"What are we going to do?" Brooke asked, she was the child, she did not know what to do.
Even though Karen was the adult, she answered honestly, "I do not know Brooke. The only thing that I can say is that we must give her some time and space right now. But have no fear, she will be in her bed when you go to sleep tonight," Karen said hoping that she was speaking the truth.
"What should I do now?"
"Whatever you want to do, for a few hours do not worry about Haley. She is going to be alright."
"I am still going to worry, but…"
"Sweetheart, you have got your own demons to fight, how about for an afternoon, you worry about yourself?"
"Not going to happen. Sorry Karen."
"You do not have to apologize to me; just know that you can, if the time comes, apologize to yourself."
Brooke just nodded, "I am going to go for a walk, clear my head. I will be back in a little bit for the show."
"Okay Brooke, call me if you need me."
"I know," with that Brooke was the cause of the bell ringing in the door.
Karen wiped down the counter and was ready to get back to her routine when she heard a crash above her, and could only imagine a nightmare. But there was nothing that she could do unless she knew what was going on. Though she feared the worst, she ventured up the stairs and her fears came true.
Only 10 minutes earlier Peyton made her way up the same stairs that Karen just traveled upon. She barely even made it into the club when she was stopped by the scene in front of her. Tables were pushed together, chairs were on their sides, and more then anything one thing stood out to her…Haley's apron. The strap was broken, and it was flung in the middle of the dance floor. There must have been a struggle, there was no way that there couldn't be. She did not have the long to take it in though; she froze when she heard footsteps behind her.
"I was not sure if you were ever going to just agree with me, or if you were going to keep a scene all day long," he said putting his arms around Peyton's waist.
"Don't touch me Gavin," she said pushing his hands away, and tried to walk away. He grabbed onto her again.
"Do not walk away from me."
"What are you going to do? The same thing that you did to Haley when she tried to walk away from you?"
"I needed to talk to her, and she wouldn't listen to me."
"No one has to listen to you Gavin; they have free right to be able to just walk away. If Haley did not want to talk, you needed to respect that, and let her walk away."
"Oh so now you are siding with her? Make up your damn mind Peyton. Because the reason that I was talking to her was because of you. You were not happy because this Haley girl was hurting your friend, so I was being your boyfriend and doing something about it. But now after I was trying to help you out, you are siding with her. Make up your mind Peyton."
"You cannot fight pain with pain."
"That is the only way that seems to work nowadays, she would not get my point."
"What did you do to her, Gavin?"
"I just told her the truth Peyton. All I was doing was helping her out. Apparently she was not getting it."
"You cannot play God, Gavin."
"I really do not like that you are repeatedly changing your mind. Do you want her to feel the pain that you are feeling, or not?"
"Gavin, when I walked in to Karen's café I heard someone sobbing, I was 10 feet away, 10 feet Gavin, and every convulsion that this person was feeling, I felt. I walked a little further and found Haley sobbing in Karen's arms. You scared her so much that it pained her."
"Maybe that was just what she needed."
"How can you possibly know what she needs Gavin? You do not even know what I need," she walked towards Haley's apron and knelt down, "Did she need for her apron to be ripped off of her? Because you seemed to think that she did," she informed him lifting up Haley's apron.
"I do not get you Peyton; you are the most indecisive person that I know."
"Wow, I am impressed that you even know what that word means. And news flash, no one gets who I am, so don't feel special."
The drugs were still in Gavin's system, and he was very irritable. He did not want to take anymore of her attitude or sarcasm. He approached her, "Oh I don't feel special, and don't you worry your pretty little lonely self. And I would just like to know when you became the person that knows what Haley needs? Two days ago you were calling me Mr. Pain; today I have hurt her feelings. You have one second to make up your mind Peyton."
"Or what Gavin?"
"One second is up," he smacked her across the face, and she thought that it broke in half. It didn't, so she tried to get up, get away from him. But she was not fast enough as she was trying to mend her wound, he shoved her into the stage, and she hit her head. She moaned out in pain, immediately putting her hand to her head. "You cannot play God either, there is a thing called fate. Things that happen are supposed to happen. If Haley is supposed to be in pain, then it will happen, I am just trying to help God out."
"What about me?" she struggled to ask him.
"Same thing, whatever is happening, it supposed to happen."
"I am alone Gavin. All alone. All I feel is pain, and nothing, or no one is able to take it away from me. So I am not a big fan of this fate that you talk about. Was it fate that brought you to me? Because fate is not my friend."
Gavin was not happy with her response, and the drugs had taken its worst toll, so with all the anger inside of him combined with Peyton's words, caused him to throw Peyton across the room into a couple of the tables. She was knocked out on impact.
Even though Gavin was under the influence of drugs, this was not his intention; he never thought that he was strong or angry enough to knock Peyton out. He went over to her side and tried to wake her up and this is what Karen saw when she walked up the stairs.
She rushed over to where Gavin was, not even scared of the monster in front of her. All of her motherly instincts went into high gear, and pushed Gavin off of Peyton and tried to see the literally broken girl in front of her.
"I did not mean to do this…it was not my fault…I…I…I…sorry."
"Stop your babbling Gavin. I do not want to hear it. If you want to do something right for once, call 911, and then get out of here," she yelled at him in her sternest voice possible under the circumstances.
"911? Why would I need to call 911?"
"Because Peyton is seriously hurt Gavin. You seriously hurt her. Being unconscious is not a good thing. She needs some help," she said staring at the girl in front of her, and then she looked to him, but directly back at Peyton," we do not know if something is broken. Maybe, and hopefully there isn't but we do not know that until someone who is more professional then you or I tells us."
Gavin got up and scampered down the stairs and did what Karen informed him to do. Karen was trying to use Gavin's technique to wake Peyton up. "Sweetheart, you are safe, I am here, wake up…please….for me. You are not alone."
Peyton began to stir a little bit, she was not fully conscious but she was coming to. Karen supported her, and allowed her to wake up on her own. And when she did she was startled and completely confused.
"You are safe Peyton."
At this point she did not whether to try and get away or allow Karen to hold her. No one had held her in a while, and not just someone that she loved like Jake, but there has been no parental holdings either. Not until now. And because she hurt too much to move an inch, she decided to let Karen hold her, but she was still uneasy.
"I am not going to hurt you Peyton, you are safe," when Karen told her this, she turned so that she could lock eyes with her. She saw the love in her eyes, love that no one had showed her in years, and it was all for her. She had forgotten what it was like. And she did not know how to react to it, so she did another thing that she hadn't allowed her to do in years as well…she let tears fall from her eyes, all the pain that she had been feeling in the last year, everything that had added up, she let fall from her eyes and brush her cheeks.
It was the second time in the last hour that Karen had held onto a girl as if she was never going to let her go, because she was afraid if she did, then she would be even more lost then she already was. And Karen never wanted anyone that she cared about to feel lost in the world, when she was there willing to walk down the path with whoever needed it. Karen never wanted anyone to feel alone, and she would do everything in her power for them not to feel that way again. Because what these girls were unaware was that Karen had felt the same feelings that Haley, and Peyton, and Brooke, had been feeling for awhile some time in her own life.
With every tear that fell Karen became more and more aware of the pain and suffering that Peyton felt each and every day of her life. Karen was well aware that she felt it, and that she knew what pain was, but not like this. Every convulsion of Peyton's body made another stream of tears filled with pain fall from her face. Each tear brought to the surface another time of sorrow that Peyton felt. And she had kept it all in; she had kept in for years. She promised herself that she would not cry after her mom died. No one was worth the tears like the tears that she poured out for her mother. No matter what she was going through, no matter as much as it hurt, she told herself that nothing could ever be as bad as losing one's mother. She did not allow herself to let the tears fall because she lived by that and no matter how much it hurt. She lost her mother. She lost her father to the sea. She lost the one guy that meant the world to her and promised to never let her go, but she lost him as well. She lost her best friend. She lost herself.
Karen held onto Peyton until the paramedics came, and even though she didn't want to, she had to let go as they lifted her up and placed her on the gurney. "Do you know what happened ma'am?" one of the younger paramedics asked her.
"I just heard a huge crash, I do not know what led to it," Karen told him putting a hand to her chin, holding her other arm around her waist. So many thoughts went through her head at once. First off she did not know if she was going to be able to go with Peyton. If she was then what was going to happen to the club that night? Then she thought of three other people, first her son, she had no idea where he was at the present time, and she needed him more then anything. Then she thought of Brooke, she was still lost, and currently she was on a walk trying to clear her mind, but what happens if she came back and Peyton was being pulled away on a gurney. Or what happens if she comes back and Karen is gone. She promised Brooke that she would always be there for her, and if she left with Peyton then it was saying that she favored Peyton, or that Peyton needed her more. She didn't know what to do, or feel. And then probably the worst of them all was Haley. Karen let Haley walk out of her café trusting her that she would be able to make it back to her apartment, alone. What was she thinking? Haley was distraught, she did not want to be in Tree Hill anymore, for all that Karen knew was that she could be on a bus going half way across the United States. She had no idea where Haley was, she had no idea where Brooke was, and she had no idea where her son was. And she needed all of them, so did Peyton. But right now, they were all somewhere else, away from her. "Can I go with her in the ambulance?"
"Are you her guardian?"
"No."
"Is she 18?"
"Yes."
"Then I am sorry ma'am, you cannot."
"But I do not want her to be alone."
"She won't ma'am."
"She is always alone, it doesn't matter if other people are in her vicinity, she still feels alone, and I just want to be there for her," Karen had no idea why she just told this to the paramedic that she just met, but it was what she was feeling at that time. Karen looked over at Peyton who was lying on the gurney, sadness still stricken on her face. "I need to be with her, can you just make an exception please, this one time?"
An older paramedic came over and told the younger one what Peyton just told him in a whisper, "The victim just…"
Karen did not want this man to call Peyton a victim, she was a victim it was a fact but this man had no right to call her one, "her name is Peyton," Karen firmly told her, she was afraid that she was going to break as she said these words to him.
"Peyton," the man corrected himself for Karen's sake, "just grabbed my hand, and begged me to let you come with her. She is fully conscious now, and I can see it in her eyes that she is scared, so for this one time, I am going to let the rule slide ma'am. You can go with Peyton in the ambulance."
"Thank you," Karen told him after he informed her, and then she went over and held Peyton's hand, "I am here sweetheart, I am not leaving you," she saw a tear slip from Peyton's eye down the side of her head, and she wiped it away.
Brooke was walking down the street from Karen's café for only about 15 minutes when she looked up into the sky, the rain was back. She began to run to avoid getting wet, but then she slowed down, and the trot turned into a jog and then a walk. She embraced the rain as she saw Haley do it earlier. She was not yet ready to embrace the pain that she felt, but she thought that it was a step that she was recognizing it rather then completely ignoring it as she normally did. She was making her way back to the café when she had to stop completely and make sure that she was seeing what she thought that was seeing clearly. Because what she thought that she saw was Peyton being rolled out of a stretcher while Karen held her hand. She rubbed her eyes and got the hair that the rain pasted to her face and ran over to them, "Karen," she called out concern throughout her voice. "Karen," she called out again because she would not turn around. So when she did not respond again, she ran over to where the ambulance was and saw Peyton close up on the gurney, and she was scared.
"Brooke?" Karen asked not sure what to do.
Before she had a chance to do or say anything the younger of the paramedics pulled her back away from Peyton and Karen.
"What are you doing? That is my best friend on that gurney, I need to be there for her," Brooke told him trying to break through from his grip on her.
"I am sorry but we are trying to get your friend to the hospital because she was hurt. I know that you want what is best for her, I am going to let you go, but you are going to have to walk away."
"Karen," she called out with small, scared tears falling down her cheek, just hoping that she would be able to change the man's mind.
"Sweetheart, I will call you as soon as I know something, I promise you."
"Is she going to be okay?" Brooke asked not knowing the fate of her best friend. Was it too late to repair what was broken between them? Did Brooke fail as being Peyton's friend?
"I am okay Brooke, don't you worry," this surprised both Brooke and Karen. Peyton hadn't said anything real to Brooke in months, and there is no way that any time in those months that Peyton would care what Brooke was going through. And Karen was grateful that Peyton answered because she did not know what to say to Brooke right now to make things better. This was a fear that she had to leave Brooke here, it was a fear that she had to pick between one of the girls that was in need.
"Brooke, call Lucas, tell him what is going on. And Brooke, I do not know if we can trust that Haley is going to be coming home tonight. You have got to find her."
"Okay, I will call Luke," that was the last thing that she was able to say to her, with that Karen and Peyton were both put in the ambulance and Brooke watched it ride away with the sirens roaring.
Brooke didn't know what to do; she knew that she had to call Lucas. But it was hard to do when she just saw her best friend ride away in an ambulance. 30 minutes ago she was okay-well not okay-but at least able to stand on her own two feet. Brooke just stood there in the rain, not able to move, afraid that if she did she would collapse to the ground. Ironically, Lucas pulled up in his truck.
And he saw Brooke standing in the rain, she looked like she was in shock, and this scared him a little bit, because this reminded him of the time that he found Haley, and she was not okay. Lucas got out of his truck and ran over to Brooke. "Brooke what happened?" he asked her, he was concerned about her not matter the status of their relationship, he held onto with both of his hands and looked up into his eyes. And that is when she lost it, looking into Lucas Scott's eyes. "Brooke, you are worrying me. Please tell me what is going on."
