Crimson Daggers | Chad Meeks-Martin

Chapter Five: Safe

The three of them sat there for awhile until Mindy got hungry so her and Wes decided to run to the cafeteria. Chad was fully awake, not moving from that chair as he watched over Jade, his eyes not leaving the girl even when the two friends walked out the door. No way in hell was he going to let anyone touch her again.

The sounds of soft groans made him sit up straight in his chair, "Jade?" he muttered, staring at the girl. He watched carefully as he noticed her body slowly started to move, in a slow and tired way. Her eyes slowly opened, the light hitting her in the face causing her to groan louder. Jade's non broken hand raised to block the light that was shinning onto her face.

"Jade." Chad repeated, standing up and turning off the light so her eyes could adjust to the room. The sun still shinning in from the windows. "You're okay." he smiled, walking up to her bed and grabbing onto her arm.

"Chad?" Jade asked, looking up with shock. "I'm not dead? Wait did we both die?" she asked, grabbing onto his arm.

"No." he chuckled, grabbing her hand from his arm and putting it on his heart. "We're not dead, I got to you just in time."

"I guess you are my knight in shinning armor." Jade joked, smiling a bit. She scooted over a bit and patted the bed. "Come on."

Chad shock his head, standing up and sitting next to her. The sound of the door opening made the two look at the other friends that now had many food items in their hands. "Jade!" Mindy exclaimed, handing her stuff to Wes and running to her friend.

"Yeah Mindy sure I'll take your stuff, not a problem." Wes muttered, making Jade slightly smile. "How you feeling Jade?" he asked, putting the stuff down on a side table and walking over to her. He put a reassuring hold onto her shoulder. 

"I'm not sure, I don't feel anything so either I got paralyzed or they gave me a lot of drugs." Jade explained, making sure she can still fell her legs. That's when she noticed the cast on her wrist, "Ow."

"Jade I know you just woke up but can you tell us anything about what happened?" Wes asked, his hand coming off of her shoulder as he crossed his arms. 

"Jeez Wes, let her rest a bit." Chad replied, glaring at the boy. "No need to interrogate her, I'm sure your mom will do that."

"Chad it's okay." Jade said, putting her hand onto his trying to calm the tension. "Honestly Wes, if I'm being honest I don't really remember anything. The last thing I remember is seeing Chad running to my door, everything after that is blank."

"I heard you scream and immediately ran as fast as I could." Chad explained, a bit of guilt still shown on his face. He thought about the many other outcomes that could of happened, if he were faster, or if she just didn't shower at her place. Chad scolded himself for not just inviting her over in the first place instead of letting her go home after another attack happened. 

"Hey can I talk to Chad for a minute?" Jade asked, looking at Mindy and Wes.

"Yeah." Mindy smiled, pulling Wes aside and giving her twin a subtle thumbs up.

"Thank you." Jade stated, her eyes meeting his. "I honestly don't know how to thank you other then just words, but just so you know I owe you so much food after this." She said, making the two slightly laugh.

"You don't owe me anything." Chad started, grabbing her hand. "Just you being here well and alive is enough for me. You're a lot more important to me than food."

Jade smiled, her eyes pulling away from the boy and to the snacks, "And that's something because you really like your food."

"Hey, that is a true statement." Chad said, his eyes meeting hers once more.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment until the door opened quickly, "Oh sweetheart are you okay!?" Martha asked, running over to the girl and stealing Chads spot.

"Martha, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Jade asked, her arms weirdly wrapping around the twin's mother. "Don't you have work?"

Martha shook her head, "No, I came as soon as I could."

"Sorry we didn't wake you up mom, we just were really worried." Chad explained, watching as Mindy and Wes walked back in.

"It's okay." Martha said, pulling away and looking at the girl. "You're okay?"

Jade nodded, "For the most part. Actually Martha there's something I wanted to ask you-."

"If it's about staying at my place then of course you can, actually your mother called me and asked me to tell you to stay at our house since the airport doesn't have any available flights for a few days." Martha explained, her hand squeezing Jade's. 

Jade's head went down, a frown on her face. "Oh okay, thank you."

Martha was confused, "Is that what you were going to ask me?"

"Yes it was,  I just didn't know my mom wasn't coming for a few days. I lost my phone so I haven't talked to her." Jade replied, her head still down.

"You want to call her?" Martha asked.

Jade's head sprung up, "Can I?"

"Of course." the mother said, pulling out her phone and handing it to Jade.

"Thank you." Jade muttered, pressing her mothers contact with a smile.

Chad watched as the phone was quiet for a bit, but when he noticed Jade's face change from a happy smile to an upset frown he knew her mother didn't answer. The distant sound of the voicemail message could be heard. Jade cleared her throat, "hey mom, it's me. I'm okay and safe in the hospital. Umm, I lost my phone so if you need to talk to me I'm sure you could call me through Martha's home phone. I love and miss you and I hope I see you soon." Jade said, her finger hitting the red button on the screen. She handed the phone back to the mother and smiled up at them, "You guys should probably go home, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Chad asked, stepping forward.

Jade nodded, "Yeah it's late, I'll see you guys soon."

The four visitors collected there stuff and gave Jade a hug before walking out, but before Chad left he turned and noticed the tears slowly forming in her eyes. He wanted to stay with her but he respected her privacy, and walked out. "I'll catch up guys." Chad said, walking over to Tara's room where Sam and Richie were still in. Tara was fast asleep on her bed. "Hey you wouldn't mind keeping an eye on her?" he said, pointing at the other room. "She just kinda nicely kicked us out."

Sam nodded, "Yeah me and Richie can watch over her, she's okay?"

Chad shrugged. "She say's she is but honestly I'm not sure."

Sam frowned, "That's how Tara is too. I mean she doesn't even know I'm here right now. I think she kinda hates me."

"Why?" Chad asked, his brows raising in curiosity.

"A long story." Sam replied, trying to change the subject. "But I just couldn't leave her, I don't want her being alone after the attack."

Chad looked over at his friend, "Yeah, I couldn't imagine what they are going through." he started backing up, "Thank you Sam." he finished, giving Richie a wave before he started running to catch up with everyone else.