Author's Notes

This chapter may feel a little rushed. I did that on purpose.

In The Sun

Chapter 12

By Persephone's Nautical Nun

- Spencer -

Camisado by Panic! At The Disco screamed at me through the car speakers on the way to the hospital. We had put this CD in one night when we were out driving after a coke binge. The fast pace of the music went perfectly with out mood.

Can't take the kid from the fight
Take the fight from the kid

I shut off the CD player, and opted to drive the rest of the way in silence. It was all I could do to keep from breaking into tears at the sound of those words. I didn't have time for that now. Ashley needed help.

Luckily, there was a hospital just down the road from the campus. When I got there, I had to work harder to get Ashley out of the car than I did when trying to get her in. She was less coherent now, and I couldn't help but think that I had gotten there just in time.

Inside, nurses ran to me, seeing an almost lifeless body in my hands. Normally, when I go into an ER I have to wait a while, but I guess they saw the urgency in this case. A nurse stayed behind as the rest carried Ashley away from me. I was only half paying attention to the questions she was asking me. I remember giving her my name and Ashley's.

I don't know how long I waited in that brown waiting room. I called Kelly to tell her what was going on. She told me I was stupid for bring Ashley here, that we would both go to jail. She didn't get the fact that I didn't care if I went down, as long as Ashley would still live. I couldn't believe that Kelly wasn't as worried as I was. Some friends you have there, Ashley.

The same nurse that talked to me from before came and sat by me, handing me a cup of coffee. I held the Styrofoam cup in my hands, letting the warmth seep into my palms, but that's as far as the comfort reached. There was a soothing hand on my back, rubbing small circles.

"Do you have anyone that you can call? Some one that can be here with you to share this grief?" I heard from beside me.

My head snapped up. "Grief? Ashley's not okay?"

The nurse seemed to realize what she had said. "I didn't mean it like that, Sweetie. They don't know, yet. But, I'm sure it isn't easy being here by yourself."

I waved her off. "I'm fine." Ashley didn't seem to have any other real friends. It looked like I was it.

I began to sip at the coffee in my hands, not realizing how dry my throat had been until the warm liquid passed over my tongue. This waiting was killing me. I hated not knowing how things were going to turn out. I thought about calling Aiden, but remembered what Ashley had told me one time about him smoking pot, and only smoking pot. He wasn't as much of a druggie as the rest of us, and I didn't even know if he knew about Ashley's coke habits.

I stretched out across three chairs, not really looking for comfort, but needing to stretch my muscles. A man in a long white coat appeared before me. "Spencer Carlin?"

"Yes," I said, standing up.

"We're doing the best we can to stabilize her, but--"

"But, what?"

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ashley's gone into cardiac arrest."

---South-Of-Nowhere---

Ashley -

I fought sleep for as long as I could. Really, I did, but eventually I had to give in. My body was shaking, and I was tired. The last thing I felt before consciousness left me was several hands trying to hold my body down.

They wouldn't let me go to sleep. My heart was either pounding out of my chest, or not beating at all.

I felt my body jerk.

They won't let me sleep.