Chapter 4: Breathe (2 am)
"'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl.
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe... just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe"
-Anna Nalick
Air rushed into her lungs. Oxygen poured into her bloodstream. The steady beat of her heart sped up to accompany unwelcome emotions. Tear-blurred vision revealed the truth to her. Whether the truth was as simple as missing your ex's voice or as complicated as feeling the need to help someone who you don't know at all, it was shown in all its glory. But however tough the truth was to handle, all she had to do was breathe. Breathe through the tears threatening to betray emotion. Breathe through the pain that didn't exist a minute earlier. Breathe through everything that was catching her breath in the first place.
Inhale. Thump-thump.
Exhale. Thump-thump.
Inhale. Thump-thump.
The breath caught in her throat once more. Breathing seemed to be harder than she remembered. She inhaled again and started over, listening closely as each breath whistled out of her mouth. She counted as her breathing became easier and her pulse slowed. One breath at a time.
Summer's breathing evened out as Seth's voice squawked from the speaker in her cell phone. "Hello? Summer? Is anyone there? Hello?" She clutched her phone down by her side and blinked back tears as she swallowed the breath caught in her throat. She warily raised the phone to her ear.
Thirteen watched as the door glided shut with ease. The syringe that was in her hand was back in the cart. Her eyes widened as she found that she seemed to need to force air into her lungs. It was thick like cream and coated her throat. Why do I care about that girl? That crazy girl? She took a deep breath and sighed it out before continuing through the same door the girl had exited from.
Marissa reached the top of the stairs, tears leaving tracks on her face. She gasped for breath as she pushed the heavy metal door open. Cool air filled her lungs and made her head woozy. Exhaust and the smell of smoke whirled around her spinning head. She drudged over to the edge of the roof and looked down at the empty streets. They seemed so small and insignificant from all the way up there. Marissa sat down on the coarse rocks and leaned her back against the wall. The let the tears fall slowly as she searched her pockets for her picture. Her breathing quickened as her hands came up empty time and time again. Where's the freaking picture! As a sob escaped her trembling lips, the heavy metal door to the roof opened. Marissa lifted her eyes to see the cause of the opening door. The vision of a woman wearing a white coat swam in her tear filled eyes.
"Hey, Cohen," Summer said coolly, hiding the resentment in her voice. "What's new? We haven't talked in, what, a year?"
Seth sighed, "Hi, Summer. I'm fine, as is Alex. How're you? Last time we talked you were… upset." He listened to the uneven breathing coming from the other end of the phone.
"I'm still… upset. Glad to know that everything worked out with Alex. It would suck if we broke up for no reason." Summer's voice no longer hid her anger, it dripped with sarcasm and contempt. "It's too bad I didn't get a chance to go to the wedding, I had the perfect gift in mind."
"Summer, please don't do this…"
"It was a Beatles album. It could've given you some pointers on what true love is."
"The Beatles? Your taste in music has branched out a lot in a year." Seth paused, hoping Summer's bitterness has dissipated, or at least faded a little. "Did you call to yell at me, which is perfectly fine, by the way, or did you have something else to say?"
Summer inhaled, pushing the rage out of her mind; she had more important things to take care of. "So, Alex is with you, right? She isn't some brunette doctor in New Jersey called 'Thirteen'?"
"It's only been a year. Not that much has changed with her. And nothing has changed between me and her. Are you okay? Maybe smoking a little too much of mother nature?"
"Ha, funny. You know I stopped doing that way before you did. I know it sounds crazy, but there's someone that looks exactly like her. It's really freaky."
"Yeah, well, doppelgangers do exist. Why are you chasing down an Alex look-alike, anyway?"
"I met with Marissa."
"Oh… Man, it's been years since I've even heard her name. How is she doing?"
"She was in rehab, for, like, a year. She wanted me to break her out." Summer had fallen into the comfort of talking to the love of her life, forgetting that he was no longer hers. It was refreshing to talk to him about Marissa's craziness and the oddness of the situation she was currently in. "She got out without illegal activity, but now she's determined to get Alex. She's come to the realization that Alex was the love of her life."
"Hmm… I don't really know what to do with that information. Does she not know about…"
"No, she was watching this reality TV show and 'Alex' working in a hospital here in New Jersey. I didn't think that this person would actually look like Alex, so I didn't tell her. She has her heart set on Alex and she's in a fragile state to begin with. If I tell her now, she'll know that I led her on a wild goose chase. She won't be finding out about you and Alex." Summer stopped when she heard yelling from down the hall. She couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like Marissa's voice. "I think Marissa's having a meltdown right now. I just needed to talk to someone about all of this and you're my only friend. And we're not even friends anymore. Anyway, I probably won't call you back anytime soon. It was… Tell Alex I said 'hi' and wish her luck with everything. Bye, Seth."
Summer snapped her phone shut before Seth could respond. She pushed her head into her hands as she sagged against the wall. Salty water, flowing freely from her eyes, commingled with the saliva in her mouth. A sob escaped her mouth as her throat betrayed her. She gave into the tears and openly wept until a kind voice spoke from next to her. "Are you alright?"
Marissa watched unashamedly as the doctor glided over to where she was sitting. "Are you alright?" The doctor asked in a deep voice. Marissa blinked her eyes a couple of times and wiped the residual tears from them. She looked back at the doctor standing in front of her, quickly realizing that the doctor wasn't a woman.
"Miss, are you okay? You're not really supposed to be up here." The doctor looked at her with searching green eyes. His eyebrows scrunched in compassion as he looked at the teary eyed woman. He ran his hand through his short blonde hair before sitting next to the woman. "It's fine, though."
Marissa snuffled and wiped her eyes again. "I'm sorry, this is stupid."
The doctor put his hand on her shoulder, "It's okay to be upset, especially when someone you love is in the hospital." Marissa gazed at his mouth as he spoke, mesmerized by his accent.
She then realized what he said and shook her head slowly. "No one I know is in the hospital." He hastily took his hand off her shoulder and opened his mouth to say something, but Marissa beat him to the punch. "I was here to see someone, but she wasn't the person I was looking for."
"So you're on the roof crying because…?"
"Because I'm sad." She pulled her knees to her chest and turned her head away from the doctor. "Was sad. I'm better now." The doctor returned his hand, attempting to comfort her. She turned to look at him again, realizing that she didn't know his name. She raised her eyes to meet his, "My name's Marissa."
The doctor held her gaze, "Robert." His hand felt heavy and warm on her shoulder, filling her with heat. It felt nice in the chilly air. She suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness hit her like a sugar crash. The events of the day, not even and hours worth, made her bones ache and her mind cloudy. Just as the doctor released his grip on her shoulder, she leaned her head against his. He shied away from the contact for a moment before giving in, slightly befuddled.
From a short distance away, two light blue eyes watched the roof-top scene unfold. Playing like silent movie to a blind person, it didn't make for a satisfied viewer. Thirteen sat on her heels and opened the door slowly, hoping she could sneak out and hear what the two people where saying. She was about to put her foot out into the light when Marissa's head swiveled in her direction. She quickly pulled away from the door and out of Marissa's line of sight. Just as her breathing became regular again, and clunking sound echoed up the stairwell.
Thirteen simply stared down the stairs, waiting for the person to show himself. A cane was shortly stuck in the air and waved like a white flag. Thirteen shook her head at House's attempt at a humorous gesture. A gravelly and breathy voice sounded from the depths, "I can't believe you would make a cripple walk up all of these stairs." Thirteen strolled down the stairs to meet an exhausted House. "I surrender, you win!"
"No one made you follow me up the stairs, House." Thirteen stuffed her hands in her pockets and followed House as he descended the stairs.
House flung his toothiest grin at her and asked, "How else was I supposed to get any dirt on you and your spurned stalker?"
Thirteen merely frowned and nodded her head, expecting nothing better from House. She didn't bother refuting House's assumptions, not even sure if they were false. The walk down the three flights of stairs was quiet other than the thumping of House's cane and uneven footfalls of Thirteen and House. The silence was kept up all the way into the office where Foreman and Taub were also being silent.
Summer ran one hand over her eyes and one through her hair, attempting to hide the fact that she was crying. She didn't succeed. With red-rimmed eyes, Summer twisted her head to see the man that was speaking to her. As her eyes made there way from the man's legs up, she couldn't believe who it was that was standing next to her. He was wearing faded jeans, not to tight or baggy, secured in place by a classic brown belt. A navy blue flannel shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, was loosely tucked into the pants. One of his wrists was covered by a silver watch; the other one had a brown, leather wristband on it. His blond hair was short and parted to the side, brushed and kept neat. His face was shadowed with the familiar look of concern; eyes wide and unblinking, slight frown, and raised eyebrows.
Summer recovered quickly, not bothering to ask herself the important questions, "Still feel the need to get yourself into the middle of everyone else's drama?
So, I know this chapter is really short, but I'm not sure when I'll get to add more to it. I will try to update as soon as possible, but school's starting and I'll have a lot of homework. Make sure to review =)
