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60. Naggy

I slept on the side of the bed with my back hunched over until a nurse shook me awake in the morning. My neck creaked with every movement as I climbed out of the chair I dragged beside Paige's bed.

She looked the same- blissfully asleep but covered in purple. I dreaded the moment of seeing her side where Jane Williams told me a baseball bat or tire iron slammed into her and broke a rib.

"We are going to remove the ventilator. Can you go wait outside?" The nurse who woke me up turns towards me as she messes with the buttons on the loud machine.

"Sure, yeah," I cough out, my throat dry and in need of a cup of water or a massive shot of espresso. Either will do. I let the door slide open in front of me and head for the cafeteria. The signs hanging from the ceiling lead me towards it.

"Can I have a large coffee, please? Black." I say to the older woman behind the counter and reach down for my pocket. I pull out a 5 dollar bill and stare at Paige's ring in my wallet.

I am almost 19 years old and I'm standing in a hospital cafeteria waiting for the love of my life to wake up from a medically-induced coma. The thought rattles my brain. How normal everybody else's lives must be. Paige and I couldn't be farther from normal.

"One-twenty nine, sir." The woman clears her throat and I snap out of my daydream.

"Um, keep the change." I set the bill on the counter and take the cup into my hands.

Never before have I missed cold, but as I head back towards Paige's room, I realize that I miss her cool hand in mine. I long to have her fingertips trace around my shoulder or my palm. The warm cup doesn't appeal to me nearly as much as Paige does.

I hear David's hushed tone once I round the corner. He is bent down talking towards a man who, even from here, I can tell, smells of hard liquor and Old Spice.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I toss my coffee into the nearest trash can and spin Richard around with a hard hand on his shoulder.

"Get off of me, kid," he pushes my hand away and shoves a shoulder in my direction.

I peer around David into Paige's room and let out a sigh. That tube thing is gone, I can see the rise and fall of her chest and it comforts me to no end.

"Why are you here?" I repeat, not looking towards Richard.

"In case you forgot, dumb ass, Paige is my daughter." He snorts and turns back around towards David, who gives me an apologetic look with the tilt of his head.

Since they removed the ventilator and have kept it off, I can only assume that means that the staff believes that Paige is well. I assured that you were alive and were going to stay that way. Then I got mad, really mad. Paige's words ring in my head and I lunge forward.

My forearm sticks beneath Richard's chin and he stands on his toes to keep upright. I tower over him by at least 6 inches. David doesn't try to stop me like he did for Diane.

"Was Paige your daughter when you gave her black eyes and left her alone for weeks at a time so you could go drink? Was she?" I feel my blood boiling. The sight of the drunken man beneath me fuels my anger like nothing else.

"Get your hands off of me." Richard spits towards me and I step forward, causing him to gasp for breath. I suddenly decide to take out all of my anger towards the universe on Richard Moore.

"Landon," I hear David scold lightly from behind me, but I ignore him.

"Leave. Leave and don't come back or I will bash your head in." I can feel my heart start to race.