I sat frozen on that bench, for who knows how long. It felt like forever. It was a struggle for me to even breathe. Had I really just fought with Elle not even two hours ago? Had I really just yelled at her and made her feel guilty? I felt like a horrible person. I looked at the EMT's rolling her body out of the building. I quickly ran up to them. Many questions rolled around in my head.
"Is she dead?!" I only asked that because her body wasn't covered. "No. Just injured," a short older man replied. I let out a sigh of relief. But then I was suddenly angered. Why would that girl alarm me like that?! I thought my bestfriend was dead for crying out loud! I was scared to death!
I scowled. "Do you know her, miss?" a taller EMT asked me.
I nodded quickly. "My bestfriend."
"Well, you can ride in the ambulance."
He helped me climb into the back. A bigger man hovered over Elle, examining her, I guess. "Is she gonna be okay?" I asked, my voice shaky. The back of the ambulance closed. The man nodded.
"She'll be just fine. Whoever harmed her, really just put her in shock."
Once we arrived at the hospital and got Elle in a room, she awakened. She looked around real confused. I was holding on to her hand, sitting on a chair next to her bed. "A-Alex?" she muttered out. I smiled at her. "Yes, it's me. Look, I'm real sorry about before I didn-"
She cut me off. "Stop. Its my fault. Now, what happened to me?" I scowled at the bruises forming on her neck. I don't know what kind of person could do that to someone. Especially in broad daylight. They had escaped out the window, whoever it was. They thought they had killed her. Luckily, they left DNA.
"S-someone," My throat got thick with tears. "tried to strangle you.." I started sobbing.
They told me to tell her as soon as she asked, what had happened. They didn't want to do any damage to her by lying. Elle's brow was furrowed. She looked confused again. "Why?"
Just then, a nurse walked in. She was wearing bright pink scrubs and a way too big smile. "Time to go for a minute, sweetie," she said, too brightly.
I kissed Elle on the head and walked out. Justin was waiting in the waiting room. He looked up at me.
"How is she doing?"
"Fine. Just confused, I think," I mumbled out. I wiped away the rest of the tears. I felt Justin's hands grab me around the waist and pull me down onto his lap. He stroked me hair for awhile, whispering senseless things in my ear until the doctor came out.
"Miss Santiago? Are Elle's parents here?" the doctor asked in a gruff voice.
I nodded my head no. "They work in California."
Really unfortunate. They live halfway across the country. They moved last year. Elle wasnt very happy about that. She broke almost everything in our dorm. "Well, she can be released to go home, but she needs a little while out of school."
"But finals are next week!" The doctor shrugged and walked out. I sat, still in Justins lap, befuddled. We had a home to go to. We were prepared and had already bought a home together for after college. But we had to do finals. I knew I would have to stay with her and take care of her..
After a few hours, Elle was released. Justin drove us to our house and stayed for awhile. It was already fully furnished, everything already done. I sighed. This was going to be difficult. We'll have to do our finals during the summer, I guess.
Nick had also come over. Elle sat in his lap, while I sat on Justins in the love seat. I guess we all didnt feel like talking. Elle and Nick just stared into each others eyes. I guess we were all thinking the same thing. We had come close to losing her. Justin held me closer as I started sobbing again. I was the luckiest girl in the world right now.
