Red Butterflies

The Hospital Part 2

Hallie's POV: 

As my eyes flickered open, I was blinded by the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. I groaned, trying to sit up, but I felt a strong hand push me back down, 

"Just calm down..." The stranger's voice reassured me. What the hell happened? Where was I? Was I dead? I turned my head from side to side and heard the beep. beep. beep of what seemed to be a heart monitor. I looked at my arms and saw 2 IV's sticking out of either one. I groaned again and reached for my face. I felt a heavy mask with a wire sticking out the bottom that led to something on the floor, cover my nose and mouth. I looked to my side again and saw Jax sitting at the side of the bed I was in. He smiled at me and called for a nurse. Three nurses rushed in, ran some tests, checked the spots where I had monitors and slowly took off the mask. I looked at him, 

"D-did they say why I was here?" I asked, refusing to meet his eyes. I knew why I was there, I just hoped he didn't, 

"Um...Yeah, they did..." He said, trying to look me in the eye. I looked at my hands, ashamed, "Are you OK?" He asked, 

"I don't know..." I answered, wiping my eyes, "I really don't." 

"Why would you do that? Why wouldn't you eat?" 

"I...I wanted the perfect body for homecoming..." 

"That's no excuse!  You have to eat, I mean-" 

"No, you don't get it, Jax! You don't!" I yelled, looking him in the eye, all the anger from the past couple weeks bubbling up in my stomach and shooting up to my chest, "You've never had anyone walk up to you and say, 'You'll never be enough.' Okay? You are the son other parents wish they had! You are the star quarterback, the model student, the PERFECT guy. You have both parents to be proud of you. You have your brothers. All I have is my dad and Tommy. I love them, but my dad always wanted another son. He took one look at me and said, 'No thanks.' Then you come along and he replaces me with you. All I've ever had is the people at school telling me how great I am. All I've ever wanted is to fit in. To have people like me! You have no problem doing that. But for me, it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. So don't think you can tell me what I've done wrong, because I know what I did." I looked away from him and wiped my eyes. He was NOT going to see me cry, 

"Hal...-" He started, 

"Don't," I said firmly, "Just don't," He got up, I thought he was going to leave, but instead he sat next to me on the bed and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I looked at him, shocked. I just yelled at him. Basically insulted him for being a good person, and he HUGS me?! I pushed my thoughts out of my mind and leaned into him, ignoring the monitor, the wires, the IV's and the busy nurses rushing around outside. I just sat, and held onto that moment, for as long as I could.