Given Life

Chapter One

Taylor...because of you, look what has happened. Surely you are watching everything right now. Do you see this? All of this - Daniel lying on this hospital bed, his heart enabling the repetitive beeping of the monitor - this is all because of you. Because he...because Daniel loved you. No, he still loves you. He won't ever stop loving you.

"Excuse me," a deep voice sounded from the doorway, "Are you related to him?"

My gaze kept to the tiled flooring.

"...Yes...," I spoke slowly, quietly. That was the correct thing to say, or else they would make me leave.

The man probably did some notion of approval, and then he went on about something like Daniel needing to stay in the hospital.

"Our psychology department would like for you to stay here as well," he added. I heard footsteps enter the room. "It was a traumatizing experience for someone so young."

I only nodded my head. Anything other action would have been pointless. We were middle school students. None of us had parents. According to society's opinions, we weren't supposed to know anything. We were just pitiful children. That's why Taylor, Daniel, and I had all depended on eachother so much. We only had the three of us, but that was all we needed. And now...

I looked back up at Daniel. My mind processed the events that had happened. Again. And the sounds replayed in my head. Again. The gun fired...was it twice? And then Taylor fell. Daniel cried out. It was such a pained cry. And I...I did nothing. There was blood. So much blood. Daniel ran to Taylor. There was another shot. I still couldn't move or speak. My two best friends laid bleeding in front of me, and I couldn't do anything.

The man sighed. I'd almost forgotten he was there.

"Well, it's up to you if you want to go or not. But at least talk to the police. Get justice for your him, and....and your friend."

He left, leaving the door open. After a few seconds, his steps stopped clicking in the hallway. I ran over what he said in my mind. "Get justice". What justice? Does such a thing even exist in this world? Taylor is dead. Daniel is hurt. We don't have anywhere to go back to. In a world that gives us this kind of treatment, how could there be any kind of justice?

I leaned back in the hard pastic chair that I had pulled up next to Daniel's bed. My hand reached out to his, which was laying, unmoving, by his side. I hope he wakes up soon. As long as he wakes up, we might be alright.

Then our phone vibrated on the wooden nightstand. It was a single phone given to us by the person who cared for. The three of us had shared it. Daniel had it last. I managed to retrieve it from the nurses. There were several scratches on it.

"Yes?" I spoke into the phone.

"How is his condition?" It was a straightforward question.

I glanced at Daniel. "He is sleeping. I don't know when he will be awake. They've said that he will need to stay for a while."

There was a brief silence on the phone, and then: "You will be brought over to the sister location. Be ready by tomorrow morning."

My heart stopped for a moment. "No...No, sir. Please let me stay with him. I have to."

"You do not have to, you only want to. Your presence will not change his state of health." The voice on the phone felt colder than it usually was. The speaker's words felt as if they were stinging me. Never before has this happened. The only difference now is that those two aren't by my side, and now the cold voice seemed to be paralyzing me.

"You will be leaving, that is a final command." They said.

"...Yes, sir."

"If the boy does somehow manage to awaken, we will assign him his location then."