Suicide Tree || ✓

19. Aftermath

Pain.

The first thing I felt was pain. It was a dull, aching pain that I felt throughout my body. But the worst wasn't the pain, it was the sensation that something heavy was pressing down on me. I couldn't move my limbs and my lungs felt so constricted that I felt like I was drowning. Somehow I knew I wasn't though.

Cold. It's so cold.

The shivers that wracked through my body was the only thing that showed me that my body was capable of moving. I couldn't tell if there were people speaking softly or screaming because all the sound I heard was dampened into indecipherable murmurs. Slowly, as if I was being pulled out of water, I felt my hearing clear. The tips of my fingers and toes began coming to life as they twitched and I'm sure that the gasp I heard was due to that.

"-awake!" I heard the end of a sentence from a deep voice. After what felt like an eternity of waiting I finally found the strength to, albeit drowsily, open my eyes. I've probably been unconscious for a long time but I still feel so damn sleepy.

The first person I saw was my mom who immediately broke down crying when she noticed I had finally awoken. With her eyes that closely resembled mine scanning every inch of my face she immediately rushed forward to envelope me in a hug. I weakly wrapped my arms around her small frame and blinked my eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from escaping but it was to no avail because the floodgates opened as soon as I felt the warm presence of my dad encompassing both my mom and I.

It's over. It's finally over.

They pulled back and I quickly wiped my face as they gave me a glass of water. My throat didn't hurt as badly as the time I woke up from being choked but it was still terribly sore.

"What happened? How long was I out?" my parents exchanged uncomfortable glances.

"About two weeks. How much do you remember, Woody?" he asked with slight hesitance.

"I think, everything. Up until where I stabbed myself and then fell unconscious."

"Well," he said clearing his throat. "The food Lily brought was found having traces of crushed sleeping pills, quite a high dose of it, the kind that has an immediate reaction," I could tell my mom wanted to correct him with proper medical terms, but she rolled her eyes and kept silent. "Which is why I was only able to ring the alarm and come to the scene so late."

So Lily didn't call the police.

"We...found you and Lily and the Thompson siblings and immediately took you two here into ICU. The former gang member going by the name Kyle, tried to run but Jamison managed to tackle him. What's more is that the car number found in the paramedic's home traced back to," my dad gave a deep sigh, "Lily's car."

It seemed that I was holding my breath because I also sighed – with relief or disappointment or sadness, I don't know. Maybe a mix of both. In hindsight, I should've connected the dots and understood why Lily was suddenly changing her car colour from cyan to sangria. Fucking hell, it didn't even register that the blue car Jamison saw could've been cyan as well, I didn't even know what cyan was.

"All along...it was her. We never could've guessed. She was so...her actions...heavens, she was screaming and shrieking about how she should've ended it quickly and then she started crying how it was her fault that you were hurt and that she loved you, she was so uncontrollable, we had to sedate her," my mom said haltingly.

"She needs help," I murmured, staring at the thin blanket covering my legs and midriff. Judging by the stiffness of my body I was sure that my midriff was still heavily bandaged. "Wait why is Lily in the ICU?" I asked as it suddenly registered what my dad said. "You said you 'immediately took you two to the ICU,' why would Lily be here?"

My parents remained silent as they exchanged uncomfortable glances, their eyes urging each other to speak. I felt the dread build up in my stomach as I noticed the fairly decent sized room looked very empty with just my parents here.

"Dad, Mom, where is Jasper? And Adri?" I asked again, with a hardness to my voice. I was for some godforsaken reason connected to the heart monitor that was beeping almost out of control. My mom finally got the courage to open her mouth, and she whispered to me sadly.

"I'm sorry, Scarlett, Adrianna didn't make it."