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"Dios mio!" I sit up abruptly in my bed, immediately regretting it; searing pain shoots through my upper body like a hot spike poking me everywhere. I fall back down. I'd never thought I'd say this, but I am so glad to hear you Jessé!
Bart woke up and straightened in his chair. He groggily rubbed his eyes. "Wassup, amigo?"
I wave him off. "Just the scarab." Smirking, I close my eyes, Jessé come on… Tell me am I really paralyzed from the waist down?
Silence. Analysis in progress, response unavailable at the moment.
I let out a curse… Of all the times the Scarab had to fail me, it had to be now? I angrily punched the mattress, unsuccessfully trying to relieve my frustration. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I let out a frustrated sigh.
Bart interrupts the awkward silence with his nervous tapping. "So…" It lingers, "Still can't feel your legs, hermano?" An awkward lopsided smile, that really makes me feel better than it should.
I smile and shake my head, "Nah, Jessé." I cough, realising how hoarse my throat is. I go to rub it, only to encounter the neck brace. I start looking for a glass of water, finding none. Before I can even utter a single word, Bart is back with a tall glass, handing it to me. "Gracias," I take it and down it in one gulp.
I put the glass down on my bedside table, not the one where Cassie is still sleeping on. I lay my head back down on the ratty hospital mattress, exhaling my tiredness and closing my eyes. I really wish I could sleep… But my internal clock won't let me.
"Man," I sigh out, which makes Bart look at me quizzically I'm sure. "It's like my body knows I got things to do," I complain wearily. Even my own body recognizes that I have to support my family and not laze around in a bed I won't be able to pay for.
"MIERDA!" Unfortunately, my screaming wakes up Cassie. She shot straight up, almost hitting the ceiling.
"What is it?!" Both she and Bart ask at the same time, both wearing worried expressions.
I look up, more aimed towards the sky than the crummy ceiling. Que Dios me ayude. "What am I going to do?"
Lingering silence. Cassie speaks up unsure, "About?"
I scoff, angry at the world for doing this to me, "The bills Chica! My family doesn't have insurance OR the money to pay for something like this! How does anyone expect me to pay for this!? Damn it!" I swing at the glass, sending it shattering against the far wall.
The next minutes are filled with a sad mix of silence and my heavy breathing. Eventually the awkwardness becomes too much for me to bear and I close my eyes in a vain attempt to sleep.
Do you wish me to produce melatonin to make you fall asleep?
I can't recall if I said yes or no, but I drifted off to sleep anyways.
Oh my gods… it's all my fault… "It's all my fault." I whisper. "It's all my fault! IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" I'm just about screaming now.
Bart grabs me by the shoulders and shake me, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Chill," He says, elongating the last part, "okay?" I nod.
He lets me go and starts pacing rapidly in front of me, "What do you mean it's all your fault? What happened? Where were you guys? I'm really hungry right now. And WHY can't my bro feel his legs?"
It took me a few seconds to understand what words he had just spewed out. A rambling speedster talked even faster than the most gossipy girl. I sighed, and awkwardly cleared my throat, "Well, I woke up this morning and mom wasn't home, which made me feel kinda sad and disappointed because we were supposed to…" I sighed, "I'm rambling aren't I?
Bart nodded. "Please get to the point… Not that I don't want to listen to you, but you know," he shrugged, "speedsters aren't exactly known for having the longest attention span." He gave me a lopsided smile and shrugged good naturedly.
I wiped my face with my hands and kept them together, in front of my mouth. Don't ramble. Right, just gotta… tell him the facts. Tell Bart what happened. What I did with Blue… Stop rambling Cassie. I took a deep breath and let my hands fall to my sides. "We were walking across the street-"
Bart interrupted me, "Why? Where were you two going? Why WERE you two together?"
I sighed, frustrated. I was trying not to ramble and he wasn't making it easier. "Well, as I had started earlier," I glared at him before continuing, "my mom wasn't home, and we were supposed to go to a museum together." I saw Bart roll his eyes. "Since she couldn't I called Robin, but he was also busy. He told me to call Blue so we could hang out. You still following me?"
His eyes shot back to me and he chuckled awkwardly, "Yeah, of course. Museum, Mom and Robin, then Blue." He smiled, satisfied with himself.
"Close enough. I convinced Jaime to come to a museum with me and THEN," I paused, glaring at Bart for having retell all that, "We were crossing the street-"
"Right, right," he interrupted me again.
"And then I just felt Jaime push me. I wasn't expecting it so I actually fell forward… When I turned around," my breathing got heavier, "When I turned around…" I was quietly sobbing now.
"What? When you turned around, what!?"
I made a choking sound and looked at Jaime's sleeping bandaged figure, "Jaime was a mangled mess of blood and asphalt."
Silence. Unbearable silence. Oh god, he's judging me… please don't judge me, Bart, I need someone to be with me right now… I looked back at Bart's face and saw a mix of emotions swirling through his hazel orbs.
He was staring at Jaime. His eyes were unlike any emotions our Impulse was known for displaying; no joy, no happy-go-lucky aura emanating from them. Just grief and anger.
I shook my head, not believing what I saw. "Why are you so angry?" I whispered.
He was trying to control his breathing. "The stupid idiot…" he said in a low voice. His eyes were now shielded from the light, his head slightly bowed. He was vibrating very violently. It was scary. "The moron!" he cried.
I flinched. I was frozen. I'd never seen Bart, the happiest guy I knew, angry like this before. Sure he'd get annoyed when someone stole from his "speedster stash" of food, but nothing like this.
Bart swatted angrily at the air, "You're frickin' Wondergirl! WONDERGIRL! And he got himself hit by car instead of you!?" he pointed at me in disbelief.
Oh gods… what is he going to do..? I didn't really want to know, I was terrified.
"Why'd he do it? Why? Why? Why? Why?" The same question in rapid succession, over and over again. He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, "Bro, why?" His voice cracked.
Suddenly, he wasn't scary anymore. He looked like a lost child. An orphan who had just lost his parents. He slowly walked over to Jaime's side. He must've been extremely grief-stricken to move at such a despairingly slow pace.
He fell to his knees and cried on the bed, next to our sleeping friend. He banged his fist on the mattress. "You knew she could've taken the car, man!" Steady streams were flowing from his eyes. "She's Wondergirl! Bro, why..?" He kept sobbing, more quietly now.
Our phones rang at the same time. Our gazes locked together, understanding passing between us. We couldn't leave Jaime. We both answered the call. I didn't hear Bart's conversation, but Nightwing basically told me to hurry up and get back to base. I couldn't even argue.
We hung up at the same time, and both looked at Jaime. We walked out the hospital in a gloomy trudging silence.
I woke up, the sun was just setting. The sky was a beautiful orange and red, like a painting done by a master artist. It gave some semblance of actual colour to the putrid room. I hazily remembered the nurse saying something about calling home? "Tough luck, we haven't used the phone in months," I mumble to myself.
I tried to sit up, only to feel sharp pain shoot throughout my body… except for my legs. It makes me so angry! How unfair can the world be? I stare at my hands, hopelessly.
"Guess you did this to yourself, Jessé." I tell myself, the now ugly sunset still lighting the sky outside the hospital.