So here is chapter eight! I'm making great progress with this story and my feedback for it is AMAZING! Thank you guys so so so much for all your reviews, favs, follows, they mean a lot to me! FYI- I just finished chapter nineteen and I'm now working on twenty. You guys better be prepared for chap nineteen because it was a LONG one! Read and Review! :D :D

AUSTIN'S POV

I had been trying to flag down drivers for about thirty minutes. No luck. Most cars couldn't exactly just pull over and stop while going about eighty miles per hour. Especially not to pick up two random, dirty, hobo-looking kids off the side of the street.

Finally, one woman in a blue van turned on her caution lights and proceeded to pull over. I walked over to her van and she rolled down her window.

"Do you need help?" She asked politely.

"Yes. Yes I do. My friend over here has been stranded in these woods for multiple days and is in very bad condition. She needs to see a doctor immediately." I explained.

"Oh my goodness! Well, I guess I could give you a lift to the nearest hospital, but it will take about an hour from here." She offered.

"That would be great! Thank you so, so much! You have no idea." I said, appreciating her kindness.

"Alright, hop in." She said.

I picked up Ally and laid her across the back seats, then climbed in next to her and rested her head on my lap.
We starting driving in the designated direction and I relaxed myself.

I looked down at Ally who still seemed unconscious. Luckily her breathing had remained stable. I slowly started running my fingers through her hair, picking out the leaves and twigs. I kept running my fingers through her hair hoping to soothe her, even if she wasn't aware of anything. I gently rubbed the dirt and mud off of her cheeks and forehead with my thumb.

I noticed she was still in that big sweatshirt of hers. Out of curiosity, I lifted her arm and slid up the sleeve of the sweatshirt. I quickly noticed how rapidly her body mass had decreased. I could clearly see every bone with detail. She had cuts and scrapes all over her arms as well. I slid the sleeve back down and replaced her arm next to her body.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up in the woods anyway?" The woman driving, asked.

"Um, well, It's a long and complicated story, and I honestly don't know half of it." I tried to explain.

"Oh, well, that's okay, you don't need to explain." She said changing her mind.

I wrapped up Ally's hand in mine and looked down at her again. I leaned my head back on the headrest and tried to drift off to sleep. It didn't take long.

Before I knew it, the woman was trying to wake me up, explaining that we had arrived at the hospital. My fatigue quickly disappeared and I hurriedly got up and carried Ally into the lobby with the woman. We told the lady at the front desk a quick overview of the problem and she sent us to the emergency room. Me and the woman had to stand outside of the room until Ally was stable.

"Ya know, I never got your name." Said the woman that was with me.

"Oh, sorry, my name is Austin Moon and my friend is Ally Dawson. And you?" I asked.

"Anna Taylor. Nice to officially meet you Austin." She said as we shook hands.

"Thanks again for everything, you really helped us out." I thanked her.

"No problem. I went through some tough times too when I was younger. That's why I help people so often. Because I know how hard it can get." Anna said.

I just smiled and focused my attention back to the room Ally was in. They had fluids being pumped into her through many different tubes and doctors were all around her doing different things.

"So is Ally your girlfriend?" Anna asked.

"Oh, uh, no. We are just friends. Or at least I think we are. We used to be anyway. It's complicated." I chuckled to hide my true emotions.

"I get it. Lots of high school drama involved?" She asked.

"Yup." I answered with a sigh.

"That's what I thought. I'm a counselor for troubled teens. I deal with a lot of stuff like that all the time." Anna explained.

"Oh." I said, too focused on Ally to pay a whole lot of attention to the conversation.

"I understand that you're worried about her, I'll leave you alone for a little while." She told me as she walked back to the front lobby.

I continued to watch intently towards the emergency room, waiting for any sign of progress. Finally, the doctor came out and gave me a progress report.

"It seems that she is famished and very dehydrated. We are pumping fluids into her body to keep her stable. We are going to have to perform surgery on her stomach because there are a lot of problems there. Basically since she hasn't eaten, her stomach has been feeding off itself, digesting parts of the stomach lining." He explained.

"Is she going to be okay?" I said quietly, barely able to speak.

"Most likely. We have dealt with these problems before, and as long as she remains stable throughout her surgery, she should be back to normal in no time." He said reassuringly.

I let out a sigh of relief knowing that she would be probably be okay.

"She has regained consciousness, and you should be able to see her in a few minutes." The doctor said before retreating down the hall to another room.

I waited outside the room until the nurse let me in. When she did, I slowly walked through the door and found Ally turning her gaze towards me. She lifted her hand up to wave and the nurse left us alone.

ALLY'S POV

First thing, I was looking up at Austin while shivering profusely. I started coughing like crazy, noticing the blood on the ground that was dripping off my tongue. That was the last thing I remembered until fading into darkness.

I did feel as if I was moving, but I couldn't see anything. There was occasionally a buzzing or murmuring sound that seemed way off in the distance. I was very cold, even though I couldn't feel my body thoroughly. After a long time of darkness, a sound of extra loud buzzing came through. The sound stayed audible for what seemed like about thirty minutes.

Then I felt like I was moving again, but everything was quiet. Then I felt like I could somewhat feel my head. It felt tingly, but it felt good. My face felt tingly too. Then it was my arm. But after that, all of the tingly feelings went away. Then my left hand felt very warm. It stayed like that for a while.

All of a sudden I was being moved again. I heard the sound of murmuring and voices buzzing here and there. I then felt like my body was being pricked. Something sharp was poking me. I didn't like that feeling. But the feeling left just as soon as it came.

I felt major pressure on my stomach. I do vaguely remember that my stomach had been very much in pain before the darkness. Then all the pain, pressure, sharpness, tingles, everything, was gone. I felt like I was just floating in darkness.

Then a circle of light appeared far away. It kept getting bigger, closer. I was moving towards the light. It was a big blur of bright white light. Then I was slowly coming into focus. I could feel my body again. I was under blankets. I saw a ceiling, and lights. I flicked my eyes across the room to realize that I was at a hospital. I looked down at myself noticing the many cords and tubes connected to my arms. Then I saw a woman leave the room. And someone else entered. Austin.

END CHAPTER EIGHT

AUSTIN'S POV

I had just walked into the room in which Ally was being kept in. She looked at me with wide eyes. Her eyes flicked around the room a couple more times and finally settled back on me.

"Hey." I said simply.

"Hey." Ally said back. Her voice was small and quiet.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"I think so. You know that's about the only question you have asked me for the past couple of days." She smiled.

"Well, what am I supposed to say when the person next to me practically looked dead." I said.

She looked over herself self-consciously when I mentioned the fact that she looked dead. Her smile faded and a frown took its place. Nice one Austin, I scolded myself. I brought myself to ask the question that had been lingering on my mind for days.

"Did you run away because of me?" I asked quietly.

She took a moment to answer, but finally did.

"Sort of. You were part of it I guess. But I didn't run away just because of you or anything in particular." She said, bitterness was hinting at her tone, but most of it was just sad confession.

"Then why did you?" I asked curiously.

"I really don't want to talk about it. I really, really don't." She said with more hiss in her voice this time.

I let her be, because she wanted me to. But I was still desperately wanting to know.

"I really wish I had some music to listen to." Ally said disappointedly.

"Do you still have your iPod?" I asked.

"No, I lost it somewhere in the woods with my headphones. I guess they just fell out of my sweatshirt pocket." She said.

"I found your headphones on a rock next to the creek, but I never saw an iPod." I told her.

"Well you should've picked them up." She said shortly.

"Sorry, I was a little more concerned with you at the time." I said seriously.

"I was just kidding. I don't really care about it." She said.

"You sure seemed attached to it in school." I pointed out.

"Well that's because everyone at school is stupid, and I need something else to focus on." She said anger showing up in her voice again.

"Tell you what, I'll just buy you some new ones. How about that?" I offered.

"No thanks, I don't even have an iPod anymore anyway, remember?" She said.

Then the doctor came in and announced that it was time to take her to another room for surgery.

"What?! Surgery?!" She yelled with fear and confusion.

The doctor explained her condition and what actions had to be done to correct the problem. She nodded with more fear and gulped.

"It'll be okay Ally. Everything has been going smoothly so far, and they've dealt with this before. Everything will be fine." I reassured her.

She just nodded one more time and with that they wheeled her down to the other room. I wasn't allowed in that room under any circumstances.
So I went back to the waiting room with Anna. I gave her all the news and I tried to get another round of sleep in, before I got to see Ally again.

ALLY'S POV

Austin and I had had a short conversation with each other. Once again, he started asking questions, but I still didn't want to give him any answers. I kept telling myself that he was doing this out of guilt, and that he really didn't care. But part of me wanted to give in to his kindness. But it was all an act. Every time I let someone in, they turn against me.

I immediately freaked out when I found out that I was having surgery. I had never been through anything remotely close to that. But the doctor claimed it was for the best. Of course the doctor would. He gets paid for this.

I got to the operating table and I'm pretty sure I started having a panic attack. I really wished that my mom was here right now. She would hold my hand and tell me that everything would be okay. Austin told me everything would be okay...Snap out of it Ally!

The doctor then gave me medicine that quickly calmed me down. My heart rate slowed down rapidly. I began to feel really sleepy. Then the darkness was coming again. After a couple minutes, the darkness had me completely surrounded and I was out.

After what felt like forever, my senses slowly started returning. The feeling in my body gradually came back to me and I could see the light coming back. The first thing I heard was,

"She is stable, and she's going to be okay." A male voice said.

Whew. Now that that's over. I was okay and I was going to be fine. Good. Right? I started remembering all the things that caused me to run away. Maybe I didn't wanna be fine. That means I just have to go back to all the problems that started this mess in the first place. My dad probably doesn't even know that I was gone for a week or more.

I was put on strict bed rest at the hospital for three days. I didn't see Austin for the rest of the day because the doctor said that no one was allowed in this room until further examination of the patient. I went to sleep for the night, wondering how this incident would affect my life, or if it even would.

What did you think? This is my longest chapter so far, and I would love to read your reviews! Until next time! :D :D