Know Your Enemy

Part 17

*SCAR'S POV*

I remember was Billie telling me that he dropped out of school, so I took a taxi home... the last exact thing I remember was going across the broken tracks... oh god...
It was all starting to come back to me as I was just starting to wake up. I felt tubes in my nose and up my arm. I didn't open my eyes to look at my body, scared as to might what be broken, or disfigured. I moved my left leg, then my right. Pain surged through my right leg as I tried to wiggle. I couldn't move it, so it must've been splinted or something. I moved my arms, and I felt a sharp pain in my right wrist. Great, my writing hand was totally broken. I took a deep breath, and my sides hurt - it was my ribs. I finally started to open my eyes. The light was so bright, it was hard to make out the person sitting in the chair next to my hospital bed. The My vision focused; it was Billie. He had his head in his hands.
"Bil..." I tried to speak, my my mouth couldn't move, so it just came out as a mumble. My hand gripped the bed railing, but I was so weak...
He looked up, eyes rimmed red with tears.
"Oh my god... Scar... you're awake."
He sat up out of his chair, rubbing his eyes.
Fuck, my head hurts so bad. I could hear my heart rate pick up through the machine by my bed. I started to panic. I was in the hospital, I got hit by the train. I was missing work. I couldn't make money. Not for months. How was I supposed to get my GED and go to college in the next year if I can't even move!!
I really started to panic, I couldn't move my legs, or couldn't move my arms. I couldn't speak. My heart rate just kept getting faster... and faster...
"Scarlett? Scarlett are you okay?" Billie said, scared. Oh god, now he was panicking. He touched his hand to my forehead.
"Fuck, you're burning up," he said, and turned to walk to the door, leaving me.
I tried to call out, but my voice wouldn't work. I didn't want him to leave me, but I couldn't do anything about it.
He yanked the door open, and I heard him yell, but my hearing wasn't working. My vision started to cloud. I couldn't see anything clearly.
Just then, I felt Billie's hand in mine, and my vision returned to the lonely darkness I had felt before.

*BILLIE'S POV*

Scarlett fell unconscious while I was holding her hand. I held on to her until the nurses shooed me away. I sat in the chair directly in front of her room. Mike joined me.
"Hey, Billie, let's go home for a bit, okay? Take a nap or something. It's been three days, have you even slept?"
I stared at the floor. I had slept maybe 4 of the 72 hours I'd been here. I couldn't sleep knowing what I had done. I'd seen the hospital grief counselor, but I wasn't about telling her what happened. She wouldn't get it. The only one I could talk to about something like this, was the one I had hurt most. So of course I didn't sleep.
Scar had woken up here and there, but the docs say it was her subconscious, like she was in a dream. Until just now, she hasn't been healthily conscious. As Mike and I were sitting in the chairs, Doc came out of the room Scar was in.
He sighed, "Mr. Armstrong, Scarlett is running a fever."
My stomach sank. Doc continued.
"In some cases, this would be a bad thing. In this case, it's good. It shows that Scarlett is becoming more responsive. But in the episode that just occurred, it seemed she had a panic attack. You were the one who hollered, what did you see?"
I took a deep breath.
"She moved her hand. Tried to say my name, then she started panting, and sweating, and her eyes were frantic, pupils huge."
"Does she normally have panic attacks?"
"Yes, little things set her off, but... I don't know why she panicked now..."
"It could be PTSD, some cases are temporary, some last for the rest of the patients life."
"Oh... fuck..." I breathed out.
"Don't worry Mr. Armstrong," Doc put a hand on my shoulder.
"As for her physical health, it seems that Scarlett will be fine." He smiled. I tried to smile.
Doc walked away, and the nurses left Scar's room. They told me I could go back in, if I wanted. So I did. I sat in the same chair next to her bed. Watching her breathe with the tubes stuck in her nose, listening to the heart rate monitor, beep steadily.

•••

Two and a half hours passed. Scarlett's left hand fingers twitches. Her eyes moved under her closed lids. She frowned. I tensed.
She opened her eyes, slowly. She turned her head towards me. She reached for my hand, and I took hers, gently, rubbing my thumb across her knuckles. Her eyes filled with tears. So did mine.
"I love you." I whispered.
She nodded. I knew what she meant. The tears spilled over her eyes, and I sat up out of the chair, and kissed her forehead.
It was then that I knew, Scarlett was the one, and I was never, ever, going to let her slip away from me.

*SCAR'S POV*

Billie sat with me all day. We talked about music, we watched the crappy hospital TV. Even when I thought I was gonna puke, he kept an eye on me. I felt like shit. I looked like shit. My hair was tangled, I was always sweaty... but I knew one thing - morphine was was the bomb. I could press the button on my little remote, and boom. I would feel ten thousand times better. The pain in my leg would go away, I could pull my broken wrist up, and move it... it was amazing. I was happy too, I was relaxed. And with Billie with me, I felt more in love than I ever had before. I forgot all about that stupid fight I had with him. Yeah, I was upset he dropped out. But it's his fucking life, I shouldn't try to dictate him.
That afternoon, Doctor Brad came in, and told me that I could be released from the hospital in three days from tomorrow. That would be a Friday. They said it was really good that I was able to move and speak and do things without passing out or panicking, but they want to try to get my strength back, and wean me off the heavy prescriptions. I was excited, ready to go home, and sit with Billie, watching TV, listening to music, making out... all that amazing stuff.

•••

Throughout the rest of the day, I saw Mike, Ollie, and Blake. They were so happy. I was happy. Ollie told me that she signed as my legal guardian, because I was still 17, and asked me if it was alright. Of course, it was. Blake told me that she had called my work, and told them my condition. She said they let me go. I felt panic in my chest, but when I clicked for morphine, it went away. I took a deep breath and simply said, "Fuck it."