Four Reasons (ON HOLD)

Chapter 11

-Katelyn's POV-

When I got back several hours after Tom called, the first thing I saw when I walked in the door was blood on the wood panel floors, which, unfortunately, I was expecting. What I wasn't expecting, however, was Harrison passed out close to the kitchen, a trail of blood following him there.
I dropped my bag by the door and ran over to him. I tried to shake him awake but he didn't move. I tried his pulse to make sure he was still alive, and luckily his heartbeat was strong. So I got up and got some warm water and a few rags, as well as some ice packs I found in the freezer. I went back to him and started wiping up some of the blood that was leading to his nose and his lips. I placed one of the ice packs over his swollen, black and blue left eye, which was the only one I could see because half of his face was against the floor.
Not surprisingly, the cold woke him up. It didn't startle him awake, but he did wake up. He blinked open his eyes and instantly flinched.
"Hey," I said quietly. "Can you turn over?"
"I think so," his voice was raspy and quiet.
He used one arm to push himself painfully onto his back, while the other hand clutched at his side. He was hissing in pain, and when he got fully onto his back he let out a huff.
I gently wiped off the rest of the blood on his face, revealing several brutal bruises and cuts.
"I'm gonna lift up your shirt," I said when I was done with his face.
He just nodded.
I took the edge of his shirt and lifted it up to his neck. When I saw his abdomen, I held in a gasp and I flinched away for a moment.
His right side was covered in bruises that were bigger than my fist and were turning black and green and yellow. I sat there for a moment, realizing that Haz's best friend did this to him. Because he hurt my best friend. And although I loved Elena, this was just cruel.
I blinked away the tears forming in my eyes and carefully placed a warm damp rag on the bruises, wiping them clean from any blood that soaked through his shirt from the floor. He was practically writhing in pain at the slightest touch, so I worked quickly and placed one of the ice packs on it when I was done.
I looked back at his screwed up and scrunched up face after I pulled his shirt down to where the ice pack was. His eyes were shut tight and he was holding the ice on the left one where I had put it.
"Do you think you can make it to the couch?" I asked after a moment of silence.
"Maybe," he mumbled through his swollen  bottom lip.
I got up and then leaned down a ways, both arms outstretched for him to take. He set the ice pack he was holding on his eye down beside him and looked at me. I crouched down further and took hold of him behind his shoulder so that we could get him sitting up.
It took some maneuvering and some gasps of pain, but we eventually got to the couch where I laid him down before going back to get the ice we left on the floor. I grabbed it and brought it back to him, along with some first aid. He held the ice back on his eye while I applied disinfectant to the few cuts on his face.
"Why are you helping me?" He asked after a while.
"Because no matter how I feel about what you did to Elena, you don't deserve this," I didn't look him in the eyes, even though I knew he was looking at mine.
"And how do you feel about what I did?" He asked hesitantly.
"I think that you were way too drunk and you didn't know what you were doing-"
He cut me off, "So you don't blame me?!"
"Of course I blame you!" I burst. He flinched back a bit, not expecting calm little me to explode. "It was your fault and you should have known better! You hurt her so bad I don't know if she'll ever be able to be touched by a man ever again! I don't know if my best friend will ever be okay again... you destroyed a piece of her that she can never get back and you'll have to live with that. I think that is your sufficient punishment."
I stood up abruptly, looking at the floor and letting my hair fall in front of my face, covering it in shadow.
"You have to live with the fact that this broken Elena is your fault."
My voice was shaky and I was having trouble breathing. I shut my eyes tight, not wanting to let my anger get the best of me. But as I remembered what Elena looked like when I ran in the room that night, my stomach began to boil. I flicked my head up and my glaring eyes locked with Harrison's terrified sad ones.
"Y-you..." I clenched my hands into fists, fighting the urge to hit him.
"Kate please-"
"You don't get to call me that!" I cut him off this time. "You don't get to say anything! This was all the help you are getting from me. Goodnight."
I turned to walk away, but I felt a hand grab my wrist gently, but hard enough to keep me there. My anger bubbled over.
I turned right around and slapped him, not caring about how beat up his face already was. Then I turned back around and walked up the stairs to my room. Flopping on my bed and beginning to cry as I pulled my knees to my chest and sobbed for my best friend and for what I had just done.
A few hours passed, and I finally fell asleep.

~~~~~

-Elena's POV-

The first thing I heard was a rhythmic beeping noise, not far from my head. And as I became more aware of my surroundings, my head started throbbing and pounding like someone was swinging a sledgehammer against my skull. I wanted to open my eyes, but I couldn't move them yet. I didn't have the energy to.
I took a few moments to just listen and gather enough strength to open my eyes. After a minute or so, I decided it was time I figured out where I was. So I cracked my eyes open less than a centimeter, and shut them again instantly. Bright florescent lights glared at me from above my head, and it made my slamming headache worse. But I wanted to see where I was, and who exactly was holding my hand. I reopened my eyes, bracing myself against the light that hit my eyes in a blinding brutal way.
After my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked around to take in my surroundings. I saw a heart monitor to my immediate left, and then several other things that told me I was in a hospital. I looked beside me and saw a head of curly brown hair resting on the side of the bed next to a pair of intertwined hands. I smiled softly, knowing that I was safe. Tom was right beside me, and I had nothing to worry about, even though I had no idea what happened.
Wait.
Why can't I remember why I'm here?
I can't remember how I even know Tom.