Chapter Thirteen

Outside, Jay threw his third cigarette butt on the ground. He was frustrated, why had he waited so long to be honest? ... Why was it so hard for him to let his facade fall and be himself? And most of all, why had he waited so long... why had he chosen now to tell her?

He knew deep down she wasn't going to make it. The bruises... the blood... the broken bones...everything about the way she looked just yelled "death". He couldn't escape it. He wanted to, but by the fourth cigarette his stress had not left, and all he could think about was how Emma would be telling him a bunch of garbage about how it was ruining the environment and his health. He exhaled a cloud of smoke slowly, then threw the final butt on the ground.

Enough, he thought to himself.

He promised himself he was going to clean up for Emma's sake. She would have wanted him to. She would have listened to him tell her about how his dad beat him, how he found his mother in the kitchen with a bullet through her head, how lost he was... and she would have helped him move on and deal with it without harming himself. She would have wanted to see him happy, he was sure of it.

Slowly, Jay walked back up to the hospital, went through its automatic doors and headed for the elevators. He was going to be okay. He owed it to her to be.

Manny rolled her thumbs as JT paced around, sipping his bottle of water simply to distract himself. Toby had his arms folded on the table with his head resting on them. He was tired and his eyes burned. His position might have concluded he was staring at the crack in the table, but really he was simply focused on wishing Emma would wake up. Craig seemed to be stuck on the same situation.

"Craig..." Manny finally said, "you said it was your fault. What did you mean?"

"I was there. At that party."

"So?" JT asked.

"So... Emma was there... with Ryan. You know, her boyfriend that treats her like dirt?"

"I thought they had broken up?" Manny asked, confused.

"I guess not. Anyways, there was beer there and I got kinda depressed seeing her with him.. so I just started drinking. And then I started to feel good, you know? So I went over to her when Ryan was gone and I told her I was in love with her and it wasn't the alcohol it was really me and I put my hand on her cheek and she looked me with the most pained expression... And then out of nowhere the boyfriend comes back and starts yelling at me for saying what I said, and then he grabbed Emma's wrist and basically made her go into a room with him. I waited casually outside the door, trying to listen to what was going on... "

Craig paused.

"I really don't think you guys want to hear the rest..."

"I want to know what the hell happened to her!" Toby yelled.

"I think we should go find Jay and the others..." Spinner suggested.

Paige nodded, not really hearing him.

"I think talking to everyone might help... we need to figure out what we're going to do... we can't stay here all night." he continued.

"Okay." Paige replied, squeezing his hand, "let's go back."

Craig sighed, rubbed his hands through his hair, and finally continued.

"I didn't hear everything. He said something like 'This will teach you to think before you let anyone else touch you' and... well... He basically raped her... At first, she tried resisting... but the guy's like a tank and I could hear him slap her when she tried to make him get off of her. Eventually she stopped fighting... I don't know why I didn't do anything. I think I thought I was like hallucinating or something... I didn't realize it was all real... I just... I froze. I got the fuck out of that place when I knew she stopped fighting. I thought she'd go to the cops or something... I didn't know he beat her the way he did... that he threw her out on the road or whatever happened... It's my fault she's like this. It's my fault the guy is loose and... just everything is my fault."

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Toby lunged at Craig.

"Toby, don't!" JT yelled, "We'll figure this out. Craig will go to the cops and tell them. Right?"

Craig vaguely nodded, knowing he was going to have to pay the price for standing still.

"What the hell is going on?" Paige said as she and Spinner walked in.

Toby angrily glared at Craig, as if to say "Go ahead. Tell them Emma's practically dead because you were too incapable of getting her away from Ryan."

He didn't notice Manny leaving, and neither did anyone else.

Manny quietly closed Emma's hospital room door behind her. She quietly walked over to the seat next to the bed, and sat down. Hesitant, she finally took Emma's frail hand in hers and put her head down. She cried herself to sleep.

"Manny!" Emma giggled, "come on!"

As if by magic, Manny was suddenly located on a dirt road leading to a field. Emma was okay. She was dreaming, but she didn't want this to stop. She wanted to see Emma like this forever.

"Come on! It's getting away!" Emma shrieked.

"What's getting away?" Manny asked, confused.

"Come on Manny... come chase the wind with me!" Emma laughing, running down the road towards the field.

Manny struggled to keep up, and white light was suddenly surrounding everything but the path and the field. Emma was ahead of her, and the faster Manny ran, the further Emma seemed to be.

"Come on slow-poke, we can't let it get away!" Emma laughed.

"Wait for me!" Manny yelled.

But it was too late, Emma leapt into the field, and the light suddenly blinded her from Manny's view. Millions of multicoloured butterflies left the safety of the tall grass and flew up into the sky and around Manny. Manny was in awe of them, each other practically floating past her, and each with its own unique beauty.

"Bye Manny!" Emma screamed, hopping down the slope happily.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.