AN: Well, last chapter! Thank you for all your reviews and follows. It is crazy to me that ya'll have consistently followed my little adventure with Mac. I hope it was highly entertaining. Thank you to gurl3677 for helping me with Kari's choice. THANK YOU GUYS! ENJOY! AN
The nurses had kicked him out of the room, but they couldn't kick him out of the hospital. Once again within four days, Mark found himself pacing the hospital hallway, terrified at the prospects of what could happen on the other side of the plain wooden door.
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sheriff Pratt watched Mac sitting, somewhat hunched, on the edge of the little cot, noting the twitching fingers that gripped the edge of the bed.
"What's the matter Mac?" he asked gruffly, tapping the keys on his computer lightly. Mac straightened, looking him square in the face. His blue eyes shinned with a disturbing clarity. The corner of his mouth curled into a knowing grin.
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Quickly reaching the three mile marker in his stress induced marathon, Mark massaged the back of his neck anxiously. Dropping down into a squatting position near the door, he leaned back against the wall. His heart dropped low into his gut as an ear piercing shriek erupted through the little room.
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Kari's eyes snapped open, gifting her with a blinding light over her head. Surrounding her were several shadows hovering over where she lay and reaching out with blurry shadowed limbs. She inhaled deeply, preparing to scream, only to find strange plastic objects in her throat and nose that hindered her breathing. Her throat convulsed violently around the hard tube in her throat. Hands flailing about, she grabbed the plastic object protruding from her throat; her nails scrapping at the tape that covered her cheek.
The shadows reached out, wrapping about her arms with very cold, very human fingers. Wrenching and twisting frantically, she freed a hand and grabbed the object again. Her throat burned as she snaked the tube out of her throat, gagging and coughing the entire time. Gasping loudly when the last inch of the plastic tubing burst free of her mouth. Another shadow snagged her hand, pushing it down to her side.
Screaming in frustration at the restraint, she thrashed about, kicking and swinging at the shadows. Muffled voices reached her ear. Blinking through the blaze, she watched the shadows take on colors and more definite details. Instead of giant blobs of a grayish tint, colorful clothing and lab coats swirled into view until she could deduce what the forms were. A barrage of doctors and nurses were hovering over her, their lips moving rapidly at her.
Calming her shaking body, Kari stared suspiciously at the medical professionals still trying to hold her down. Her wrists and forearms burned, dragging her attention to her arms. Several pairs of hands had pinned both of her arms down to her sides.
"Hey assholes," she barked, her own voice sounding strangely distant. "You know I have injuries there right?!" Several of the hands' grips faltered at the observation. One pair of hand still clung firmly to her left arm, pushing it down snuggly.
"Are you going to calm down?" The stern voice no doubt accompanied the one pair of hands that maintained their firm grip.
"Yes," she grimaced. "I'm calm. Now, let the hell go. That hurts!"
The hands thankfully left her arms. A short woman to her left proceeded to check her vital signs, beginning with shinning a spiteful light into her eyes. Squinting, she poked the tube still protruding from her nose.
"Please leave that alone," the doctor said sternly. She continued her assessment of Kari's health, glancing at the machines and comparing the information with that on her chart. A loud bang interrupted the doctor's progress. They turned in unified confusion at the noise. Looking terribly frantic and disheveled, Mark stood in the door frame.
He looked even more terrible than when she last saw him. His messy hair, normally a bright medium brown, had taken on a mousey hue. The Mohawk had long since collapsed against his skull. Dark rings encircled his blood shot eyes. The clothes hanging on his body were terribly disheveled, wrinkled and shaggy beyond recognition.
"Kari," he breathed half whispering her name. "You're awake? How do you feel?"
She didn't answer, choosing instead to just stare at the disheveled mess that he was. Cocking her head at him, she took in the picture he presented. Misery seemed to have been his bed mate for the past few days. Mark's brow crinkled at her continued silence and intense stare.
"Um, Doc, could we get a minute?" he asked. Bristling at the interruption to her work, she glared at the two of them.
"Make it quick," she said stiffly and left the room. Mark walked to the side of her bed, reaching out to take her hand.
"I am so sorry," he said quietly. "I shouldn't have let you be the one to stay behind." His head fell at the statement. Kari still didn't answer, choosing rather to continue to stare at him in that inquisitive way. His warm soft fingers closed about hers, as he tried to coax a response from her.
"Kari?" he asked. "Will you talk to me please?" Her unmoving head still held its dead-pan face. Beneath his fingertips, her skin felt as icy as it had for the past four days.
"Kari," he said again. "I know, I could never possibly understand what you suffered. What that psycho did to you, but I want to help you. However I can. Whatever I can do. I know we haven't always had an easy relationship, but I do love you. You are my friend"
Her eye twitched, as she continued to stare. Slowly her hand pulled from his, floating through the air to his face. Her palm brushed softly against his cheek. Her eyes searched through his, taking in every possible hint his gaze might give her. Kari's hand pulled away from his face, but rather than dropping it back to her side; it clenched tightly and swung back toward him. Her knuckles struck him in the jaw, knocking him to the floor.
"Ow!" he cried out, as he landed on the tile. "What was that for?!" Kari threw the blankets off her body, letting them slide into a pile at the foot of the bed. Another tube emerged from her gown and traveled over the side of the bed. Second guessing her desire to stand up, she decided to not risk pulling anything that might proof painful.
She turned to him, her formerly passive face twisting in anger. "I'm your friend? Really? In the decade that we have known each other you have rarely been a friend to me that did not require some sort of payment in return. You and I both know, you always plan for your optimum satisfaction regardless of the price." Her eyes flashed with blatant hostility as in her mind passed every time they had stopped talking, and what brought him back into her world.
Mark stared up at her, rubbing the side of his face. She had been rough with him before, but never in an anger fueled way. He'd had no idea that her left hook was that painful.
"I am so tired of you sitting there using me for my worst qualities," she snapped. "Qualities that we share by the way. Then when someone comes around who doesn't approve of your tastes and habits, (the real you) you have the audacity to not only condemn me, but blame me for your own choices."
"I didn't blame…"
"Bull shit!" she shouted at him, her rant reaching a boiling point. "You dropped me as a friend for the longest time, because you couldn't control yourself, Mark. I am a reactor. We both know this. I never overstep my boundaries, because though I may not have been able to wrap my head around putting all my faith and trust in a person, but I respect those who can." Kari's eyes grew bright with the gleam of unshed tears. Her heart beat loudly against her rib cage. Despite her fragile disposition and venom laced person, she felt a strange lifting sensation in her shoulders. Her back straightened as she let fly all the years of hostility she had chosen to ignore in the past.
"I loved you," she said, her rage lessening from its initial appearance as a busted dam to a trickle. "I tried to make sure I never judged you. Apparently the perspective was not returned. I am too tired to be your friend anymore. I never want to see or hear from you again."
The door to the little room opened abruptly. In stepped an officer, followed closely by the doctor who had left earlier.
"What's going on?" she asked, looking from Kari to Mark who was still sprawled on the floor.
"Nothing," Kari said quickly, turning instead to the officer at her side. "Where's Mac?"
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The phone sitting at the corner of his desk burst into an ear splitting ring. Sighing loudly, Sheriff Pratt dropped the roast beef sandwich back onto its wrapping and brushed the crumbs from his hands.
"This is Pratt," he said into the receiver, spewing bits of the sandwich onto the mouthpiece. His brow furrowed at the response. "How is she doing? Well I don't think that… No. What did the doctor say?" He stared out of the corner of his eye at Mac still sitting on the edge of the cot. Turning his back to the cell, he turned his attention back to the phone.
"Well," he concluded. "If the doctor gives her the go-ahead, and she is up for it, then bring her."
Sitting peacefully in his cell, Mac's smile grew in anticipation of the coming visit.
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Kari bounced along in her seat as Deputy Harley drove her to the sheriff's office. She tried to hide how much her body ached so they wouldn't try and convince her to go back. She wasn't dieing. She sat with a strange calm in the passenger seat of the squad car, waiting.
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yes," she answered. For the duration of the trip she'd kept her answers short and sweet. She wasn't at all interested in this journey, just the destination. Far out on the horizon arose the little building sitting squat amongst two other cop cars. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the distant building, knowing who was there expecting her. They pulled into the parking lot. Harley had barely brought the car to a complete stop, before she was unbuckling her seat belt and reaching for the door handle to get out of the car. Limping slightly, she headed directly for the building. Behind her Harley scurried to catch up with her before she entered the station.
Her limp hindering her progression made it easier for Harley to catch up to her at the front door. Remembering his manners, he reached in front of her, tugging the door open for her. Kari smiled briefly at him, then made her way into the police station to find where they were keeping him. Sitting at a desk was a portly looking man eating a sandwich.
"Sheriff Pratt, this is Kari," Harley called from behind her. The portly man stood, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"How are you doing, ma'am?" Pratt asked, as he came around to shake her hand.
"I'm good," she answered. "Where is her?"
Pratt stopped, staring hard at her. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"
"Yes," she said firmly. "Please, where is he?" Taking a deep breath, Pratt motioned for her to follow him. They walked back around a wall to a hallway. She could see the cells lined up against the far wall. Sitting rather smugly in the first cell was Mac. Looking through the bars at his incredibly blue eyes that were fixed solely on her stunned the air from her lungs. As she approached the bars, Mac stood from the cot. Vaguely Kari heard the voices of the sheriff and deputy warning her to not get too close. She disregarded the warnings whole heartedly.
Mac reached the bars, grabbing them lightly with his hands. He cocked his head at her, waiting for her to speak. Words failing her, she wrapped her hands lightly over his.
"Miss please don't touch him."
Pushing her hand through the bars, she cupped his cheek, pulling his face up against the bars.
"I've made my choice," she murmured, claiming his lips between the bars.
AN: This song wouldn't stop playing in my head while I wrote this last bit. Hope ya'll liked it!
"Well, I've heard that the devil's walking around
I sold my soul way down in the dirt
But stole it back and forever in debt
And for a moment I don't even care
Until I feel his breath at my neck
And maybe even you can feel it too
He's on a strike and looking at you
Holding onto his words, but baby
I saw an angel become the devil
Still they look pretty good hand in hand
Well baby, I don't need any of them
Heaven nor hell"
Heaven Nor Hell by Volbeat