I don't own Twilight!
Misery Loves Company
When I finally calmed down and the tears stopped, I managed to fall back to sleep. Thankfully it was dreamless this time, so I was able to get some rest. I began to stir a few hours later when I heard voices. It sounded like my parents were arguing about something. I didn't have the energy to deal with them, so I kept my eyes closed and just listened.
"We have to tell her," my dad said.
"No. She is on emotional overload as it is," my mom argued, "She can't handle anything else."
"What if she hears about it from someone else?" my dad said, "Don't you think that would be worse?"
"We can ask the doctors and nurses not to say anything," my mom said, but I could tell she was losing her fight.
"For God's sake, Renee, it's all over the news," Charlie said, "All she has to do is turn on the T.V."
"This is going to destroy her," mom said quietly.
"I know," my dad said with a sigh and I could tell that the fight had left him as well. I couldn't take it anymore, they were clearly talking about something major, and I wanted to know what was going on. Whatever happened was apparently bad, but I didn't know what could be worse then what had already happened.
"What's going on?" I asked as slowly opened my eyes.
"Oh honey, I'm sorry," my mom said as sat next to me on the bed, "We didn't mean to wake you."
"It's okay," I replied, "What were you talking about?"
"Nothing you need to worry about now," my mom said. One glance at my dad told me he disagreed.
"Just tell me what is going on," I said, "I'd rather hear whatever it is from you guys and not someone else."
"This isn't going to be easy for you to hear," my mom said, clearly wanting to just end the conversation somehow.
"What is it?" I asked growing impatient.
"Bella," my dad said as he came to sit on the other side of my bed, "Do you remember yesterday when I told you four people had been shot?"
"Yes," I said, already not liking where this was going.
"Well, you already know that you, Edward, and Mr. Banner were shot," my dad said.
"Yes," I said again, "Who was the fourth person?"
"It was Angela," My dad said, pausing for a moment to give me time to adjust to that piece of information before continuing on. "I'm so sorry, Bells. She didn't make it."
I sat there, perfectly still, not believing a word my dad had said. What in the world would make him say that? There was no way that Angela, my friend, was dead. We were going to have sleepover on Friday, have pizza, and watch movies. She couldn't be dead.
One look at my mom and dad's faces was enough to cut through my denial, though. They both had genuine tears of grief in their eyes. Suddenly everything inside my head was unraveling at lightning speed as my brain tried to grasp what my heart just wouldn't accept.
"No," I whispered and shook my head.
"I'm so sorry Bells," my dad said.
"NO!" I said louder as I started to sob, "You're wrong. She's not dead."
"Bella, I know how hard this is for you," my mom said.
"No…no…no…no," I chanted over and over again as I sobbed uncontrollably. My heart monitor was beeping wildly at this point, and a nurse entered with a syringe.
"I am sorry, but I am going to have to sedate her," the nurse said.
"Is that really necessary?" my mom asked as she attempted to calm me down.
"Yes. She needs to calm down or the spike in her blood pressure could make her very sick," the nurse said, giving my parents a look of concern. She added whatever was in the syringe to my I.V.
It didn't take long to kick in. I felt myself being pulled under and I welcomed it. I could only hope that when I woke up I find out this had all been a nightmare. Unfortunately, a few hours later when I woke up I realized my hope had been nothing more than an effort in futility. My arm was still in a sling, which meant I had been shot and that Angela was gone.
I couldn't think about that, so I looked around the room for something to distract me. My parents were no longer in the room, and I figured they we at home getting a fresh change of clothes or maybe in the cafeteria getting something to eat.
I noticed that there was a remote sitting the table next to my bed. I grabbed it with my good arm and flipped on the T.V.
Of course it tuned in to a channel with the local news on and they were talking about the shooting. I knew that was the last thing I needed to watch, so I flipped the channel. More news. The next couple of channels were all news so I kept flipping unit I came to some mindless sitcom. I didn't really know much about the show, but it was better than the alternative. I watched it for about ten minutes before I gave up and turned the remote off.
What I wanted more than anything was to get up and move around. Lying in this bed was doing nothing but helping me dwell in on the negative. I knew if I didn't get up and move the grief would consume me, since I was fighting back tears as it was. I pushed the call button and waited for a nurse to come in. It didn't take long, and the nurse who had the syringe walked in, thankfully without the syringe this time.
"Are you feeling better?" she asked kindly.
"A little," I lied. "Do think it would be okay for me to get up and move around?"
"Do you have to go to the bathroom?" she asked.
"Actually yes," I said, because now that she had mentioned it I really did have to go. The nurse nodded and pulled my blanket off of me. She then moved my legs so they rested on floor instead of the bed. Finally she put her arm around my shoulder and helped me up. Standing up made me realize how weak I really was.
We walked slowly to the bathroom and she wheeled the I.V. with us. Once I was situated in the bathroom she closed the door and waited in my room. When I was done she started to help me back to my bed, but I stopped her.
"I was wondering if I could visit one of my friends who is also in the hospital?" I asked as I thought of Edward.
"You need to rest," she said.
"Please, I just found out my best friend Angela was killed. Edward, my other friend, was shot too and I just need to see with my own eyes that he is okay," I said. The nurse looked at me and something in my face must have gotten to her because she sighed and nodded.
"Alright," she said, "Just sit down and I will go get a wheelchair."
"Thank you," I replied as she helped me sit on the edge of my bed. I only had to wait a minute before she returned with the wheel chair. The nurse helped me into the chair, put a blanket over my legs, and we were on our way.
"So I assume your friend Edward is Edward Cullen?" the nurse asked, "Dr. Cullen's son?"
"Yes," I replied. I had forgotten that Edward's dad was a doctor at this hospital. We were silent as she wheeled me down the hallway. We turned into a room at the end of the hall and I was shocked to realize that Edward's room was so close to mine.
Edward was propped up in bed and his injured leg was sticking out of the blanket covered in gauze and bandages.
"Hi," I said quietly.
"Hi," Edward replied as he sat up a little straighter.
"I'll give you some time, but you both do need your rest," the nurse said as she turned to leave.
"Thank you," I said, and she turned back to smile at me before leaving the room. Edward and I were silent as we listened to the nurse's retreating footsteps in the hallway. When the sound finally faded away we turned our eyes to each other.
"How are you?" Edward and I asked in unison. I blushed as I dropped my gaze to my lap; I began to play with a loose sting on my hospital gown.
"Bella," Edward said quietly, "Are you okay?"
"Not really," I replied with a sigh as I slowly brought my gaze up to meet his again.
"Are you ok?"
"Not really," he replied mirroring my words.
"This all just seems so surreal," I said.
"I know," Edward agreed, "I keep thinking I'll wake up and this will all have been just a nightmare."
"I keep thinking the same thing," I said. We were quiet then as we gathered our thoughts.
"Bella," Edward said, breaking the silence, "Thank you."
"For what?" I asked.
"For taking a bullet for me," he said. "I mean, we don't really know each other, but you still pushed me out of the way and took a bullet for me."
"It wasn't that big of a deal," I mumbled as the blush crept up on my face again.
"Yeah it was," Edward argued.
"Well, I owe you a thank you too," I said as tried to get the attention off of myself, "I mean, you took a bullet trying to save me and stop Mike."
"I just reacted on instinct," Edward shrugged like his heroism was no big deal.
"What happened after I passed out?" I asked.
"When you fell Mike got distracted and took his gaze off of me. I tried to use his focus on you to my advantage and tackle him. We fought, and we both had our hands on the gun when it went off. The bullet hit my leg and Mike lost his grip on the gun. I grabbed it, and once it was in my hand all the fight went out of Mike, and he gave up."
"Wow," was all I could say.
"I managed to stay conscious until help came," Edward said, finishing his story, "I passed out in the ambulance and woke up here."
"How is your leg?" I asked.
"It looks pretty gross, but thanks to the pain meds I can't feel it," Edward said.
"Yeah I can't feel my arm, either," I said, "I haven't seen it yet though."
"Really? They haven't had to check on it yet?" he asked.
"No, I don't think so," I said, "I suppose they could have done it after they sedated me this morning."
"You were sedated?" Edward asked.
"I…I found out about Angela, and I didn't take the news very well," I said, and felt tears well up as I thought about it.
"I heard about what happened to her," Edward said as he reached for a Kleenex on his nightstand and handed it to me. "I'm so sorry."
"Thank you," I said as I wiped my eyes.
"I heard she died a hero, though," Edward said.
"What?" I asked in confusion.
"I guess when Mike pointed his gun at Tyler and Eric she pushed one of them out of the way and took the bullet," Edward explained, "At least that is what it said on the news."
"Angela was always such a good person," I said.
"I know," Edward said as he reached over and squeezed my hand.
"Was your sister okay?" I asked, desperately needing to change the subject before the grief took over.
"Yeah," Edward said with a small smile, "She is downstairs buying out the gift shop as we speak."
"Where are your parents?" I asked as I just now realized the room was empty.
"My dad finally convinced my mom that they needed to go home to shower and change their clothes" Edward said.
"Yeah I think that is what my parents are doing, too," I said, "They were gone when I woke up, so I assume that is where they are."
"Alright," said the nurse from the doorway, startling both of us, "It's time for you to get back to your room, Bella."
"But I just got here," I protested.
"I know, but you need your rest," the nurse said, "You can come back later if you want."
I couldn't argue that I wasn't emotionally drained or felt tired. So I only nodded as she came over to grab the handles of my wheelchair.
"Bye Bella," Edward said.
"Bye, Edward," I replied as I was wheeled from the room.
AN: Thanks to my beta Jenn! Thanks also to: Angelus Draco, the captains wife, frostedglaze, ellaryne, debslmac, sandy4321, FoxStorm77, boo1414, Flavia Ribeiro, SelenaQuintanillaLOVER, Mireads, sujari6, midnight-sun1918 for taking the time to leave a review, it means a lot.
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