You Sang To Me - I'm Not Broken Hearted Trilogy, Book 3

Chapter 9 - Patrick

            She lost a lot of blood, and needed an emergency blood transfusion. They had taken her into surgery the moment we were rushed into the emergency room, leaving Allie and I alone in a waiting room. When we arrived, Allie in a bathrobe and I in nothing but my pants, we had been given clothes from the hospital to wear. I was in a baggy sweatshirt now, and my wife was pulling a much too large hoodie about her shoulders. I had called Pete from the ambulance, and he had called Joe and Andy for me. Andy was stopping by my house to grab clothes for us, and Joe was bringing us both coffee, with the intention that "it would make you feel a little better." Though, I highly doubted that.

I was sitting across from Allie, afraid to sit beside her, or touch her, or even speak to her. She was sitting with her feet up on the seat, her knees up to her chin, and her hands folded in front of her face like she were praying. She may have bee, for all I knew, so I didn't disturb her. Meanwhile, I sat and stared blankly at her, repeating my own prayer in my head over and over, like a miracle might just occur and I'll wake up with my daughter sleeping soundly just across the hall, without a single mark on her pale arms.

I think that was the worst part; Seeing all of the fading, silvery lines on her arms, and knowing that this has been going on longer than I knew. I shivered at the thought of it, finally closing my eyes tightly. I opened them a second later, to the sound of approaching footsteps. They sounded rushed, echoing down the linoleum floor outside the waiting room, and I stood up quickly in the hopes that it was a doctor. Instead, Pete rounded the corner, with my son right behind him. Pete came to me without a word and pulled me into his arms, clapping me on the back, as Allie nearly pounced on Declan. She squeezed him like her life depended on it, and I pulled away from Pete to join them. Declan was crying now, and Allie sounded like she couldn't quite catch her breath. I simply held them both in my arms, while Pete and Ruby stood back to give us all a moment.

"I'm sorry," Declan whined suddenly, burying his face in Allie's shoulder. "It's all my fault...I'm sorry."

Allie and I pulled back quickly, and Allie ran her fingers through her son's hair, gently pushing it away from his eyes and wiping the tears away from his cheeks. "It's not your fault," she assured him, "You did nothing wrong, baby."

"I knew she was hurting herself," he cried, looking up at me now. "I didn't tell anyone."

"You couldn't have prevented this," I said, even though part of me twisted in pain at the thought that he knew and hadn't told us. "We'll talk about it later, okay?"

"Where is she?" Declan asked, trying to stop himself from crying. Ruby stood behind him, gently taking his hand.

"Surgery," I answered, "She needed a blood transfusion. The doctors said she should be alright." He nodded at me, then looked up at his mother again. Allie silently pulled him against her chest, her fingers in his hair and her chin atop his head. I turned to Pete as she held him, swaying back and forth with him as if he might slip away from her.

"I'm sorry, Patrick," Pete said, and t sounded too much like an apology...like she was already gone. "If I had known, I wouldn't have dropped her off."

"You dropped her off?" I asked, thoroughly confused now, after thinking that Declan had been with her after school.

"Yeah," Pete told me, "She called and asked to come over after school, so I picked her up, and then she changed her mind and wanted to go home. I had no idea she was going to...." His voice trailed off, and I nodded solemnly as I sank back down into a seat.

I looked up at Allie as she finally released Declan, and she tugged him over so that he could sit between us. Ruby and Pete sat across from us, both of them looking forlorn and upset. "Okay," I sighed, glancing between Pete and Declan. "I want everyone's story. From the beginning. Who knows what happened?" Declan shifted nervously, but he was the first to speak up, recounting everything he knew, beginning with last night, and ending when Pete had gotten my phone call half an hour ago. When he had finished, Pete added that Rose had never mentioned her boyfriend breaking up with her. She seemed perfectly content in the car, if not just a little tired.

"I don't think she did it on purpose," Declan eventually whispered. "She never seemed like she wanted to die."

"Neither did your uncle," I muttered, half hoping that he hadn't heard me. I knew he did though, because Pete heard me from across the room and looked up at me in apology. I forced a pathetic smile for him, as if to say it wasn't his fault.

"She wasn't going to leave a note, though," Declan insisted, "At least Uncle Pete called you before he...you know."

"Yeah," I sighed, "I know."

"None of us can know why she did it," Allie suddenly stated. "Only she does. And if she doesn't wake up...." She broke off in a sudden fit of tears, burying her face in her hands. I got up and moved to the opposite side of her, quickly pulling her into my arms as my own eyes began to tear up again.

Just then, Andy walked into the room, quickly making his way over to us, with Sara and Luke tailing behind him. Again, we went through the entire spiel to fill him in, as well as Joe, when he and Marie finally arrived. When all was said and done once more, I had been nearly two hours since our arrival at the hospital. Two hours since Rose went into surgery.

We all sat in abject, total silence, each of us wondering if she would be okay. I held onto my wife like a lifeline, hoping beyond hope that by the end of the night, I would be able to hold my daughter as well.

A/N: Sorry this update is so short! Just wanted to give you guys a quick heads up: Later tonight, I will be posting the first chapter of my first ever Pete Wentz story! I'm really excited about it, and I really hope you're all going to enjoy it! <3