ALL 4 US | nate jacobs

01.

when astrid santiago woke up in a hospital bed, she didn't even question the events that lead up to it, she just knew it would haunt her forever. she looked around, observing her surroundings to find an empty room. in her head she began to panic, tears welling in her eyes. memories began the flood back quickly of her friends and family, then it hit her what happened.

3 MONTHS EARLIER

"look around rue! everyone here is fucking plastered, and i don't really think you're in the position to give me moral advice." astrid spat.

astrid had dragged rue to a party, they were her new escape. ever since rue took her to her first one, she was hooked on the feeling of sweaty bodies filling a room and cheap vodka burning her throat. the two girls were in the bathroom with a few patches of fentanyl. "give me that shit, astrid." rue stuck out her hand, trying to grab the drugs from astrid.

"what? you're too good for drugs now?" astrid laughed. "stop being a dumb ass astrid." rue rolled her eyes, grabbing her wrist. astrid snatched her arm away. "get the fuck off me rue." she yelled, pushing the girl away. astrid looked at rue with a disgusted look.

"it's a party, rue. lighten the fuck up." astrid mumbled, she took a portion of fentanyl onto her pinky and swiped it into her mouth. "don't know where you suddenly got morals" astrid said, pushing passed rue and out into the crowded hallway.

rue called out after the girl, following her downstairs into the main room. "astrid!" rue yelled. astrid turned around quickly. "what the fuck do you want rue? for fucksake!" astrid yelled back. rue looked at astrid dumbfounded. a crowd had gathered around the two of them. astrid raised her eyebrows before laughing softly. "what? cocaine got your tongue?" she slurs slightly. "fuck you." rue mumbled. "fuck me?" astrid said, walking up to rue. "no, fuck you. this is your fault rue, just you. go find someone else to leech off of, i'm done." astrid turned and started to walk away, as she turned it was as if the crowd turned into a wave and it all blurred. "oh what the f-" astrid mumbled as she hit the floor, a series of gasps scattered across the room.

rue looked down at astrid on the floor and stared at her unconscious body. kat hernandez rushed out of the crowd over to rue, to get her help, but to her surprise rue turned around and left. kat ran over to astrid's body.

"somebody call 911!" she cried out.

rue left the party without looking back, that was the last time she saw astrid.

PRESENT

astrid reached out and repeated pressed the nurses button, tears streaming down her face. soon after a nurse came rushing in.

"ms. santiago! it's great to see you awake. i'm nurse diana lockett, i've been watching over you for the past 3 months, how are you feeling?" the nurse said, walking over to astrid and taking her temperature as well as other tests. astrid looked up at the nurse with wide eyes.

"3 months? what the hell do you mean 3 months?" astrid said, fear lingering in her teary eyes.

"honey, you've been in a coma for the past 3 months." the nurse said softly, looking down at astrid with emphatic eyes. astrid covered her mouth with her hand, speechless as tears ran down her face. the nurse sighed softly. "i'm going to go get dr. williams, okay sweetheart? i'll be right back." and with that the nurse disappeared down the hall.

astrid, looked up at the ceiling and cried. she never meant for it to get this far. she thought about her family, her mother and brother. she abandoned them for 3 months. her thoughts were soon interrupted by the nurse returning with a tall slender man. he reached out his hand towards astrid. as she shook his hand slowly, he introduced himself. "hello my name is dr. williams, i've been your main doctor through your time here. i understand this is a lot to process, so you'll be given the time to. today we're just going to be running some tests and getting you on the road to recovery." he explained.

astrid looked up at him, his words were muffled as her thoughts were blinded by everything running through her head, regret, fear, anxiety.

"nurse diana has already contacted your mother and she will be over shortly, so for now we're just going to be taking blood work and memory testing, sound okay?" dr. williams asked. astrid looked up at him and nodded softly. "great." he said, grabbing his clipboard. the nurse did her blood work first, once she was done, dr. williams started with the mental testing.

"what is your full name?" he asked. "astrid sofía santiago." astrid responded. "great, birthday?" "september 7th, 2001." she said, sitting up slowly. "mhm, and what was the last thing you remember?" he asked, looking up at the girl.

astrid looked down at her hands in her lap and shrugs. "i-" she said softly, tears forming in her eyes. "i remember getting into a fight with my friend, rue." she said. "is that all?" the doctor asked. astrid looked up at him. "we were at a party." she said. the doctor nodded. "and did you engage with any illegal drugs or substances?" he questioned. astrid nodded softly, tears running down her face. "yes." she cried. "was this a new thing? or was this a regular occurrence for you, doing drugs?" he asked, writing on his clipboard. astrid shook her head as she sobbed. "i-i don't remember." she cried. she did remember, she remembered everything, she just didn't want to admit herself that this was her fault. the doctor let out a soft sigh before nodding.

then, there was a soft knock at the door. the door opened and nurse rose stuck her head through opening. "hi, astrid has a visitor, shall i let them in?" she asked. dr. williams, nodded softly. "yes, we were just finishing up. dr. williams stood up and gave astrid a soft smile before exiting. she sighed and wiped her tears, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling. "what the fuck did i do?" she mumbled. she heard the room door shut and shuffling. "miss me?" a voice said. she instantly recognized the voice. "no fucking way." she said softly, as she slowly sat up, she couldn't believe her eyes.

"nate motherfucking jacobs."