Unlikely Conditions

Chapter 26

Aidan stopped for a moment, the cups of cheap hospital coffee in awful paper cups warming up his hands as he looked over at Meadow sitting in the waiting room with her head in her hands. He let out a soft sigh as he sat down beside her. She lifted her head to take the coffee cup from his hand. He slumped down in the seat, blowing on the top of his coffee before taking a quick sip. Meadow simply sat in silence, staring down at the coffee. Aidan reached out to gently grab the top of her head before tilting it so it was resting on his shoulder comfortably. He gently took the cup from her shoulders, placing it on the table in front of them that was covered in magazines. Meadow's eyelids felt heavy as she struggled to fight the exhaustion she was feeling. She let out a soft sigh as she finally gave in, slowly drifting off to sleep beside Aidan.

"I'm telling you! She's so creepy, it's sad!" A girl giggled as she entered the bathroom, her friends quickly hurrying behind her. She perched herself up on the counter, throwing one leg over the other as her friends surrounded around her. Meadow quickly leaned against the door, only able to visible make them out through the small crack in the stall door.

"Do you think she's a lesbian?" One of the girls asked, a disgusted look plastered across her face as her friends simply laughed in response.

"Probably, you've seen how she is around Nicole. She's definitely in love with her." Another responded, rolling her eyes back at her friends as she then jumped down from the counter, turning to look at her reflection in the mirror as she adjusted her bangs.

"Declan can do a million times better. He's probably only dating her out of pity." A girl chuckled as her friend turned to glance at her with a smirk across her lips.

"We hooked up two nights ago while she was at a dumb campaign thing for her parents." She announced proudly, her friends simply laughing in response as they all began to disappear out the bathroom. Meadow slowly backed away from the stall door, sitting herself on top of the toilet lid. She clenched her skirt tightly in her fists, watching small drops of tears fall onto it, she began to slowly lift her skirt to reveal the fresh cuts across her thighs. She sat in silence as she stared at them blankly. They were still risen and fresh as she ran her fingertips across them slowly. She didn't feel anything, it almost felt like she was floating outside of her body looking down at herself. She was quickly snapped back to reality as the loud echoing of the school bell filled her ears. She climbed to her feet, brushing down her skirt as she made her way out the bathroom.

Her eyes snapped open as she was met with the bright fluorescent lights above her. She groaned, shielding her eyes with her hand before pushing herself up. She moved aside the jacket that was draped over her. Her eyes dotted round, taking in the seemingly quiet environment as she then spotted Aidan standing outside with a cigarette between his fingers. She draped the jacket round her shoulders, hugging herself to keep warm as she stepped outside. It was pitch black, sparse amount of stars filling the sky that had seemingly been hid behind the dark clouds that had cracked open to let out a thunderstorm.

"How long was I asleep?" She yawned, still trying to wake herself up as Aidan put out his cigarette against the brick wall before turning to meet her attention with a welcoming smile. He adjusted his jacket around her shoulders.

"Not long, Jade was still in surgery when you fell asleep. She's in a room resting up." He replied as leaned back against the wall with a soft sigh.

"How is she? Is she gunna be okay?" Meadow asked in a panic, inching slightly closer to hear him over the loud echoing of the thunder.

"Yeah, she's gunna be fine. There wasn't any major damage done." He replied with a smile before they turned their heads back to see Keegan talking to Harper against the coffee machine. Meadow hurried back inside as Aidan happily followed behind her. Keegan turned to smile as Meadow approached her.

"Hey you, I came to check on you earlier but you fell asleep." She chuckled, softly playing with Meadow's messy loose pigtails.

"I think the party and...situation drained me." Meadow replied, taking Keegan's hand in hers as she then softly kissed the top of her hand. Keegan lifted her head to look back at Aidan.

"Take her back to my place, I'll update you on any changes." She announced, placing her apartment key inside Meadow's palm before closing her hand around it.

"But-"

"Go with Aidan, I won't be long!" Keegan insisted before quickly placing a soft kiss on Meadow's forehead. She placed her hand on her lower back to gesture her towards Aidan. Meadow simply nodded in response before following behind Aidan as they both climbed in the car. She buckled her seat belt as Aidan began to pull out the parking lot and drive away from the hospital. Meadow stared out the car window at the heavy rain as the raindrops raced down the window, her nails nervously tapping against her phone as she was suddenly startled by it vibrating in her hands. Aidan glanced over out the corner of his eye for a brief moment before focusing back on the road ahead. Meadow unlocked her phone, squinting at the unknown number on the screen. She hesitated before opening the text.

Be a good girl and stay quiet or your family will find out who you truly are, Misty!

She stared at the message in horror as she could feel her eyes start to fill with tears. She looked away, trying to wipe them away to avoid any questions from Aidan. She covered her face with her hands, trying to calm herself down as Aidan pulled up outside the apartment complex. He parked against the kirb as Meadow then unbuckled her seat belt. She reached for the door handle before jolting in surprise as Aidan locked the doors. She swallowed as she turned to meet his gaze, his elbow was resting on the ledge of the car window. His chin sitting in his hand as he simply raised an eyebrow at her.

"W..What?" She stuttered nervously as held out his hand to her, gesturing at her phone. She shook her head repeatedly, her eyes filling with tears again.

"Meadow, come on." He sighed, Meadow reluctantly placed her phone in the palm of his hand. He readjusted himself in the seat as he began to read through the text on her phone screen. She clutched the end of her dress tightly in her hands. Aidan let out a heavy sigh as he gently placed the phone back on her lap.

"I-"

"Listen, Damien isn't as smart as he thinks. He's also unaware of the lengths Keegan is willing to go to keep you safe." He said with a softly smile, Meadow lifted her head to look back at him with tear filled eyes. He leaned in towards her, wiping away her tears gently with her thumb as he cupped her face in his hand.

"I..I don't want anyone else to get hurt cause of..me.." She cried, Aidan simply chuckled back at her as he pulled away.

"I wouldn't worry, everything will be fine. I promise." He smiled, adjusting his jacket around her shoulders before unlocking the car doors. They climbed out the car as Meadow pulled the jacket above her head, Aidan locked the car behind him before shielding Meadow beside him as they entered the complex. Meadow led the way up the stairs towards Keegan's apartment as she then dug the key from the jacket pock and unlocked the door. Aidan followed her inside as he then securely locked the door behind him. There was a weight lifted from her shoulders as she draped Aidan's jacket over the sofa.

"I'm gunna get a bath." She announced as Aidan smiled back at her in agreement. Aidan walked past her into the kitchen as Meadow disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She sat herself on the edge of the tub as she pushed the plug into the drain and began to fill the tub. She watched the tub fill for a moment before getting to her feet to get undressed. She reached back to unzip her dress as she then let it fall around her feet as she then continued to undress. She reached down to gather her clothes, accidentally knocking against the sink which knocked a small box from the edge of the counter. She turned to reach down to pick it up as she froze for a moment from the sight of scattered razor blades laying beside a razor. There was a sinking feeling filling her stomach as she stared in silence. She gathered her thoughts together as she scooped up the razor blades and the razor back into the box before placing it securely back on the counter. She sighed heavily as she turned off the running water before stepping into the tub, feeling herself sink down into it comfortably.