Chapter Two – High and Dry

Jess rubbed his eyes wearily, yawning and turning his head away from the hospital bed that he'd been staring at for the last hour. She was sleeping, or in a coma or something; he didn't know the exact details. The doctors wouldn't bring him up to speed because he wasn't family. And also probably because he looked as bad as her.

He didn't love her. They weren't even dating. He was only sitting in her hospital room because he felt that it was his fault that she was there in the first place. No need to tell the doctors that, though. Just play the part of the dutiful boyfriend.

When he looked back, she still hadn't moved. He hadn't expected her to be doing the salsa on the bed, but a nice blink would be comforting. He studied her face, and felt that familiar lump rise in his throat.

"I'm so sorry, Tammy," he whispered.

Tammy Hoffritz's eyes were normally very large, but lately the skin around them had turned thin and stretched out, and they now appeared sickly prominent. Her skin had a greyish tint, which Jess hadn't noticed until this morning. Her once bright red hair had been reduced to a pile of dull, limp mush that sat on the pillow around her head. He had used to think that she had beautiful hair, even though he had always been partial to brunettes.

Jess's patience was ebbing. He finally stood and began to pace between Tammy's bed and the chair he had just occupied. No relatives had come to visit her yet, though it was only recently that she had been admitted to the hospital. He cringed when he thought of what would happen when her family came here. They would naturally assume that he was a crazed addict and what happened to Tammy was completely his fault. But it wasn't; at least not all of it.


Jess had never been into any hard drugs. He smoked pot a couple times a week, but he never tried anything worse. When he'd first moved to New York City, he'd been living alone in a shady part of town, with a minimum-wage job and very little income. He soon got sucked into the world of dealing; the temptation of cash far worth the risk of jail. He handled some serious drugs, but was wise enough not to try any himself. He had no friends besides his business acquaintances, and hadn't contacted his family since moving away from Stars Hollow many years ago. If he was lonely, he didn't show it.

About seven months ago, Jess got busted for possession. When he got back to his apartment six months later, he found it empty. Remarkably, however, his car still remained where he had last parked it, with almost a full tank of gas. With nothing binding him to the city, he got into his car and drove east until his gas ran out. He found himself in the heart of New Haven, Connecticut. A part of him was annoyed at being remotely close to his uncle Luke, but he pretended not to care that he was in someway glad. With no money, he found another minimum-wage job and fell into the rhythm that was his life in New York. He started dealing again, and his businesses led him to Tammy Hoffritz. Her last boyfriend had got her hooked on cocaine, and Jess took pity on her and tried to help ease her off her addiction.

Tammy would come to his apartment three or four times a week, and they'd smoke some pot and fool around a bit. The last time she had come over, she had complained of hunger, so Jess left her alone while he went to the corner store to pick up some chips.

When he came back, he saw her face-down on the kitchen table with white powder spread around her head.

"Shit!" he said, dropping the bag of chips and rushing towards her. But he was puzzled because he knew he didn't have any coke in the apartment, and he had made sure she didn't have any on her when she came in.

He lifted her head and saw a trickle of blood coming from her nose. Her eyes were open, but she didn't appear to be looking at anything. Her pupils were pinpoints.

"What the fuck have you done, Tammy?" He picked up an empty Ziploc bag from the floor, and recognized it as his own. He rushed over the his nightstand and opened the drawer where he kept the narcotics that he would later sell. He did a quick inventory check, and found a bag of heroin to be missing.

"Fuck!" Apparently, Tammy had raided his drawer and found the bag of white powder. She had assumed it was cocaine, and set herself up for some lines. She had never used heroin before, so she had a very low tolerance for it; far lower than her tolerance for cocaine. She had quickly overdosed.

Jess tilted her head back and searched for a pulse on her neck. The pulse he finally found was weak. He knew he couldn't do anything for her here, but was hesitant to bring her to the hospital. He would be asked questions, and if police were involved, they would eventually be led back here.

He had no other option. He scooped Tammy into his arms, and navigated through his open front door and down three flights of stairs to his car. She didn't move the whole time. He laid her across the backseat, shut the door, and sprinted back to his apartment. He emptied the entire contents of his nightstand drawer into a large paper bag. He grabbed the two large wads of cash that laid on his bed and stuffed them into his pockets. He left the kitchen as it was and locked the door behind him.

Before going to the hospital, Jess made two stops. He first stopped at the house of a business associate, and paid the guy two hundred dollars to look after the bag until he came to retrieve it. Jess told him that he'd give him another $400 when he came back. He then went to the bank, and deposited the rest of the cash into a bank account that he rarely used.

When he got to the hospital, he picked up Tammy again and rushed inside. He tried to stay calm, but he didn't know what to do.

It was only seven o'clock, and there weren't a ton of people in the emergency room.

"Excuse me, sir. Can I help you?" the receptionist peered at him curiously and then eyed the limp body he was carrying.

Jess's throat was dry. "I think she OD'd on heroin. She needs help now."

The woman furrowed her brow and turned to her left, calling over her shoulder. "Tina, can you get a stretcher and call Dr. Payton?" she turned back to Jess. "I need you to fill out this form, hon." She pushed a piece of paper and a pen across the counter to Jess.

"I don't know that much about her," he tried to explain, but the stretcher came and Tammy was whisked away.

"You're not family?"

"No. I know her, but… not that well. I found her like that."

"Then just fill out the name, and we'll try to get in contact with her family." The receptionist had a soothing voice, but Jess was far from calm. A thin layer of sweat had begun to form on his face. "Are you okay, honey?"

"I'm fine," he said, feeling a burst of annoyance. "Just tell me when she gets into a room."

"Alright," the woman said, watching him until he sat down on a hard bench across from the counter.

About an hour later, a nurse walked up to Jess with a clipboard. "Tammy Hoffritz is in room 214. Right down the hall."

"Thanks," he mumbled, he headed off into her room.


Jess had been waiting in silence for two hours, sitting in a chair and trying not to look at Tammy. He decided to tell the police that Tammy had brought whatever she'd snorted, and that he had no clue what it was. He was going to play dumb, and avoid connecting the prospect of drugs with himself.

"Who the hell are you?" a voice grunted from the doorway. A stout cop stood at the threshold of Tammy's room.

So the cops were here now. Jess swallowed. "Jess Mariano."

The cop eyed him suspiciously and then looked at the hospital bed. A strange look came over his face as he saw the girl lying there; and Jess could have sworn he saw a tear glisten from the man's eye.

The guy shook his head and turned to Jess. The only emotion that showed on his face was anger. "What happened?"

"Look, it's not my fault, and you don't have to act all pissed at me. I'm just trying to help you do your job." Jess was nervous, but he talked as if annoyed.

Instead, the cop showed annoyance. "My job? I'm off duty."

"Then why are you here?"

The man scowled at Jess. "I'm Alan Hoffritz. Tammy's father."

Jess's eyes widened in surprise.

"Now would you mind telling me what happened?"

The guy had a very commanding voice. Like he took no nonsense. Jess thought that he must have made a great cop. Normally, Jess would have completely clammed up and maybe grunted a few one-word answers. But this guy intimidated him, and Jess was used to doing the intimidating himself. He also felt kind of sorry for the guy, and resolved to cooperate.

"What did they tell you?" Jess asked, wanting to know how much of his story he'd have to embellish on.

"The doctor said it was a heroin overdose and she's in a coma. Now I want exactly happened and what you did to her."

"I didn't do anything!" Jess decided to stick closely to the truth. That way, if there was an investigation, there would be less holes in his story and he would be more credible. "We've been seeing each other for awhile. She came to my place tonight, and told me she was hungry. So I left her in the apartment and went to get some food. I swear, I was gone ten minutes tops. I came back and found her like that on my kitchen table. I took her here right away."

The man didn't say anything. He still looked suspicious of Jess. He turned back to his daughter.

"Look, man, I didn't do this to her."

Hoffritz's head snapped around and he glared at Jess straight on. "You listen to me, you punk kid. My only daughter is fucked up in a coma because of something you did. I hold you responsible, and I'm going to make sure that I find out exactly what happened, because I don't believe your bullshit. Not one bit. And if I -"

The cop was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. He turned away from Jess and answered it. "I'm off duty. What do you want?" He let out a frustrated sigh as he heard out the guy on the other end. "Car wreck and possible DUI? Can't you get someone else to question the kids? I'm kind of busy here." He paused. "Fischer's not that much of an idiot, he can do it by himself." Silence. "Fine, I'll be there in ten minutes."

Hoffritz turned back to Jess. "I'm not done with you yet. I'll be back."

"You're assuming I have nothing better to be doing than sitting in a hospital in staring at a girl in a coma," Jess retorted.

"If you know what's good for you." The cop left and Jess felt like punching something.


Two hours after the cop left, Jess got tired of sitting in the hospital room. He couldn't bare to see Tammy's face looking so lifeless, and the smells of the hospital were starting to make him feel sick. He knew that he couldn't leave the hospital. If Hoffritz came back and Jess was gone, he would surely track him down and make his life miserable.

Jess took a walk down the hall and re-entered the Emergency waiting room. He saw a guy with a nail through his hand, some bloodied up kids, a woman with a screaming baby, and teenage boy crying with his head in his hands. Jess decided that the room was only further depressing him. He wanted to smoke some pot and relax a bit, but he'd given up his stash of marijuana for the time being along with the other street drugs in the paper bag.

He was tired beyond belief. The last few hours had been really draining on him. He wanted to find somewhere to sleep, but was hesitant to go back to Tammy's bedside. He settled instead on the hallway outside her room. Making sure to leave room for passing stretchers and trolleys, Jess slumped down against the wall and covered his head with his black jacket.

He quickly fell asleep, and bright colours spun around in his head as he slid into the vivid dream that so often haunted him. He was back in Stars Hollow, walking through the town, but it was empty. He was puzzled, but continued down the main street. He eventually got to the Gilmore house, and found it empty as well. For some reason, he ventured into Rory's bedroom. He saw her body dangling from a noose that hung from her ceiling. As he ran to her body, she lifted her head.

"Why did you leave me, Jess?" she would say. Every night he had the dream, he would wake up panting, in a cold sweat. This time, however, he remained in the dream, staring at her. She opened her mouth and was about to say something else, when Jess was jerked from the dream as something hard hit his legs.

"Watch it," he mumbled, still half asleep. He opened his eyes, rubbed them, and shifted so that he was sitting up. He glanced at the girl who had apparently tripped over him. She was pretty but it appeared that she had been through a rough night. Her clothes were torn in places, and she had scrapes on her arms, surrounded by dried blood. As Jess's eyes adjusted to reality, he wondered if he was still dreaming.

The girl who stood before him was none other than Rory Gilmore.