Shards of Black Glass

Sky of Black and Silver

Zak's POV

I open my eyes to see Alex leaning against the wall directly in front of me. I don't move, and just stare at my oldest friend. Then, I abruptly notice a weight on my shoulder and a pressure against my palm.

    I turn my head slightly to look to my right, and see Saira's brown-black hair resting on my shoulder. Looking down at my hand, I see her long fingers intertwined with mine. I look back up at Alex, and he meets my gaze with calm brown eyes.

    Jae and Mark sit forward in their chairs by the single window, their card game forgotten. We all just stare at each other until Alex breaks the silence. "She's been like that for the past three hours." He nods at Saira, who lies as still as death itself. I look away from the girl, the murderess, and gaze instead at Jae and Mark's calm faces.

    "Heart attack, apparently," Jae says to my questioning look. I nod, then look at Mark. He shrugs and says, "I voted to wake you up and run back to the hotel. You're too young to have a spontaneous heart attack." I nod again, and look back at Alex.

    He shrugs and says, "The person that I talked to, a medic that questioned us, said that a call had been placed about three minutes earlier to that spot. The medic said that the 911 dispatcher said that the caller was a female, but that she sounded as calm as ever, as if she knew what was going to happen." I blink at Alex, and look over at Saira, asleep on my shoulder, and think about this girl that had saved my life, but had failed so many others.

    "At least you must be comfortable, with her on your shoulder." I give Alex a weird look, and he smiles, giving me a chill of fear. "I hear you leave our room and enter hers in the middle of the night, Zak. I'm not that dumb. And besides, I can see it in your eyes that you like her. Don't try to deny it; I can see past your lies." I blink, open my mouth, pause, then close it again. Alex has painted me into a corner, and he knows it; the smile on his face says it all.

    "Hey, Alex," I say, my voice scratchy. "Did you bring the van?" Alex rolls his eyes in almost a perfect imitation of Saira, and says, "No, Zak. We walked. Yes, I brought the van." I smile, and ask, "In the glove department is a small book. Can you bring it to me please?" Alex nods and walks out of the room. A few seconds later, a pretty nurse walks in with a clipboard.

    "Hello, Mr. Prongs. How do you feel?" she asks, looking at the monitors around me. I smile slightly and say, "Good. Better than before." The nurse smiles and says, "That's because of her." She nods at Saira, and all three of us guys blink at her.

    "Apparently, she calms you down. Before you came in, the paramedics said that you were freaking out and had the highest blood pressure they had ever seen. A few minutes later, when one of them came in, your girlfriend was holding your hand and was sleeping on your shoulder. Your blood pressure and heart rate was immediately back to normal. She's a lucky girl. Has a healing touch, if I ever saw one." The nurse smiles, and I close my mouth against a retort to the complete opposite, and just nod. Then, a word she said comes back to my mind, and I say, "She's not my girlfriend."

    The nurse looks surprised, and says, "Well, we all thought you were. I mean, there are no recent scars on her arms. The latest we could find we dated to probably two months ago. We thought that maybe since she met you she had stopped-." "You looked at her scars?" I say sharply, anger tinging my words. The nurse flinches, guilt flashing across her face, and says apologetically, "Her sleeves were kind of rolled up, and I couldn't help my curiosity-." "Then maybe you should learn to control your curiosity," I snap, a strange annoyance burning in my chest.

    She looks at me with sad eyes, and says,"That's another reason we thought you two were dating. You talk in your sleep. Something about angels, demons, scars, and someone named Saira. We guessed that Saira is the girl's name. We also have her logged under a therapist, which she'll see as soon as she wakes up." With that astonishing statement, the nurse leaves the room, my eyes boring holes into the back of her skull.