it's you, it's always been you

chapter 7

An hour passed as Deena and Kate kept Sam company. They were talking about how they toilet papered a mansion in Sunnyvale, which caused Sam to smile.

All of a sudden, Sam looked down at her lap, and stopped talking mid sentence. Kate and Deena looked at each other, both of them starting to get scared. Deena kept calling her name, but Sam wouldn't look at her or react to anything they tried. Then Sam started to have another seizure again. It terrified Deena to see Sam like that, and there wasn't a way Deena could take the pain away for Sam. Deena screamed for the doctors, who rushed into the room along with Kate. Kate forced Deena out of Sam's room until Sam was stable and the doctors let them back in.

Deena still had tears in her eyes when she came back into Sam's room. She overheard the doctors calling Sam's parents, so she wasn't sure how much longer she was able to stay.

After the night at Deena's house when Sam's mom brought Sheriff Nick Goode over to take Sam back, she knew for certain Sam's parents hated her. She was scared to see how they reacted to seeing Deena next to Sam in her hospital room. More scared of how the reactions would effect Sam, with her already being in a fragile state.

The look was exhaustion and weakness on Sam's face when Deena entered the room, broke Deena's heart more than the whole homecoming ordeal at school.

Sam offered Deena a soft, weak smile which was all she had the energy to do. She laid back in the bed, her eyelids heavy, looking as if she could fall asleep any second.

Deena stood next to Sam's bed, and held Sam's face with her hands. "Sam, I love you, you're going to be okay again." Deena leaned down to kiss Sam's forehead, letting her lips stay there for a moment, until Sam's parents walked in behind her. "Sam, I will be back, okay? I will be here every second I can be. You'll be okay, you're going to be okay. You can rest now. I love you," Deena whispered so only Sam could hear.

Kate was behind Deena, distracting Sam's mom so Deena could say goodbye to Sam.

When the word love came out of Deena's mouth to Sam, she felt a sense of happiness for the first time since she came to the hospital. Sam watched as Deena made her way past Sam's parents, her mom not paying any attention to Deena.

Sam felt too exhausted and drained to force herself to stay awake when her parents entered the room. It was better that way. Anything her mom said would just make her feel worse, and Sam didn't want to even look at her dad. He only visited her or paid attention when something bad happened, he only came twice to visit Sam as she stayed for the past week.

Deena held onto Sam's hand as the nurse inserted a needle into her opposite arm, they were taking more of Sam's blood to test it. She knew how much Sam hated needles, and it made her feel even worse for Sam as they watched her blood fill the bag.

It was two days after Deena first visited Sam in the hospital. If this blood test came back alright, Sam would be allowed to go back to school.

Deena spent all the time she could at the hospital with her. She went to school then immediately returned to Sam. She brought her homework, and helped do it with Sam. She didn't want Sam to get behind in her classes at all, because she knew how much that would stress Sam out, and that's the last thing she wanted.

The doctors took her off the medicine that they figured out that caused the seizures. And Sam had been doing better since they did, and she stopped having them. She didn't look as pale as before and she started to eat like she used to.

But the seizure Sam had in front of Deena, replayed in Deena's mind over and over.

When visiting hours started Deena was there the second she was allowed in, and she stayed until the visiting hours ended.