「 FRATERNIZING WITH THE ENEMY 」

51 | Okay

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I woke up to soft monotonous beeps beside me,

But I was surprised I even woke up in the first place.

So to say I was confused was an understatement.

My eyes fluttered open slowly but I screwed them shut again as a bright light shone down on me,

Immediately the light dulled.

When I opened my eyes Hayley stood next to where I lay, she wore her nurse scrubs and held her clipboard to her chest. She gave me a soft smile as she adjusted a complicated machine next to me, I furrowed my eyebrows. I was lying down on a hospital bed with an IV attached to my arm and a heart monitor beeping beside me.

"Hey" Hayley said softly, the smile still playing on her lips,

"H-" as soon as I opened my mouth I started coughing violently, my throat was parched and drained of any moisture. Hayley quickly grabbed a cup of water from the water dispenser in the corner of the room, she handed it to me and I drank it eagerly.

"Hi" I replied when I placed the cup on the bedside table to my left, "What happened?"

The smile left her lips and a frown settled instead. "I don't know much of what happened yesterday but according to the guys you were shot" she furrowed her eyebrows, "And you were transported to the hospital",

I nodded slowly, taking all this information in.

"We brought you here and you lost a lot of blood and severely weak so we hooked you up to the IV, they didn't know if you were going to make it through the night by how slow your heart was beating" she said softly and my eyes widened.

I could've died.

"And everyone else?" I asked impatiently,

"Everyone is okay, a bit of bruises and scratches but nothing too dramatic. Ethan needed stitches of his arm and Chase is on crutches for now, they're still treating a lot of patients".

I took a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart and I remembered every single detail of yesterday.

"Everyone's waiting outside, you up for visitors?" she asked and I shrugged. Hayley nodded and paused as the doorway before she left, "I'm glad you're okay" she said and I managed to give her a smile. Then she walked out shutting the door behind her.

I sunk down further in my bed and let out a loud sob as the weight of yesterday pressed down on my chest. Memories flooded back and I desperately wanted to burn them and never remember it again, but it was now something that would always stick with me.

Murderer.

I quickly wiped the tears that had fallen down my cheeks and sat up higher in my bed. I winced as I shifted my body but as the door clicked open to reveal Noah my thoughts vanished. His eyes were red and held dark circles under them, his cheeks were puffy and his hair was messy as ever. When he saw me he engulfed me in a hug as best as he good without hurting me,

"Fucking hell, Alex, I love you so much" he said as he kissed my forehead repeatedly. I couldn't find words to reply; I felt tears threaten to sting my eyes again.

"I'm so sorry" his voice was thick with emotion, "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you, that all of this happened, that-",

I reached up and wiped a stray tear that had fallen down his cheek and once again he hugged me.

"W-what happened after yesterday?" I asked for more details. As helpful as Hayley was I was still as confused as ever, pieces of that night were missing and I was struggling to make sense of things.