Alexandra Hamilton

Four- Stay Alive

Lin helped me to my feet as Renée scuttled off. The fans began to call out tentatively, but I didn't stop singing. The shock of all that had happened that day was finally settling in.

"Alexander, did you know?" I sang, giggling after I hit the note. "It's funny- Alexandra's my name. Sometimes, I sing it, Alexandra did you know, because I'm an idiot and I say that when I'm trying to remember something."

Lin looked at me with a sort of horrified expression. "Renée, go faster!"

The fans became more vocal.

"Who is she?"

"Lin, do you know her?"

"Wow, she can sing?"

Lin steadied me by my shoulders as a few more actors came out the stage door. The thing that put them on edge was that the fans didn't start screaming; rather, they were too fixed on me and Lin.

Daveed Diggs and Anthony Ramos hurried over. "Lin, what's going on?"

"Renée's coming around with her car, can you stay here with her? I need to call Vee and let her know I'm going to be home late."

Some dimly functioning part of me recognized the two men, and I frowned. "You're a Southern motherfucking Democratic-Republican," I noted to Daveed. Then I cocked my head at Anthony. "And you die twice."

Thankfully, the two decided to ignore my hazy comments and instead focused on my various afflictions.

Lin hurried back over. "Okay. Look at me."

I obeyed. Lin frowned. "You've managed to accumulate two more wounds since one in the afternoon. What happened?"

"I tripped," I said, my clarity returning and my hysteria fading.

"No, you didn't. What. Happened? I need to know."

I clammed up. Lin grabbed my biceps and shook me. "I can't help you unless I know!"

I screamed as his hand made contact with my tender upper arm. Evidently, the nerve endings had healed enough to hurt again. Great. Lin took his hands off of my arms instantly, a look of guilt spreading across his face. Grudgingly, I rolled up my sleeve to reveal the gauze on my arm. "I burnt myself a few days ago," I lied. "It's fine."

"No, it isn't."

Renée pulled up to the curb. "Get in, I know where the nearest ER is!"

Daveed slipped into the front seat, while I squished between Lin and Anthony in the back seat. Renée's radio was playing a song I hadn't heard before- then again, the only music I'd been exposed to that I could remember was k-pop and Broadway soundtrack.

"What song is this?" I asked. Anthony looked at me in surprise. "This is Before I Gaze At You Again, from Camelot."

"I like it."

"Of course you would," Anthony said, rolling his eyes.

"Anthony likes to pretend that he's a tough guy, but this is his favorite song from Camelot," Renée affirmed from behind the wheel.

"I've never heard it before," I confessed. "I've only ever heard a few, but I memorized all of them."

I stretched my hand out to count on my fingers, but had momentarily forgotten about the cut on my palm, and I hissed as it stung. I quickly balled up my fist again. "Anyway, that's Les Mis, Aida, Wicked, Phantom, and Hamilton. Oh, and Miss Saigon, Sound of Music, West Side Story, and Rent."

"Huh. You sing really well," Daveed commented. I blushed. "It's not every day that a Broadway superstar compliments your singing voice."

"Seriously," Renée added. "You hit my note almost better than I can. Plus, you're hurt."

"Yeah, what happened to you?" Daveed asked.

I shifted slightly. "I'd rather not say."

Lin sighed. "You know you have to tell the paramedics, right?"

I nodded. Lin's hand lightly brushed on of the tender bruises on my face. I had one from Dolores, and one from Mr. Thomas. A matching set.

"Who did this?"

I looked him in the eyes. His eyes were dark, dark brown. My eyes, contradictory to what Mr. Thomas seemed to think, were green-gray.

"My fosters."

"What?"

"My fosters," I repeated. "I'm an orphan. My parents, they sort of ran off and had me, except they never married. They died in a car crash. So I'm in foster care."

"What's your name?"

"Please call me Alex."

"Alex it is."

Renée honked loudly. "Move, asshole!" A man in the road picked up his pace, and she turned the car into the garage of an emergency room.

Lin looked as though he wanted to carry me, but I walked on my own. My right arm was now throbbing steadily, from my hand to my bicep.

Renée led our little troupe up to the reception desk. "We need a doctor now."

"Name?" The receptionist asked.

"Alexandra Josephine," I said, stepping forward.

"Last?"

"Um..." I glanced at the people around me. "Laverne." I hadn't uttered that name in a long time.

The receptionist nodded. "And your injury, Miss Laverne?"

I gestured to my bicep. "Third degree burn."

She jumped up. "Don't move."

She rushed off. In about thirty seconds, she returned with a gurney and four people in scrubs. "They'll take care of you. Do you have healthcare, or anything?"

"No."

Lin stepped forward. "I'll be covering all medical expenses."

"Lin, I hardly know you!"

"So? This is a gift, Alex. Deal with it."

The doctors eased me onto the gurney and wheeled me away. Before I went under, all I could think about was how much I was dreading my inevitable return to the Thomases.