Fear is a Five Letter Word
Chapter 1
"I'll be home at 7. Bye sweetie"
That was Peyton's last instruction to Brooke before going to work. She gave a small kiss on Mary's cheek. Nathan and Haley had gone to Duke and she hasn't heard from them since then. Rachel and Mouth finally got together in the last day in Tree Hill and they moved to New York with Skills and Bevin. Brooke and Chase were still strong, who knew? And him? She never dared to ask. They agreed to try the long distance relationship but it got lost somewhere. She still didn't quite understand what happened, they just lost contact. The result from their last night together was with Brooke now.
The clock reached 7pm. Peyton absentmindedly collected her stuff. Without realizing it, she opened one of the drawers on her desk and saw a picture of her and Lucas. Her heart sunk as memories floated back to her mind. She couldn't help but wonder where he would be now. She held the photo on her fingers. She was wearing that white dress. The same bloody white dress.
Brooke and she had entered the prom place holding hands after fighting the psycho. Bevin was announcing Brooke as prom queen. Peyton hugged her and whispered congratulations and then moved to sit in a table. His eyes scanned the room as he came in with Glenda. A smile immediately rose on his face the moment he saw her. He ran to her and gave her a tight hug.
"Thank god you're here. Prom would suck without you"
"Yeah"
Peyton hugged him as tight as he hugged her. She could clearly tell he was crying. Suddenly she wanted to cry too. She blinked hard to hold tears back. They pulled away and shared a deep glance before he noticed the blood stain next to her shoulder. His expression changed from happy and relieved to concerned. Deep down Peyton knew he had a clue.
"When you went to pick me up tonight I was waiting for you"
"Then why didn't you go outside or yell at me?"
"Because someone was stopping me"
"Peyton, spill it. Who?"
"Derek"
"What?!"
"He showed up at my place right before you did. I was behind the door when you came. I wanted to scream your name and see you coming in my defense so bad"
Tears coming back to her eyes and this time she didn't try to stop them. One by one, tears were falling. Lucas made that cute little face he does when he's worried about someone.
"Peyton, how did you get away from him?"
"Brooke helped me. She went there"
"Well, thanks to Brooke you're here now."
He gave a relieved smile and hugged her tight again.
"I love you"
She felt like someone took her heart away. She wanted him to say this for so long and now that he did, she thought she would be happy or cry maybe. But instead of crying or feeling happy, this came out.
"I love you too. I'm in love with you"
Whoa, in love? She never thought about actually being in love with Lucas, it seemed unreal. But yet it felt good. Her heart and her mind were in the same place, and she had the courage to say it again.
"I'm in love with you Lucas. Always have"
He smiled one of his lovely smiles as he offered her his hand, inviting me to dance. Their faces were as close as they could be as they slowly drowned into the music. That was the moment Brooke took the picture. The moment their lips touched.
Peyton put the picture back in the drawer and left her room. Her mind was on Lucas. She couldn't drive, she couldn't focus. She just wanted him next to her. She wanted that safety his arms give her. Tears trying desperately to fall. She didn't have the strength enough to contain them. Her view got blurry and her car slipped on the wet road and hit another car. Fortunately, the other driver was okay.
"Oh my god!"
"Wait here, I'll check the girl"
"Nathan"
Nathan walked to the other car. His body froze when he saw the blond curled girl.
"Peyton"
"What?"
"That's Peyton, Haley"
Haley ran to see if Nathan was serious. She couldn't tell what she felt. She started to pull her out.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to pull her out. We need to take her to the hospital"
"Haley. We haven't seen her for a year"
"So what? She's our friend! She's your former girlfriend. If you want to stand there and watch her die, fine! But I'm not going to"
Haley continued taking Peyton out of the car. Nathan watched her, absorbing what she just said. She was right. She was his friend. He couldn't let her die because of a stupid pride. Haley smiled as she saw his hand helping her.
"I knew it"
"Yeah you were right"
They finally pulled her out. Nathan sat her on the backseat as Jamie looked in shock.
"Daddy, what happened?"
"Erm... aunt Peyton got into an accident"
"Aunt Peyton" Jamie said sadly with tears.
"Come on Nathan. Fast!"
"Calm down Haley"
"Calm down?? She can be dead Nathan!"
"I'm so wearing condoms next time. You're too hormonal"
"I am not"
"Whatever"
Brooke was playing with Mary when the phone rang.
"Hold on Mary. Let me answer the phone" Brooke got up and grabbed the phone "Hello?"
"Mrs. Davis?"
"Speaking"
"I'm afraid we have some bad news"
"Wait, bad news? About?"
"Do you know Mrs. Sawyer?"
"Yes, she's my friend. What happened to her?"
"She's got into a car accident"
"Oh my god!"
Brooke dropped the phone in shock. She couldn't believe what she just heard. A car accident?
"Mrs. Davis? Mrs. Davis?"
Brooke quickly grabbed the phone back.
"Sorry. Sorry. Which hospital is she in?"
The guy gave her the address and she thanked him. She turned to Mary.
"Mary, you may not understand this but your mom is an accident. We need to go to the hospital"
Brooke quickly stuffed a bag with some things Mary would need and headed to the hospital. During the way, she kept wondering how this happened. What caused the accident? For several times she got lost in her own thoughts.
Lucas was practicing hoops on the rivercourt when his phone rang. He smiled at the name on the screen.
"Hey Skills"
"What's up man?"
"Oh the same. I'm still helping Whitey with the team"
"What about her?"
"Who?"
"Her, dawg"
"Oh. We lost touch"
"I thought you would try the long distance relationship"
"Yeah, we did. But it didn't work" Lucas sighed. "So how are Bevin, Mouth and Rachel doing?"
"They are all great. Bevin is pregnant"
"That's awesome man. Congratulations"
"Thanks. Talk to Peyton man"
"I don't know"
"Promise me"
"Okay, I promise"
"Take care dawg"
"You too Skills"
Lucas sat on the bench. For the entire year he hadn't allowed himself to call her or even think about her. But after this conversation with Skills he felt like he needed to talk to her. Only if it was for some seconds. He had opened his eyes again and suddenly he realized he never really stopped loving her. Skills was right. He needed to fight for his love again.
"Nathan"
"Hmmm" He mumbled.
"You think Peyton is gonna be okay?"
"I hope so"
Just then the doctor came to them. Nathan and Haley shared a long look before getting up and walking to him.
"How is she?"
"She's stable. She should be fine"
"Thank god" Haley sighed "Can we see her?"
"Sure. Follow me"
Brooke came in running with Mary in her arms the second after Nathan and Haley left with the doctor.
"Someone called me. My friend is here"
"What's the name?"
"Peyton Sawyer"
"Okay. You can wait while the other visitants are with her"
"Okay. Thanks"
Brooke managed to sit in a chair with a sleepy Mary in her arms. She started wondering where Lucas would be now. Was he still in Tree Hill? She knew he was the reason Peyton was in this accident. She eventually fell asleep by hearing Mary's breathing sounds.
Lucas hesitated. His cell phone was open, ready to dial the number on the screen, but something was holding him back. Would she hate him for that? How would she feel? Does she still love me? Eventually he stopped asking himself and just went for it. Unfortunately he got the answering machine.
"Peyton. Hi. It's me. Listen... hmm... I know we've lost touch this whole year and I kinda promised Skills I would call you. So, how have you been? Well, don't make me feel like it was a big mistake calling you. I wanna hear from you okay? So please call me back. Bye"
The nurse started shaking Brooke to see if she would wake up.
"Mrs. Davis. Mrs. Davis. Mrs. Davis!"
Brooke was startled by the yell.
"What?"
"The doctor will come soon and take you to see your friend"
"Oh okay. Fine. Thanks"
Brooke softly shook Mary to wake her up.
"Hey sweetie. We're going to see your mom very soon. She will love it"
Nathan and Haley were still inside Peyton's room.
"Peyton" Haley held her hand tightly. "Please be okay. We need you"
Nathan sat besides Haley and put his arm around her.
"She will be okay Hales"
Haley nodded, teary. She was too scared for her friend.
"What if she doesn't Nathan?"
"She will. She has to"
Nathan himself had tears in his eyes now. He blinked hard and looked away to hide them from Haley. He needed to be strong for her right now.
Brooke was waiting patiently for the doctor so she could go see Peyton. They doctor finally came to take her.
"Thank god!" She carefully stood and walked up to the doctor. "How is she?"
"She's okay now. I'll take you to her"
"That would be great thanks"
Nathan gently tapped Haley's arm, telling them to go. Haley looked back at Peyton and gave a small laugh.
"Take care buddy"
Nathan offered his hand and she took it. They walked towards the door.
"So she's okay right?" Brooke asked.
"She's fine. She just had some bruises, that's all"
Brooke gave a relieved laugh.
"That's her room"
The doctor began opening the door. Brooke almost fell back in shock at the sight of the two people inside the room.
"Hi Brooke" Haley said in an embarrassed tone.