Death seemed peaceful enough. Maybe I would enjoy it. I mean maybe I would get lonely but I would cope. But then I realized that the sound of my heart rate, isn't what you hear when you die. Nor is the sound of Alex crying. I slowly gained consciousness and then looked at the room around me. I gazed over my body to see how badly mangled it was left and, it was worse than I thought. I saw stitches on my leg, which looked like it came from a knife. That would explain the sharp pain I felt. I tried to get up to examine myself more closely, but it only hurt.

"You broke one of your ribs sweetie," Alex explained looking at me worried. I mouthed the word 'oh' and continued to examine my body. I had black and blues all over, probably from the punching and kicking… I believe my body has seen better days.

When I finally had the strength to speak up I asked, "How did I get here?"

"Someone saw you being attacked by people and brought you here. You probably would have died if not," a nurse explained to me. I then saw Nate sitting on a chair sleeping.

"He would never leave," Alex responded to my look, "I'm going to get something to eat from the café. Do you want anything while I'm there?"

"No thanks," and on that note she left. The tap of the door closing got Nate up and alert. He saw me laughing at him and his face flushed with red.

"Hey Nate," I quietly said. His eyes filled with relief and he got up and hugged me lightly.

"Ow…" I complained to his a little to tight hug. He mouthed the word sorry and there was a really awkward silence.

"I'm so sorry I left you…" he started.

"No worries, your sister needed you. By the way, is she okay?"

"For now, she had to get her appendix taken out, it almost burst you know," he explained looking to the side of the room.

I groaned in pain as I turned to my side to face him. He gently placed his hands on me and whispered, "I'm so sorry." I gave him a little grin and chucked.

"It's okay... no problem. This is nothing," I joked. I looked out the door of the room and saw almost the same bright blue eyes as before. But, once I saw them through the glass, they seemed to disappear.

"Who… Who is… is anyone else you know waiting for me?" I asked confused.

"Ya, that Matt kid from school was but he left a while ago, and Giselle." Nate responded.

"What… what color eyes does Matt have?"

"What? How should I know? You just got up from being almost killed and you want to know what color eyes a kid has?"

"Yes. Yes I do." He rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Oh, I didn't realize how late it was. I gotta go. Call me if you need anything," he said abruptly.

"Ya," I responded as he left the room. I felt wiped out, and tried to keep my eyes open and wait… for… Alex…

Where was I? How did I get here? Oh My God… is that… me? I saw a double of me being surrounded by these awfully drunk men. I was pushed onto the ground was being horribly assaulted. I saw my last punch before I fell unconscious. Is anyone going to help her… I mean me? I tried to move but I couldn't. Then a black figure showed up.

"It's you…" I said to the figure. He threw me a glance and the eyes.

The piercing. Blue. Eyes.

"Larissa. Sweetie. Are you awake? It's time to go home," Alex chimed.

"Mmhhmm," I responded tiredly. I got up and put on my clothes. I limped into the waiting room and was met by a series of eyes. Most of them were just from spectators, but I saw Giselle and Matt.

"Never do that to me again!" Giselle scolded me as she squeezed me. Matt just laughed and agreed.

"Hey. As Giselle said, 'Never do that again!'," he hugged me lightly.

Lightly in my ear, he whispered, "be safe."

I game him a little smile and mouthed, "always." I reluctantly moved away from him and gave a sheepish glance towards Alex.

The car ride home was silent. I still felt tired so when I got to our house I practically crawled to my room and tried to fall asleep but I couldn't. Instead I called Giselle and just talked. But I needed to do something. I picked up my phone and texted Nate.

Wanna hang out today?

-Larissa

Then I just waited. For something. Anything to happen. I expected him to text back soon… but when? I became impatient, really impatient (at one point I think I started twitching). I checked my phone again but apparently I did have a message.

Meet me outside of your house.

-Nate

I stared at the phone. 'What?' I thought to myself. Oh well. I walked downstairs and Alex wasn't to be found. Ok… I took a step out the door and realized that it was like 10:00 p.m. I looked up at the sky and the clouds were blocking the moon which was probably why I couldn't see. The only place I could see was the porch, so I just sat on my bench and waited. Soon I could make out a figure in the distance.

"Nate? Is that you?" I questioned. There was some murmuring in the background, it sounded like cursing or something. The clouds moved away from the moon. I looked at the person and… holy crap...