Just One Night

Chapter 12

Demi:

Demi felt as though she had been hit by a train. She was speechless, and couldn't comprehend what was going on. Somewhere in the back of her mind there was a man rambling on and on about how an, unidentified woman had been hit by a truck near the coastline, and the last call was to this number. Demi knew who it was. It had to be. She pulled over and attempted to respond to the man. 

"Yes, yes," that was all she could manage. The man continued, asking if she would like to come down to Marina Del Rey Hospital  to identify the woman. Demi murmured something that she hoped he understood as a yes and hung up the phone.

She began driving again in a trance, a part of her freaking out and hoping Selena was okay, and a part of her knowing she couldn't be, she just felt it. She reach the hospital, it's windowed walls towering into the sky. Demi parked her car in the middle of the parking lot, not caring about what might happen to it, only focusing on the well-being of Selena. Flashbacks of their times together raced through her mind, and suddenly she was best friends with her again, even though their friendship was only just repairing. She saw the first time they met, felt the cold, hard concrete under the blanket they had shared in line for their Barney auditions; remembered the night they had shared their deepest dreams and desires to each other as budding teenagers, how they had let out their hearts to each other; felt the first time Selena went past all previously known boundaries and pressed her lips on Demi's to stop her from crying; was pained by the fact that Selena wouldn't answer any of her calls after that, and accepted the end of their friendship. Demi found herself at Selena's room, and saw her mangled body, and the many doctors surrounding her. There was a steady, but incredibly slow beeping that told her Selena was still alive, but barely. The doctors looked up at her, and moved away from the bed. Demi burst into tears and fell to Selena's bedside. Her eyes fluttered and she saw Demi, she placed a quavering hand on Demi's shoulder and began moving her lips, trying to get something out. Demi looked up at Selena, tears rolling down her face, she grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. Her heart was heavy in her chest, and she could barely breathe, but in that hand squeeze, all was forgiven. 

"I love you so much, Sel."

Selena opened her mouth a made a croaking noise in the back of her throat, trying desperately to formulate words. Finally, she stuttered out, "I-I  l-l-love you too... Dems." Demi felt Selena's grip weaken immensely. She watched as her eyes grew wide, and her breath quickened. Then, it stopped. Just like that. Selena's hand went completely limp, and Demi let out a loud scream. Not caring who heard it, or if it annoyed anyone. The scream rebounded off of all the bare white walls, like a tsunami that brought terror to everyone in the entire building, whether they knew what was happening or not. Demi inhaled deeply as to scream again when the world around her began to spin, black spots flecked her vision and everything slowed down. A blurry man stumbled into her view before everything went bright white, then suddenly black. 

***

Joe:

Joe's rough and calloused hands gripped the smooth leather of his steering wheel. He shift his hands without loosening his grip and felt is clammy skin rip, he was in panic mode. The only thing keeping him from freaking out completely was the knowledge that Demi needed him. His foot was pressed on the floor of the car, and the buildings of LA flew by him at an alarming rate, but he wasn't thinking about his safety, he wasn't thinking of anyone but Demi. His Demi. His Demi who was in the hospital right now for God and the asshole doctors who wouldn't tell him anything know why. 

He heard his car skid in the back of his mind as he braked hard into a parking space, lucky that he didn't spin out. He sprinted out of his car and into the hospital building, not stopping to find out where he was going, but hoping he was gong in the right direction. Then he heard it, and he stopped. A loud and blood-curdling scream that ripped through the still buildings and rooms and ripped his heart apart. He ran in toward the sound and found himself at the doorway of a small room, relatively empty aside for windows with cheap curtains, a TV- black and boring, and a small bed- probably laden with itchy sheets and hard pillows; she was there, in the bed, more pale than Joe had ever seen her, her eyes wide with fear and her pupils dilated so that her eyes appeared black. Her dark waves were jutting out in many directions, giving her an air of craziness and confusion. Her knuckles were white and her fingers wrapped tightly around the railings of her bed. He was immediately terrified when he saw her.

And then her eyes shifted to his.

She let out the tension in her shoulders, dropped her head, and burst into tears. Joe ran to her side, trying to grasp her hand, but failing, so that he wrapped his arms around her body and held her there, almost as if he was keeping her from exploding. She laid her head into him, her tears creating a dark stain on his shirt that would probably never come out, though he didn't think of that then. He only held her, and whispered to her, trying to make her understand that he was there for her, that he loved her. But she only murmured over and over again "She's gone." Soon Demi tired herself out with her sobs, and closed her eyes, eventually fall asleep in Joe's arms, in an awkward position that created knots in her neck as she slept. Joe knelt there for hours until her finally rested his head on the bed and drifted into a sleep he almost didn't want to wake up from.