Saved By You

Chapter 6

Beep. Beeep. Beeeep.

What the hell? Why is my alarm going off? Since when did I even have an alarm?

Beep. Beeep. Beeeep.

I stirred and tried to stop the beeping but it just kept up and I couldn't even feel my limbs. It felt as if I got run over by a truck, a thousand needles poking into my body inside and out and my head throbbing in pain.

I gritted my teeth and could feel my face scrunch in pain, not daring to groan or let out a noise in case he came.

Where is he? Oh, god. What if he’s here? I strained to listen and could hear the distant beeping, but behind that, I heard hushed whispers and heaps of moving feet. That was weird.

There was a shuffle at the side of me and my eyes shoot open then I quickly sat up out of instinct. A  muffled scream rips out from my mouth and I go to clutch my ribs, eyes squeezing close for some reason but then I feel needles in my skin and start to yank a bit.

Needles? Talks? Shuffling? I'm in a hospital? But… how? Why?

‘Sweetie, hun, please, I need you to calm down and lie back down okay?’ I feel soft gentle, women hands guide me back down to the bed propped by pillows and I realise that the beeping had quickened. My heart rate.

If only it could stop.

I swallow hard as I could feel almost half a dozen needles sticking into me, keeping me down, keeping me alive.

I open my eyes again and see the same doctor since my coma, staring down at me concerned but knowing better than to tell me off or ask me questions, instead, she moves aside and I see Mack sitting in a chair standing up when our eyes meet.

For once he looks tired. Circles under his eyes as if he’d been up all day, maybe even two.

He stayed? For me? Was he the one who took me here? Why?

The doctor could see the questions in my eyes and she nods back to Mack, some sort of knowledge passing between them before she turns to me again.

‘Need any help and just press that button above your head okay? Let me know, but I will be back in another half hour to check on you.’

I stare.

She stares.

I blink.

She leaves.

Mack steps forward but I suddenly felt so small just lying there on the bed, his broad figure looming over me. But as much as he was no longer intimidating or scowling, looking genuinely concerned, I couldn’t help but cower away and drop my eyes. The fear of guys and men not exactly gone but the emptiness inside me still there.

His breathing somewhat soothes me and I feel my tired bones sigh, as if they were old and wished it could sleep along with his even breaths.

I look up. Our eyes meet. He blinks. I stare.

I watch his small Adams apple bob as he swallows and stares back; dropping his eyes a second later as if he was shameful I was here. In this hospital.

‘Why did you let me live?’ I suddenly ask. My voice raspy and sounding totally weird after years of not speaking. Why had I asked him? I have no idea. And from the look on his face: neither did he.

His eyes widen at he stares at me as if I were a new animal no one has ever seen or spoken of before, as if he couldn’t believe what he just saw or heard.

I stare through unblinking eyes as he stared back before asking again, this time my voice was more feminine, less raspy like a broken old record like I sounded only moment ago.

He snaps himself back to earth and I could practically see him recoiling in his mind, realising what I said, what I meant.

‘I couldn’t let you die. No one in their right minds would have Claire, and I especially wouldn’t have let you die,’ he says, his voice serious, tired.

I drop my gaze and face ahead of me, eyes on my hands in my lap, his whole body and face in my peripheral.

Why couldn’t he have let me died? What's so wrong with that?

He stares at me as if he knew what I was thinking before I catch his jaw clench. I move away slightly and he seems to notice this before sighing, shoulders dropping. Suddenly he was right in front of me and I just had to look up into those capturing blue eyes. Eyes I used to hate so much. Eyes I was once so used to staring at.

‘Claire, as much as I act like I hate you. I don't. Okay? And even if I did, it’s not right if you died. No one should ever want to because life is a gift. Don't you get that?’ he asks as if he’s been through it all.

He hasn’t been through what I have. He couldn’t have understood.

I drop my gaze again and leave it on my hands, suddenly noticing the dull and pale colour, the purple under my nails instead of the normal fleshy pink.

I shudder.

‘Why don't you talk B? You need to. People can help you. People will help you.’

B. That name sounds so familiar. So warming. But I stayed still and stared at my hands. My chest aching with the loss of whatever it was that was supposed to be there.

My heart maybe? No. That left with Nathan  years ago. It couldn’t be that. Or maybe it was just the small sane part of me that clung onto something inside. Something that pumped my blood around and kept me alive.

Alive.

Me.

That means I have to go back home soon after this. Back to him.

I blinked and realised my vision was blurry. Realised the thing that made my hands suddenly wet was my tears.

I don't want to go back.

I don't want to go anywhere.

I feel the bed shift as my shoulders shook slightly, tears deciding to just pour out without my permission.

Why am I crying? Why do I feel so empty? Why am I here?

‘Claire,’ Mack whispers.

But I couldn’t hear him anymore. All I could here was my own stupid thoughts and the mocking yells of my father. “Useless” “pathetic” “whore” “unwanted” “waste of space” “idiotic” “ugly”. Of course there were more and all those hurtful words finally got to me. Finally got me crying. Crying right in front of the second guy I hated most. The guy who made my school life hell since I got into high school.

Why couldn’t my life be normal? Why couldn’t I be normal?

And then blackness devoured my body again, but not before I heard the yells and rush-ins of bodies run into the room, saying something about a collapsing lung or my rib.

Who knows? Who cares?

Not me.

I woke up listening to two voices fight. Male and female. I listen closely and realise it was my doctor and Mack.

Why did he still stay?

‘I understand that, but we need to let her parents know she is here. He needs to come and sign papers. Otherwise it will be a long time til she can come out,’ Emily was saying.

‘Why can't I take her to mine? Take her away from this damned place. I don't want her to go back. Can't you see that whatever it is that's happening at home is affecting her right now? You said it yourself doc., it would have had to be someone else that was stronger and tougher than she was to give her all those problems, she wouldn’t have just let he or she just hurt her like this.’

Even with my eyes shut I could tell she shot him a look saying “you don't know what people are capable of” which sent Mack to shut his mouth shut.

‘Listen kid, the parent needs to come. Whoever and whatever the reason is why she’s here. It’s up to her to tell us. But until she starts talking and tells us what happened we can either call the police or send a letter to her house.’

Call the police? Hell no.