Time seemed to just roll on by, and one by one, everyone began to dismiss the thought of Emily... Well, surviving. Surviving something they didn't even know what was. The clock had made a jump from one hour, to four, as everyone looked around wearily.
Kenny could hardly think straight.
Oh Emily... Emily… What have you done? Kenny looked down at his hands and clenched his fists. The one time when Emily really needed him and he wasn't there!!... How could he not of noticed?
Kenny was trapped in a turmoil of depressing thoughts for the next hour until the ER room doors opened. A man clad in white, pulled off his light blue gloves and entered the waiting room. Kenny was the first to arise to his feet.
"What happened?! Is she alright?!" There were so many questions he wanted to ask…had to ask! But the calming sign of the doctor raising his hands dismissively managed to calm him for the few seconds needed to explain what had happened.
"A large amount of Methamphetamine was found in your friend's system. She's stable now and should be alright in a couple of days. Well, alright to leave anyway...." The doctor trailed off. Kenny went wide-eyed along with the others.
"Methamphetamine... Meth... As in, Crystal Meth? As in drugs?!" Kenny yelled out, shock laced in his tone. The doctor looked at Kenny sympathetically.
"Yes young man, I'm afraid so. What is your relationship to the young woman?" Kenny looked down.
"I'm her friend...." he stuttered out.
"He's her best friend!" Max said coming to the aid of one of his best buds. But Kenny could hardly acknowledge the gesture as the news of Emily's drug use whirred by continuously in his head. Again, an earlier statement made itself known.
How could I not have noticed…?
Emily gave a loud cough in the middle of class…
Her skin was notably paler and she had a sweater she sometimes wore that smelled of smoke and another scent Kenny just couldn't put his finger on…
Just a little aftershock from her late nights and doses last week...
Emily darted outside. Nothing unusual…
Kenny felt like shit. No, he felt worse than shit. Honestly, the signs that he missed....
"You see, when injected, Crystal Meth causes a feeling of induced scratching, as if bugs or spiders were crawling over the skin. The doser feels the need and usually does, scratch nothing at all. It also causes hallucinations when overdosed upon."
"That explains everything...." Matilda muttered.
Even the ramblings of everyone else around him couldn't help drag Kenny out of the hole of despair he could slowly feel himself slipping into. Nothing. Nothing could save him now.
The next day, everyone was silent at school. Well, our heroes were. Whispers of Emily's misdeeds had traveled quickly. King, Queen, Cassie, Ashley, Ming Ming, Kyle and James couldn't have been happier. But, Emily wasn't the only one with issues coming her way either.
Eddy whistled a cheerful tune as he walked out of the gym and towards his car to head back to the dorm quarters. Dribbling his Old Reliable basketball delightfully, the new Xavier Patriot captain was on top of the world. He finally had a team! And a position he had earned. In fact, the coach had just asked Eddy to stay behind for a few minutes for tips on how to better train the team for half-court. The rest of his team congratulated him on a practice well played and headed home. Eddy smiled at the thought. Eddy reached into his gym bag which was slung over his shoulder and managed to wrestle out his car keys. As he stepped into the light of the day and saw his car awaiting him... He could've fainted.
The windshield was shattered! And a large 'X' presumably for Xavier, was spray painted on both sides of his copper-colored Mustang. Eddy dropped Old Reliable in shock and the ball softly bounced down the steps and rolled to a stop at the tire of his car.
Salima hummed a gentle tune as she let her hands gently work out the kinks in Kai's stiff back. Kai sat at the foot of the bed, sighing deeply.
"Damn fangirls.... Nearly fucking tore me apart." He cursed. Salima chuckled.
"Easy Kai. If they did this to you, I don't want to know what will happen if they find out we're seeing each other!" Salima said. At that, the stone-cold Russian managed to crack a smile. Smile... Kai smirked instead. He knew there had to be something special about this girl, for him to smile... perhaps he'd finally found that one person who would make living worth it? Kai nearly shrugged. He probably would have if Salima's careful hands weren't needing his back. So, for now, maybe he'd try to leave the past (and his scars)… Behind.