"She's waking up…"
I couldn't recognize that voice. I grumbled, my vision not wanting to clear up. I felt my right arm was stiff and wrapped in a cast, a sling keeping it close to my body. I felt a warm hand move my hair to the side, wanting my attention. I couldn't move anything. My body refused to move. I was shaking as I tried to, so I wasn't paralyzed, at least. What the fuck happened...? My vision still wouldn't clear up.
"Is she coming to...?"
"She is. Can't blame her for not coming back right away."
"She has been out for three days..."
Three... days? I was in a coma for three days? I dunno if anything hurts or if I'm just numb. Wait... Justin and Trevor... Fuck!
I tried to blink fast to fix my vision, eventually making out that mom, Max, Steph, and Mikey were around my hospital bed, waiting for me to respond. All of their faces were a mix of worry and relief. However, Max, Steph, and Mikey were all injured with healing bruises somewhere on their body. Mikey seemed to have gotten the same treatment—his right arm was broken too.
"Can you guys stop staring? You're being creepy…" My throat felt dry and my voice was raspy. Thank fuck I was able to get that out.
They all sighed with smiles on their faces and chuckling. As if they were thinking, "Yeah, she's still Chloe Price."
Mom was on the verge of tears and she approached to give me a loving and close hug. "Thank god, you're finally awake." She pulled away and held my face in her hands, wiping away a tear from my eye with her thumb. I wasn't aware I was crying. "We were all worried sick, wondering if you're ever going to wake up or what."
"Well, I'm here..." The corners of my mouth lifted. I was having conflicting thoughts again. Was I happy that I was still alive? I'm so numb, I couldn't feel anything.
"I'll go tell the doctor you're awake now." Mom got up and left the room. I cleared my throat, still dry and making it a little difficult to breathe.
"What happened to you guys?" I had to ask. They looked as fucked up as I was.
"Unwarranted punches and slaps. Those Vortex girls are a lot tougher than they look." Steph touched her cheek where her purple-and-yellow bruise was. "And Mikey was cornered by those stupid jocks. We were just randomly attacked..."
Shit... This is a part of my fault... They had to go after them too? Why...? "Did anyone else get hurt?"
"Rachel did." Max looked out the door, then back to me. "She has a few bruises and cuts and got her lip busted from this cheerleader that wore a few too many rings."
"Is she here?"
"Yeah, she's sitting outside, they finished her stitches when she got here. Why, do you wanna see her?"
I paused, gazing down at my lap. I felt guilty. Past-me would've been angry at her for pulling me into this mess. But, that wasn't me. That isn't me. I felt bad for pulling her into this. I couldn't imagine how much shit she takes outside of this...
"No." I swallowed hard. "I'm not ready..."
"We understand, Chloe." Max grabbed my hand, a loose a grip holding onto me.
"Wait, start from the beginning again." I had to repeat that for the fourth time. I asked Max, Steph, and Mikey to tell me everything again. I was barely listening earlier when the doctor came in to tell me what happened. After looking in a mirror, my face was back to its bruised glory, even had a missing tooth in the back of my mouth now, and my forearm was broken right down the middle. No clue how long it'll take to heal. Mom wanted to stay but no one could take her shift and she had to go. I felt bad since she had to leave after I finally woke up.
I was still trying to accept that the situation really happened. It was all real. I really saw Justin and Trevor. I was nearly killed by them. They really were hurt and as broken as I was.
"It was like they were on some crazy drug, Chloe! They should've been foaming at the mouth with how insane they looked." Steph was ready to yell but, obviously, we were in a hospital so she was holding back. Though, I would love to see her set off like that. "They had to be on drugs. Those Vortex kids must've created their own messed up concoction and filled them up with it. Or they just took a bunch!"
"It makes sense." Mikey pushed his glasses up, turning to me. "They just disappeared for a long time and to just show up? In that state of sanity? They could've kidnapped them at the party."
"This shit wouldn't line up. They texted me after that stupid party."
"Well, maybe they were genuinely concerned for you, but then they got to them. At this point, anything is possible involving this club."
"What did the school do to them anyway?"
"Police came to the school and arrested them."
"Tackled to the ground and then they were arrested." Max added.
"Yeah," Mikey nodded his head, "I think they were taken to a separate hospital. Like Steph said, their condition looked severe and looked more for a laboratory assistance."
I wanted to feel smug about that, but I did sympathize. The thought of them being drugged against their will didn't feel unrealistic.
We decided to stay quiet this time. We let this fucked up mess sink in. I was thinking about what our next move should be, if we should move at all. Everything was still hurting, so thinking isn't something I wanna do right now.
"Our school is fucked." I broke the silence.
"Agreed." They said at the same time.
Hours felt like millions of fucking years.
"Just sleep, you fucker…" I mumbled to myself. I stared up at the ceiling, hearing the ringing and the sound of loud cracking in my head. I tried sleeping earlier, which worked for a second, only for a nightmare of that assault and the party kept me awake. Nurses kept rushing into my room to check on me. It was fucking unbearable.
Then, barely hearing it at all, there was a light knocking at the door.
"Oh… Hey… Amber." I cleared my throat. Max, Steph, and Mikey had to leave because of the dorm curfew, and my mom was just too busy with work to come back. So, I was alone for hours with only routine meals and check-ups, my thoughts, and lighting only coming from the hallway outside the door. I didn't mind her coming in, except it was just really late.
"Hey." She smiled, approaching my bed. "I'm still here for monitoring. I wanted to stop by." Looking closer, her lip really was busted, with a lot of stitches. Monitoring? Monitoring for what?
"Thanks." I smiled at her. "Those cheerleaders got you pretty good, huh?"
"Please, I handled that just fine." She waved it off. She still acted tough and laughing, but she couldn't hide from me anymore. We had to be thinking about this fucked situation and why us. Plus, I've seen enough enough bruises on her and heard enough—she wasn't fine.
I took a deep breath, "I-I'm sorry."
She was taken aback. She stayed quiet, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to find the words. Hell, it made me more and more nervous the longer she didn't say anything.
Confusion covered her face as she took in what I just said. "For what?"
"For this." I looked around the hospital room. "All of this. Maybe if I hadn't showed up at your place, none of this would be happening right now."
"Stop it, don't blame yourself for any of this. I'm not pissed at you, not even a little bit." She leaned towards me, care and tenderness in her gaze. "Without this... we wouldn't be this close now."
I appreciated her for finding any fucking positivity in all of this, but it just wasn't enough. It was kinda frustrating. As if, I actually wanted her to be pissed at me. I wanted her to yell and actually feel anger towards me. Maybe in a way, I was becoming sick of her and holding back something from me. I bit my tongue; The last thing this hospital needed was a screaming fight in one of its rooms.
"I…" I sighed and cleared my throat. "I haven't been able to sleep yet."
She nodded, looking down at my lap. "It's not going to happen right away. I can't imagine all that shit you went through. I wish I could help you with everything, but… I brought you something." She reached into her back pocket, taking out an iPod and earphones. "It can't help you completely, but I know this could be a little bit. I was spending a lot of time putting songs into this thing at home. Do you mind?" She held the earphones, leaning just a little bit more.
Without saying anything back, I leaned towards her, and she put them in for me. When it played the first song, it was already the loud, rock and screamo music I liked. It helped with one problem, at least. She actually put this together for me. She cared enough to do this...
"You must really like me." I rested my head back on my pillow. I wasn't sure how loud or quiet I was. I hope she didn't hear it at all.
"Chloe Price, you're a lot likable than you think. When you hated me and would rather punch the shit out of me... I still wanted to know you." Even with a smile on her face, she was sad. She looked like she was about to say something else, but instead, she just sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.
I think I was delusional from all the pain medication they gave me. I wanted her to stay. I wanted her to be here with me. I didn't wanna say those words. But… I couldn't relax.
I grabbed her hand, holding it tight. "Please stay…"
She smiled and pulled up a seat, sitting by my bed. "I didn't want to leave anyway."
We were probably gonna get in trouble, but I didn't fucking care. I had to admit to myself that being with her made me feel good, feel better, and I had to accept that. I had to stop rejecting it, force those negative thoughts about her away, because she was good. She meant good. She only meant good.
I had to get to the bottom of whatever was happening. Where do I even start? Her bruises from before this? Her phone calls with Chase? The school? The Vortex Club? What happened with Justin and Trevor? Her dad? He had to be hiding something, right?
I saw Amber's head was already down and she seemed to be sleeping already. I even smiled at the sight, seeing her so... peaceful. I decided I had to sleep too.
And I've never slept better.
A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've been busy with school and I've been more burnt out rather than motivated to continue with this story sooner. I'm still set on finishing it, but I'm not sure how long it'll take. Thank you for your patience.
Review and shit.