Hello people, I have started a new story. I started writing this using a post from tumblr as inspiration (it was an AU's masterpost, it had a ton of ideas). This story is centered mostly around Maren (Six) and Stanley (Nine), Joseph (Eight) and Marina, and Sandor and Devektra. But, it will also include John and Sarah, Adam and Eve (One), Maggie (Two) and Hannu (Three). The AU from the list that I'm using was: meeting while waiting for hours on end in the emergency room au. I guess I should give a warning-
WARNING: Character death.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters from the Lorien Legacies.
Maren-
I sit on one of the hard plastic chairs with my head in my hands, trying not to doze off. I've been here for hours, waiting to see if my best friend, Marina, is okay. She got in a terrible car crash earlier and the doctors will only let family members in to see her, which is really starting to piss me off. After a quick glance at the clock, which reads 2:00 am, I groan. I don't leave, though, because I promised her little sister, Ella, who was on a three-day field trip to some place called Outdoor Ed, that I wouldn't leave until I knew Marina was going to be okay.
The workers have already tried to get me to leave twice, but when they tried to pick me up, I started kicking and screaming and they decided to let me stay so I didn't wake the patients. Overall, other than having security try to carry me out of the waiting room, the night has been uneventful. Well, it was, until the front desk got an emergency call and they had to send an ambulance. Then, a bunch of the doctors started preparing for the new patient, who, I can guess by the panicking of some of the doctors and nurses, is probably dying or very close to it.
"What's going on?" I ask, catching one of the nurses, Devektra, as she hurries past me.
"Nothing involving you, that's for sure," she says, yanking her arm out of my hands. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." She turns around and walks away quickly. I decide to sit back down in my chair after asking several other people about what's going on. None of them would tell me anything.
About ten minutes later, a tall, dark-haired boy walks in, practically in his pajamas. He's wearing only a pair of boxers and a hoodie, which he must have grabbed as he was leaving. He gives me a look before walking over to the other side of the room and sitting down in one of the uncomfortable chairs, putting his head in his hands, running his fingers through his long hair.
It takes me a bit to work up the courage to walk over and take a seat in the chair next to him. I stare at him and he eventually lifts his head from his hands to glare at me, his icy blue eyes narrowed. Honestly, I'm surprised I don't freeze right on the spot; his glare is intense.
"What do you want?" he snaps, clearly irritated.
"Oh, I was just wondering what's going on, you seem like you'd know about it," I answer, twirling some of my blonde hair around my finger. My hair isn't naturally blonde; I just dyed it that way after I lost a bet with my friend, Eve. It's not as bad as it could have been, at least I got to pick the color, and there's no way I choose something like hot pink.
"I don't want to talk about it," he mutters, putting his head back in his hands. I pout, frustrated that no one will tell me what's going on.
"Please?" I beg. He doesn't say anything, just feverishly shakes his head. "Do you want to talk about something else, then? Maybe get your mind off it?" It takes him a while, but he finally gives in, turning to me.
"Sure," he grunts. I swallow nervously, trying to figure out what to say.
"Um, how about you tell me your name?"
"Stanley, Stanley Worthington. And you are?"
"Maren Jones." I hold out my hand and he shakes it, gripping my hand tightly.
"So, Maren, what do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know, let's just talk about ourselves."
…
An hour passes quickly with just us talking to each other, alone, in the waiting room. I get to know him pretty quick. From what he's told me, I now know that he actually goes to my school (only he's a sophomore and I'm a junior), his uncle's name is Sandor, they're pretty rich because Sandor owns a successful company, he has six cousins, his parents died when he was little, he's an only child, and he loves sports and running.
I tell him about my mom and about my dad who left us, my love of sports in general, my best friends (Marina, Maggie, Eve and Ella, even though she's younger), and how I'm an only child too. After we've warmed up to each other a lot, I decide to ask him about why he's here again.
"So," I start. "Why are you here?" Stanley starts to become uneasy again, looking down at his hands as he twiddles his thumbs.
"Uhhh…"
"Please, I'll tell you why I'm here." I stare at him hopefully. Eventually, he starts to give in.
"Fine. It's Sandor, he's sick. He's had a really bad cough for a while and none of the medicines seemed to work. It just kept getting worse and worse until now. He passed out earlier and he wasn't breathing. That's when I called 911," Stanley pauses, staring down with his hands clenched in his fists. "After riding in the ambulance, I came here. You know what happens after that." He gives me a look. "Your turn."
"Marina got in a car crash and the doctors wouldn't let me see her. I promised Ella I wouldn't leave until I checked up on her, but obviously I haven't seen her yet," I explain quickly. One of the doctors walks in and I start to get hopeful. Maybe they'll finally let me see Marina.
"Stanley Worthington?" he calls, looking around, his gaze settling on my new friend. "I need to have a word with you." Stanley gets up, obviously nervous, and the two of them leave the room. I sit, in utter boredom again, until a nurse enters. Her name tag says that her name is Melody.
"Hey, um, Maren," the somewhere-around-twenty-year-old starts. "You have to leave now, you have school in the morning."
"I can't, I promised Marina's little sister that I'd see if she's okay first," I say.
"Oh, well, you can come back and see her quickly."
"Really?" I can't believe my luck. I thought I would have to stay the night.
"Yeah, though, don't touch anything. I don't want to lose my internship because I let you come back with me and break something."
"Oh, don't worry, I just want to see my friend." I get up and follow the intern to Marina's room. Melody opens the door quietly and I peer in. Marina lies on the bed, asleep, covered in bruises and scrapes with her leg elevated and in a cast. Honestly, she looks bad, but not as bad as she could be right now. She'll recover.
"Will you go now?" Melody asks.
"Yeah, I'll go now," I reply. The nurse leads me back to the entrance to the hospital and I pick up my things, getting into my car and driving home. I don't go to sleep until I send Ella a text saying Marina will be okay.
…
The next morning, I stop at Starbucks on the way to school, ordering an espresso. I only slept for three hours last night. When I arrive, I look around for Stanley. It's not that hard to find him, since he's so tall. When I see him, I run over to him, ready to ask some of the many questions running through my mind. I stop though, when I realize he's wearing the same sweatshirt from yesterday, the hood pulled up over his head, and a pair of dark jeans. He's staring down at the ground, his shoulders hunched over. Compared to last night, he looks like he had the life drained right out of him.
"What's wrong?" I ask, breathless from sprinting and elbowing my way through the crowd of high school students. I zip my jacket up. This morning is turning out to be colder than I thought it was going to be.
"It's just…" he trails off, not meeting my eyes. I frown and pull on his arm.
"Please tell me," I plead. He sighs.
"It's Sandor, the doctors figured out what's wrong with him."
"That's great!" I exclaim, but he doesn't seem happy.
"No, it's not great."
"Why?" when Stanley doesn't answer, I start to get frustrated. "Why?"
"H-he, he has cancer!" Stanley answers, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"What?"
"Lung Cancer, stage four. It already spread to his brain. Statistics say he probably won't live much more than four months, if he even makes it that far." Stanley turns away from me, trying to hide the glistening of tears in his eyes. It doesn't work, and I find myself doing something very out of character for me. I give him a hug, right in front of everyone.
"It's okay," I whisper. Stanley just stands there.
"No, it's not," he murmurs. "He's gonna die!" I can almost feel my heart breaking for him. He sounds so sad.
"Shhh, come with me," I say, grabbing his hand and ignoring the tingly-ness that appears in my fingertips and the way my heart skips a beat. He willingly follows as I lead him back behind the gym and down a secret passageway only I know about. I tried to show Marina and Maggie, but they refused to come. I would show Eve, but she wouldn't be able to use it. If she skips any more of her classes, she'll get a F and then her mom will ground her for the rest of the school year and take away her phone. Once we're down there, Stanley collapses against the wall and slides down it, sitting on the floor with his head in his hands, starting to cry.
"H-he can't die!" Stanley wails. "First aunt Kara, then uncle Chris and now Sandor! So many people in my life die!" I don't know what to do. I've never really had to comfort someone who's crying before. Awkwardly, I wrap my arms around him and he leans into me. I can feel the wetness of his tears on my neck and my heart breaks for him once again. I couldn't imagine what I would do if my mom were in Sandor's place.
"It will be okay," I say, trying to reassure him.
"No it won't!" he cries.
…
It takes him a while, but Stanley finally calms down, thanking me for not making fun of him and apologizing for breaking down and crying. It seems like it helped him feel better, like it got a big weight off his chest. I'm just glad I could help. We talk some more after that and leave when we hear the bell telling us it's time for lunch. Stanley and I say goodbye to each other after exchanging numbers and head over to our separate friend groups.
"Maren!" Maggie exclaims as I sit down with the sandwich I bought from the lunchroom in my hands. "Where were you?"
"Talking to someone," I answer, taking a bite of my sandwich.
"Who?" Eve asks, leaning forwards. "Is it a guy?"
"Would you leave me alone if I said yes?"
"So it is a guy!" Eve exclaims. I roll my eyes.
"So?" They're starting to annoy me.
"Who is it?" Maggie leans forward. "Is he friends with that Hannu guy?"
"Why do you want to know?" I ask.
"I, uh…"
"She's in love with him," Eve interrupts, grinning.
"Like you are with Adam?" I tease, starting to smile myself.
"Yep!" Eve laughs, sipping her soda. "But anyway, who is it?"
"Stanley Worthington," I reply. Maggie gasps.
"I think he's friends with Hannu!"
"Oh my god, Maggie, quit stalking the poor boy," Eve says dramatically. Maggie mock-pouts.
"Like you don't stalk Adam," she counters jokingly.
"Alright! Fine! You caught me!" she responds. "But we have bigger issues here: I think Maren has a crush."
"What! I don't!" I exclaim, throwing a one of my Cheetos at her.
"You totally do! If you were willing to spend all morning talking to him, you obviously like him." I blush trying to convince them, and myself that I don't have a crush on Stanley. But they continue to tease me like little girls and I keep denying it, even though I know that I probably do have a crush on Stanley. Damn, that sounds childish.
"Whatever," I mutter as the bell rings. "Let's just go to class."
Sorry for the short first chapter, they'll get longer, I promise. Next chapter will probably feature Stanley and Sandor and their side of things. I'm excited for this story!