Breaking Violins

Ever After...

2 days later…

There was this constant beeping sound; monotonous and repetitive. It was driving Emmy crazy. Ugh! She couldn’t pin down what it was though. The annoying sound thrummed across her mind until she couldn’t take it anymore. Someone please just make it stop! Emmy couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Somewhere nearby? Where was she? She just felt as if she was floating somewhere in complete and utter darkness. The darkness was all she could see and the beeping sound was deafening. Suddenly she could feel a touch. Was it her forehead maybe? It was warm and gentle and when it ceased it left a tingling sensation on her skin. She struggled to move but her body would not obey. Was she asleep?

“She’ll be fine. You don’t have to stay with her all night ya know?” A female voice rang through well wherever Emmy was.

“I know.” Another voice said. Emmy knew this voice. She knew it like the back of her hand. She knew it like the sun knew the horizon. It was so close. She felt panic strike her like lighting. She had to find it. Where was it? The female voice chuckled softly.

“You’re making the heart monitor go nuts.” The female voice said.

“I think she can hear us.” He said. With that Emmy’s eyes snapped open. First there was only light. Bright light. It hurt. Then there was Elijah’s face and behind it a barren white room.

“You’re awake.” He smiled brightly; it crinkled his eyes in a beautiful way. Emmy took in all of him. He was wearing a white tee shirt and sweatpants and no shoes. He was standing at her bedside with his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. He had all his piercings in. He wasn’t pale like she remembered. His cropped ebony hair had grown out slightly and it was starting to curl in some places. There was something in particular about him that caught her attention though. She couldn’t pin point it though.

“Hi.” She croaked. She frowned at the sound of her own voice. It was scratchy as if she hadn’t drunk any water in days.

“I’ll get you some water.” The female voice said. Emmy could see now that it was a nurse with auburn hair. She exited the room as if to give them some alone time. Emmy would not remove her eyes from Elijah.

“Hi,” he murmured as he took a seat on the edge of her hospital bed. She sat up and rubbed her forehead. Her memories were slowly crawling their way back into her mind. Fire. Burning. They were all dead.

“They’re all dead aren’t they.” She said. It wasn't a question.

“Yea.” He whispered as he watched his hands in his lap. He could not meet her eyes.

“All except for Bryce. He’s in custody. They think he started the fire. He was hysterical when they found him wandering through the woods with a gasoline tank.” Elijah stated more clearly now, his eyes rose to meet hers. Emmy wanted to cry. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t yet breathe it all in. It was not real to her yet.

“We are in a real hospital right? Not another psychiatric Hospital?” she asked.

“Yes. They haven’t sorted things out yet, but they know you’re spoken for so you couldn’t have been one of the October Hill patients. As for me, I just told them I was jogging near by and I tried to help but I passed out from the smoke,” He said. She noticed that his hair was all over the place as if he had slept on it. It was almost enough to make her crack a smile. Almost. Emmy remained quiet after that. She drank it all in as the silence went on. Everybody was gone. Hart, who had been kind to her when no one wanted to be near her. Though he seemed to have hated her in the end, she was grateful to have known him. And Army, who was there to remind her that there was still wonder in the world.