The Untitled Piper Watson Project

Taking Risks

Mack's POV

So there I was, rotting in a small room incapable of putting myself out of my misery when the world went on outside me, Piper's smile fading from my memory. I was lying down on my bed, doing nothing like always, when I realized a month had gone by. One whole month, locked away again. One month away from Piper. I wouldn't have stopped feeling sorry for myself until one of my male nurses unlocked my door and peeked into my room. "Mackenzie? You have a phone call." My heart jumped at the thought of it being Piper, but I tried not to get my hopes up. "From who?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. "Jen Watson." He replied, swinging the door open so I could follow him. I sat up in alarm. Why would Jen be calling and not Piper? Was something wrong? I hesitantly followed the nurse down the hall, my fuzzy shoes softly scraping against the tiled floor. He led me to the end of the hall and into the main lobby where there were new patients thrashing about and being dragged to their rooms and held down by doctors. Seeing it now made me shutter, because I was once like that. But now I was pretty much normal. Or as normal as you can be in a mental hospital. We finally approached the phone in the lobby that was available to patients. I slowly picked it up, and the nurse stepped away to give me some privacy. I coughed. "Hello?" "Mack! Oh, thank God!" It was definitely Jen. I could feel my heart pulsing in my throat. "Jen? What's wrong?" I was afraid of the answer.

I knew she was crying from her sniffles and gasps. "It's Piper!" she cried. "She's been in an accident!" My jaw dropped. "What happened?" I demanded. "There was a drunk driver," Jen explained in between sobs. "and Pipes was driving home and his car collided head-first with hers." Just by the sound of the accident, I could already tell that the outcome wasn't good. I asked the question whose answer I was dreading. "Is she okay?" Jen took a deep breath, trying to recollect herself. "She's in her hospital room right now. She hasn't woken up yet, she's broken some bones, but she's alive." I breathed a sigh of relief. "Mack," Jen went on, more seriously and less emotional. "Life's too short to play things safe. When you love someone, you fight for them. It's okay to take some risks." I didn't respond. What could I say to that? "I've been looking into some things," Jen continued. "If you checked yourself in, you can check yourself out. So what I guess I'm trying to say is get the hell out of there and come to the hospital."

***

I checked out of Boston Psychiatric and took a cab to the hospital as fast as I could. I didn't even bother letting my parents know I was out, they could figure that out later. I asked for Piper Watson's room and from a distance I could see Jen and obviously a few obsessive Piper Watson fans crowding outside the door. When Jen saw me she raced toward me and embraced me in a hug. I hugged her back, a bit surprised at first but then warmly. "I'm glad someone's happy to see me." I joked. She smiled, and I could see the remnants of her tears. "I had to shoo my parents away so you could be here, but it wouldn't be so bad if you met them." As if on cue, two people hurried their way back to Piper's room, looking a combination of frightened and agitated. "Jennifer," the woman said as they approached us. "I don't know why you insisted that we—" she stopped when she noticed me, and raised her eyebrow. "Who's this?" Jen held her head up high and introduced me. "This is Mack. Piper's boyfriend." Mr. and Mrs. Watson stared at me in awe. "Boyfriend?" Repeated Mr. Watson. "She never told us she had a boyfriend." Mrs. Watson added. Jen turned to me. "Mack, this is Anne and Mark." "That's Mom and Dad to you." Mark corrected her. Jen beamed. "I'm glad y'all finally got introduced. Bye now." And she sped down the hall, not before turning around and winking at me. Mark cleared his throat. "So, Mack, how long have you and Piper been seeing each other?" I ran a hand through my hair, which I didn't notice until now was dirty and uncombed.

"Um, it's been a month now, sir." "And you treat her...well?" Anne pressed. I nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Anne and Mark exchanged a look. "Very well." Mark said at last. "I have no reason to beat you to a pulp yet." Anne gasped. "Mark!" Mark shrugged. "Would you like to see Piper, Mack?" I nodded slowly, wanting nothing more in the entire world. "If that's okay with you." Anne opened the door and ushered me in. "You're more than welcome to." I thanked them and stepped into the room. Piper was lying down on the bed, unconscious. One of her eyes was bruised, and her left arm was wrapped in a sling. Her right ankle was also wrapped, sprained I assumed. I sat down in the chair next to her bed, and took her hand, which was usually warm, and was now unusually cold. It felt as if I was in the presence of her corpse. "I'm sorry." I said to her softly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I shouldn't have ever left your side." She didn't stir, her only movement the rise and fall of her chest. "You know why I did it." I continued. "I didn't want to hurt you like I hurt everyone else. Pipes...you know me. I'm destructive, I destroy everything I touch." I looked away from her face, unable to look at something that was once pure, and now beaten.

"I screwed up." I choked, trying not to cry in front of the girl who I loved. "I'm a screw up, and that asshole who did this to you is a screw up. But you're not a screw up. Ever since I met you, I've loved everything about you and I was willing to go away again because I loved you and I didn't want to hurt you. Dammit!" I was crying, and I got up from the chair and wiped away my tears, not looking at her. "Piper, I meant what I said before. I'm all yours. I want you to be mine. All you have to do now is say yes." I breathed heavily, and leaned against the wall, still afraid to look at Piper. I moved towards the door and was about to turn the knob—-

"Yes."