Dark Side

Chapter 27 Part 2

The excitement from everyone in the room turned to anxiety as they watched me and Corinne. I, too, lost that excitement I had, and my emotions began to turn into anger and confusion. However, nobody talked. Nobody explained anything. So, I decided to take things into my own hands.

"Why is she here? She has no right to be here!" I yell, shoving a finger in the direction of Corinne.

"Demi, just give her a ch-" Dallas starts off desperately; but I cut her off, already knowing what she is going to say.

"A chance? I gave her plenty of chances. And all she did was deliberately hurt me. I'm not going to have her here at a time when I'm more vulnerable than ever. How could you let her in?!"

At this point, I was just trying to hold back the tears. There was so much resentment I held against Corinne that I had never expressed before, because I didn't want to talk about what happened. But I didn't care about that anymore. She was in my room in the hospital when I was supposed to be relaxing and working on recovery. All Corinne could do is make things worse.

I keep a solid glare on Dallas. She could have easily sent Corinne out and avoided all this trouble. But she didn't. Instead, she welcomed her in; and that disgusted me to no end.

"Demi, you're right. I know. I was wrong, and that's why I'm here. Please, just let me say what I have to say and I'll be on my way. Please..."

With the sound of her voice, I advert my attention from Dallas to Corinne. Hesitantly, she approached me as she spoke with an expression on her face that looked as if she was in fear of me slapping her right across the face; and that's when I remember, our last encounter did end in violence.

"Fine. But what could you possibly say that was so important that you needed to come down here to the hospital to tell me? You had all the time in the world, and you chose to wait until I was disabled in a hospital!" I spit with pure spite in my tone.

"I know, I know. And I shouldn't have been so stupid in the first place. But I realized too late, and I don't know what came over me, but I knew I had to come and make it up to you," Corinne says with tears forming in her eyes.

"How dare you try to act like this hurts for you. Do you see me? Do you see the blood that's still left on my face? Do you see how pale my skin is? Do you even realize what I went through? Yet you have the nerve to come over here and cry for repentance?! It's all for show, Corinne, and I don't believe a word of it. I could honestly care less about what you have to say and there is NOTHING you can do to take any of this back! So don't try to sell me some lie. Next time, instead of tearing someone up, think about what they could be going through..." my voice trails off, and I just look down at my hands, covered in needles and blood.

"Demi, I-" Corinne says softly.

"Just leave. Please.." I say, trying not to break down crying as the tears begin to stream down my face.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Corinne pass my right shoulder. I know she's gone when I hear the door shut, and I just put my face in my hands, not wanting anyone to see me cry. Holding in the tears, I try to regain composure, but it proves to be lost cause.

"Demi?" a calm voice says near my ear.

I feel a tough hand gently fall on my back, and I know it's Joe. He caresses my back, trying to sooth me, but I only feel sick.

"You know, she was actually trying to help? She left money to help pay for the medical expenses and everything."

At that, I pick my head up to look Joe in the eye, wanting to know if he was serious. But as the plain expression on his face showed, he was. How could he be so stupid?

"Don't you get it, Joe? I don't want her money. I could honestly care less about that. All I want right now is to get better and for my family to get back together. The only thing she has to offer is money; and I can't think of anyone who is more poor than that. If she was really sorry, things would be different. She's never going to change, and you know that."

Unlike before, I ended my statement calmly. I didn't want a fight; in fact, that's the last thing I wanted right now. But they had to know how I really felt, after hiding it in all this time. Joe seemed to understand, though, as he nodded his head and looked up at me to say,"So what should we do?"

I pause, trying to collect my thoughts and say what I really wanted to say. Looking around, I saw Maddie and Dallas were waiting for my answer too with eager expressions. I interrupted the silence and said,"Give her back her money, and let's just forget about all of this, okay? I want to relax with y'all and get out of here as soon as I can. But I don't think that's going to happen if she is on my mind."

"Alright, it never happened. Now let's make you comfortable and get you back up onto this bed," Joe says, turning his serious expression to one with an encouraging smile.

I lock my arms around his neck as he picks me up bridle style, and gently lays me on the bed. After pulling the sheets up over me, Joe hands me a water bottle.

"How did you know?" I laugh.

"Hmm, I don't know, maybe because you've been nagging me about how you need your water since I got here," Joe replies sarcastically. I punch him jokingly, glad to have him back.

"Hey, Demi, we're here too, you know," Dallas announces, and I laugh as she pulls up a chair beside me. Maddie follows, taking her usual position at the foot of my bed, climbing close to me.

"So how was school, Maddie?" I ask, always interested in her little stories. I don't know what it is about them, but the way she tells them always makes me laugh a little.

"It was boring, almost as boring as this place," she huffs, staring at my blankets and then up at me.

"Which is why," Dallas interrupts, pulling something out of the giant purse she brought,"I brought movies, and your phone."

Taking the stuff out, Dallas hands me my cell phone and holds up the portable DVD player and The Lion King. "Shall we?" Dal asks with a mischievous smile, getting up from her seat.

"Duh, let's go!" exclaims Maddie, who was getting impatient with sitting in boring hospital rooms with nothing to do.

Dallas plugs in the DVD player, popping the lid and placing the disk inside. While we wait for the movie to load, Maddie scoots up next to me, laying her head on my shoulder and slipping her legs into the blankets.

"Hey, no fair! I wanted to cuddle!" Joe pouts, messing with Maddie.

"No! You don't get to cuddle! I'm her sister and I get dibs!" Maddie rebuttals.

"Well I'm her sister too!" Dallas teases back, joining in on the fun.

"Yeah, well you're too big!"

Dallas does the pouty face, acting like she is offended. On the inside, however, all of us are laughing at the humor we found in it all.

"Come on, slow poke! Press play!" Maddie wines.

Dallas gives her a stern looking, waiting for Maddie to behave as she should.

"Please?" Maddie says hopefully.

Dallas reluctantly presses the play button, adding to Maddie,"Watch your sass."

Maddie mutters a simple,"okay," before losing her focus to the t.v. once again. It's funny how innocence allows you to move on so fast, and how simple life can be; and that's when I think about the irony of the situation. Out of everyone in the room, you'd look at Maddie as the weakest one with the least amount of say in any given situation; when in reality, Maddie holds the greatest riches, and with it, the greatest power. But she is too young, far too young to understand any of it. Right now, I am the only one aware of this, and that's how it is gonna be until the day comes, the day she turns 18. For now, it's just princesses and The Lion King.

Hey guys, sorry for the late update. I hope you guys are liking it so far as I'm wrapping this up. Please give me feedback in the comments! For my Instagram followers, Happy April Fool's; I did not delete my account 💜 love you guys