Toxic [Richard Kruspe]

Hospital

Paul's POV

Three hours have passed since the car crash. They were lucky enough I never left the area the accident took place because of a meet-up I arranged with Christoph later that night. But Anna and Alex weren't the only ones that got seriously injured, but the other car's driver too, who luckily just has some external wounds.

The waitress hands me two plastic glasses of water and I head from the hospital canteen, to my bandmates upstairs. I walk up the stairs and I see Oliver, Till, Flake and Christoph sitting on the chairs outside Anna's and Alex's rooms, exhaling heavily. Oliver is nervously tapping his right foot on the floor, Till walks up and down the hallway checking up for a doctor and Flake with Christoph are talking in a low voice about something I'm not able to hear. I approach Till and I give him the glass of water, holding his shoulder condescendingly.

- "Drink. You've been up for hours now. Everything's going to be alright."

- "I hope so.", Till sighs and takes a sip. "Poor kids. They had no idea. And so young..."

- "Hey, hey." I go in front of him and look at him straight in the eyes. "They will be fine. Don't act like... like they are dead already." The words don't easily escape my mouth. They hurt. "Any news?"

- "Not really.", he whispers. "What we already know. Anna still hasn't woken up and Alex... well, Alex is at his worst. He's in a coma with five broken ribs and some serious wounds on his neck and legs."

- "Oh my God...", I touch my forehead.

A nurse comes close to Oliver and talks in his ear. He thanks her smiling lightly and stands up, nodding us to follow him.

- "What did she tell you?", Till asks with a frown.

- "Good news. Richard is awake. Christoph, Flake. Stay here. We'll be back soon."

The three of us walk fast to Richard's room. His eyes are open and his head is wrapped in a bandage. I lean next to his head and Oliver sits on the chair next to his bed. Till chooses to stand still. I decide to talk to him first.

- "Hey... Reesh. It's me, Paul. Your annoyingly logical friend and opponent guitar partner."

- "Dude, I'm hurt, not dumb. I know who you are.", he smirks and squeezes my hand tightly.

- "Phew, you remember us. That's a good sign."

- "The nurse said that you were the luckiest of the three. You got away with just a light concussion. You'll be totally fine in two days from now.', Oliver informs him.

Richard blinks slowly and looks blankly at Till who seems to be worried and pissed at the same time. His arms are crossed.

- "Lucky me... I wouldn't want to spend Christmas in a bed. Too sad." He coughs and turns his look at Till. "What about you? You haven't said anything yet."

- "I'm just still fighting my internal dilemma. Whether to hug you or punch you.", Till says in an extremely serious tone. "I can't believe you were the one who crashed the kids' car."

We all stay silent. Oliver shakes his head and I make an awkward grimace with my mouth. It remains a huge shock to me, being the one who found Richard lying on the ground unconscious, besides Anna and Alex. This will be haunting me for a very long time.

- "On my defense, the car breaks stopped working. It was inevitable.", he explains slowly.

- "Really? How comfortable! Let us give you the progress report so far. Anna broke her arm and leg, still not waking up, and the poor boy is in a coma. He's like, half dead because of you and your blind jealousy."

- "Enough Till.", I interrupt him. "It's not the right time to blame anyone at the moment. The important thing is that our friend is okay. So will be the kids."

- "I really hope so. Otherwise, you're in big trouble.", Till adds and slams the door behind him.

Me and Oliver exchange looks and decide to exit Richard's room. Richard interferes and grabs my hand and I turn my face at him. A tiny tear runs down his cheek and his hand is shaking.

- "Stay. Please..."

I sigh, ready to cry too, seeing my best friend like this. I wave at Oliver to give us some privacy and he leaves the room nodding. I sit on the bed, still holding his hand on mine.

- "I'm not going to judge you and you know it. All I want to know is why on earth did you risk your life and theirs, by crashing their car. Even though I have something pretty obvious in my mind." My voice is soft, in a failed attempt to calm him, but he starts crying, succeeding to make me drop a tear as well.

- "She rejected me..." He looks at me and then down, trying to wipe his tears. "I kissed her... and she rejected me... That was the first time I decided to show my feelings to somebody and instead, she preferred Alex... So I got jealous, I followed them with my car, and crashed them... I ruined everything..."

- "Oh, Richard...", I caress his hair. Love isn't supposed to hurt people... Even if she rejected you, you risked three people's lives, including yours. That's not the Richard I knew... You were kind hearted, strong, loyal... What happened man?", I frown wiping away another tear from my cheek.

- "I fell in love... and now I'm paying the prize. She will never speak to me again... She'll even put me in jail. Let's face it, Paul...", he sobs and my heart breaks. "I lost her forever."