And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
Pain is a relative term.
A headache can cause you pain, a hang nail, a stubbed toe or any other number or things.
But this, what I was currently feeling, was so much worse.
A small moan escaped my lips as I did my best to force open my heavy eye lids. Painfully white walls greeted me as I tried to sit up. Agony erupted in my left arm. I looked down, noticing the white plaster encasing it.
"I broke my arm?" I muttered to myself. "When did I break my arm?"
I looked around the room, noticing the beeping machinery and a sleeping Tyler for the first time. He sat in one of the hospital chairs, leather jacket stretched out across his lap as a steady stream of snoring sounded from him.
What had happened to me? Why was I in a hospital?
I could remember the mall, running into Ben, going to see Gale…Then running into Wade. The events flooded back to me, I could remember that room, Jason, the events in the car, my cousin and his friends and, lastly, my outburst.
I lay there thinking for a bit. What had happened after that?
I wasn't sure, I didn't know. But I did know one thing, my body was aching and my hunger was driving me insane. My stomach was empty; my body was tiered because whatever food they had been giving me wasn't anywhere near enough for me.
I needed food for everything to go back to normal back and for my body to heal.
My choices were limited. I didn't even think about it as I carefully removed my I.V and the tubes stuck in my nose before attached the little pulse keeping pads to Tyler. He didn't stir, not even when I grabbed his jacket off of his lap and put it on.
I was cold, not to mention the jacket was so large it successfully hid the scrubs I was wearing from view. Fishing into the pockets, I pulled out Tyler's leather wallet, grinning in satisfaction when I noticed the money inside.
"Don't worry Tyler," I told the sleeping boy quiet enough not to wake him up "I'll pay you back, I promise."
Shoving the wallet back into the pocket I silently made my way to the door and opened it slightly before peaking my head out. After making sure no one was coming I tip-toed out the room, shutting the door quietly behind myself.
Hospitals sucked ass. Seriously.
They were filled with a bunch of annoying authority figures who were convinced they were 100% right, 100% of the time. Well, I can tell you from experience, they weren't.
Take now for instance; I had been hospitalized for something, though I wasn't specifically sure what, and I was still somehow managing to suffer from lack of food. You think they'd notice the starving girl situated in the hospital bed…Apparently not.
This train of thought was what I used to justify me sneaking out my hospital room with the intention of getting some food out of the cafeteria. Not that my excuse would do anything to tame the anger of any hospital staff member who caught me out of my room.
I pulled the ninja card, creep down the hallway without alerting anyone.
Of course that all went out the window as soon as a whole slew nurses decided now would be a good time to walk down the hall.
I ducked into a room, letting out a sigh of relief when I gently clicked the door shut behind me, affectively cutting me off from the staff.
"You know," I deep, masculine voice laughed. "If you're ducking into random rooms to avoid the nurses, you probably shouldn't be out of bed."
I jumped slightly, my body reflexively turning around to look at whoever the voice belonged to. A tall boy two or three years older then me stood by the hospital bed, a smile plaster on his flawless face, his dark blue eyes twinkled in amusement.
He was attractive, very attractive. Just his entire appearance in general…He was so charismatic, he had only said a few words to me and yet I was already foolishly grinning at him. And his body, he was so frekin' muscular.
I couldn't help but wonder if-
'Snap out of it Cameron!' the subconscious part of my mind yelled at me. 'Snap out of it!'
"I, I…" I was babbling like an idiot. Guys never left me tongue tied, I always knew what to say to them, whether it was a witty comeback or some flirtatious smile… But this guy, I didn't know what to say.
The boy let off another laugh, his body shaking as he chuckled. He stuck out his hand, a huge smile on his face.
"I'm Chase." He told me "Chase Collins."
I shook my head slightly, doing my best to snap myself out of whatever was inflicting me.
I walked over to Chase, extending my own hand and offering him a small smile, "I'm Cameron Parry."
Our hands touched, my head spun, and pictures formed within my mind.
Spiders. Hundreds and hundreds of spiders, scurrying across the floor and up the walls. That's not what bothered me the most; two unrecognizable girls lay on two separate beds; spiders crawled over them, up their bodies in into their noses.
My legs buckled underneath me and I found myself kneeling on the floor, still engrossed in the vision. My stomach curled, my body heaved and I knew if there had been anything in my stomach, I would have thrown it up.
And then it stopped and a hand was being waved in front of my face.
I blinked.
"Are you alright?" Chase asked, furrowing his eyebrows in concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said flashing him a smile. That was weird, what the heck did this guy have to do with spiders? "Just a little spacey, that's all."
Yeah, spacey because that vision successfully weirded me out. It took a lot to weird me out.
"So what?" He asked as his face relaxed into a smile "They have you in here for head trauma?"
"No," I admitted as I forced myself onto my feet, my head spinning due to lack of food."Severe dehydration."
At least that's what I assumed it was.
"And that's how you broke your arm?" He asked me, eyebrows raised.
"No, that's just…Actually, I have no idea how this happened." I admitted with a small laugh.
"Well that's always comforting." He muttered.
"Yeaaaaah…"I said, bouncing slightly on the heels of my feet. "So what are you doing here?"
"I was in a car accident." He admitted as he frowned slightly.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He shook his head "But my parents aren't…They, uh, they died."
"I'm so sorry!" I told him, my hand flying to my chest. "Are you alright?"
"It's hard." He admitted, "But I'm sure it'll get easier eventually."
"Yeah, it does." I promised him with a nod "It takes a long time but it does get better."
"You lost your family?" He asked.
"Yeah," I confessed, "A car accident, two and a half years ago. I lost my parents and older brother."
"I'm sorry to hear that." He told me.
"It sucks, doesn't it?" I asked, but before he could answer my stomach let off an annoyingly loud growl.
"Hungry, I take it." He said with a laugh.
"Yeah, sorry."
"It's fine, go get something to eat." He told me with a small smile.
"Thanks, I'll see you later." I told him, raising a hand in farewell.
"Actually, I'm being discharged so I'm leaving." He told me apologetically "But I have a feeling we'll see each other again."
"Ok," I smiled as I gave him a nod. "I'll see you around Chase."
I made my way to the door, sticking my head out to make sure no one was coming before scurrying into the elevator and hitting the button for the ground floor.
The elevator was empty, thankfully. It was pretty obvious I shouldn't be wondering around the hospital. I hadn't even bothered looking in a mirror before I left me room; God only knows what I looked like.
I picked up a tray, ignoring onlookers as I piled it high with hotdogs, hamburgers, pie, cake, fruit, vegetables, and whatever else I could shove onto it.
The look on the cashier's face when I went to pay for my meal? Priceless, absolutely priceless.
"Is that all for you?" She asked, her mouth hanging wide open.
I rolled my eyes, "How much?"
"You know, we're really not supposed to be giving food to patients." She told me. "And by the look of things you shouldn't even be out of bed."
"This," I said, holding up a fifty "Is for the food. This," I said, holding up another one "Is for you if you promise not to mention anything to the hospital staff."
"Enjoy your food!" She told me with a smile as she accepted the money.
Turning around I looked at each of the tables, trying to spot an empty one I could sit at. In the end, I didn't need to sit at an empty table; my cousin, Reid, Caleb and Ben were seated at one already, empty expressions on their faces as they chewed absent mindedly on some food.
"Hey," I said, sliding into a seat as I placed my tray on the table and picked up a sandwich "What's up?"
No one said any as I bit into my sandwich, their mouths hung open in surprise and no one knew what to say.
"What the hell are you doing?" Reid finally demanded, pulling the sandwich away before I could take another bite.
"Give that back!" I demanded, lunging for the sandwich. Before I could grab it Reid pulled it out of reach. I went to grab some more food off of the tray but it was pulled away, this time by Pogue.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Pogue asked right as Caleb demanded "Where's Tyler?"
"I'm hungry!" I spat, trying to grab something off of the tray. "I need food."
"No," Pogue corrected, "You need to get your ass back into bed."
"I'm fine, I'm just a little hungry." I told him defensively, but the boys just stared at me. "What?"
"You've been in a coma for two weeks." Ben informed me, a bitter expression on his face.
"What?" I whispered, hoping I had seriously misheard Ben. "Are you serious?"
"The doctors weren't sure just how hurt you were. They said they'd figure out the extent of the damage if you woke up." Pogue told me, shaking his head. "If, Cameron, if you woke up. Do you have any idea," His voice caught in his throat and he ran a hand down his face. "You were missing for over a week."
I had lost three weeks of my life because of Jason, three weeks I could never get back.
"What happened?" I asked "I mean, how'd you guys…"
"The tracked me down, it took 'em a while though. After that it was all a matter of following your aura. Which wasn't easy, by the way, by the time we found you in that stupid car it was virtually nonexistent. You were tapped, still are I'd imagine." Ben answered.
"I'm not tapped!" I snapped. No way was I tapped, tapped meant I had no magic left in my body. It meant I'd have to wait till it gradually came back. I had a specific store of magic, when it was gone it was gone until it could rebuild itself. "No way am I tapped after being in a coma for two weeks!"
"We thought you died." Caleb responded.
"I still might, if you guys don't hand over the food." I told him, reaching over the table and grabbing the tray from my distracted cousin.
"No Cammie, you need to get back in bed." Pogue told me roughly.
"I need food first." I told him.
"We could have brought you food." Caleb tried to ease the situation.
"You wouldn't have brought enough." I turned my attention to Ben. "How much weight did I lose?"
Ben hesitated for a second before speaking up. "Thirty five pounds."
"How the heck did you lose so much?" Pogue demanded.
I grimaced slightly. That put me way below the recommended weight for someone of my size.
"I just need to down this and I'll be fine." I said, ignoring Pogue's question.
"I don't think so," Pogue answered, standing up as he leaned over to grab the tray from me. "You can't eat that much food, you'll make yourself sick."
"No I won't." I told him as I took a bite of a burger. "I need to eat about this much or things are going to get really bad, really soon."
"Oh yeah," Reid said sarcastically, "Binge eating is always a good thing."
"She has a fast metabolism guys, she needs to eat way more than a normal to survive and maintain her magic. Jason probably didn't feed her much." Ben told the boys defensively.
I shuttered. I had no interest in reliving the memories of the time during my captivity. Instead I finished up my second burger and picked up a hot dog.
"Or at all." Reid added as I downed the hot dog in two bites.
"Who's jacket is that anyway?" Pogue asked me.
"Tyler's. I took his jacket and barrowed some money from him." I shrugged, "What can I say, I'm kinda really hungry."
"Don't worry, we've noticed." Reid smirked, earning him a slap across the back of the head from Caleb.
"What happened when you guys caught up to me?" I asked cautiously as I picked up a fork and tried to eat some cake.
"We stalled the car," Pogue sighed "You got out, then you passed out and we called 9-1-1."
"What happened to him?" I asked. "Jason, I mean."
All four boys exchanged a look.
"Camera," Ben began, extending a hand to touch mine comfortingly. This couldn't be good. "He was taken into custody, but about a week ago he was released on bail. He hasn't been seen since."
I felt my stomach drop as the words sunk in. No one knew where he was. He was missing. Which meant on thing. He may be gone now, but he'd be back, he'd come for me again.
A squeak of fear escaped my lips.
"Cameron," Pogue soothed, giving Ben a look that implied he wanted to kill him. "That bastard's never getting anywhere near you again. Ever. Do you understand?" He asked.
He made me look in his eyes, a determined look on his face. I nodded, not sure if I believed him.
"He's never going to touch you again." Caleb assured me as both Ben and Reid nodded.
"I'm never going to let him touch me again." I whispered to myself but the boys heard anyway. They exchanged a worried look before looking back at me.
"Damn it!" I swore, throwing my fork down in frustration. This wasn't working at all.
"What's wrong?" Reid asked with a small laugh.
"I can frekin' eat with a busted arm!" I groaned.
"You just down like 12 burgers and 8 hotdogs." Reid pointed out.
"Yeah, well, I'm still wicked hungry and this stupid cast is a pain in the butt." I muttered.
"You're left handed?" Caleb asked and I just rolled my eyes.
"Obviously." I glared at the cake.
"How long have you been left handed?" Reid asked.
"Uh, I dunno, only about fifteen years or so." I snapped sarcastically. "I could always…" I trailed off, glancing at my arm as I considered my possibilities.
"Don't even think about it!" Ben told me sternly. "You're tapped, remember?"
"I'm not tapped, and this cast's wicked annoying!" I answered.
"I don't care if it's 'wicked annoying', you can't heal it, not in your condition." Ben warned.
" I'll be fine." I told him.
"Ok, prove it." Ben said, picking up a straw and putting it on the table. "Turn it invisible."
"No problem." I said smugly, reaching for my magic before anyone could protest. It was there, just barely. I hit it with too much force, it flew out, and a microwave exploded. I felt for my magic again, there wasn't any. "Ok, so now I'm tapped." I told Ben before assessing the blown up microwave, "Ops."
"Ops?" Pogue asked as my eyes started to flutter shut. "Ops? Do you have any idea how idiotically stupid that was? You could have-"
"Pogue," Caleb cut him off as my eyes shut completely and my head started to bob up and down in exhaustion. "It'll be alright, we'll work on her control as soon as she's out of here."
"Come on," Pogue sighed, walking over to me and picking me up bridal style. "Let's get you back into bed."
"No!" I protested, struggling against him. I didn't want to go back to the room. "I don't wanna go back there, I wanna go home."
My cousin stopped, looking down at me "Home?" He asked.
"Yeah, home. You remember home don't you? Ipswich Massachusetts, a Podunk little town whose population is virtually nonexistent. Yep, that's my home! Geese, I thought you'd know, considering I live with you and everything. " I told him, sarcasm dripping from my voice.
His mouth twitched upwards into a smile before becoming a straight line again. "Yeah, I remember. You've just never called it home before."
"Well, it is my home. So can we go there?" I asked, forcing myself out of his hold and to my feet as I ignored my spinning head.
Pogue didn't get a chance to answer before a frantic looking nurse entered the cafeteria, followed closely behind by Tyler.
"Dude, Pogue! I can't find your cousin. She-" Tyler stopped talking and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of me. "Never mind, I found her."
"Oh my goodness!" The nurse said, running over to me. "You shouldn't be standing, let alone out of bed!"
"I'm fine." I said, trying to brush her concern off with a wave of my hand.
"No," Pogue laughed as my eyes fluttered close again and my body began to sway in exhaustion. "You're not, but you will be."
Pogue didn't give me the chance to respond before he picked me up. I started to struggle, hating to be 'man handled' after everything that had happened to me.
"It's gonna be ok Cam." Pogue promised me. "It's gonna be ok. I'll keep you safe. You're home."
And, unlike every time he had said it before, I actually believed him. I snuggled into my cousin's chest, letting my eyes flicker shut as he carried me to safety.
A/N: So I'm not 100% sure about this chapter. I hope it didn't suck as badly as I think it did...
Ok, I know I've asked this before but I'm looking for someone to edit my chapters before I post them. I had someone message me about it before...But I accidentally deleted the massage, so sorry person, I wasn't ignoring you!...But if anyone is even remotely interested, please drop me a message. (I won't even delete it this time!)