bathroom stalls » mileven

trente-trois

"jane ives will survive," the doctor said to brenner and hopper.

"oh thank god," brenner sighed in relief. hopper side-eyed brenner confusedly. "it may startle you to realize that i do care about jane."

"i know michael would like to see her," hopper said.

"fine," brenner conceded. "once."

mike, sitting in the hallway, was brought into jane's room. she was pale and looked so fragile in the bed.

blood.

mike stepped closer to her, flicking his gaze up to the machine that showed her heartbeat. it began to beat faster, showing jane was feeling scared. jane opened her eyes.

"what do you want?" she slowly asked. "come back to finish the job?"

"i can't stop the bleeding!" mike exclaimed, watching as jane coughed up more blood. she pressed a hand to her stomach. mike realized that she was wearing a shirt tucked into a skirt, not a dress. jane struggled to pull her shirt up. she gestured to him to help her.

"for god's sake, if i have to show you my body to save my life, i'll do it," jane gasped. mike tugged on her shirt to reveal a jagged cut which had been stitched up poorly.

"what the hell?" mike questioned.

"brenner," jane mumbled, groaning in pain.

"what the hell were they doing to you?" he disgustedly asked, gingerly touching the wound.

"i came back because i care about you," mike whispered.

"lies," jane harshly whispered, keeping her gaze on the ceiling.

"i won't lie, i- the blood excited me."

"excited you?" jane slid her gaze to mike. "you weren't excited by it. you were enthralled by it. you were shocked by it."

"call 911," jane gasped.

"what the hell is happening?" mike blurted.

"i'm bleeding out in a bathroom stall," jane snapped.

"i-" mike watched the blood slowly seep out of jane. he couldn't move. he did the unthinkable. he sat there and let her bleed out. he felt his fingers twitch. she gasped, heaving in air like a fish out of water. he was kneeling before her, blood soaking everything. he couldn't move. he wasn't even sure he wanted to move.

"you almost died," mike continued in a soft voice.

"because you didn't go get help."

"i thought i killed you."

"don't flatter yourself," jane hissed, subtly shifting on the bed. "you didn't kill me. you just sat there. you let it happen."

"i- i thought you died."

"snap out of it," jane darkly said. her voice dripped with venom. mike was sure it would have killed him if it was real poison.

"what's on your wrist?" he changed subject. "you never told me."

"nothing," jane tightly answered. she was too weak to fight him when he flipped her wrist around. because of the hospital gown's short sleeves, he could see thin white scars stark against her skin. they looked like delicate white chocolate drizzles on a cake.

"did you do this to yourself?" mike, voice thick with emotion, asked.

"what do you care?" jane scoffed, trying to pull back. his grip was too tight though. "you nearly let me die."

"talk to me. or i tell brenner, and you never go home ever again. you'll become his puppet for the rest of your life." jane looked away, tears formed from betrayal pooling in her mercurial eyes.

"i'm not suicidal if that's what you think. it's how i rebel against the system. it's the one thing i can do where they can't stop me," jane murmured, pulling away from him and covering the scars with her hand. he gently pried her hands apart and examined them. "don't," she sighed.

"don't what?"

"don't act like you care," jane spit out.

"i do."

"no, see, you can't do this," she softly exclaimed. "you don't get to act like yesterday didn't happen because it did. i almost died."

"i'm sorry."

"it's gonna take more than 'i'm sorry' to fix this," jane finished, turning away from him.

"i'm really sorry," mike pleaded. "i'm really- i'm sorry, there are not enough words to show how sorry i am- i- jane, don't shut me out, please."

"please go, mike," she whispered, tears falling down the slope of her face.

"don't cry, no, jane, i lo- you need- i-"

"don't tell me you love me," jane continued in a whispery fluttery voice. "when you almost let me die."