The Outsider Future: Life After the Experience

Chapter Fifteen

MACK
I woke up from a deep coma only to see my siblings and Steve hovering over me. The beeps of a machine beside me filled my ears as well as the chatter of the gang above me. "Oh my God," Kat exclaimed. "She's awake. Someone go get the doctor." Everything was blurry so I couldn't see too well, but I had seen that it was Steve who walked out if the room to go grab the doctor. He probably didn't want to see me ever again, and just came because the gang told him to. That's probably why he had to be the one to get the doctor. Then a thought occurred to me. Why was I in a hospital room? What happened to get me in here? It looked like Kat had the same question. "Mack what did you do to get yourself in here? What happened?!" I thought for a really long time and all of a sudden the whole ordeal flooded back to my mind. I ran home from my date with Steve. But, then I decided I needed to go do something to get everything off of my mind. The only conclusion I came up with at that moment was to go to the Dingo for a drink.
I walked into the bar with mascara running down my face and my lipstick smeared around my mouth. I must have looked crazy. I didn't care though as I sat down at the bar and asked for some strong whiskey. The bartender handed it to me with no question of how old I was. He must have understood that I was in deep pain and needed it no matter how old I was. After about two full glasses, I was just drunk enough to make the pain go away. I started getting really buzzed and walked up to the jukebox and put quarter in. The music started playing and I started dancing. I don't remember what song it was, but I do remember dancing like an idiot. Some guys who must have known I was drunk started dancing with me. I don't remember any faces or anything, but before I knew it I was kissing one of them. I then remembered why I was upset in the first place. I ran out of the bar and ran home, starting to cry some more as the whiskey was wearing off. When I got home I grabbed a bunch of tissues and just cried it out. When that didn't work, I spotted some pills on the counter. I knew they were Darry's and I probably shouldn't have touched them, but I slowly got up and took the bottle in my hand anyways. Before I knew it, I was taking several pills at one time while crying on the couch. Everything went black, and now here I was, in a hospital room.
I replied saying, "I don't remember." I decided to lie because I didn't want them to know what had happened. I had done a lot of wrong things last night, and if Kat ever found out everything, it would be her killing me not the pills. "I don't know what I was thinking," I said groggily. "You weren't thinking!" Two-Bit yelled. "We could have lost you! Mack, we can't take losing you too. I can't take losing you." At that moment I realized how much my brother really did care about me. "Yeah," Kat agreed. "Mack I don't know what I would do if you were gone. Do you know how much you could have hurt us AND yourself?!" I nodded silently feeling like a little kid that was being scolded by her mother. At that moment the doctor walked in with Steve. Poor Steve. I know I had done wrong to him and this wasn't his fault. I knew that he really did care about me, but I can't help that I just didn't feel the same way anymore. The doctor asked me a bunch of health questions while the gang stood silently behind. When he finished, he exited the room as well as Two-Bit and Kat. "We're gonna leave you two alone," Kat said closing the door. I sighed as Steve walked closer to my hospital bed, the room filled with an awkward silence. "So, here we are again," I laughed. "Mack I'm not laughing," he replied. He continued and started to tear up. "Mack, I really care about you. I was having so much fun last night just talking with you, but then you left, crying, without an explanation. Do you know how bad that hurts?!" I replied, "Well, I told you that we would try this to see if it would work, and obviously it didn't." Steve started to get angry with me. "Yeah?" He spat. "Well, I don't think it ever will." He walked out of the hospital room. I looked beside me at the night table that was adjacent to my bed. It had a picture of me and Ponyboy on it, and I knew Kat must have brought it in. "Pony," I screeched crying. "Why did you have to leave?" I thought, as I was crying, about how stupid this world is. In the moments you need a person the most, those are the moments those people are gone. This was one of those moments, and dang did it suck.