Teen Idols And Happy Meals

Grapes And Ghosts

Nikki’s POV

Three days. Maybe to some people that doesn’t seem like much, and maybe there was a time when I was one of those people, but that time had passed. Because I had lived a lifetime within those cabin walls, endured an eternity in those woods, survived the longest night in all of human history. I’d seen my life boiled down to the seconds it takes to fire a gun, and I’d learned how to appreciate every one of those seconds.

 I’d learned how much could change in a second. So, after three days worth of seconds - two hundred fifty nine thousand, two hundred of them, to be exact - I had expected there to be some change. But no, Jacen still hadn’t opened his eyes.

 Time seemed to stand still inside of Jacen’s private hospital room, but outside those walls, the world was going crazy. The police were frenzying, the internet had imploded, and the media was downright climaxing. For them, it was like Christmas and New Years and Fourth of July all rolled into one.

 For me, it was something akin to eternal damnation. I didn’t even recognize my life anymore. I may have been safe, but freedom still evaded me. My old life - school, and McDonalds, and Jacen - was still just beyond my reach.

 There was nothing of my old life - my real life - in the last three days. In fact, the last three days had been nearly as surreal as being chained to Eleanor’s radiator had been.

 The first day, the day Jacen and I had been “rescued,” had gone the fastest. We’d arrived at the hospital at 4:15 A.M. The date was December twenty sixth, and the paparazzi who ambushed us outside the hospital doors had been wearing red and green.

 Just getting in the hospital had been a hassle. The police escort had to physically push back the tidal wave of reporters and photographers that threatened to consume us. Jacen had been unconscious and soaked in his own blood, but all they had been interested in was getting the perfect shot.

 Once inside the hospital they’d rushed Jacen into surgery, and bullied me into an examination room. I needed a fair amount of stitches, and an MRI. All that probably would have only taken a few hours, but my family was there, which slowed things down. My mother sobbed, and my father heckled the doctor - for once I didn’t mind.

The hospital got crazy again after that. The police had found the girls under the studio, and they’d all been brought into the hospital. I didn’t get to see them though, because a nurse had come around and shut my door when they were brought in.

 By 8:30, Jacen had been out of surgery, but I couldn’t see him either, as he was still in the ICU. I snuck out of my room though to peer at him through the little glass window on his door. He was hooked up to all sorts of tubes and machines, but I didn’t cry.

 The second day, it snowed, and they told me I was allowed to leave the hospital. I didn’t. I stayed with Odette, who had finally changed out of her cloud pajamas, and Rosalyn, who had brought real coffee, and Pat who just brought his bravado and cigarettes. He tried to act tough, but I saw his eyes get teary when he first saw Jacen, lying still behind a pane of glass.

 That afternoon some detectives came by the hospital, and I had to answer questions. They told me Victor was being charged with six counts of kidnapping, four counts of rape, and two counts of attempted murder. They told me he would probably go away for a long time, I told them I was glad.

That evening they moved Jacen out of ICU. He was still unconscious, but the doctors said that was to be expected. I had barely heard them - everything else had seemed to ebb away in the wake of the joy I had felt at being able to touch Jacen’s warm hand, hear his steady breathing.