As Close As Strangers

Twenty Two

Possible trigger warning. Just so you guys know, so yeah..

Luke

No one knew what to do with themselves. The doctor made all four of us go home because we "looked like we needed rest." No, what we all needed was to be with Michael. We all needed to know if he was okay.

"Guys, I'm sorry." Ella said breaking the silence.

"For what?" I asked.

"This is my fault, ya know? I was such a bitch. He knew he messed up and he tried to fix it. I just wouldn't let him. I should've let him." She said.

"No. Ella, no that's not how it works. You can't just blame yourself. He hurt you and dammit, you're allowed to be hurt! I don't care how long ago it was! He hurt you. Okay, he tried to fix it. But you were hurt! You tried to kill yours-" I stopped.

Calum and Ashton stopped. Ella stopped. We all stopped.

"Fuck."

"Ella?" Ashton questioned.

"It's not what you think." She said.

"You, uh, don't have to explain yourself to us Ells." Calum said.

"Actually, it is what you think." Ella laughed.

"You really don't have to tell us. It's okay." Calum said again.

"It's not a big deal. Well, I guess it is. But I can tell you guys." She said.

I looked at her and she nodded. She was ready to tell them.

"Okay, where do I start? Alright, well after Michael broke up with me, things got rough. But they weren't awful, not yet. My parents would get mad at me for moping around. I went out drinking a lot. You know, like that time that Michael called my parents. Regardless, my dad said I was a disappointment. Then Dakota said I was an idiot for thinking Michael could love me. I don't know, it all just got too much." She explained.

"So um, one day I got into a big argument with my dad before a dinner party because I didn't want to go. He said some pretty awful things and ended with, "No wonder Michael left you." I had enough at that point. I went upstairs and I wrote a note. Then I took a bunch of pills. Next thing I know, I woke up in the hospital." She said.

She sighed and then smiled. It was like she was trying to make us believe that she was fine. We all knew she wasn't.

"Wow." Calum said.

"I didn't even know what I was doing. When I woke up, I realized it all. The first thing I thought when I woke up was, "oh god dad is gonna be so mad." Sick, huh?" She chuckled.

"Yeah." Ash nodded.

"But, I'm okay now. Wow, that's only the second time I've told that story to anyone." She said.

"You know we love you, yeah?" Calum said.

"I know. Well, I do now." She said.

I opened my mouth to speak but I was interrupted my by phone ringing.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hello, Mr.Hemmings. It's Dr.Reynolds. You four should get down here." He said.

That's all he said. I looked down at the phone to make sure the call actually ended. How could he just leave things like that? I realized they were all looking at me. They wanted to know what happened.

"That was the doctor. He said we need to get down there." I said before we all scrambled to the car.