The War With Fate

Athena 8: Torn Apart

Lea. It always came down to her. She's close to like all of my best friends, and she's crazily close to Zander.

I watched Lea's mom check my vitals and refill my iv. She looked a lot like lea, with lightly curled brown hair she had pulled up into a high pony, and those dark brown eyes that were similar yet different than Lea. Lea never looked tired even though she's told the group how often she's in another part time job. But Ms. Andersen looked exhausted.

"...lucky. you could've gotten worse than this. I've got info on your friend if you'd tell me a bit about her."

"You have to go first then." Lea's mom nodded. She sat down in the chair next to me.

"Doctor Decasare said she doesn't have any spinal injuries. But she is in a coma for who knows how long. If she wakes up soon, they said they'll have to medically induced one so she can heal longer."

"That's good, right" I asked. She nodded. "She's one of my best friends and a big jokester. That's all I'm telling you. Am I able to go to her room?"

Ms. Andersen got up from the seat and stretched before telling me she was getting a wheelchair for me. I told her thank you and grabbed for my phone on the side of the bed.

29 missed calls
37 unread messages

Dear Lord. About 15 of the calls were from my friends, each calling twice. The others 14 were all from one person: Zander.

I listened to one. Um... hey Athena! This is lea. I know you probably won't hear this, but how stupid are you!? I get it, you got in a crash and are probably in pain, but how the hell did you get in a crash? You're  like Zander, you freaking car is a child that shouldn't go above sixty ever. Pansy. Anyway, I was calling to say you were in my prayers. As Cath told me to tell you whenever I call, by BG!

Fucking lea. Again.

"Hey, Athena. Lea, again. Zander is currently crying too much to talk to you so I am trying to translate his gibberish. Oh he wants to talk to you! Hold on, Zandy, I'll make sure it goes on another voicemail.

"Athena," Zander's voice was raspy, like her been crying, "Are you... are you alright? Oh, who am I kidding? You... you definitely aren't. Is Erin okay?" Fucking tears stung my eyes.

"I got you a chair, Athena!" Ms. Andersen smiled. She helped me into the chair and pushed me to the elevator and upstairs. Down the white hallways we went, lea's mom waving to everyone she saw. "Her room is right there, I'll push you in and I'll be back in half an hour. She walked put and I fished my phone out of my pocket again.

"Hello?" Zander's voice came from the other end of the line.

"Hi..." I breathed.

"It's ten at night, you know. Not that I'm not happy to hear that you're alive or anything."

"I have to break up with you," the words tumbled from my mouth, but I knew it was the right decision. My heart has been pulled in so many directions lately, and I'd rather end it before he does.

"...you... you have to break up with me?" Zander practically shouted. "What did I do wrong, Athena? I can fix it! What did I do?!"

"It's not you, it's..."

"Me. You think I haven't heard that? But every time someone says that, they mea. It was all you and I did nothing wrong! So why?" Zander pleaded. I could hear the anger, and the heart shattering sadness that came with this.

"My hearts all torn up, Zander. I have none left for myself and I've known my friends longer than I've know you. Goodbye." I couldn't click off and end it, not yet.

"Could we at least say friends? I like hanging out with your group."

I nodded, though I knew he couldn't see it. "Yeah, we can always be friends. Besides, I wouldn't get food anymore if we hated each other."

"Same, Lea would kill me because of it."

"Gotta love mother," I grinned.

"Yeah.... goodbye"

"Bye, Zander drew."