Wonderful Insanity

Chapter 12

It felt like hours, but I'm told that it only took a few minutes for help to arrive. I remember how the room got filled with red and blue lights coming from outside of the window, and I also remember that for what seemed like the first time in ages I let myself breathe.

I wanted Landon to leave me and go help Matt. My head told me that that would have been the right thing to do, and I knew that. But I'm positive that I would have collapsed if Landon hadn't been holding on to me, and in that moment, I needed to remain standing to feel like I had some sort of control over the situation.

But in reality, I was completely and utterly panicking.

I remember Landon speaking with the medical paramedics, but I don't know what he told them, or what their answers were. There's were lots of them and it seemed as though they kept on pouring in through the open door. The police were there too, and I think they asked me questions, but I can't remember if I ever answered them.

I don't think I did, and I'm almost certain that Landon told them in the kindest way possible to fuck off before the punched them into the back of an ambulance.

Kindly, of course.

What I remember most clearly is when they carried Matt out on a stretcher. He was completely still and pale, and even from my place in the back of the dark kitchen I could see how the skin on his neck and chin seemed almost melted like it was cheese sliding off of his face. I know he was still breathing because he was wearing an oxygen-mask, and I remember one of the paramedics telling me that he would be okay since people rarely died from acid-attacks.

The thought didn't calm me down. I might haven't killed him, but I was still responsible for the consequences. He would never look completely normal again, and it was all my fault.

I remember how the paramedics tried to get Landon to move away from me, and I remember how I screamed and began moving around when they did so. They all quickly stopped me to ensure that I kept my hand under the cold water, and I did so knowing that Landon was just beside me, and not moving an inch.

And then they took me to the hospital,

When we arrived at the hospital they once again tried to throw Landon out, but the compromise became that he would stand in the corner of the room, out of the way but within sight. Landon never once took his eyes off of me, and I made sure to focus on him since I was scared that I would get a panic attack if I looked down at my hand. Landon made sure to smile reassuringly, and he did his best to take my mind off of everything that was going on around me. It worked, and I almost couldn't remember anything of what the nurses had said before they were suddenly all gone.

So here we were, both of us sitting on the hospital bed quietly. Landon was running his hand lightly up and down my back and the top of my arms, and I was sitting cross-legged, admiring my right hand that was now covered in a cooling ointment and wrapped with a bandage. They had given me some painkillers too, and the pain wasn't as unbearable as it had first been. It was still there, but I could almost ignore it now.

"I know what you're thinking," Landon says as he slowly takes my bandaged hand in his and slowly brings it to his lips to press a soft kiss on the back of it over the white bandage. "This is not your fault. You were just defending yourself, what happened to him was I no way your fault." He made sure to look me directly into my eyes as he said it, but once he ended it became too much for me and I dropped my gaze towards my lap.

"But I- "

"Shh, I wasn't your fault," he said cutting me off. I slowly raised my head back up, and the look in his stunning blue eyes momentarily rendered me speechless. It was obvious that he would not allow me to feel responsible. As much as I didn't think that that was going to happen right this moment, I also admired his stubbornness on the subject.