Chapter 12
I was awake, but the pain meds made me groggy. I didn't open my eyes, but simply listened. I was in some sort of hospital. I could hear the monitor beside me beeping in tune to my heart rate and some people talking. There was another monitor to my left that seemed to be for someone else.
I opened my left eye a tiny crack and saw I wasn't in slings. Must be a Powera hospital if they had magically healed my bones. Cool, these people knew what they were doing. I opened both eyes all the way. The room was full of people. A lot of my friends were sitting in chairs between my bed and another. I looked over to my left and saw Mallory, who was still sleeping.
In the chairs were Ethan, Skye, Emily, and Jessie. I realized there was somebody standing between Mallory and I. I looked up at Brooke who was crying. Brooke truly was a sensitive person. I then realized I was crying as well. I looked down at my body. Streaked with blood. Realizing I was awake, Brooke turned to me and grabbed my hand. Nobody else had noticed yet. Brooke was being quiet, just stroking my bloody hand.
Mikey and Dylan walked in the room. Mikey tossed Ethan a carton of milk, saying, "There wasn't chocolate milk." He went and sat beside Jessie, not noticing my being awake.
Dylan, on the other hand, ripped open a bag of Doritos and shoved one in his mouth. I would have rolled my eyes, but that would've hurt too much. He looked at Mallory, then my friends in their chairs, and then me. "Oh, hey, she's awake." He muttered. I knew that was his way of being relieved, so I didn't pay much mind to his lack of attention.
Everyone looked at me and was instantly by my side. I ignored their fretting and looked at Mallory. It was Austin's fault she looked so bad. Magic couldn't heal scars, and we both had a good many. Where are we? Was Mallory okay? Did my friends know it had been a suicide attempt? Where was.... where was Austin? "Shit! I really need to stop thinking about him!".
"Who?" Ethan asked. I hadn't realized I'd said that out loud. I simply ignored his question. He did look concerned though.
"Where are we?" I asked quickly. Emily smiled. She knew what I was really talking about. She bit her lip and answered.
"He's gone. No idea where, he just took off when he knew you weren't gonna die." She answered my unspoken question. Everybody but me looked at her like she was crazy. I tried to smile, but it ended up looking more like a smirk.
"Thanks. Where are we?" I repeated.
Jessie answered this time. Her sweet voice always calmed me down, "Almost home. We ran to the nearest hospital," she looked at Dylan to see if he would note who had carried me. When he didn't she continued "And they sent you in a helicopter to Atlanta. We had to take a separate plane that took like, eight hours?”
"How long was I out?" I asked.
"`Bout three days." Brooke answered. I looked up at her in shock. "And we're gonna go as soon as you and Mal are up to it." I nodded. Home sounded good. When the Powera leader had taken me to the element room he probably didn't know it would lead to this.
"Mallory! Mallory!" I yelled when her heartbeat started speeding up on the monitor. Ethan clamped my mouth shut with his palm.
"It's just because she's waking up." I nodded and looked down at his hand with a raised eyebrow. "Right, sorry." He jerked it away. I watched Mallory until she opened her eyes. I pointed at her with the arm that did not have an IV attached to it.
The crowd was between the two of us now. Brooke started to let go of my hand, but I grabbed her wrist. "Please don't be mad at me. Not just you, but everybody." She nodded and leaned down to hug me. I let her do so. When all attention was finally on Mallory, I looked out the window. I felt like crying again, but I think I'd cried all of my tears three days ago.
The doctor walked in just then. "Hello, I was notified both patients are awake.". He was watching Mallory and I with quite an interested gaze. I watched as he checked the monitors and nodded to himself. When he got to me he said "Feeling better?"
I nodded my response. "Well, you two should be able to leave soon. Just be happy you're Poweras." He took the IV out of my arm and judged the huge scar on Mallory’s shoulder blade. “Your arm if probably going to be numb for the next few days, due to the drastic surgery we had to perform on it to save it from amputation, so try to not abuse it.” He told Mallory, and then turned to me. "And you should be very happy a Strength broke your fall. He your boyfriend?" The man chuckled.
"That isn't any of your business now is it?" I growled. He merely nodded and finished looking at stuff. "Did he ever show up here or did he let Dylan do all that work?" I lay back against the pillow. I couldn't help but notice he never answered.
"You two may leave now." He announced. I sat up and moved the covers. This truly was a Powera hospital, you could tell from how they had let me wear my clothes instead of a hospital gown. I was wearing neon green Converse, jeans, and a black tee. The t-shirt was ripped several times in straight lines across the front. That's how it had come. I had on a neon green tank top under it. I had a green, blue, and purple bracelet and a black ring on my right hand. I was wearing my favorite colors.
Jessie grabbed my elbow to steady me when I stood up. I smiled and walked with my friends out of the hospital. I took a steady step away from Jessie's hand with a smile. I could stand on my own.
"Are we going home?" I asked. I was still a little groggy; therefore my thoughts weren't very clear.
"Yup." Emily answered. I smiled a little. Home was so close, yet so, so far.
We found a couple cabs soon and climbed inside them. I was in a cab with Jessie and Mikey. On the way home I thought about Austin. I said nothing about him to anyone, but they seemed to know what I was thinking, because Jessie patted my leg and whispered, "You'll figure this out." I turned to her.
"Do you know how I 'fell'?" I asked, putting air quotes around 'fell'.
"My guess is you jumped. It's alright Haley, everybody attempts it at some point." I pretended I didn't know what she meant.
"What? Jumping` off a cliff and landing in your sorta-boyfriend`s arms?" I asked. She rolled her eyes. "I know..." I said. I closed my eyes and lay back in the seat. I slept the rest of the cab ride home.
I handed the man my cut of the cab bill. I gave him a five for tips. "Thanks." He said and collected Jessie and Mikey's money as well. I walked over to Mallory quickly.
"I'm so sorry." I said simply. She rolled her purple eyes and nodded. “S’okay. I’d try to kill myself too if the guy I loved was a total dildo.” I laughed and hugged her tightly. Together, we walked into the parking lot of our apartment building. I reached up and felt my scar. I was getting used to the jolt I felt form it. I wondered if it would ever go away, but then I saw my mom.
I ran into my mother's open arms when she came into view. "Momma!" I yelled and hugged her as hard as I could. I more than likely looked like a big baby but my friends were doing it too! I smiled and closed my crystal blue eyes.
"I've missed you!" She said. She held me out at arm's length and examined all of my scars. She raised a brow. "Alright now where'd all these scars come from?" I sighed.
"Long story short, I fell off a cliff." I answered. "And this," I pushed my hair out of the way, "Is when me and Mallory battled. Looks cool, though, huh?"
"Uh, sure, Harry Potter. How did you survive falling off a cliff?" She asked. I bit my lip, how would I answer that? Luckily Mallory ran over, hand in hand with Skye with Cainen balanced on her hip and the toddler’s head nestled into her neck. She looked perfectly content with Skye gently holding her bad arm and her beloved little nephew clinging to her neck. As soon as Cainen spotted me he laughed and yelled, “Hay!” I waved and smiled at him.
I looked at Skye with a grin; he had been the first one to reach me when I landed. "Hey Haley." He greeted. "Not sure if the Wheelers like me very much. Well, ‘cept the baby." He rubbed Mallory’s nephew’s swarthy little head. I put my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter. "This your mom?" He asked.
"Yup. Mom this is Skye. Skye, this is my mom
. I'm not good with this." Skye nodded at my mom. "Oh, and don't feel bad about Mal’s family. They're a little hard to get to know at first." He nodded and shrugged it off.
"And hello to you Skye, don't really remember you though." My mom said in greeting.
"Oh they uh, met me and Austin along the way." He answered. I smacked his arm. He turned to me "What?" Then he realized "Oh sorry, you hadn't got there yet I'm-" He was cut off by Mallory.
"We came over here because of two things. One is that queer is back." she said. I quickly looked the parking lot over and saw Austin sitting in a tree. "Second reason is that my parents said to ask if anyone wants to go to Dairy Queen with us." She finished, eyeing me and adjusting Cainen awkwardly with her good arm. At last she put him down and let him hug my leg, then took his little hand.
"Yeah I'm up for it. There's something I need to do first." I answered. My mom gave a nod and went back in the apartment building to grab her purse. I turned back to Mallory. "I know what he did, and I truly am sorry, but I can't... I can't... Just imagine if Skye was the bad guy." I turned to Skye "Which you aren't." I just kept babbling.
"Haley, just go." Mallory said with a wink. I nodded and walked toward him. I had noticed the immediate anger that hit her eyes when she looked in his direction. It wasn't until I was at the tree did I realize Skye was punishing him. His breath was being taken away, and the wind ripping around him was almost blinding.
I turned around and pleaded with Skye "Stop.” I held out my hand to an exhausted looking Austin. He grabbed it like a life preserver. “Please stop!" I cried. Skye`s eyes widened. He must not have noticed he was still torturing Austin. The wind stopped abruptly. I rolled my eyes and climbed up next to him.
We said nothing for a minute, just stared at each other. "Thank you." I said to end the silence.
"Umm no problem. Haley, you did it because you were scared to love me, weren't you?" He asked. I looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. I nodded when the tears escaped. "Come here, I got you." He reached toward me, but I smacked his hands. I pulled myself together and leaned against the trunk of the tree.
"We have things to talk about, but before we do you have an apology to give." I said, crossing my arms. He froze. The seconds ticked by until he finally talked.
"Yeah, yeah I guess I do." He said. He started to jump from the tree. I grabbed his arm.
"At Dairy Queen. You have money right?" I asked. He nodded and sat back on the branch. "Then..." I trailed off when I leaned forward and kissed him smack on the lips. He pulled me really close to him and I broke the kiss. "Why do I love you?" I whispered.
"I'm not sure." Austin whispered back. "But, I know I love you." He said.
"Austin?" I asked.
"Yup?"
"Let's go." I grabbed his hand and jumped from the tree. We walked over to Mallory and Skye. "Hiya." I said.
"Sup?" Skye grinned at me, but avoided Austin. I could tell he was still mad.
"Hey Haley, How are you punishing Uglynuts?" Mallory asked impatiently.
"I was thinking you could do that when I'm not around." I answered. Mallory gave me a huge grin and thumbs up. I turned to my kinda-boyfriend. "Austin? You were gonna say something?" I asked.
"Yes." Austin looked at Mallory, "I'm sorry. Really, really sorry." The hand that wasn't holding mine extended to her. "Truce?" He asked.
"Hell no. Once I get payback we'll call a truce." Mallory answered. Austin nodded, sighed, and let his hand fall back to his side. Our other friends and our parents started coming over then.
I leaned against Austin and smiled. I was home again, and Austin was here with me this time. We could worry about Rolega later, now we were just going to enjoy life like a bunch of normal teenagers.
Epilogue
I sat up in bed with a smile on my face. I could finally be like a normal teenager again. I got ready for school and went into the kitchen. I was dressed in denim pants, gray flats, and an orange T-shirt that said "Samuel Park, Colorado". I was wearing a pink and orange necklace that dangled all the way down to my belly button and a white ring in the shape of a heart. My mom, grandma, and grandpa were already gone for work, but I didn't care.
I grabbed my key and went into the hall. I locked the door behind me and went to the elevator. I pushed the lobby button. Now I had to go back to school, which sucked, but at least I wasn't on the other side of the country jumping off a cliff.
Austin had enrolled himself in our school, so now we had school together as well. When the elevator doors opened I saw him talking to Skye near the door. They were obviously waiting for Mallory and I, because when I walked up Skye said "Now just Mal.". I grabbed Austin's hand while we waited.
"Skye are you enrolled at our school too?" I asked. He nodded and smiled. "Here she comes." I said when Mallory stepped out of the elevator, dressed in a white transparent tee with a black tank top on under it. She also had a black vest on, and black leggings. Her shoes were white and gold flip-flops.
When we got to school there was a lot of stares. I ignored them and walked with my boyfriend, my best friend, and her boyfriend through the halls. Our other friends soon joined us with smiles. Jessie walked up holding the hand of her human boyfriend. We all walked into our first class, and boy was our teacher surprised to see so many kids with smiles.
I ignored her as well as the other kids, and sat next to Austin and all of my friends. Home truly was a wonderful place to be. I looked up as the door flew open with a loud CLACK! A man dressed in all black came in. He looked straight at my friends and I, saying, "I need Haley, Mallory, Brooke, Ethan, Emily, Austin, Skye, Dylan, Jessie, and Mikey."
My heart seemed to stop as Rolega strolled into the room, holding Austin's requested Coke.
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About the Author
Well, my name is Haley Winn. I've been writing for about two years now, mostly about the Living In Oblivion series. I'm a teen in the US
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaleeeyBop
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