Read Raina's Story for Free Online

came home. Right before Mary Ellen's arrival, Holly's mother brought over a group of women from her church and they blitzed the house. While the cleanup was happening, Kathleen and Holly hung WELCOME HOME banners and Raina set out vases of fresh flowers. Soon the house smelled of lemon wax, pine cleaner and floral arrangements, and when Mary Ellen arrived, she wept with joy and hugged everybody. Holly cried too, but mostly because Kathleen was moving out of
her
house. “You'll love having your bedroom to yourself again,” Kathleen insisted.
    “But not my father's undivided attention,” Holly said, sniffing. “You were a real cushion between us. It was like having a sister.”
    Raina handed her a tissue. “Dry up, girl. Youcan spend the night at my place whenever you want sisterly company.”
    Mary Ellen surprised them all by walking through the rooms of her home instead of using her wheelchair. “The therapy helped in lots of ways,” she told Kathleen. “I'm determined to be less wheelchair-dependent. Who knows? Maybe I can even get a part-time job and feel useful again.”
    Carson came over that first night bearing a casserole sent by his mother.
    “How thoughtful!” Mary Ellen cried, and invited him to stay for supper.
    “Good to see you back in your own space, Mrs. M.,” he said.
    “I wouldn't be here at all if it hadn't been for you,” Mary Ellen told him.
    He blushed with pride, making Kathleen love him all the more.
    Raina loved her work in the nursery and was grateful to Sierra for giving her the responsibility. She quickly learned that it was the choicest volunteer spot in the hospital, and that only the most trusted and capable teens were chosen for it. She spent all her free time at the hospital, working far beyond the requirements of the Pink Angels program. And why not? Between Hunter's school and work, she saw less of him than she'd imagined.
    She was curled up on her sofa with a book on a Saturday night when her doorbell rang. Startled, she glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner and saw that it was after midnight. Vicki was in Orlando at an overnight seminar for nursing supervisors, and Raina was under strict instructions to have no one over. She padded to the door, flipped on the outside light, peeked through the peephole and was shocked to see Hunter.
    In the glare of the harsh light, she saw that his cheek was cut and bleeding and his shirt was ripped. Quickly she unlocked the door and jerked it open. “What happened? Are you all right?”
    He stood staring at her for a moment, his eyes round with anguish.
    “Come inside.” She tugged his arm, hauling him into the foyer. A blast of chilled wind followed him. She saw now that his hand was bleeding across the knuckles and looked swollen. “Hunter, please! What's wrong?”
    “I've been in a fight,” he said.
    “You? A fight?”
Impossible!
Hunter was the most nonaggressive person in the world.
    “Over you,” he said. “Do you know a guy named Tony Stoddard?”

    a cognizant v5 original release september 20 2010

six

    A HAND , cold as ice, seemingly squeezed Raina's heart, and the world stopped spinning.
    “Do you know him?” Hunter repeated his question, this time more insistently.
    “We went to middle school together.”
    Hunter rocked back on his heels. “So he said.”
    “Tell me what happened, Hunter. Start at the beginning.” She didn't want to hear but knew she had to.
    “This Tony and two of his friends came into the restaurant about half an hour before we were closing. They got some burgers, sat in a corner until the place cleared out. Finally, my manager went over and told them they'd have to leave so we could clean up and lock the place down.” As Hunter talked, he rubbed his raw knuckles. “It was my night to close and after I finished, I went out to the parking lot. Tony and his friends were waiting for me.”
    “Did he jump you?” Fury surged through Raina. “Because if he did—”
    “No. He told me he