Stay || c.h. *completed & editing*

Chapter 17.

My eyes fluttered open, and I looked around.

The entire room was white, and my first thought: I've succeeded. I've gotten away from the pain, the horrible heartache of everything and I'll finally be happy again. I could finally see Laurie again.

I sat up slowly, my head pounding. That's when I realized, I wasn't dead.

I was in a hospital room, in a hospital bed, actually. I looked down at my arms, at what looked like a few minor scrapes. The same with my thighs, and I started to wonder how long I'd been here.

That's when it hit me that I wasn't free. I was still going to be stuck at home without Calum, without Laurie, sitting in my room and listening to music crying again. I was so close to escaping, yet here I was. Someone caught me too quickly.

I immediately began sobbing, knowing it was too good to be true. Of course I wasn't getting my sister back. Of course I was still stuck in this horrible world with this horrible pain.

That's when I saw something sitting on the table next to my bed. I reached over and picked up an envelope, that had 3 letters written in sloppy handwriting in them.

I bit my hand as I read them, tears pouring out of my eyes. Calum was blaming himself for what happened? How could he do that?

Of course it wasn't his fault. It was me being stupid. He mentioned our matching tattoos, which meant he still remembered them. He still cared, and that phone call just happened to be at the wrong timing.

I threw the letters on the ground and stood from my hospital bed, stumbling as I tried to find my way out of the room. Of course, being out for--2 weeks? Is that what it said?--and crying didn't help much with my balance and I ended up falling practically on my face in the hallway.

I gave up, sitting on the floor. I cried so hard, burying my face in my hands. It didn't even occur to me that there should have been nurses around, yet here I was, crumpled on the ground, an absolute mess.

"Ellie?! Oh my God, Ellie!" I heard a familiar voice and I looked up to see Calum literally sprinting down the hallway of the hospital. It'd been so long since I'd seen him, it seemed, and it hurt even more knowing he was this close yet still so far away.

I was lifted from where I laid on the ground and in his familiar, strong arms were holding me the next moment as I cried into his shirt. Why was he here? Where were my parents?

"I thought I'd lost you," Calum said, and I looked to see he was crying as well. He didn't even pull away, he just held me close to him, a firm grip around me like he was scared that if he ever let go, he'd never have me in his arms again. With my mom being how she is, it was probably true.

After what had seemed like over a century, Calum finally let go long enough to let the nurses that finally showed up show me back into my bed, where I laid back against the pillows, my head throbbing. Calum sat next to me and held my hand, still crying as tears poured down my cheeks as well.

"You've been out for about 2 weeks now," he said quietly. "Your dad found you in your room, he said your body had slumped over and your eyes were closing when he opened the door, so it was pretty much right as you slipped into your coma."

I didn't know why, but for some reason I was embarrassed to be talking to Calum about that. I knew that he'd find out eventually (obviously) but I never thought I'd have to face him with it. I never thought that I'd ever see him again. I didn't think I was going to live.

"Why did you do it?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

I sniffed and wiped away a few more tears that had fallen from my eyes and took a deep breath. "Lots of reasons."