The Secrets of Smosh (Maricorn)

Chapter 14 Mari

A few weeks later.....

It's about 10 AM when I wake up. I'm surprised I slept in that long. The hospitals are overrun with patients and its pretty noisy most of the time. I roll over to look out the window and David is sitting in the guest chair. The noise instantly dissipates and all I see is him. "Hey," I said so pathetically I wanted to punch myself, that is if Mother Nature hadn't already done that. He has literally been here every single day for the last 3 weeks, "You should be in school." "Half the kids and teachers aren't even there. It's like all I see is there are ghosts of kids who are never coming back. It's just as bad as the Riverscape apartments," he said shakily. I could not imagine a bunch of kids I've known for years just gone. He's gripping the edge of the bed and hanging his head down. I grab his hand and squeeze lightly. I hear someone walk in. My mother has been good at keeping her space. She seems to sense that I need my space, something that David does not seem to understand, but I find myself not caring. Only it's not my mother walking in, holy crap. It's Jake.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed at him. David lifted his head and stared in surprise at the newcomer. "I saw you on TV, I couldn't just leave you here," he said. I vaguely remember a camera in my face. "How did you even get here?" I asked incredulously. "Who cares, I'm here now," he said as he took my other hand. I pulled it back from him. "I think you need to go, we are over, why don't you understand that?" I said angrily. He got that kind of strange look on his face that I was familiar with for my last few weeks in Sacramento. David was staying silent, but he was definitely staying here. "Why can't you understand that I care about you?" He grabbed my wrist and it seared with pain. I cried out. David leapt up, he was done. You could sense his anger. "If you care about her, you can leave. Listen to her," he said threateningly. "Who the hell are you? What's this asshole doing here?" Jake started yelling. My head was starting to hurt. I closed my eyes. I opened them again and stared at David. "He's here because he saved my life, because he's my best friend, because I love him," I confessed to more than Jake. I feel like I said it more to myself. But I meant every word I said. "If I was here, I could've saved you, how was I supposed to help? You just run away from me!" His voice has a growing sense of panic in it. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and used it for support. I needed to get as far away from him as possible, I remember what happened last time he got like this. "I have every right to walk away, please just leave. I don't want to see you ever again. Go home and find someone else, I'm not for you," I felt like I was listing clichés. David walked over and snaked an arm around my waist so I let go of the bed. "You don't fucking touch her!" yelled Jake. His eyes looked wild. I grew tense, I needed to get out of here, away from him before he did something again. He headed for me.

"Look I'm sorry, but we're moving. You were my best friend through the incident with my dad, you were always there for me," I said as calmly as I could. I wanted to break up with him for weeks, but I was just using the move as an excuse. I figured he'd understand. "No, we can do long distance, I'll come visit you," he panicked. "I'm sorry." I turned away from him and started up the sidewalk to my door. A hand fell on my shoulder and flipped me around. "I really do understand what you've been through lately, I want to be there for you," he said pleadingly. "Ok you know what? You want to know the real issue here? It's you, you're too clingy, invested, and too intense about everything! And quite frankly, you're scaring the shit out of me!" I yelled at him. He punched me across my face so hard I saw nothing for a second. I fell over and suddenly so full of fear I started screaming. He threw a hand over my mouth. "You cannot just walk away from me like that! You think I'm the problem? You can't leave me here with those words! Please tell me you're just messing with me," Jake said. He lifted his hand away from my face. I stared at him for a second. "HIRO!!!!" I yelled as loud as I could. I felt another fist make contact with the side of my head. I heard the front door open. "What the fuck- HEY!" I was forced to stand up. I could taste blood streaming into my mouth. Jake's arm was around my neck. Hiro stood in front of us. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Get the hell away from her before I cave your face in," Hiro threatened. Jake pulled out a knife and held it against my neck. I stared straight into Hiro's eyes. As soon as Jake started to talk, Hiro leapt forward and tore the knife away from him and threw his fist straight into the middle of his face. I pulled myself away from him, he still had a handful of my shirt though, I pulled harder it ripped a hole in it. I got behind Hiro. I had no regrets for moving now.