Not Alone – Chapter 4
By MyNameIsCAL
-Fang's POV-
"C'mere, Boy!"
"No!" I screamed, trying not to look at my mom. She was on the floor, dead. My father had shot her. Now he was going to kill me.
"I'll kill you if you don't listen!" He pointed the gun at me.
I started to run.
BANG!
I tripped, falling onto my mother's body.
"I've got you now!"
I woke up in a cold a sweat, sitting up in bed. Just a dream, I told myself. Just a dream. That had happened years ago. Why did I still have to be tortured by those images? My father, if you could even call him that, was locked up miles away from here, in some desert prison.
"You're going insane," I grumbled to myself, my voice scratchy from its lack of use. Why couldn't I get sleep like Iggy did? He was snoring away, peacefully, dreams full of good things, not blood and violence.
I should have known better than to try to fall back asleep though…
The cars, they sped past me, back and forth, blurs under the one streetlight there. I stood leaned against the lamppost, trying to find something I had to live for, but I couldn't think of anything. After a while, I move to the curb. Even at this hour at night, there was no shortage of vehicles speeding by. I just needed to find the right one.
The toes of my worn out sneakers hung over the edge of the curb now. I swayed back and forth, waiting for the right time. And then, I took a leap of faith and threw myself in front of a car. I begged darkness to consume me, to takeover, and it did for a while…
I shot up in bed again, drenched in more sweat. Now I remembered why I stopped trying to sleep. My leg was whining in pain as I grabbed a set of new clothes and made my way to the showers down the hall, limping heavily. Somehow being the only one awake in this wing of the hospital made me calm. Stepping into the shower, I turned the water to cold. It was refreshing in some sense, although I'm sure if people found I was taking ice cold showers they'd think something was wrong with me.
Well, there probably was something wrong with me.
As I made my way back to the room, I passed a room, hearing crying. Or maybe it was just the hospital's bad plumbing. After a minute of standing at the door hesitating, I realized it was Max's room. I knocked once and opened the door.
"Max, what's wrong?" I took a few steps towards her bed, unsure of what to do.
She looked up at me, wiping her eyes. "All that blood…"
"Blood?" I blinked and then realized she was probably talking about a nightmare.
She held up her hand. "I saw all this blood…"
I took her hand. "There's no blood, I promise, not here."
"It was everywhere," she shook, sniffling. "In my dream, I mean."
"It was just a dream." I sat down on the edge of the bed.
She burst into tears again, leaning against me. "But it was real before. I keep reliving it again and again and again…"
I rested my arms around her, letting her cry into my chest as she held onto me. It wasn't long before Max tired herself out. Before I knew it, she was asleep, leaning against me.
"Whoa, Fang what are you doing in here!" Nudge exclaimed, stirring from her bed.
"Shhh…" I murmured as I tucked Max back into bed.
"Is she okay?" Nudge questioned quietly.
I pulled the blankets over Max, ignoring Nudge.
For a while, I sat there and watched her. My normal morning routine would have to been the first person on the breakfast line and then wait for Max, Iggy, and Nudge to join me some time later. Today, well, I guess I would wait until she woke up. It was a long time that I sat there. Finally Nudge woke up and told me to wake her.
"Max," I shook her awake. "Max, wake up, it's breakfast time."
Her eyes fluttered open and sat up, still looking tired. I wondered if she even remembered what had happened earlier. Iggy claimed he would wake me up in the middle of the night because I was talking in my sleep, but in the morning, I failed to recall those events.
She looked embarrassed to see me. "I'm sorry."
I shook my head.
After that day, Max became very attached to me.
It was Friday now, almost the beginning of Max's third week here. She hasn't left my side except for when she had to go see Dr. Theo. When she went to see him, I sat silently in the art room with Iggy and Nudge, drumming out a beat on the table with my fingers.
"What are you so anxious about?" Iggy asked.
"Nothing," I replied shortly.
Rolling his eyes, Iggy answered his own question. "Well, me thinks you like Max."
I frowned. Iggy had humor that amused me, sometimes it even made me crack a smile, but when he was picking on me, it sort of made me mad.
"She really does like you," Nudge insisted. "No matter what I try to talk to her about, the conversation ends up back to you before we go to sleep."
People. Relationships. I couldn't deal with them because I conserved my trust. Iggy and Max, well I guess you could call them exceptions. Even Nudge, I trusted her better than most people. Never before had I ever opened up to someone like I had to Max so many nights ago. Sometimes, I had to admit, I was jealous of Iggy and Nudge's relationship. The feelings I had for Max, maybe I just didn't understand them at the time.
But like I said, Iggy and Nudge's relationship was sort of a rarity here. I had seen patients here get close and end up falling apart because they just needed someone to cling to, not someone to fall in love with. They had all their feelings mixed up. Iggy and Nudge, well, from the start you could tell that it was going to be something more. Getting involved with Max crossed my mind every now and then, but the thought always ended with me telling myself that I wasn't going to hurt her. I mean, how does a person know that they really like someone?
"I'm not lying," Nudge sighed. "You oughta pay attention. The way she smiles around you is different, almost more relaxed. She's comfortable around you, if you can believe that. I remember when I first met you, Fang. You scared the shit out of me."
Iggy chuckled. "I don't think you ever scared me, I mean, I couldn't see you."
"Shut up," I growled.
Thank you for reading, as always! I think I'm going to alternate between POVs from chapter to chapter. Fang will probably be hesitant to get together with Max, so we'll see how that plays out in the next few chapters and their feelings for each other. Plus, I'll sneak Gazzy and Angel into the story, maybe…So yup, that's what's going on for the next few chapters. If you've got any ideas or suggestions, lemme know!