The Mourning After Part II
Summary: Haley was shot and wounded during the school shooting.
Note: Thanks for all the reviews, keep them coming. Hope you enjoy the chapter. While I have a couple of days off, I'd like to get caught up with my stories.
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FlashbackHaley arrived at school, early as usual. She couldn't bear to go back to the apartment and face Brooke. Brooke has already done so much for her that she didn't want to trouble her with her on going problems with Nathan. Brooke had her own problems to deal with and she knew that Brooke must be getting tired of the sick cycle she had put herself through. Brooke would love nothing more than to see her two friends back together but even she just kept seeing Haley's heart getting broken by each passing day.
Haley went through her planner and was sad that she had finished all her homework and already completed all her upcoming term papers and projects. She was sad because school had been the only thing to really keep her distracted and kept her mind off Nathan. Cheerleading had turned out to be a double edged sword, seeing Nathan all the time but not being with him was just a cruel tease.
She sighed to herself as her mind drifted back to him. How did her life get so complicated so fast. A year and a half ago, she was your normal high school student, now she felt like she had enough drama to last her a lifetime. She hated how much she needed him and she hated the fact that she caused him so much pain. But now, she didn't know what to do. He didn't want her and that was enough for her to crawl up in a ball and cry her eyes out.
She applied to both Duke and Stanford and got accepted to both. In a heartbeat, she would go to Duke and follow Nathan. It had been a dream of hers to go to Stanford, but pales in comparison to a life with out Nathan. For so long now she fought hard to keep their marriage afloat, but she knew that as soon as they were eligible, Nathan would file for divorce. Would she give up her dream of Stanford only to face four more years of Nathan hating her and ignoring her if she went to Duke? Music was already tainted for her. She could barely hum while she took a shower, the sparkle and magic of singing was completely lost to her now. Her dream of music cost her the only man she had ever loved and for that she could never love music. Even Stanford started to loose it's appeal. Without Nathan, what was the point she thought to herself.
"And I thought I got here early." Lucas said from behind her. Haley snapped out of her thoughts and greeted Lucas.
"Are you okay?" Lucas asked curiously.
"Yeah." She lied. They talked for a minute before she excused herself and headed for the tutoring center. She still had time to kill and students would often stop by and ask for help. She was glad when she saw some freshmen and sophomores there needing some quick help with their homework. She welcomed the distraction and sat them down and started helping them out. Moments later, Haley heard people screaming and running out. Everyone in the tutoring center looked around, unsure of what was going on.
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"And back to our lead story, where tragedy has struck at Tree Hill High School. A disgruntled 17 year old student James Edwards brought a gun to school and held a classroom of students hostage, among the hostages was fellow student Haley James Scott, an acquaintance of Edwards who managed to convince the troubled teen to release the hostages, sadly though tragedy struck when Edwards agreed to release his fellow students, he killed himself and upon dropping to the floor, the gun hit the ground striking Scott…"
Lucas turned off the television in the waiting room, he couldn't bear to hear the story again. Nathan who was sitting down with his head down was also relieved. The two brothers were alone in the waiting room, while the others were in another room. Nathan felt claustrophobic and didn't want to deal with so many people. Lucas stayed with him while they waited to hear word of Haley's condition.
Haley had managed to stay calm and collective and possibly helped saved the lives of the other hostages. According to Mouth, Haley convinced Jimmy to let everyone go but as he did, he shot himself and Haley ran towards him but the gun fell on the ground and fired a second shot right at Haley. The door opened and the doctor entered.
"Mr. Scott?"
"Yes." Both Lucas and Nathan responded and stood up.
Nathan moved forward, "I'm Haley's husband.. how is she?"
"Good news is that she is going to be okay." Nathan never felt more relieved. "We managed to remove the bullet and stabilize her. Her heart rate dropped suddenly during surgery but that was due to the large amount of blood loss. Given her young age and remarkable health, we see no reason why she shouldn't make a full recovery, but we still need to keep a close eye on her. We're moving her to her room now."
"Can I see her?"
"Of course, I'll send a nurse over to tell you when it's okay, but I must warn you that given her blood lost and anesthesia, she maybe knocked out for sometime." Nathan nodded and thanked the doctor.
Once he left, Nathan broke down again and Lucas was right there to catch him. "We came so close to losing her." Nathan said with tears in his eyes.
"Look, like the doctor said, she's going to be fine .. she will be fine and she is not going anywhere."
"You don't understand Luke, it's my fault .. my fault she was there.. if I didn't push her away this morning.."
"Nate, look you can't do this to yourself.. what's done is done.. you didn't know this was going to happen."
"That might be true but Haley thinks I don't love her .. I've been so stupid and my damn pride wouldn't let me forgive her and now I could've lost her and…" Nathan closed his eyes to hold back the tears.
"Tell her that.. she loves you.. she'll understand.." Just then a nurse walked in and told them that Nathan can come up.
"Go." Lucas said, "I'll tell the others the good news."
To Be Continued ... feedback appreciated !