New chapter...trying to get along with this as much as possible...I lost a reviewer/reader :(:( that makes me sad...but the show must go on...
Chapter VII-And Then There Were Two...
*-*Days stretched to weeks, and weeks to a month, things went on as usual for the most part,
Leanna missed Rafe like a little girl misses her lost puppy, and I could see why, Rafe and I were
all she had, and the thought of losing one of us devastated her, but I reassured her time and time
again that he would be fine, and he'd be home soon, that was, until one day*-*
I read the words over and over again
My body went numb, tears welled into my eyes as I watched the yellow paper flutter to the
ground, I didn't remember dropping it, but I must have, I was struggling to breathe and think, so
much at the same time, Leanna, Evelyn, so much on my mind, everything hit me all at once in the
form of a wave of tears Beautiful, I have to tell Leanna was my first thought, I wanted to move,
to run out the door, but my legs were numb to the bone, my knees like jelly
I took quick, choppy breaths to steady myself, then blinked back the tears, gaining what little
strength I could and leaving out the door, Leanna, where is Leanna? The beach? No, it's a
weekday. She's at the hospital I thought, taking short breaths only to make sure I didn't faint, the
entire walk to the hospital was a blur to me, I remembered that it was Evelyn's day off, and as I
approached the hospital, the feeling in the pit of my stomach was getting worse, not only had I
become a complete emotional wreck in a matter of minutes, but now I had to tell my little sister
that our best friend, our brother, had died
With a deep sigh, I reached for the door, and opened it, walking in absentmindedly and searching
the room for Leanna, my eyes filled with tears, then I spotted her, taking another deep breath to
make the tears go away, I walked over to her, no words needed to be spoken, one look into my
brown eyes and she blinked, dropping the chart from her hands and shaking her head, and running
to me, tears overflowing her eyes, she wrapped her arms around my neck in a tight embrace, still
shaking her head and whispering "No, not Rafe" as she sobbed into my shoulder, what was I
supposed to do? She was my baby sister, and Rafe was her best friend
I kissed her brown curls and stroked her back as the other nurses looked on in shock, after a good
10 minutes of sobbing into each other's shoulders, completely oblivious that we were still standing
in the middle of the hospital, Leanna stepped back, wiping the tears from her emerald eyes and
drawing a long, shaky breath to steady herself, then looked up
"Evelyn, have you told Evelyn?"
I shook my head
"She's at home, she needs to know"
I nodded
I would tell Evelyn, I just needed a moment to thinkā¦
*-*2 Weeks Later*-*
*-*3 AM*-*
The door swung open and in walked a droopy-faced, bloodshot eyed, obviously drunk, Leanna,
she was so drunk that she was dragging her feet across the floor involuntarily, making loud
scraping noises with each step, she fumbled for the light switch, groping the wall blindly until her
hand mistakenly grazed the switch, causing light to flood the room, her hands immediately flew to
her eyes and she winced against the light, when she finally opened her eyes, she let a deep sigh
and rolled them back into her head at the sight before her
"Beautiful, where have you been?"
I had been waiting for her all night after she left with some guys from the barracks beside mine; I
was still wide-awake with worry and impatience, waiting for her to drag herself in the door like
she did nearly every night
"Oh Danny, not tonight" she groaned, trying to weave around me, I stopped her
"You should have thought about that before you went out," I said
She had been like this since we got word on Rafe's death, her happy-go-lucky self vanished after a
grieving period of about a week, where she locked herself in her room and cried, wouldn't eat, she
wasted away to almost nothing and turned into a ghost of her former self, now she was back on
the same self-destructive path as before, the drinking, the drugs, and the sex
"Dammit Danny, let me through" she said angrily, reaching her hands out in an attempt that was
probably meant to push me away, but she missed entirely
"No, Leanna, not until you promise you won't do this anymore" I said sternly
"Ok, ok, I promise just mo-" her eyes suddenly went wide and she brought her hands over her mouth
"Oh no, here we go" I mumbled, placing my arm around her and more-or-less dragging her to the
kitchen sink where she emptied her stomach into it before raising and wiping the excess vomit and
stray curls from her face, breathing heavily to catch her breath
"Come on, let's get you to bed" I said, she was out of it by this point, so I supported her shoulders
and gently put my arms in the bend of her knees, picking her up and carrying her up the stairs like
a little baby
I knew the promise she made meant nothing, that she would go out and do the same thing
tomorrow, and I would be here again, to lay with her all night, I could only hope that this would
pass, because she was hard enough to handle when both Rafe and I were here, but with Rafe
gone, I wasn't sure if I could handle her, Rafe, I missed him so much, my grieving period had been
cut short when I had to take care of Leanna, but that's what he wanted, to make sure we were
alright, he cared about her most
Leanna made a loud gagging sound as we walked down the hall, nothing came of it, but it did
manage to bring Evelyn to the door, she gave me a knowing look and whispered something about
not waking the others, I smiled at her and moved on to the room next to hers, Leanna's room, and
pushed the door open with my back, I walked in and felt my way across the dark room to the bed,
sitting down on it and swinging Leanna's legs out of my arms and on top of the blanket, then
gently laying her head on the pillow she groaned as I took her shoes off and maneuvered her
under the blanket, she rolled over instantly
"There you go, Beautiful" I said, kissing her temple
"Danny, don't leave" she groaned when she heard my footsteps creaking across the wooden floor
I sighed and turned around
"I'm here" I said, walking to the other side of the bed and laying down beside her
She rolled over next to me and huddled herself against my chest, smiling and sighing in contentment
About five minutes passed before I heard soft sobs coming from her, I reached down and stroked her curls
"What's wrong, Beautiful?" I whispered
"I can't believe him" she sobbed
"Who?" I asked, wondering if it was some random guy she had met
"Rafe, I can't believe he went off and got himself killed" she sniffed
I sighed, "Beautiful, he didn't know"
"He promised me he'd be careful"
"I know"
"How could he do that, Danny?"
"He didn't mean to, Rafe loved you very much, Beautiful, had he known he wasn't going to come back, he would never have gone" I said, pulling her sobbing form closer to me
"Don't ever leave me, Danny"
"I won't, Beautiful, you don't have to worry" and with that, I kissed the top of her head and stroked her back until she fell asleep...
A/N: Thanks so much to all my loyal readers! I love your reviews and even e-mails would be greatly appreciated!
Preview for Next Chapter: Secrets are revealed that will forever change Danny and Leanna...
