Disclaimer: all creative rights to the One Tree Hill characters belong to their original creator(s)!
Fair warning: character death.
They proceed down the empty hallway slowly, nervously, holding hands, shoulders brushing. She shudders on the next step, gripping his hand tightly out of a sheer necessity to stay vertical. He squeezes back, hating everything that's going to come from now on.
Approaching the end, they stop, hesitating a few feet away from their targeted door. The blinds over the viewing window prevent them from looking in, but they don't need to be clued in as to what's going on.
"I don't…I don't think I can do this," she stammers, loosening her hand from his.
He exhales excruciatingly. "I don't think I can do it, either."
"You have to. She should hear it from you."
"It doesn't make it any less painful coming from me."
"I know, but…but it's better if you do it," she says, brushing her lips over his and moving away from him. "I'll wait here."
Following a tense, quiet beat, he turns to face the door. He stares at it for a moment, and after shooting her a quick glance over his shoulder, he reaches for the handle.
The room is silent when he steps in, dimly lit by the yellow light from the single bedside lamp. At the sound of the opening door, the patient rolls over on the bed, in the process entangling her legs in the bed covers.
"Nathan?"
A muted, sharp breath passes his lips. "It's…it's me."
She smiles at the sound of his voice. "Hey, Luke."
"Hey."
He sinks slowly into the chair beside the bed, clasping his hands together in dread. "How are you feeling?" he asks quietly.
She laughs throatily, sitting up slowly. Her face looks tight, puffy and pink. "Like I got thrown around by a rhino."
She presses her fingertips gingerly to the swell on her brow. "I have a nasty bump right here and it hurts like hell."
He chuckles nervously, his knee involuntarily starting to jig. Her eyes flicker over to the closed door.
"Is Nathan with you?"
Unable to speak, he shakes his head, leaning forward, elbows on knees.
"Where is he?"
She laughs again, somewhat dryly and forced. "I hope he's not getting me flowers. I'm always telling him to save for a rainy day instead of buying me things."
Her words, her cluelessness, feel like the final blow right in his chest.
"He...he's gone, Hales," Lucas says slowly, his eyes starting to burn.
"Gone where?" she asks, confusion clouding her face. "Is he at home?"
"No…"
"Okay. Where is he, then? Can you call him for me?"
He shakes his head again, feeling a tear roll down his cheek. She looks away at that moment, fidgeting on the bed, starting to breathe heavily. "C-can you please call him?"
He's on his feet, reaching for her. "I can't, Hales…"
"Call him, Lucas," she grinds out, her eyes watering.
"I can't."
"Yes, you can. Call him."
"Haley."
She whips her head to him, freeing her shoulder from his touch. "No."
"I'm so, so sorry," he rasps.
She's shaking her head vehemently, seeming to shrink away from him with every movement. "No. No! NO! NO! NO!"
Her trembling hands are over her ears, shutting out every sound from his moving lips. She refuses to listen to what he's saying, she refuses to acknowledge the tears in his eyes.
His fingers curl over her wrists, prying her hands away from her ears. "He's de—"
"Get out!" she screams in his face, so shrilly that he loosens his grip on her.
"Ha—"
Suddenly, she sits up straighter. Her eyes are hard as steel, drilling into him, menacing and angry. "Go! Get out!"
He takes a step back, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Go! Out! Get out! Get the hell out!"
Her wild screams are so loud that they can be heard down the corridors of the hospital. The door opens, and a curly-haired blonde head peeks into the room. He looks over his shoulder at her, a helpless expression on his face. The blonde's green eyes fall to their friend on the bed, who is looking back and forth between them murderously.
"Get the hell out. Both of you. Get out!"
Her feral and cold manner is like lightning crackling, and with a nod, Peyton is gone. Lucas doesn't say a word, simply stares down at his best friend, her stance stiff and rigid.
"I…I'll be right outside," he says.
Her eyes watch him as he leaves, her breathing coming in short, hard gasps by the time he's out the door. Lightheaded and trembling, Haley folds herself on the bed, a guttural moan passing her quivering lips. "Oh…"
The truth swims around her mind, hurting her brain and body. She's shaking uncontrollably, every fibre of her being rattling and quaking. The pain is overwhelming, starting from her toes, all the way to her scalp.
"N-Na…"
Her hands over her face, she lets out a desperate scream so loud that it leaves her breathless. "Nathan!"
The two friends barge into the room a second after that. They watch in shock as she altogether moans, cries and screams. She throws the pillow to join the beddings on the floor. Her body is trembling convulsively like something is electrocuting her bones.
"What is going on here?" the doctor demands as she rushes into the room behind them, followed closely by a nurse.
"I just…" Lucas tries to explain from the foot of the bed. His eyes are wide with horror as his friend comes undone.
The nurse reaches for Haley's arms, trying to hold her still. Like terrified prey fighting back a hunter, she raises a hand and slashes her fingers at the nurse as though to claw her.
"You told her?" the doctor spits, circling to the other side of the bed.
Lucas nods mutely as Haley kicks her legs around, fighting against the hold they have on her. Her pain comes from a point so deep that it sounds like she's wailing from a gravel pit. Every wail from her is a punch to the stomach for her friends.
"She's too fragile for that," the doctor barks before turning to the nurse and shooting out an order.
"She…she was looking for him," he splutters.
Again and again, Haley screams his name hysterically, sobbing so deeply and painfully that Peyton starts to cry, too.
"Nathan…Nathan…"
"This is milder but it'll calm her down," the doctor explains as the nurse rushes back in with a syringe in hand.
"Let go of me! Nathan! Nathan! Come back! Nathan!"
Haley struggles and shrieks, and they all watch in silence as she starts to calm down. In half a minute, her eyes shut slowly and she's out like a light.
"They sedated her again," Lucas says into the phone, head bowed down, fingers combing through his hair in quick succession. "How's Deb?"
He listens quietly, a hundred thoughts flying through his mind. This has to be the worst day of his life. "I don't know but I'll call you later. . . .Okay. . . .I love you, Mom. . . .Bye."
With a heavy sigh, he leans back in the plastic chair. "Deb's sedated, too."
"This can't be happening," Peyton mutters in disbelief from beside him, her arms wrapped around her middle. "They just got married again, Luke."
Her fingers clutch fistfuls of the red maid of honour's dress, gripping the material so tightly that her hands pale. "What are we supposed to do? What is she supposed to do?"
Luke doesn't say anything, letting her talk it out. One of them needs to be able to say things out loud at some point.
"He's dead, Lucas. Dead. Not sick or…or missing, but dead."
Peyton wipes at her cheeks furiously with the back of her hands. "What the hell is she supposed to do? How—"
She's crying again, her head falling to his starch white dress shirt, her bare shoulders shaking. Today was supposed to be one of the best days of their life together, Lucas thinks, blinking repeatedly against his tears. It's frightening how things can change in an instant.