The Party Scene Saga: Stories Yet To Unfold

Part 23

"Zacky please wake up..." I sobbed, squeezing his hand tightly. "You're scaring me. Please Zacky..."

It was now 7am, and he'd been in the same vegetative state since I found him last night. His wrist was heavily bandaged up, matching how mine looked when I was in therapy, but a lot thicker - come to think of it, we kind of matched now. A nurse took me to one side whilst everyone was fussing over Zack last night, sat me down and just let me pour my heart out to her. I told her I cut and she asked if I'd done it recently; I nodded and showed her my wrist. She didn't say another word, just left the room and came back with a bandage, then carefully wrapped it around my wrist. His was still seeping blood slightly but not half as much as last night. Finding him like that absolutely terrified me and I never want to experience anything like that ever again.

"C'mon, Zacky. Please just wake up already." I pleaded.

He'd been cutting for months by the looks of things, yet he ever came to me to talk. At least I had the decency to tell him I was slicing my arm open on a regular basis; he left himself all cut up, passed out and covered in blood for someone to find. Why he felt he couldn't confide in me was a mystery right now. He knew the pain I went through and he knew I'd be there for him like he was for me. Zack's doctor came into the room, reading his clipboard intently as he stopped at the end of the bed.

"Still not awake, huh?" he mumbled, finally looking at me.

"Nope." I sighed. "Literally nothing. Not even an eyelid flicker."

"That's to be expected really. He lost a lot of blood so this is his body's way of coping with that loss." he explained. "Your parents should be here anytime soon. I just called your father again."

I nodded half-heartedly. I didn't care what he had to say; all I wanted was for my brother to wake up. The doctor checked the various machines that beeped loudly every once in a while, then left us alone again. I was barely able to string a sentence together because of the sobs I was holding back, hence why I barely spoke. I had no idea when someone else would walk through that door and I didn't want them seeing me cry; crying's a sign of weakness. All your defenses fall down when you cry and you're open to attack - also known as people asking questions. But I couldn't hold it in any longer. I closed my eyes tightly as the tears fell, hoping nobody would walk in and see me like this. My hand was still tightly wrapped around Zack's, squeezing it every once in a while to let him know I was here and wanted him to just wake up already.

"I swear to god Merrick I will kick your butt if you don't wake up soon." I grumbled, still crying slightly. "You literally suck and you owe me big time."

I started to wipe my tears away when the door flew open; there stood dad. He was panting heavily like he'd run all the way in here and his eyes were all red and puffy from where he'd obviously been crying. After a minute of standing at the door staring at Zack, he finally walked in and sat down next to me. He took my free hand and kissed it gently, rubbing circles on my palm with his thumb.

"Sweetie why didn't you call me?" he sighed.

"I...I panicked." I sobbed. "He was fucking bleeding like hell and I didn't know what to do. I literally didn't do anything for like, 10 minutes, except cry. Well I did one thing..."

I could feel dad staring at me once I'd said it and I could tell he was disappointed. When I turned to look at him, his eyes instantly averted to the bandage on my wrist. Dad shook his head at me, then poked it gently.

"You're better than that, Lil." he murmured. "Why?"

"I dunno." I pouted, shrugging slightly. "I guess I just saw Zack in pain, and I didn't want him to suffer alone. He always s-said I'd n-never drag him down, b-but I did. I m-mean, look at h-him."

Dad closed his eyes for a brief moment; I'd majorly disappointed him this time. I fell into his side, still grasping Zack's hand tightly, and rested my head against dad's arm. I hadn't slept in over 20 hours and right now that was all I wanted to do. I brought my legs up into my chair and wrapped my free arm around them, hugging them tightly. My head fell into dad again when he lifted his arm, then wrapped it around me.

"Go asleep, sweetie." he murmured. "Don't worry, I'll wake you if anything changes."

I barely even finished nodding when I yawned and felt my eyes become heavier. My eyelids finally fell down and I drifted into a deep sleep, where all my nightmares came out to play.