Proxy [l.h]

4. Jane Doe's and Drinking Games

«DAY 4»   

Luke

It seems as though every time I close my eyes now, I dream about her.

It's never been this bad before. And never have my dreams thrown back an actual memory at me. Like this one;

"What's your name?" I asked the girl in the hospital bed, and she looked up from her novel, her warm hazel eyes meeting mine. She pus down the book, careful not to touch the different coloured cords plugged into her arm. It was the first time I'd been brave enough to start a conversation with her. And also the last.

"Who are you?" Jane Doe asked in a small, shy voice.

"Luke," I squeaked nervously.

"Oh."

"I think you're really pretty," I told her, blushing.

"Thank you," she grinned, her cheeks a rosy red. Her shoulder-length blond hair fell forward and she pushed the strands behind her ear. I swallowed anxiously, mesmerised by the act.

"So, um, are you feeling better?" I asked.

"Yes, but I'm scared. I'm having a really big surgery tomorrow," Jane said quietly. "What if I die?" She whispered.

"You won't die," I told her.

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

And that was the last time I saw her ever again.

Because the next day when I came back to the hospital, she was gone. There was not a piece of Jane that was left behind.

What if I die? Her voice rings through my head.

Suddenly, the hospital room lurches and the floors swallow me whole. When I open my eyes, I'm in an operation room, just a few corridors down her room. There are doctors in white jackets working on a patient on the table. It's Jane.  One doctor raises a sharp knife above his head, gleaming and reflecting off the harsh lights of the operation room.

That's when I hear her scream. And the knife makes a plunging sound as it makes contact with her skin.

Lissa

"So you walked in on Luke, bare ass naked?!" Michael roars once he hears the story, bending over in laughter. Calum joins him, and Ashton silently stuffs more popcorn in his mouth. I try to shush them, cheeks burning, afraid to wake Luke up. For the past six hours, he's been asleep a few seats behind us, oblivious to the noise Michael's been making. The boys were given a day off to travel to their new destination. So with leisure, we'd finished packing up late afternoon and got on the plane a few hours ago.

"What did you think? Did you jerk off after?" Calum teases.

"N-no!" I sputter. "Of course not!"

"Have you even touched yourself before?" Ashton asks, displaying a mouthful of popcorn. Calum shoots him a disgusted look.

"Um...no," I admit.

Michael feigns shock. "Duuuude, masturbating is great," he says in wonder. "Try it sometime."

"Um-"

"I bet she doesn't even know how," Calum adds, cackling. Michael and Ashton laugh with him.

"Shut up," I reply, with a roll of my eyes. The boys look at me, then look at each other and let out a loud howl.

"Attitude, Lissa!" Michael gasps dramatically, making me giggle.

"That's probably the fiercest thing you've ever said in your life," Calum jokes, watching Ashton shovelling an entire handful of popcorn in his mouth. He shakes his head, grabs a fistful and feeds Ashton a few kernels at a time. The older boy smiles down at him with playful eyes.