XANNY ▹ Harry Bingham

TO DIE FOR

mention of alcohol, mental illness, drugs, and abuse. this is a trigger warning. please do not read ahead if you'll be negatively affected.

chapter nineteen

"i'm not your princess. i am a queen"

_

"HELP!"

Harry held Eden's limp body in his arms. He called out for help, forcing the town's hospital doors open with the momentum in his shoulders.

"HELP!"

He quickly navigated through the halls and into the emergency room. The doors were already propped open, and as he entered, he was hit with the foul scent of undigested bodily fluids. The place was already packed with people he'd recognized, sweat-soaked and color drained.

Kelly ran up to the two and hastily pushed Harry in the direction of an open bed. "What happened?!"

"I- I don't know, I think she took some stuff--"

"Shit, help me get her to the bed!"

Together, they laid her down. Kelly formed a fist and rubbed her knuckles hard against Eden's sternum.

"What the hell are you doing?" Harry looked from Eden, to Kelly, to Eden, then to Kelly again.

"I need to see--" Kelly's response was interrupted by a stir from Eden, who'd begun to shift at the discomfort. Kelly let out a relieved breath she'd been subconsciously holding. "GORDIE! I need Naloxone!!"

Gordie came running up by Kelly's side within seconds, holding out a glass vial and syringe. Kelly stripped the lid away from the vial, then drew out 1cc of its liquid into the syringe. She held it up but hesitated upon seeing the distortion in Eden's sleeping face.

"Just fucking DO IT, Kelly!" Harry held his hand over his forehead and watched as she slammed it into Eden's shoulder, treating it as if it was epinephrine. He flinched and turned away upon impact. When he turned back around, though, he saw that in minutes, the medication had begun to reverse the effects of Eden's overdose. Her eyes fluttered open. She weakly smiled up at Harry, then moved her hand to rest atop his. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, no," he lowered himself to her level, holding her hand closely to his chest, "don't say that. You're going to be okay, Kelly's putting in an IV."

Her smile faded, and she looked over to her right. Kelly was conversing with Gordie, holding open a medical book and an IV kit.

"No. No, no, no. NO." Eden started to squirm, pushing herself away from the two. Harry tried to brush her hair back for comfort, but she pushed his hand away, trying to escape the bed itself. "No, no, no! I don't want it! PLEASE!"

"Ede, stop!" Kelly, Gordie, and Harry all simultaneously held down her legs and arms, pinning her to where she laid. Eden looked up to Harry with tear soaked eyes, as if a silent plead for help. He had to look away.

•

After the sedation, Eden awoke once more, and felt an immediate sting in the crook of her right elbow. She lifted her gaze to see a needle that'd been taped in place. Her eyes followed its tubing up to an IV bag that hooked onto a metal rod. She jerked a little in discomfort, but to her dismay, she couldn't even move her arms. Every time she tried, she'd hear a click against the metal bars beside the bed. She looked to her wrists and what she saw made her stomach drop. They'd both been handcuffed to the side rails. She called out Kelly's name, but the person who approached her from around the corner wasn't Kelly.

It was Harry.

He nervously smiled, and held out a paper cup. "I have Pedialyte."

"I'm handcuffed."

Harry settled himself in a nearby chair, then scooted up close to her bedside. "Grizz helped out with that. Did you know he owned real handc--"

"Why am I handcuffed, Harry?"

He looked down in guilt, then set the Pedialyte on the floor to empty his hands. He laid his palm against Eden's forehead, before beginning to brush back the strands of hair away from her face. "You were struggling pretty bad. We didn't want you to hurt yourself anymore than you already had."

"I don't want to be here. I don't." Eden began to shake her head, and her eyes glazed over in a tearful defeat.

"Eden..." Harry paused for a moment, figuring out what to say next. "I can't take your pain away. I know that. But I can try to make it more bearable for you. I know you feel alone right now, but I can promise you, you aren't. I'm here, as much as you don't want me to be." He lowered his hand from her hair down to her cheek and traced it with his thumb. "First, I think we need to have an intervention. Your Xanax might've helped you in the beginning, but it obviously isn't anymore."

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for." Harry noticed her begin to shiver, so he stood up to grab an extra blanket.

"Please stay."

He smiled down at her, and his eyes began to shine with something new, "Of course."