The Color Line

Room 25

Alexander's POV

The air outside is warm and comforting compared to the freezing air in the hospital that I stormed out of just seconds ago.

I couldn't stay there any longer. I just couldn't bare to think that Harmony could be laying dead down the hall. The doctor didn't say she was dead or even dying for that matter, just that she was having a tough time. But to me, it meant that she was leaving me. In my mind I was losing the only person that I've ever cared about: the one person that meant the world to me.

I get into my car and turn the heat on. I feel cold, empty, and just...lifeless. All the life that was left inside me.. all the life that Harmony nurtured..is dying now. It's been dying ever since she stopped talking to me, when I made that dumbass mistake, but now it seems like it just might disappear.

I turn my radio up all the way. I don't even know what song this is, but I don't care. As long as it's loud enough to where I can't think straight, it doesn't matter.

I end up outside of my house. My parents aren't home, thank God. I hop out of my car, on a mission to stop myself from thinking.

I find myself in the basement standing in front of my dad's alcohol stash. There has to be at least fifty bottles of the stuff. I pick up a bottle of vodka and chug it down. My body erupts in flames and my head becomes fuzzy. I like it. 

I gulp the bottle down until it's completely empty. By then I can barely see straight and I've lost all of my thoughts.

The door creeps open upstairs. Shit. My parents are home. I force myself to stand and drag myself up the stairs. My parents meet me at the top. My mother's face twists in anger, but my father's is set in a satisfying smile. He knows why I'm drinking. He knows what he did to Harmony.

"Don't worry dear," he says to my mother. "I think I killed the bitch."

I assume she knows exactly what he means because her grimace turns into a smile and she giggles.

Are they really doing this in front of me? Right now? Not even a bit of sympathy for my feelings. I know they hate Harmony but are my emotions not important? I guess I shouldn't expect much from them.

Watching them laugh and share cruel words about Harmony makes me sick. I'm just standing here like an idiot. It's like my body won't react to anything. I'm completely frozen. I look down at my wobbling legs, wishing that this was just a nightmare.

"I hope to God she's dead," My father spats.

"Let's pray on it," My mother insists. She grabs my father's hand as they bow their heads.

After that, I blacked out.

Right now I'm sitting on the floor with blood on my hands. My mother is screaming, calling me an evil bastard while holding my father's head in her lap. He's bloody too. It looks like his nose may be broken and he's breathing hard.

"How could you do this?! I knew I should have aborted you!"

Those are the last words I hear before slamming the door behind me.

. . .

While in my car, I clean off my bloody fists with a napkin and inspect my face. I have a bruise on my face, but that's about it. He didn't get many hits in, I guess.

Maybe I could sleep in my car tonight. I'm sure my parents are probably deciding whether or not to kick me out by now.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I take it out to find an unknown number flashing across the screen. I answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey man. It's Riley. Just checking to make sure you haven't done anything stupid," he attempts to laugh.

"I can't promise you anything... but hey..have you checked on Harmony," I change to a more serious tone.

"Yeah. She's still out cold. The doctors did the best they could. They got the bullet out. All they can do is let her rest now."

"Oh.." I feel myself sinking into sadness again. "I'm gonna come back to see her, maybe spend the night there if they let me."

"Alright. We were trying to figure out who would stay here with her anyway. Only one person can so we've been talking in over for about an hour. I'll see you when you get here."

"Alright." He hangs up.

I start my car and make my way down the dark road.

It takes me about fifteen minutes to get to the hospital. I will admit that I was speeding, which was dumb considering that I'm not completely sober yet, but I'll do anything to get to her side as soon as I can.

Once I'm inside, I see that everyone is still here. They all look exhausted. Riley gets up to greet me first.

"Hey. Everyone's about to head home. Mrs. Waters told the doctor that you're allowed to stay with her. Tomorrow, she and Eve will stay the night."

"Okay. What room?"

"Room 25," he tells me, handing me some blankets. "There's a pull-out couch in there too."

I nod and after saying goodbye to everyone, I head down the hall to Harmony's room.

I stand at the door for about two minutes before I finally turn the nob. I'm nervous as hell right now. I don't want to see her like this. Seeing her all fragile and weak could break me. I love her so much, so I definately don't need a reminder that she was almost taken away from me forever.

When I step into the cold room, my heart drops to the floor. Harmony is hooked up to so many machines. The sight of her takes me back to when my grandmother was in the hospital. She looked exactly how Harmony look right now. She's gone now.

Harmony looks like she could be okay. She looks to be in a deep sleep and her chest is rising and falling softly. I feel like she's a sleeping angel, minus all the things that are hooked up to her. I pull up a chair next to the bed and grab her hand.

"It's amazing how beautiful you look even after getting shot," I try to chuckle, but it comes out as a sort of whimper. "So I beat my dad's ass today. I did it for you, Harmony. I'm so sorry that he did this to you.."

I look to her, hoping that those big brown eyes will start to open. They don't.

"Shit.." My eyes are watering now. A stray tear falls on her arm. I'm almost sure that will wake her up. It doesn't.

I kiss her hand and get ready for bed. I need to sleep. My head is pounding and now my nose is stuffed. I grab the blankets that Riley gave me and prepare the pull-out couch. It's kinda small so I have to scrunch my body so that my feet won't hang off. After getting in a comfortable position, I wrap myself as tightly as possible to get warm. Within minutes my eyes close and I'm fast asleep.

. . .

Its 6:30 am now. A nurse came in to check on Harmony and decided to turn those bright ass lights on. After my eyes adjusted, I watched the nurse. I couldn't really make out her features, but I do know that she's tall.

When she left, I just laid there staring at the ceiling.

I hear the bed that Harmony is laying in creek a little, causing me to jolt up with a ridiculous smile on my face. I grab my phone and turn on the flashlight.

As soon as my light shines in her direction, I'm greeted with those big brown eyes. She looks confused and scared, but then she pauses and rewards me that amazing smile of hers.

"Alex?"