Chapter 38
It was early morning when I woke up. The room was dark, chilly and gloomy as the grey light that signalled daylight poured in through the stripped shutters.
Unfortunately, last night I had been too tired to talk (or try to talk) to my mom and Harper about what had happened. I had taken only a few spoonfuls of soup before I fell asleep.
Now that I was up again, I couldn't stop thinking about Julie and what might've happened to her.
Was she hurt?
Was she ok?
Would she forgive me for my father's infamy?
I really needed to see her and make everything right.
"Charlie, are you up?" Harper asked out-of-the-blue scarying the crap out of me.
I hadn't even sensed anyone else in the room.
"Did I frighten you?" He asked once I had turned over to face him.
"Terribly," I replied taking in his beat look and the fact that my throat hurt less. "How long have you stayed here?"
"I couldn't go home yesterday after you had finally woken up," he said looking uncomfortable although he tried to hide it.
"After I had finally woken up; had I been asleep for a while, or is it that you thought I wouldn't wake up like ever?"
"Do you remember anything that happened on prom night?"
"Well... I remember everything until when my dad showed up with a gun, and well, I guess he shot me."
"Your mom wanted to tell you what happened herself, but," he said taking hold of my hand, "prom was three weeks ago," he said slowly with a pained look that made me feel like crying.
Three weeks ago? How?! I was with Julie the day before yesterday!
"No," I said shaking my head in denial.
"It's true Charlie. You were in a coma."
"A coma?" I repeated in disbelief.
"You were shot on the chest."
Releasing his hand, I pulled down the neck of my hospital tunic to check myself.
There was bandage wrapped around my midsection and even over my right shoulder!
"Was Frank arrested?" I asked gripping the neck of the tunic tight.
"He's dead; he shot himself too."
"I don't know what to say." I couldn't believe it. Frank was dead, but it didn't make me feel like popping champagne. Even if his input in my life was wholly shitty, I had learned to know that he would always be there in all his evil glory. "Where's Julie?"
"I don't know how to say this... she's gone."
"Where?" I asked shaking my head hard because if it was where I thought, then I would never see her again.
"She di-"
"Don't say it," I said holding my palm towards him like a shield.
I couldn't have lost her, she had just come into my life.
I hadn't realised that I was crying until I felt Harper's arms wrap around me and hold me to him tight.
"Why? What did I ever do to deserve this?" I asked knowing that this time my heart could never be mended again.
I wished that I could've died too. What was left of me now? Where would I begin?
"I'm so sorry."
"Take me to her," I said pushing away from him so that I could look him in the eye.
"I can't just take you out of hospital because you want to," he refused bluntly.
"Harper, please. If you truly love me, then you'll do anything for me. Please."
"You aren't being fair to me," he said opening the shutters violently. "My love for you is not a weakness dammit! I love you because you're special to me. It's not some disease I am refusing to take medicine for."
"Just take me, please," I said stumbling off the bed and directly to the floor. I hadn't imagined that I wouldn't be incharge of my balance as I broke my fall with my arms.
"Are you ok?" Harper asked lifting me to the bed.
"No, I'm not ok. I feel like I've lost everything... like I'm going insane."
"I'll take you; but it's not because you have anything over me."
Changing into some of the clothes my mom had brought for me, Harper and I managed to sneak out of the hospital despite the fact that I couldn't even walk on my own.
When the taxi we had taken came to a halt at the Easton Cemetery, I suddenly didn't feel like getting out of the car.
"You have to do this," Harper said helping me out of the car.
As I pushed open the tiny door at the side of the tall gate, I couldn't help but think that this place was full of people who had meant something to somebody out there.
"She was buried two weeks ago," Harper said leading me through a maze of neatly maintained graveyard plots. "She had looked so pretty at her wake," he said as we finally came to a stop.
"She was always pretty," I said looking at the tombstone. It was like any other tombstone except for the words engraved on it; Julie Allison-May Hart. 1994-2012.
It didn't say she was happy, bubbly, beautiful, loving. It was simply a plot where they had buried a girl born eighteen years ago.
I collapsed to my knees as it became apparent that she wasn't mine anymore. She was dead, passed on like a wind that simply blew through my hair. All I would ever have of her now were memories, and shadows of what she had made me feel.
Laying my head against the cold grey cement, I imagined her a few feet away in a place I couldn't reach her. Peaceful and as perfect as she always was to me.
Forever the love of my life...
