Okay so this chapter might be inaccurate because I don't really know what goes on in an actual burn hospital...so please correct me if I'm wrong.

THANK YOU to: NeonLovesYou, teezee, sloth13, and Jadiee.
And especially Kittkatt11 for your amazing review(s)!


CHAPTER 28
Beck's POV

I wanted to run out screaming when we first entered.

You could hear people crying and screaming from all over the place. Robbie looked like he was going to be sick as went up to the front desk and requested to see our friends. I couldn't stop looking around, seeing family members whispering into each others' ears and failing to hold back tears. Every time a doctor came in, everyone would look up, terrified that it might be their own loved one that had passed or something.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sirs, but currently Tori Vega is in surgery and Jade West is in a medically induced coma. You can still see André Harris if you'd like to, though," the nurse told us apologetically.

My girlfriend is…in…a….COMA? Nobody said anything about that!

"But…how…did Jade…" my words came out in splutters.

"Would you like to go see Mr. Harris now? Can I get your names please? I need to do a background check." Robbie was holding onto my shoulder as he gave the woman our names. I was shaking violently. Oh gosh, I can't even imagine what could've happened to my girl now…we shouldn't have come here, we shouldn't have come here...

"André's up and about in room A-290, which is on the second floor. You boys have fun. And please don't be rude about the way he might look," the nurse told us quietly. "Some patients can get easily upset about that in the healing process."

Before I could ask any more questions, Robbie towed me out into the dimly lit hall. "Hey, man, calm down all right? We can get some answers about Jade from André, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," I said, nodding my head.

We took an elevator up to the second floor, but not after passing people lying on gurneys being wheeled around by frenzied nurses, with their faces a mess of charred red and flecks of skin, moaning and crying. This was like a living hell for me. Did Jade look like that too?

"Over here, Beck."

Room A-209.

I pushed the door open without knocking and saw André standing by the far window, using a walker, his back to us. The walls were a simple white, and the main light was turned off, only rays of sun coming from outside brightening up the room. He turned around when he heard the door open, and his face beamed when he saw us.

"André!" Robbie said, going over and giving him a hearty slap on the back.

"Dude! You're alive!" I joked, giving him a bro hug.

"Yeah, man. That was a hecka intense night, let me tell you." André half-wheeled, half-limped over his bed and sat down, the object creaking under his weight. "I just got a few burns on my legs, but it makes it really hard to walk so they're going to keep me here for a few days until I get better. Then I can go home." He pointed ruefully to his wrapped up knees and smiled.

"How did that happen?" Robbie asked as we sat down in cushiony chairs across from him.

"Tori made me take off my pants—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, she what?" I interrupted, almost laughing for the first time in a while.

"Let me finish before you start interrupting." André's tone was serious, but there was an amusing glint in his eyes. "There was no—and I mean absolutely no—water or any fire extinguishers in the hotel room that 'it' happened in. So we had to use our clothes. Improvisation is the key to survival, right?"

"What do you mean we?"

"Tori and I. Seeing as Ja…" his voice trailed off and he looked away from my face, his hands twisting uncomfortably in his lap.

"Jade. What happened to her? The police said…"

"Beck, man. I'm sorry. On my life. I wish we could've gotten there faster and put out the fire sooner…but geez. I'm so sorry, dude," André started apologizing.

"What happened to her, André?" I demanded.

"Old man Valentine set her on fire, you probably heard. She was completely covered in flames when we found her. Tori used her clothes and some of mine to try and put them out, but since that wasn't working too well, she ended up getting down and holding Jade, and she tried to roll her around, you know?"

"That sounds really sexual," I commented.

"Yeah it does. Until you realize it's what ended up saving her life in the end," André shot back, crossing his arms. I frowned.

"So what exactly—" I started.

"Then what happened to Tori?" Robbie asked.

"Apparently she suffered second degree burns to her arms and chest, and the doctors are doing some skin grafts to try and speed up the healing," André remembered, suddenly shuddering at the memory. "But geez…"

"And Jade?" I pressed again. Why the heck does everyone keep avoiding MY QUESTION?

"I'm not sure." André was telling the truth. "But I'll tell you, Beck. I would never lie to you about anything. And I wish I could lie to you right now. I'm sorry man. No one deserves something like that to happen to them." I stood there, my mouth hanging open.

"I got a chance to see her body before the paramedics took her away. I couldn't even tell the difference between her clothes and skin. It was probably the scariest thing I've ever seen. Even when my I close my eyes…it's like I can still see her…lying there…helpless…"

My breathing had slowed down, and tears were running down my face.

"It was like someone had stuck her in a barbecue and forgotten to take her out. She didn't even her hair anymore and her body was so charred that I can't even believe she's usually as pale as a vampire."

"How is she even alive?" I whispered, my voice cracking. But seriously. With the injuries that André just described, there was probably no way in the world she would ever physically look the same again.

"She's a fighter, like you always said." André changed the subject, although I could not stop thinking about how my girlfriend was going to live now. The way I was imagining her looking was beyond appalling. "So I heard you guys killed Mr. Valentine? How in the world did you manage that?"

As Robbie filled André with the details, somehow making it sound a lot more terrifying and dramatic than it really was, I went to stand by the window, not able to process anything at the moment.

My heart longed to see Jade, but I had a feeling that I wasn't going to be prepared for what I would see. I wiped my nose again, wishing that we had never decided to get involved and try and solve this mystery in the first place.


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"You boys can go up and see Miss Tori Vega, if you'd like," the nurse at the front desk said as we were walking towards the entrance. We had hung with André for a lot longer than planned, but then a doctor had come in and given him some of those painkillers that made you sleepy so we had decided to leave now.

"Oh really?" Geez, Robbie was so eager to see our maimed friends. What was wrong with him?

"Yes. Her parents and sister arrived earlier, and they said you both were allowed to go and see her."

"Okay. Which room?"

"T-487, also the second floor."

"Do you think she's going to look as bad as André?" I asked Robbie hesitantly, wanting nothing more to get out of this place as we took the ride up in the elevator.

"I dunno. You don't have to go, man. I know it's probably really hard for you."

"I'll get over it. She did 'save' Jade after all," I replied as we went searching around the floor for room T-487. I found it first, and we hesitantly knocked on the door. Lo and behold, Mr. Vega himself answered.

"Oh! Hey guys, come on in."

The room was exactly like André's, with white walls covered in pictures of overly happy people and events. Mrs. Vega and Trina were also in there, crowded around the single small bed in the middle.

When I saw Tori for the first time in what seemed years, I was actually pretty excited. Her face was flushed and red, it looked like she'd been crying. Her hair was damp and the entire upper-half of her body was wrapped in white cloths.

"Beck? Robbie?"

"Hey, pretty girl," Robbie charmed, moving closer to her bed.

"What's going on?" I forced myself to say with a cheerful tone.

"Well, I just finished up my daily burn bath," she said, a frown turning her lips downward. "That has got to be the worst part so far. Sometimes I think it hurts more than getting burned in the first place."

"Well, you seem to be doing pretty good," Robbie commented.

"Yeah. The fire didn't burn me 'too' bad. Just some second degree ones up here. I guess I'm glad to be alive and look almost the same honestly." Tori's frown upped into a smile.

"Haha, yeah, you don't really look the same down there." Trina's eyes shifted towards her chest.

Tori shot her sister an awkward glance.

"Seriously."

I laughed, and Trina smiled a little too friendly at me. "Well, we just came by to see you, since we haven't in a while, it seems. And also, even though I haven't seen her yet, I just wanted to say thank you for saving my girlfriend."

"Yeah, no problem." Tori's eyes were twinkling. "It was, uh, I'm sure anyone else would do the same too."

"Mhmm." I reached over and gave her a gentle pat on the head, seeing as giving her a hug probably wasn't a very good idea at the moment. Robbie did the same.

We stayed for a little bit longer, especially after her family left the room to leave us alone, and we just chatted softly about how our lives had now been changed drastically. I tried to be 'in' on the conversation, but I couldn't stop thinking about Jade.

I had to see her soon, conscious or not.


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Every day for the next few weeks I drove all the way back up to the burn hospital, begging the staff to let me see Jade. It was a long drive too, and I started failing in school because I spent all of my time sitting in a car or moping around in the hospital lobby, annoying all the nurses I could find, but no one gave in.

It wasn't a matter of knowing what had happened to her, because it seemed like the whole city knew that she had been severely burned.

I just wanted to see her again.

My parents took away my truck keys, so I walked over to André's house (since Robbie didn't really own a 'car') and took his instead. But once they found that out I was banned from even leaving the house, so I waited until around midnight to sneak out.

The doctors finally told me that Jade's dad did not permit any visitors into her room. I threw a huge tantrum and they almost had to call the police to calm me down.

No visitors?

No visitors?

Are you freaking KIDDING me?

Jade had told me many times that after her mom died, her dad started ignoring her and acting as if she didn't exist. And now he was keeping the only people who truly loved her away.

What kind of man does?

What kind of father does that?

And then it made me remember that Cat had been killed by her own father, and now it didn't seem so bad. But I was going to die without getting to see Jade every day. I was considering just killing myself so I wouldn't have to live with the pain.

Until I got the call from Fireworks Burn Hospital.

And they gave me the green light to come and visit my girlfriend…for real this time.


'Fun' Fact: My original idea for this story was that Cat was going to get killed, and then Jade was to find and kill the killer herself. But then Jade realizes that the killer was Mr. Valentine, and she is horrified that she murdered her best friend's own dad, and in the end tries to commit suicide by setting herself on fire.

I thought that idea did not have enough facts to support why the characters did what they did so I changed it into this. :) Aren't you glad I did?

Oh and one more thing. Next chapter is one of my favorites. And you'll see why tomorrow! :D