Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, if I owned the Inheritance Games, this would be canon, and published too.
Author's Notes: So this is becoming a bit of a pattern, isn't it? I sit down to write and nothing comes out, then I procrastinate for a long, long time until finally I actually write something. I've got to be honest, it's probably not the best system. Either way, for those of you still waiting for updates, I hope you like this chapter.
Day 3 - Part 2
That night I couldn't sleep, which was remarkable considering the fact that my bed with its fluffy pillows and Egyptian cotton sheets was quite the step up from a plastic chair in a sterile
hospital room. And yet, with the events of the day playing on repeat in my mind, the very idea of dozing off seemed impossible. After speaking to everyone and filling in a few blanks, here's what seemed to have happened: Alisa, knowing that Max wouldn't know Grayson's number, texted her pretending to be him and told her he wanted to see me downstairs. Then, with only one person left in the room (Libby was out getting her hair dyed every color of the rainbow, because why not I guess) it was only a matter of time before Max took her eyes off of Avery for one second, which she did when she went to the bathroom, and Alisa had her chance to swoop in and smuggle Avery's comatose body into a waiting jet. Despite the atrociousness of it all, I had to hand it to her, getting Avery down the stairs, signed out, through the back exit, and into a jet in less than three minutes couldn't have been easy. If I wasn't so furious with her, I'd almost be impressed.
Unfortunately for Alisa, I was furious with her.
Feeling suffocated beneath the covers, I finally just thrust them off and jumped out of bed. The alarm clock on my bedside table blinked the time at me. '3:27 a.m.' it sneered in its haughty, alarm clock way.
God I needed to get some sleep.
As quietly as I could, I crept out the door, down the hall, and through a passageway that let out right outside of Avery's rooms. Standing in front of the door that led to them was Oren. I expected him to be surprised to see me but his face remained neutral. Only his eyes changed, taking on the slightest bit of sympathy. I eased passed him, knocking lightly on the door, and waited a moment before it was opened by a bleary-eyed, yet seemingly wide-awake Libby.
"Couldn't sleep either?" she guessed, and I shook my head. She stepped out of the way and gestured for me to come inside. The door to Avery's bedroom was open, so I tiptoed in, not wanting to disturb the new doctor. Alisa had offered to hire the best doctors and nurses available, but everyone agreed that she had done quite enough for one day. Luckily, Max's mom happened to be a great doctor, and she flew out the moment she heard of Avery's predicament. We offered to give her her own rooms, but she refused, saying she needed to remain by her patient's side, so instead we had a cot brought up and placed at Avery's bedside, which was where Dr. Liu was currently peacefully sleeping. Libby sat down in the armchair next to Avery's bed and I sat down on the floor.
"How is she?" I asked, staring up at Avery's pale body filled with all new tubes.
"About the same." Libby said, tugging at one of the orange strands of her hair, "Dr. Liu gave me a detailed rundown of all the specifics, but the gist of it was that she's keeping her in this medically-induced coma until her body's had time to properly heal."
"How long until that happens?" I asked, hoping maybe it wouldn't be as long as I thought.
Libby shook her head. "It's impossible to say. After all she's been through, sh-she might never fully recover." I expected her to start bawling right in front of me, but she kept it together. We were all tired of crying, I guess. "I can't get myself to leave her." Libby went on, wiping at her dry eyes out of habit, "Not after what I did."
"What Alisa did." I chided gently.
"If I had just been there for her. If I'd stayed by her side-"
"It wouldn't have made a difference." I said, "Alisa would've just found another way to get Avery out of there. It wasn't your fault." The words rolled easily off my tongue, having been the same ones I'd been repeating to myself all day long. Yet somehow, my brain kept looking for the angles. For some way I could've stopped Alisa, for some way I could've prevented the explosion, for some way I could've saved Avery. It was my endless torment, always looking for puzzles. Always trying to solve the unsolvable.
"You should try to get some sleep." Libby said finally, "She wouldn't want you to keep going like this."
I cracked a wry smile, surprised at how it only felt a little forced. "I'll be alright. I just want to be here in case-"
"She'll be fine." Libby insisted, more to herself than to me, "She has to be. But something told me you wouldn't want to leave her, so if you insist on staying, at least grab a sleeping bag out of the closet."
Slowly, I nodded. "Thanks Libby."
"Don't mention it." she said.
I got up and grabbed one of the sleeping bags - all of which were thick and silky and more like luxury comforters than camping equipment - and laid it down on the floor. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, but as soon as I wiggled inside it I immediately began to drift off. The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was Avery's heart-monitoring device, beeping steadily into the night.