Cognizant (Adopted By Alex Gaskarth: Book 2)✅

Chapter 4

The next two weeks went by very slowly. I was kept in the hospital to make sure I would recover well, and to make sure full custody would return to Alex and Lisa without problems. I could only see one person at a time, and visitors were only allowed in during a two-hour time frame around the middle of the day.

The lights of my room remained either dim or off as to my request, since the bright lights burned my eyes and the sudden flicking on and off made me jumpier when they turned them on and off. So the room remained dim, sunlight creeping through the window, or sometimes dim ceiling lights turned on.

Doctors and nurses allowed books and drawing papers to be given to me, and I spent most of my time drawing or reading. One man came in one day to check my education levels, since I had been missing for a year now. He told me that it's lucky I have a good memory and that I was ahead of my average age level, otherwise I might be behind, and said I wasn't behind. How true that was, I didn't know.

I held my charcoal pencil in my right hand, sitting cross-legged in the windowsill with a sketchbook in my lap. I added shadowing to the face of the character I had created over the past couple days.

I had decided his name was Blaise. He had hair just like Blurryface Josh Dun, but it was a little longer so he could keep it in front of his left eye. He was born half-demon, and people bullied him for it, so he liked to keep his left eye, which was completely black, covered by his red hair. He had black dragon wings that were as tall as him and they looked like wing-shaped black veils. He always wore his favorite leather black jacket and black combat boots with studded straps on the top.

My sketchbook was now filled with pictures and ideas of my new OC: drafts, background information, wing ideas, eyes, hair, and finished drawings.

I heard the door slowly creak open, and I looked up. Alex came through the door, followed by a doctor in a white jacket. I slowly set my things next to me on the windowsill, and stretched my legs to the floor. My bare feet padded on the cold tile as I slowly shuffled over to Alex to hug him tightly. He responded immediately, pulling me to his chest. His thumb swiped over the back of my shoulder blade comfortingly before I pulled away.

"All the paperwork has been filled out and you're allowed to be released," he informed me gently. "You ready to go home?"

I nodded immediately. "Yes."

The doctor handed me a bag filled with some of my belongings, which Alex had never gotten rid of. According to Lisa, he never even stepped foot in my room again for the past year. I thanked the man, and retreated to the bathroom to change into real clothes.

A black and gold Pierce The Veil tanktop and black leggings with a long grey zip-up hoodie that was presumably either Jack or Alex's. I inhaled the scent of the sweet detergent and light smell of strawberry vodka. It was Jack's.

Inside the pocket of the hoodie was my purple guitar necklace, which the doctors had taken from me to take anything I might be able to hurt myself or kill myself with. I slipped the silver chain around my neck, clasping it shut. I slid on the grey hoodie over my tanktop, giggling to myself how short I still was compared to Jack, his hoodie going halfway down my thighs at least.

I also found a mismatched pair of ankle socks in the bag, one neon green and the other white. I slipped them on, and found a pair of comfortable Vans casual shoes to wear with the socks. The last thing in the drawstring bag was a phone and a pair of neatly-wrapped black earphones. I put them in my pocket and left the small bathroom of the hospital's isolation room.

Alex smiled down at me. "You ready?"

I nodded, hugging him tightly again.

"Okay, we just have to pick a couple things up on our way home, okay?"

I nodded again as I pulled away.

I followed Alex out of the room, to a counter where he signed a paper, and then outside. I blinked and squinted as my eyes adjusted to the light, tearing up as I struggled to see. I hopped into the passenger seat of Alex's car, ready to finally go home.

Alex stopped by the pharmacy first on the way, running in and coming back with a bag. He explained to me how the doctors had prescribed me a PTSD medicine I had never heard of, and how it should help with that and my panic attacks or nightmares.

"Now, I have no problem with you taking the meds that you've been prescribed," he continued. "But I want you to promise me that you won't take more than you should."

I nodded. "I promise."

Alex held up his right hand after turning the key in the ignition, holding his little finger up. "Pinky promise?"

I smiled. I knew I'd missed this. I took his finger in mine, promising I wouldn't overdose.

"We just have to be careful not to get our meds mixed up, though, because I have antidepressants that were prescribed to me a while ago. So we'll keep them in different cabinets, but just always check the name."

"Okay," I replied with a nod.

It's your fault that he was so depressed that he had to get a prescription!

Idiot!

"What were you prescribed?" I asked casually as he began driving.

"Prozac," Alex answered easily.

I looked over at him. "It was that bad?"

Alex glanced at me before looking back at the road and shrugging. I slumped down in my seat and stared at my shoes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, kid, it isn't your fault."

It is.

I sighed silently. "You wouldn't've had to go through that if I had found a better way to figure out what to do, or if I hadn't even gotten hurt in the first place, or..."

No.

"Or?"

I shook my head.

Alex sighed, taking my hand in his as he drove. "It really isn't your fault. You dealt with that really well. Most people probably would've given up, but you pushed on through, especially with everything in your head telling you not to. And I'm so fucking proud of you for pushing on through and fighting."

I smiled to myself, squeezing his hand in appreciative acknowledgement.

I felt Alex's gaze shift over to me before moving back to the road. "I love you, kid."

Once again, I smiled. "Love you, too, adult."

I was home.