very last room on the left, and I stared at the closed door. 

"Well, here we go." Lily sighed, before grabbing the knob and pulling open the door. I followed her inside, and was a little relieved at what I saw.

My mother was asleep, the heart monitor beating regularly beside her. No cast, no gashes (that I could see) and she looked relatively peaceful. Apparently my Aunt was thinking the same thing. 

"Well, we got all worked up over this, huh?" She said, placing her hands on her hips. At the sound of new voices, my mother stirred, and I watched her slowly crack open her eyes.

"Blair? Lily? What are-" She didn't get a chance to finish before I made my way to her side.

"Mom, what happened?" I tried to ask in my most calm voice. I couldn't help but feel extremely pissed off at her. She didn't even tell anyone she was going out!

"I can't really remember..." She trailed off before releasing a yawn. I heard Lily let out a sarcastic snort from behind me, but chose to ignore it. Instead, I moved from beside my mother to an extremely uncomfortable chair in the corner opposite of the door. She looked fine... healthy even. I just don't know what could've happened that-

"Oh, Ms. Abrams! You have visitors! How lovely. " A dirty-blonde woman entered the room, dressed in navy blue scrubs and a lab coat. "I'm Dr. Kingston, nice to meet you! And you are..." She went over to shake my Aunts hand, and I watched from the corner. This lady was really perky to be a doctor.

"I'm Lily Nicoles, nice to meet you. That's Blair, Minnies' daughter." I gave a short wave and tried to ignore the twisting feeling in my stomach at the reminder of my dads last name.

"Well, it's nice to meet both of you. Now, as for Minnie. The receptionist probably didn't inform you of why she was admitted, correct?" Aunt Lily and I both nod, eyes watching the doctor carefully. "Yes, well unfortunately, Ms. Abrams was actually found by a pedestrian in the park at around," I watched as she grabbed a clip-board set on the table by the heart monitor. "One o'clock this morning, knocked unconscious. After checking up on her and just giving a normal check up, we found the disturbing cause as to why she's here." The once perky doctor turned very solemn, as she looked at Lily. I felt the palms of my hands grow sweaty at the growing anticipation and wished she would just get on with it. "You see, Ms. Abrams was actually ." I felt my jaw slacken and stomach churn at her words. I glanced over at my mom, but for a woman who didn't remember anything, she didn't look very surprised. I was actually surprised to see her gaze shift down to her hands and face flush slightly. 

"?" My Aunt Lily asked, surprisingly, calmly. Dr. Kingston, nodded her head and walked over to my mom. 

"Unfortunately, yes. You see, sometime during the assault, Minnie was hit right back," She gently turned mom's head, and I got up to stand by my aunt. Sure enough, a dark cut was prominent towards the back of her head. It was about four inches long and one wide, but had obviously been stitched up. "Here. This knocked her unconscious. We also came to this conclusion because when one of the nurses when to change her out of her clothes, well, let's just say her lower area didn't look quite right." She sighed after giving the explanation, but gave us a small smile. "On the bright side, Minnie should be able to return tomorrow. I'd like to keep her over today and tonight just to make sure everything is alright, and so she can take some test to see if she caught any STD's. Alright?" 

"Actually, can I have a word with you out in the hall, please?" I heard Aunt Lily ask. I listened to their footsteps leave the room and shut the door, but my gaze never wavered from my mother. Something about this whole thing was off. 

I slowly walked over to the side of her bed and grabbed the clip-board, scanning it briefly. I was about to set it down when something caught my eye. 
'Patient found in park near Briarcliff Lane.' Was scribbled sloppily toward the bottom. My eyes widened at the familiar street and I whipped my head around to my mom. 

"Briarcliff Lane? Mom, what were you doing over there?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"You know what I was doing, so don't make me say it." Her voice came out barely above a whisper, her eyes downcast. A sickening feeling rumbled in my stomach and burned up the back of my throat. " I didn't know he'd do what he did, and I was drunk-"

"Mom! After everything that's happened, you didn't think he would do that? After everything he's done to you, to me? How can you be so naive? Mom, that's disgusting!" I struggled to keep my voice down and swallowed, trying to keep down whatever was threatening to come up.

"You have no right to speak to me that way, you ! You think I don't know where you went last night? You have no right to think of me as disgusting when you go around screwing with a girl!" I took a step back at her words. I watched her through my blurred vision, she was taking calming breaths and was red faced. Her words stung. A lot. It was funny how my chest physically hurt at the hatred in her glare. 

I didn't even have the strength to argue with her before I my heels and bolted down the door. I could hear Aunt Lily calling after me, but there was no way I was going back. No way in hell. 

I took a deep breath when I got outside, the cool air filling my lungs. It was light out now, but my vision was still blurred, fresh tears streaming down my cheeks. Suddenly, I knew what I needed. I took a left and ran through the parking lot, my legs burning as I sprinted down the side walk. I needed her so badly right now. I need her to hug me and tell me everything would be okay. I needed Amber.

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A/N This update is long long LONG over due, and I feel so bad about it. School is literally being a , and I've got, like, a C in all my classes. *sigh* That is still no excuse to leave my readers hanging, and I feel like . I'm really sorry guys, and I didn't really get into this chapter until, like, the last few paragraphs, so I'm sorry if it . I've just been having serious writers block. Also, I'm thinking of ending the story at around the chapter 18 mark? Maybe? I've got the ending all planned out, and the last chapter I'm DEFINITELY going to need feedback on. Just letting you guys know. So I'm sorry for the possibly y update and I'm sorry for not updating in five-thousand forevers. Forgive me?

If you don't want to comment/upvote/subscribe, I understand... I've been a very bad author lately. But I still would like feedback if you're willing to give it! And I promise that the next update will be sooner than this one was! Just remember, I love all of you, forever and always!! q(^-^q)