Taming Life

She's a fighter

"Hazel I love you." Alex said, kissing me. I giggled, pulling her closer to me.
"I wish I could spend every second with you." I said, and Alex nodded.
"One day baby. One day we'll live together and have our whole lives together to look forward to. I promise. And for now we can just have fun imagining it." She said, combing through my hair with her fingers.
"You're my everything Alex." I said, and then screamed. Alex's dad was behind her, a knife in his hand. He stabbed her in the back.

"Alex!" I said, as I woke up and sat up in bed. There were tears running down my cheeks and my throat hurt as if I'd been screaming. It took me a minute to realise that I'd been woken up by something; ringing. My phone was ringing. I quickly took it from the bedside table and answered it without even checking who it was.
"Hello?" I asked in a half asleep voice.
"Is this Hazel?" A thick voice asked, it sounded as if they had a cold, or possibly as if they'd been crying.
"Yes it is. Who is this?" I asked.
"You need to get here, quickly. I'm at the hospital. Alex has been hurt, quite badly. I'm her aunt." She said.
"I'll be there soon. Just please tell me, is she going to live?" I asked.
"I don't know. Her dad hurt her pretty badly. Just get here, and hurry." She said, and hung up. Tears were rushing down my face as I couldn't believe what was happening. He hurt her, he really really hurt her. How could I have let her go back to him? I was stupid. So so stupid.
I got up quickly, shoving my phone hastily into a pyjama pocket and running to my parents room. I ran in, shoving both of my parents until they were awake.
"Hazel?!" Mum asked, opening one eye slowly and then sitting up when she saw what was probably a terrified face.
"It's Alex. She's hurt badly and I...I don't know if s-she's going to live. I-I love her and we n-need to get down to the h-hospital fast." I said, sobbing hard and shaking uncontrollably. Dad was sat up too now and without saying a word they both got up and shoved clothes on randomly.
"Run to your room and grab something to wear, anything. We'll take you. I'm sorry Hazel." Mum said, hugging me.
"I just have to s-see her." I said, crying. I ran to my room and pulled on clothes, not even sure if they were on the right way or inside out or what. I didn't care. I put on the first shoes I saw and looked down to see that I'd put on one of Alex's jumpers without realising. It smelt like her and that made me cry harder. What if I never smelt her again, never got close to her again?
"Hazel, what's going on?" Michael asked, wiping his eyes and looking at me.
"Alex she...she's not okay. She's hurt badly and I-I don't know w-what's going to happen." I said, choking on my words. He hugged me tightly, and said that he was coming too.
"You love her, don't you?" He asked, and I nodded.
"I'm not sitting at home whilst this is all going on. I care about you. So I'm coming too." He said, and he went back in his room and came out a minute later clothed. We all rushed downstairs together, no one daring to speak. I couldn't bear that right now Alex could be slipping away from me. That with every heartbeat she could be getting weaker and weaker. We all got in the car quickly and dad drove off before we'd even belted up properly. Michael had to help me with my seatbelt; I was shaking too much to do it up myself.
Michael was saying something to me as we drove along, but I couldn't hear him. All I could hear was Alex's voice. I could picture her, all of the horrible things that her dad could have done to her. I couldn't lose her. She was the love of my life. My chest hurt with the thought of her dying. Of never seeing her again. I already lost her once I could not do it again. It would be my fault. I should have made sure that she stayed with me, not him.

When we got to the hospital I ran out as soon as the car stopped, my family rushing behind me. I stopped for a second to look at the hospital map and see where I was going, and then I ran through the main doors to the front desk. It was bright and white and a receptionist there was startled and possibly my bedraggled look, possibly my shocked and frantic face.
"Can you tell me where Alex Priestly is? It's urgent. Her aunt asked for me." I asked hurriedly.
"Yes, she was rushed in about an hour ago, she's in room 111, upstairs." She said. Before she could say anything else, I smiled at her slightly in thanks and ran in the direction she described to me, taking the stairs two at a time. I was worried that she might not still be alive, but also hoping that she was. She had to be. I couldn't live without her.
I sped down the corridor. Rooms 95, 96, 97 rushed past me as I ran. I begged that I would get there. I started to see a few people outside room 111. A woman and man and a girl who was about my age. And someone who I recognised to be Alex's mum. I looked at her and remembered how she didn't help when her husband was hurting me and her daughter. I couldn't see Alex's dad anywhere. I stopped outside the room.
"Are you Hazel?" The woman asked, and I nodded. I noticed that her face was stained with tears, and she seemed exhausted.
"Yeah, can I see her? Is she still..alive? And w-what happened?" I asked, crying at the thought that she might not be here for much longer. Or that she might not be anymore.
"She's still here. It's just, well she's got internal bleeding and possible kidney failure. She's got a few broken bones and she hit her head quite hard but they don't think there's any brain damage which is good. They're working on her right now so we can't get in the way. I'm sorry honey. We're hoping for the best. We really are." Tears were rolling down her face, and she hugged me. I knew from her voice that this was Alex's aunt, and I cried into her.
"She has to be okay. She just has to be." I said, as I heard the footsteps of presumably my family behind me.
"Hazel you have to be hopeful." Alex's mum said, crying. I nodded but didn't really want to look at her. I didn't think she had the right to be crying.
"I'm sorry but could you all wait in the waiting area. We will call you straight away if anything happens. She's got quite a lot of internal bleeding that we're hoping to stop. Luckily her kidneys aren't failing, and there isn't any brain damage. Just let us do our job. She's a fighter." A doctor said, as they came out of the room.
"Thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing for my niece." Alex's aunt said, as we led into the waiting room. I saw a glimpse of Alex as he closed the door and a sob racked through me.
"She has to be okay." I cried, as my mum wrapped her arms around me and led me along.
"She just has to be."