Same Day 5:45pm
Sara woke to the sound of rustling plastic. She opened her eyes and realized she was alone in her hospital bed. "Nick?" She asked quietly. "Nick!" She said again, fear evident in her voice.
"Sara, I'm right here" She rolled over and saw him sitting on the floor by the window. He was surrounded by 'Get Well' balloons.
Sara breathed a sigh of relief. "What are you doing?"
Nick smiled as he stood up and sat down on the bed next to her. "I was just getting all of your balloons together." He chuckled to himself. "You know, last night you didn't even want me here. Now you're scared because you think I'm gone? You're funny, honey. Are you okay?"
She settled back into her pillow and closed her eyes. "I just got a funny feeling that's all."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"I just got butterflies or something, you know?"
Nick looked away from her and took a deep breath. "That's not what I meant."
Sara slowly opened her eyes, and looked up at Nick. "I know"
"Sara, if you're not ready, that's fine. It's been less than a day."
A single tear rolled down her cheek, and a lump began forming in her throat as she tried to speak. "I just felt so… alone… I didn't mean to worry you. I didn't think that it... it mattered. I wanted to get away…"
"From what? From me? From Catherine? Sara, I love you so much. We all do. Why can't you see that?" Nick scooted closer to her, and pulled her into his arms.
"Nick, I need to be alone now" Sara said in a small voice.
"I thought you didn't want me to leave."
"Please?" She asked, her eyes begging for him to understand.
Nick sighed as he stood up. "I don't understand you at all."
"No one said you were supposed to!" Sara snapped.
"Sara-"
"Just go, Nick!" With that, she rolled over on her side, her back facing a confused Nick.
His only choice was to follow her wishes, and leave the room. He didn't go far, though. Sitting down on the chair outside Sara's room, Nick rested his head in his hands, and breathed a few long, deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves.
Inside the room Sara had begun to cry once more. She was so confused and scared and stressed. She didn't even remember taking all of the pills. She hadn't even had to take any in such a long time, not since high school. It was this whole thing with Tasha. It was wearing her down; not knowing where she was or if she'd show up out of the blue just to cause more damage.
Sara closed her eyes tightly, and wiped the remaining tears from her face. She breathed deeply a few times before finally allowing the fatigue to take over her body.
Nick decided that maybe Sara was right. He needed to get away from the hospital for a few hours. There were things he needed to take care of with school. He also decided to swing by Sara's room a pick up a few things, while also grabbing a shower, and a good meal for himself.
As he slowly walked away, giving Sara one last glance, a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows and entered Sara's room. "Good evening puppy." Tasha sneered.
Sara was so tired that she never even heard the door open or close. Nothing could have woken her up at that point in time. The only thing that could wake her was the sharp pain in her left thigh as the small knife plunged into her soft flesh. Sara jerked from her sleep, eyes wide, searching the room.
She looked down and saw the blood soaking through the sheets that covered her legs. She let out a blood-curdling scream, and was answered almost immediately by evil laughter. She scanned the room, and that's when she saw her.
Tasha.
She was standing at the end of the bed, holding a small night in her hand. There was blood dripping from the knife, onto the white sheets.
Her laughter rang in Sara's ears like an annoying fire alarm that wouldn't turn off.
"Tasha" Sara squeaked.
Her only response was more laughter.
Suddenly the door swung open, and two nurses ran in. They stopped immediately when they saw the scene before them. The older of the two nurses yelled for security, but they would never get there in time.
In the blink of an eye, Tasha pulled her left hand from behind her back, revealing a small handgun. Without a word, she pushed the barrel of the gun into her own temple and pulled the trigger.
Silence.
Sara could see all the people moving around the room, but she heard nothing.
Nurses, doctors, and police officers rushed into her room and swarmed around the lifeless body of Sara's former classmate.
She felt a strong hand on her shoulder and spun around violently.
"Miss, you need to come with me." The tall, brown-haired police officer gently helped Sara out of bed, and into a nearby wheelchair.
Sara was taken down the hall to an empty hospital room, and helped into the bed.Everything was going by in a blur. She couldn't yet register what had just happened. She felt the pain in her thigh as a nurse sewed the gash with stitches and bandaged it. She knew the nurse was talking to her, but she couldn't hear her. She saw her lips moving, but no sound was coming out. All she heard were muffled sounds coming from the hallway.
Another nurse came into the room, and Sara saw her talking to the nurse who had stitched up her thigh. Then one of them came over to her, and gave her two pills and a glass of water. Sara took them both without even questioning what they were for.
Soon she could feel her eye lids beginning to droop. She leaned back against the pillows and allowed herself to be consumed by the darkness of sleep.
Friday 10:33am
Nick walked through the halls of Desert Palm Hospital with a large bouquet of two-dozen red roses. In his other hand he held a tiny brown teddy bear that had a blue ribbon tied around its neck. He knew he should have come back to see Sara sooner, but he had to e-mail all of his teachers and hers to let them all know of the situation at hand.
He rounded the corner, but nearly dropped the bouquet when he saw all the crime scene tape around Sara's hospital room. He could feel his heart begin to beat faster, and his hands began shaking. He quickly walked up to a police officer who was standing outside of the room.
"Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me what happened here?" His voice was shaky.
"Who are you?" The officer asked.
"My girlfriend… Uh… This is her room. Where is she? Is she okay? Her name is Sara. Sara Sidle." Nick could barely make a complete sentence, and the officer could tell how worried the young man before him was.
"A young woman committed suicide in this room. Shot herself in the head."
This time Nick couldn't hold onto the bouquet. The vase shattered into a thousand pieces as it collided with the marble floor. The small stuffed animal soon joined the mess on the floor, as Nick brought both of his hands to his face. "Sara? No! Not Sara! Please, no!"
"Sir, Miss Sidle is fine. She has a minor injury, but other than that and some post-traumatic stress, she'll be just fine." The officer said calmly.
"What? Then who-"
The officer looks down at the small notepad he held in his hands. "Natasha Lucas, nineteen years old, from San Francisco. Miss Sidle identified her for us. She was also one of the witnesses to the shooting. She's extremely shaken up."
"Tasha?" Nick asked his voice cracking. "How did she get in there?"
"We're not sure yet, sir. Miss Sidle hasn't been able to tell us much. She was sedated shortly after the accident. She only told us a few hours ago what happened."
"Where is she? Sara. Where is she?"
"Just down the hall. Next room on your left."
"Thank you" Nick said quickly as he hurried down the hall, not caring about the gifts he left in the hallway. A janitor was already on his way to clean up the mess.
Sara was sitting up in her bed, when Nick came running into the room.
"Nick!" Sara cried, nearly jumping out of the bed and into his arms.
Nick just held her tightly, kissing the top of her head every so often. "Sshh… It's going to be okay. She's gone. She can't hurt you anymore. You're safe now."
Sara buried her face in his chest as the tears poured out from her eyes, soaking his shirt almost immediately.
Nick ran his hand up and down her back, gently, allowing his own tears to fall into her hair, making it damp. "It's all over." He whispered.
TBC
Okay, so Tasha is officially gone for good. Yay!
Hit that little button and let me know what you think!