Chapter 11- Don't be Upset
Haley opened her eyes and found herself in an empty hospital room and for a second could not remember why she was there. She tried to move her arm and felt a searing pain and the memories all came flooding back. There was a clock up on the wall and it said 4pm which meant she had only been out for a few hours.
She had no idea how she had got to hospital and she had no idea how Marcus or Jimmy were. She felt sad when she realised that no one was here with her and there was no evidence anyone had been waiting with her before she'd woken up. She slowly sat up and found she was feeling less ill then this morning but then she supposed they had given her some kind of pain killers.
She found she was in a hospital gown but her clothes were neatly folded on the table by her bed. She got out of bed and tried to quickly get changed although her arm was painful she could still move it slowly. She had been shot in the upper arm but when she put her jumper on you couldn't even tell that a bandage was on underneath.
She didn't waste any time and quickly scanned the room to check she wasn't going to leave any thing behind. She needed to go find Nathan; now that she had survived she needed to go see him this was her second chance. She didn't want to think about any of the stuff that had happened today she just wanted to see Nathan; it was after all her coping mechanism for the last few months to just try and ignore the bad things that had happened.
She walked out of the door and into the corridor she had no idea where she was going so she walked down the corridor until she found a sign which pointed to the lift which lead to the exit.
She quickly followed the signs around a corner and bumped straight into Nathan who grabbed her arm to stop her falling over; luckily it was her good arm. For a second she forgot where she was and why she was there and was just happy to be this close to her husband.
"Thank god I found you." Nathan said looking so relieved. Haley felt her heart leap, he did care and he had come to check she was ok, she also loved the fact he was still handing onto her arm. She felt such relief she hadn't realised she was so worried about no one being there when she woke up until now.
"He's still in surgery and Karen, Lucas, Deb, Peyton and Brooke are in the waiting room." Nathan continued. Haley was confused were they talking about Marcus.
"What?"
"Keith" Nathan said also looking confused "He's been in surgery for an hour and half now and they haven't given us any news. I know Lucas and Karen will be so glad you're here" he said and added more quietly "I'm also really glad you're here its so hard just waiting." Haley was so confused Keith had been shot, when had that happened, why had he been in the building, she was too shocked to even think about why he hadn't asked about her being hurt.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Well no one 100 knows, he went in to building because he knew the gun man was Jimmy and tried to talk him down but Jimmy shot him" Nathan finished sadly.
"How are Skills and Mouth did they get out ok?" Haley asked.
"Yeah I heard they got out fine and their parents took them home which is why they aren't here now. I guess you choose a good day to stay home sick." Nathan finished. Haley just stood staring at him; he thought she was just in shock over the whole situation. He didn't know she was in the school he didn't know she had also got shot. The happiness she had felt earlier when she had run into him was completely gone, she felt numb Keith was in a critical condition and no one knew what she had been through. Nathan broke the silence he was confused, Haley looked like she was just hearing the news for the first time but she must have known or she wouldn't have come to the hospital he knew someone else had been killed but he didn't think Haley knew the guy.
"Are you ok, you look like your hearing this for the first time. You came here for Keith didn't you?" Nathan asked confused. Haley didn't know what to say, she wanted to spill everything to Nathan and cry in his arms but she didn't know if she could be that selfish, Keith had been hurt critically and there were lots of people here who needed her.
"No I was just hoping to hear he was doing better that's all." She answered, she used to be awful at lying but she seemed to be good at it now.
"It's just scary, I mean I was just getting to know Keith properly, Dan never really let me get that close to him and now the thought of loosing him its just so horrible." Nathan said sadly looking down. Haley didn't know what to say, Keith had always been around when she'd been growing up, Lucas and Keith had first taken her camping and it was Keith who had tried to help her beat Lucas at Basketball. Instead of saying anything she just opened her arms and welcomed him into a hug. He didn't notice when she stiffened when he squeezed her arm too tight and all thoughts of Keith and comforting Nathan went out the window for a second.
"We should go to the other." Haley said pulling back, as soon as Keith is doing better I'll tell Nathan about me being shot she thought. It all seemed ridiculously trivial now what she had been through compared to Keith's life hanging in the balance. Nathan looked up and smiled at her slightly.
"Yeah, thanks for being here."
"It's fine" she replied and followed him to the waiting room.
It had been an hour since Nathan and Haley had gone to the waiting room and not much had changed, there had been no news and no one had really been talking. Lucas and Karen were sat together with Deb next to Karen and Brooke and Peyton next to Lucas. Dan was sat next to Deb and Nathan and Haley were sat on the other side of Dan.
Haley was slowly starting to feel quite a lot of pain in her arm because the drugs were wearing off and she should probably be still in her bed but she wouldn't have left for anything and none of the doctors or nurses seemed to notice she was the patient who was missing from her room. It was kind of good as well the pain in her arm was distracting her from the current situation.
She could see Lucas getting more and more frustrated she was surprised he wasn't pacing the room, it seemed the only thing keeping him still was Brooke soothing him by rubbing his leg. A doctor then came up to them.
"Karen Roe" She asked and Lucas and Karen jumped to their feet while everyone else stared intently at the doctor waiting to hear what she said.
"I'm so sorry but we were unable to save him, he lost too much blood and the bullet punctured too many important organs. You can come see him if you want." Karen and Lucas just stood there for a second as if frozen then Karen slowly moved.
"Yes that would be good." She said softly Lucas took her hand and they followed the doctor slowly. As soon as the doctor, Karen and Lucas had left Brooke burst into tears and Peyton comforted her. Deb just stared ahead tears silently rolling down her cheeks. Haley didn't feel anything she turned to Nathan and he looked so lost, she gently guided his head to her shoulder and he cried silently while she stroked his hair. Luckily he was leaning on her good arm; she didn't want this to be the moment he found out about her being shot.
Everything just felt so surreal to her she couldn't believe that it was earlier this morning that she had been in the tutor centre with Jimmy and the gun. It felt like the longest day of her life and here she had Nathan her husband in her arms and although she knew it shouldn't it made her feel a bit happy and even though she was the one consoling him just knowing she could be there for him gave her some comfort. So that's what she did, she concentrated on the pain in her arm and comforting Nathan so she wouldn't think of anything else.
Twenty minutes later Lucas and Karen returned, Karen's eyes were red from crying and Lucas had his arm around her for support, his face was set and held a grim expression. When they got level with them Karen spoke.
"I think I need to just be alone for a bit, I'm going to go for a walk."
"Mum" Lucas started to say.
"Just give me a bit of time" Karen repeated and walked off down the corridor. Brooke and Haley both got up and walked towards Lucas and Brooke embraced him neither girls speaking.
""He looked so serine, you know" Lucas said sadly not really directed at anyone.
"Yeah he's at peace now." Haley said rubbing his arm.
"Do you want to go for a walk, get away from here we can talk." Haley said to Lucas. She knew she could try and help him and if anyone could understand what he was going through then she could and maybe it would help her as well.
"Or we can go back to yours and you can have a lie down it's been a long day." Brooke added. Lucas sighed slightly.
"A lie down sounds good" Lucas said then looked at Brooke and added "Just lying in your arms I need that."
"Come on then I have my car" Brooke said. They slowly walked towards the exit Brookes arms around Lucas and they said a quick goodbye to everyone. Haley stood there feeling hurt, she knew it was selfish and if that's what Lucas needed he should do it but she thought that he would want to talk to her to help him feel better. Peyton broke Haley's train of thought by getting up
"I'm going to go too, I don't like hospitals" Peyton said sheepishly and quickly left. Haley turned around where there was just Nathan, Deb and Dan left.
"I think I should take my mum home." Nathan said to Haley it looked like he had pulled himself together. "I presume you've got a way to get home."
"Yeah" Haley said softly looking down, it was easier that way so she didn't have to explain she come here in an ambulance. Deb and Nathan started walking away and Dan followed behind them and as he passed Haley he made a comment that they couldn't hear.
"Now is defiantly a time for family." He sneered. Haley stood there stunned Dan's brother had just died and here he was making snide comments to the daughter in law he hated. She just stood there and watched them walk around the corner until she was finally alone.
She couldn't believe the day it had been so surreal, she was hoping she could just wake up from it, she was kind of hoping the last few months had all been a dream too. She slowly made her way towards the exit, she didn't live too far away and she needed the fresh air.
When she got back to the flat she rushed to the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of painkillers and took two. Her arm was in agony, she was tempted to go back to the hospital but she couldn't face that place right now and not on her own and as she had no one to go with her she would just have to deal. It was 8pm but she wasn't in the slightest bit hungry at a time like this she would usually listen to music to comfort herself but she knew music would not make her feel any better now so she turned on the television.
She couldn't concentrate on anything though as her arm was throbbing in pain. She couldn't help but cry now and at that moment it wasn't for the people she had lost but simply because her arm was excruciating painful.
At 10 she couldn't take it any more and went to the bathroom and took two more pain killers and carried the bottle with her as she went to the bed room. She lay down on her bed and tried to sleep.
She tossed and turned for hours but sleep would not come and her arm still ached. At 1am she took three more painkillers and half an hour later she fell into a drowsy half sleep where she could still feel the pain in her arm. She managed to stay in that state until the morning.
Over at Nathan's house he could not sleep either. He had never lost anyone close to him before and was having troubles coping with how he was feeling.
He was also feeling disappointed in Haley, he thought she would have offered to come back with them at least to show her support and he had been half expecting her to turn up at the house now for hours but there was no sign of her. He had thought she would need some comfort as well but at the hospital she had not seemed that upset.
He supposed that she was doing ok and that she and Keith obviously weren't that close so it seemed harsh to him that she couldn't be here to support him when he needed it. At two in the morning sleep finally claimed him but he had strange dreams all night where he was chasing Haley down hospital corridors but he could never catch her.
Hey hope you guys don't hate me too much, but i assure you everyone will find out about Haley's Parents and Haley being shot eventually.