𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍 . . . 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐥

34. 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧

34. five months later

pre-season two

▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▃ ▂

It had been five months since Hannah Baker's death, and about four months since one of the worst days of Nessa Dempsey's life to date. The day that she found out that Alex had shot himself in the head with one of his father's guns ranked just about as high on the pain scale as it when her father had passed away last summer.

Nessa didn't remember anything after Deputy Standall had spoken into the phone that night. She knows that she screamed, and cried, and threw things across her room. She knows that Zach had held her in his arms as she gripped onto his shoulders, blubbering sobs before she could hang up the phone. Alex's father heard all of it, and he cried with her.

She was so angry at him that entire day, for keeping such a big secret from her. She knew that she had every right to be, but all of that had gone completely out of the window as she realized just how precious he was to her. She couldn't lose somebody else, not without completely losing herself.

"I want to see him." Nessa declared. "Now!"

So, Zach put her in the car and he drove as fast as he possibly could across their small town to get to Evergreen County Hospital. Nessa hadn't even waited for him to completely stop the car before she flung the door open and jumped out, running into the hospital with Zach trailing behind her.

"Where is he?" Nessa said through sobs. "What room is Alex Standall in?"

Alex's mother was sitting in the waiting room with his brother, Peter, when Nessa walked through the automatic doors. She heard her son's girlfriend screaming, so she went over to her, placing her arms around her as she allowed her to sit down. Slowly but surely, Alex's mother explained that he was in a coma, and that they were unsure how long it would be until his eyes opened again, if they ever did.

Nessa doesn't remember how loud her scream was at that moment, all she remembers is feeling Zach's hand on her back as he cried with her. She dragged her feet against the floor, all the way to his room.

She took a deep breath, peering into the room where Alex was laying in the hospital bed. This was going to be one of the most difficult things that she had to do. She took in the silence in the room, only the beeping of the monitors that were attached to the boy.

"I'm so sorry, baby." she whispered as she grabbed his hand, his lifeless hand. For the first time, his finger's didn't wrap around hers.

"When you wake up, I won't ever leave you. I need you, so fucking bad. You are the love of my life, Alexander Dean Standall. Please, come back to me."

She stayed at the hospital for a week straight, only leaving to go home and pack more clothes. One by one, all of their friends had come to see him, and her.

Zach was first, he came the day after Nessa had figured it out. He couldn't force himself to walk into the room the first night.

Tyler Down was next. He came in and cried with Nessa, taking pictures of Alex's journey every single day, because both of them knew that he would wake up. There was never a doubt in their mind. Tyler made sure to bring Nessa a picture every day, whether it was of her and Alex at school events, or just him with his friends. He also brought her candy every single day, even when she couldn't eat. Tyler was the first one at the hospital once Nessa had told everyone that Alex's eyes were open again.

Then, Jessica came. The two girls cried as they realized how broken each one of them were, and they vowed to keep a strong friendship forever, helping each other through the tragedies that had occurred. They knew that once Alex woke up, he would be right there with them, and he was.

Clay was the next, bringing over a hot chocolate for Nessa. He apologized to her profusely, and let her know that he would always be in their corner. Slowly but surely, everyone on the tapes strolled in, except for Justin and Bryce.

The last four months have been full of healing for Nessa, although she knew that she wasn't healed in the slightest bit. After she had opened up to Karen Dempsey about what had happened to her, she immediately found her a therapist. Nessa had protested at first, but it began to help her out quite a lot.

She had also learned that Tony was the one that gave the tapes to Hannah's parents, who gave them to their lawyer. He told her not to worry, though, that he had made sure that it was still up in the air who the identities of the girls on tapes 9 and 12 were. She thanked him for that, because she wasn't ready to tell her story just yet.

Many people had been by since the news broke that Bryce had raped both Jessica and Nessa. Jess was the first one to stop by, and she made sure to come over at least twice a week. The girls had gone through their entire journey together, and they formed an unbreakable friendship.

Scott Reed had also come by a few times, sharing his empathy for what had happened to Nessa. As he had been friends with her for years, Scott was one of the first people to express that he needed to go over there. He assured her that he believed her, and that he was no longer friends with Bryce Walker. Sure, he had to hang around him for baseball, but Scott had said until his face was blue that he was absolutely not on Bryce's side, and Nessa believed him.

Clay, Sheri, Ryan, Marcus, Tyler, and Courtney. They all came at different times, saying the same thing. Tony too. It was hard, but at least Nessa knew that she had people in her corner. Her rock, though, was her brother, Zach.

Zach had slept on Nessa's floor for one month after she found out. She had asked him to, telling him that whenever she tried to sleep alone, all she could see and feel was the weight of Bryce on top of her. Zach never protested, he always did exactly what she needed him to do. He drove her to therapy, he took her to Alex's house and even hung out with the two of them as Alex got stronger, and he always, always, took care of her. Nessa had no idea how much closer the two could possibly get, until it happened.

It had been five months since Hannah Baker killed herself. Four months since Nessa found out that Bryce Walker had raped her, four months since her boyfriend shot himself in the head, and four months since she had last seen Justin Foley. She was supremely worried about him.

Now, Nessa sat in her room, staring at her calendar as she realized that she, Alex and Jessica would be returning to Liberty High School tomorrow. After four long months of recovery, she had to go back at some point.

The Baker trial was set to start tomorrow, and Tyler Down would be the first one on the stand. Nessa stared at the piece of paper on her desk, which was a subpoena to testify on the third day, with Jessica Davis. She had no idea what to expect, but she knew one thing for sure.

She would not be sharing what had happened to her.

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬!

2k reads so im starting s2 yay!!! thank you guys for reading this book :,)

season two here we go!!! going to be a lot of trauma this szn, prepare yourself