Lost in Hollywood

Stay

Sky had a bandage around her head, there were raw bruises on her face and her neck, and dried blood stains on her cheeks. Her cute Christmas sweater and the pleated, green skirt were on a nearby chair, and she was wearing a pale pink hospital gown, her hair was tangled and had lumps of dried blood in it.

Seeing her like that, was worse than Cody ever could have imagined.

It hurt like a sword through his gut. It made him want to burn down the world.

The rage was sudden and all-consuming, it flashed through him like wildfire, leaving him breathless. He stopped in the doorway to take a moment to get his emotions under control, to smother that explosion of anger before Sky noticed it. She didn't need to deal with his shit right now - the rage, the revenge, the need to rip apart everyone who had laid a finger on her—

Those things would have to wait. He pushed them down, down, down, until he could breathe calmly again.

Slowly he walked into the room, pulled a chair, and took a seat next to Sky's bed, letting out a long exhale. Noticing his presence, Sky opened her eyes and a shadow of pain flashed in her gaze. Her head was resting on the pillow, the red curls that escaped from under the thick bandage formed a halo of fire around her pale face.

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "You came."

"Of course."

The anger was still smoldering inside Cody's chest. He could taste it, the brimstone and the smoke, but he forced it under the surface and gently took Sky's hand. Her fingers were cold in his, cold and slender, her hand was small.

"Does it hurt a lot?" he asked softly, glancing at Sky's bandaged head, her bruised neck.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Did they give you anything for the pain?"

"Nothing good. I'm an addict. What are they gonna give me?"

Her words hurt Cody in a primitive way, he felt them like a blow. It was his fault Sky couldn't get any good painkillers. It was his fault she was suffering like this. Had he never sold her drugs, she wouldn't be in this situation, and they could medicate her properly. That guilt was heavy to carry, it crushed the air out of his lungs.

"You should have let me be your plus one," he said after a short silence. "I wouldn't have let this happen to you."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I don't think I can make it to our date tomorrow."

She tried to smile, but the attempt failed and a couple of tears formed in the corner of her eyes. Cody let go of her hand and brought his fingers to her cheek, to wipe away those tears, but it didn't help. More burning teardrops followed those first ones, they fell to his fingers.

Love squeezed Cody's chest so that it was hard to speak. "It's okay. We can reschedule. Don't worry about that now."

She gave a shaky nod. "Okay. I... I just really wanted to go."

"I know. Me too. And we will, when you're okay."

He kept wiping away her tears, his hand caressing her burning cheek. He could smell the salt of her tears in the air, mixed with blood and the smell of hospitals - medicine, disinfectant, sick people.

"You want to talk about what happened?" he asked after another short silence. "Who did this to you?"

Sky's glance turned towards the door, and when Cody turned to look, he noticed Dr. O'Brian there, leaning on the doorway. Cody swallowed and slowly drew his hand back from Sky's cheek. He hadn't realized Dr. O'Brian was there, he had been silent, and Cody hadn't spared a thought to anything but Sky.