Life's Fear

Chapter Thirty-Three

To the hospital. To Scarlett. Regardless if it wasn't visiting hours.

So I crept downstairs as carefully as I could with my keys just in case of being locked out again, though I doubted that would happen now Jesse was firmly on my side. I shoved them into my pocket once I'd locked the door after me before ambling through Bellmere.

It wasn't the best piece of advice to go wandering around town on your own in the middle of the night, especially if you were an eighteen-year-old female with a deficiency of martial arts or even just the basic knowledge on how to defend yourself. But it was a school night and the only people that should also be wandering the streets would be alcoholics or teenagers trying to get back to their house after a quick hook up with whomever.

Despite being immensely alerted through the streets, it relaxed me in the way that being cooped up in my room all those hours after dinner failed in doing so. I saw why Jason always went outside at night and stayed awake. It did help, because otherwise I would be tossing and turning right about now, and I would just be working myself up into a state which would not be required. God only knows what I'd be tempted to do in that state. Would I attempt to contact Jason?

The hospital doors were open, and a few people were in the waiting room, though no one seemed to care that I ambled right on by the receptionist sipping on coffee and towards Scarlett's room. No one seemed to care that I was making my way through the corridors, even though my attire wasn't a white gown, and nor did I seem particularly lost. Instead I was just there... just existing.

Like Jason.

Due to all of this, it was pretty easy to find Scarlett's room. On the other hand, she was sleeping when I cracked open the door a little and I could hear her soft snores. Still, I needed to speak with her and see what she had to say on this whole situation. I wondered if she would side with Jason – blood is thicker than water, after all.

"Scarlett," I whispered, closing the door slowly behind me.

Apparently, Scarlett was a light sleeper because her snoring ceased and she stirred a little. She turned in my direction and fluttered her eyes a few times. It took a few moments for it to sink in that I was here, walking towards her, but when it did, her eyes widened and she seemed more awake than in the day when I visited.

"Blair? It's not visiting times and Jason isn't here," Scarlett replied, and though she seemed alert, the tone of her voice indicated that she was still fatigued. Was it wrong to wake a girl with schizophrenia and has respiratory problems?

"I know," I whispered. "You won't tell on me for being here and get me chucked out, will you?"

She frowned temporarily. "For the photograph, I should do, but what you did for Jason for the cops to release him, I won't. I promise." If you couldn't see whom you were speaking to with Scarlett, you might have thought she was older than me. It was only when you saw her could you discern the youth intricately laced in her voice that gave her age away. This was all so unfair for her.

"Can I sit down?" I asked, gesturing idly to the chair beside her. It occurred to me that Jason must have sat here when he visited her earlier. Another pang trembled through my body as Scarlett nodded. I really wish I either hadn't queried or she had denied it. "I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" she replied, leaning back a little on the bed before altering the end so she could sit up a little and talk to me.

"Anything. Everything, I suppose."

It didn't take long for me to commence a long-winded anecdotal narrative and explain absolutely everything that had transpired between my family since Jason had been arrested. Despite being forbidden to contact, my parents didn't seem too fussed that I had visited him after school. Honestly, however, I could tell they were too disappointed in their daughter for having committed a crime for some "lowlife scum" and potentially squander away her future for him.