A/N: HIIII! Sorry I took soooo long to update :/ I came back across this story and realized that I really owed y'all an update, so if y'all are still around and still down I'm willing to take time out to complete this story! :) I hope you guys enjoy this little chapter and if you'd still like to see the story get finished, let me know and I'll get to work on the next chapter. Hope you guys are staying safe & are doing well!

I woke up, my muscles feeling stiff and sore. Turning over, I relieved my neck from its awkward position and rubbed the back of it in an attempt to ease the tension there.

Straining my eyes to see the numbers on my clock, I groaned when I realized that school was almost over and I'd missed the whole day. Judging by the way I felt, I wasn't too surprised that my body had made me sleep for so long.

I mentally prepared myself for the pain as I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I gasped as my body protested against me. I bit my lip in an effort to reduce the amount of noise I was making. Looking at my nightstand, a bottle of pain killers caught my eye and I quickly poured out about five of them and popped them into my mouth in a desperate attempt to ease the pain.

I hobbled over to the bathroom and filled my hands with water, quickly gulping it down. I decided to do this a few more times as my throat was extremely dry. I let my body slide down to the floor as I took a few deep breaths, trying to rid myself of the hazy feeling that seemed to linger over me.

I heard the sound of my door opening and my heart instantly sped up and it got harder to breathe.

Richard came into the bathroom and saw me on the floor. Without a word, he bent over towards me and I pushed back against the cabinets in fear, tears instantly springing to my eyes.

I was already in so much pain, and he wanted to add to it?

He narrowed his eyes at me and I stopped moving. Instead I closed my eyes as I felt his hands grab my arms. He pulled me up to a standing position and I moaned as the pain intensified.

"Please," I whispered, barely having the strength to do so.

He leaned me against the counter as he reached for a wash cloth and ran it under the faucet for a few seconds before ringing out the excess water.

I felt the tears run down my cheeks as he lifted his arm.

"No," I said.

I laid my hand on his arm in an attempt to stop him, but I felt so weak all I could do was cry. My head fell forward against his chest and all you could hear was my uneven breathing and the whimpers I let out every now and then. I felt absolutely terrible and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. I didn't want to feel this pain anymore.

He let me stay there for a few minutes before pushing me back lightly.

"Let me clean your face," He said, gently lifting my head.

I made a noise of protest, but let him do it anyway to avoid making him mad.

I made sure to avoid his eyes as he gently wiped the washcloth across my face. I gasped in pain as he hit a tender spot near my eye. He pulled the washcloth away and ran some more water over it. I watched as the dry blood pooled in the sink and went down the drain.

He brought the washcloth to my face again, doing the same thing a few times over until he was satisfied with the result. Once he was done, he stood back from me and sighed. I kept my eyes glued to the floor and he was silent for a few moments before speaking.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

I internally scoffed at the question.

How do I feel? How do I feel? Are you serious?!

Not wanting to take too long to answer, I said "terrible," and left it at that.

"I'm glad you're finally awake," he responded. "I was… worried that you might not wake up."

"Oh," I said, slightly wishing I hadn't.

I didn't linger on the thought long as what he'd said finally occurred to me.

"Wait, what?" I asked. "How long was I out for?" I finally lifted my eyes to meet his.

"A little over a week," He said.

I gasped as I realized what that meant. I hadn't been at school in over a week?

What was I supposed to tell my friends?! The fuzzy feeling came back over me and I shook it away in an effort to calm myself.

"Your friends came by," He said, and I felt my heart stop momentarily. "I told them you came down with the flu."

I let out the breath I'd been holding, and put a hand over my chest in an effort to calm my racing heart.

It didn't work, and I felt the fuzzy feeling resurface as I failed to slow my breathing.

"Alice?" Richard asked, stepping towards me.

"I think..." I started, seeing black spots clouding my vision.

"Hey, calm down!" He said, reaching out to me.

"The- the…" I tried speaking once more. "Mess… meds…" I tried again, barely able to hear myself as the haziness increased.

I clutched at my head, trying to ease the heavy feeling there. My vision slowly started fading as the ringing in my ears started and a wave of nausea came over me.

"You need medicine?" He asked, looking at me with wide eyes.

"No," I breathed. "I… help."

I felt myself beginning to fall, but Richard caught me before I could.

"What's wrong, Alice?" He said, holding me up. "What happened?!"

I looked Richard in his eyes and found myself unable to answer as everything went black once more.

Finally. I thought. No more pain.

A/N: So that's it for this chapter! If you'd still like to see the story completed, please let me know! I think we all deserve to see our lil Ali & Jazz reach their happy ending eventually... well, hopefully ;)