Chapter 30:

Present time:

"Patient unresponsive, commence defibrillation. On the count of three. One...two...three and clear!" The surgeon shouts, sighing at the lack of response. "Again! One...two...three and clear!"

"Once more! One...two...three and clear!" And then the surgeon waits. He waits and waits a little longer almost praying for recovery until the flatline appears on the monitor. "Time of death: 12.51."

"Wait!" One of the other surgeon calls out. "Look at the monitor. Her heart, its beating."

The main surgeon turns to look at the monitor and is indeed surprised to see the faint line beeping on the monitor. This almost never happens. Sure, they've had the odd one or two but 99% of the time, when the flatline appears, the patient is usually dead.

The heartbeat is hardly there but fills the surgeons with hope. So much so that they start the defibrillation process again.

And this time, it works. The surgeon sees the almost flatline turn into steadier and quicker beats indicating that with the help of a life support machine, the young lady laying on the operating bed with dried blood stains all over her would live.

• • • • •

Lexi is completely disoriented when she awakens from her slumber. Her mind felt fuzzy, her vision completely blurred and she couldn't move at all.

She was confused as to where exactly she was but all she knows is that it's surprisingly comfortable.

""...major artery pierced..."

"...stable at the moment..."

"...needs rest..."

The only sentences she could hear from people who were apparently around here were in fragments. Her mind completely out of it, yet she could feel the needle like object poking her arm.

She wants to tell them to stop, because in truth, it hurts. But she can't seem to move or open her eyes or even speak.

So she tries to drown out the noise, wishing whoever was disturbing her would just leave already and fall back into her slumber.

• • • • •

The next time Lexi awakens, it's dead silent wherever she is. Again, she's awake but struggles to open her eyes and uses all the energy she has just to open them.

When she does open them, her surroundings are unfamiliar and blurry. From what she could make out, she was inside but that's all she could tell.

She attempts to tilt her head to the side so she could try and figure out where she was but it hurt to move. She suddenly notices the burning pain in her whole body but mostly the middle side. It was a strange feeling because she couldn't exactly feel her body, as if it was numb, but she could feel the pain seeping through her abdomen causing her vision to blur further more.

A guttural sound escapes her dry throat and passes her chapped lips and again, it hurts so she gives up trying to figure out where she is and decides to just lay there and enjoy the pain filled silence.

She faintly hears a small beeping sound every few seconds in her left ear but manages to ignore it.

Lexi feels a weight on her right thigh and something holding her fragile left hand. When her vision clears a little, she looks down to her lap and sees a person. It doesn't startle her as much as it should seeing as she has no idea who it was. It could've been anyone but she just let whoever it was stay there because 1) She physically couldn't tell them to move and 2) They were really warm.

A waves of pain takes over her entire middle and another involuntary guttural sound escapes Lexis mouth as she clasps her finger around the first thing she could get her hands on.

Whatever's between the fingers of her right hand is soft and fluffy, and it feels good to tug on when the pain consumes her. But it turns out to be the persons hair that she pulls effectively pulling them out of their sleep and startling them awake.

The head lifts off her thigh and she feels cold without it but she doesn't have time to notice because again, her whole middle hurts. So her eyes close.

"Alexa?" A voice calls to her and her eyes immediately open.

Her vision is still blurred but Lexi has no trouble identifying the slightly worried, deep voice. She tries desperately to speak and call his name because he sounds so worried but her throat is so dry, it hurts even trying.

He sees her weak attempts at speaking and immediately reaches for the cup of water beside her bed. He lifts it up to lips, with another hand behind her head to lift it slightly and encourages her to drink.

It quenches her thirst in the best way but that good feeling lasts about a second because every sip she swallows hurts. In fact it hurts s much that silent tears fall down her cheeks.

Caleb puts the cup back down and frowns at her. By now, Lexi's vision has cleared but the tears don't help so he takes pity upon them and grabs her face gently with both hands wiping both cheeks with thumbs.

"That was so stupid, Alexa. Why would you do that?" He asks, looking equally hurt himself. Lexi cant seem to figure out hwat exactly hes talking about but its nice to hear his voice.

Now that she's had a better look at him, Caleb looks awful.

In fact he looks like he's been crying but that could just be tired red eyes, who knows. His words sound scolding but his tone of voice in anything but. He sounds devastated. Like he can't understand why Lexi would do such a thing.

The look in his face only causes Lexi to cry more. She doesn't voice her sobs but the tears that run fast down her cheeks are evidence enough and he continues to wipe them away. "Stupid, You're so stupid Alexa." He says softly, putting his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and just breathing her in.

They stay in that position for a while. Well it seems like a while to Lexi l, everything's all still a bit fuzzy. She doesn't even know if this is really happening but reality hits her hard a few minutes later when she realises what had happened. Everything from the torture to the escape.

"Re." She croaks out, and tries to sit up from what is most definitely a hospital bed. They are definitely in a hospital now that she's had a chance to look around. But it hurts again and so she gives up and lays back down.

Caleb backs away a little once he's sure she's comfortable and sits back down on the chair beside her bed. "She fine, she's alive. You're in much worse shape then her." He says.

She sighs in relief but it doesn't stop her from wanting to see her friend. "What..." She goes to ask but it hits her all at once what happened with Marcus after she left Caleb and Re alone in the woods and suddenly, she's hit with a wave of emotions.

Anger.

Hatred.

Sadness.

Heartbreak.

Fear.

It musta ll show on her face because Caleb worries at the sight of her face, scared she might be in severe pain of some sort.

He doesnt know that its emotional as well as physical.

Caleb takes a hold of her small, weak, almost lifeless hand and caresses it. Lexi suddenly feels sick with disgust. "Alexa? Whats wrong, shall i call someone? Doctor?!" He shouts.

"You.." Lexi whispers with horror embedding her features, trying to shake Caleb off. It was a weak attempt because he doesnt even notice shes trying to snatch her hand away, instead holding her firmer and shouting for the doctor. "You..killed t-them." she sobs a little as she whispers it.

His eyes stop scanning her body and snap up to her eyes. But he doesn't say a word. "You killed them." She whispers again, firmer than before and not letting the pain stutter her words.

Something in his eyes that switch momentarily before returning to its worrisome gaze upon her face.

It only brings more pain, anger hatred and fear to Lexi so she tries harder to get out of his firm grip around her hands. She thrashes arms around and starts sobbing aloud.

He killed them. He killed her parents. All this time, she was trying to help him. Trying to get through to him and trying desperately to fix him when he was the one who killed them. She told him things she hadn't told a soul. About herself, about her parents, about her beloved memories. He sat and listened to her all the while relishing and reliving the memory of murdering them in his sick head.

She let him hold her as she cried. God she really was so stupid. She could never forgive herself for feeling...something or anything for her parents killer.

"Alexa, calm down." He says clearly worried but his voice doesn't falter from it's cool, calm and collectiveneas. How can he tell her to calm down when he is the one who murdered her parents?!

His grip around her hands tightens touch and it frightens her more so. "Get off me." She manages to croak out between sobs. One hand manages to escape his hold but she's aware that it isn't because of her own strength but rather the lack of his.

"I'll get a doctor." He starts to say but before he knows it, she's reaching for the alarm button beside her bed and a excruciatingly loud beeping noise starts sounding throughout the room.

She's still crying and sobbing. Partially because her pain killers are wearing off and she can really feel the pain of the wound in her abdomen  it mostly because of the emotional pain that Caleb caused. Looking at him makes her feel physically sick.

It all happens very fast but before she knows it, Lexi is being surrounded by people rushing in. Many in doctors and nurses uniform and even some in police uniform.

She can see Caleb being pushed aside as doctors fuss over her and barely sees him being lead out of the room by police officers before she feels a pinprick in the side of her arm and darkness consumes her once more. Only this time she dreams nightmares instead of nothingness and it makes her miss the emptiness. At least that was better than this.

• • • • •

"Miss Reid."

"Lex? Lexi?"

"Alex-"

"Don't call her that." A voice snaps beside her and Lexi recognises it to be Scott when she regains consciousness.

She opens her eyes and actually smiles when she sees his stupid face right up in front of hers, glaring at the doctor beside her. His hairs a lot shorter since the last time she saw him and she'd have to make sure that she at least commented on it later. "Hey, you." He says smiling equally as much.

He looks relieved to see her and a little bit tired too. "Scott." She croaks out.

"Woah. Lex, you gotta stop talking for at least a few days if your voice is gonna sound like that. Seriously, you sound like somebody's constipated grandfather." He says and it she ends up smiling so much, he even gets a little laugh out of her.

But the laugh turns into a strangled sob and she doesn't even know why. Thankfully Scott just pulls her into a hug and insists he was joking when clearly he knew her tears had nothing to do with him.

The doctor clears his throat beside them and interrupts what's was clearly an emotional reunion but he didn't seem to care. "She's fully stabilised now. As long as she keeps taking the pain killers and antibiotics, she'll be as good as new in a few weeks time. She can even leave the hospital in a couple of days." He says to Scott as Lexi is reluctant to let go of his embrace.

"Thanks doc." Scott says as he leaves the room.

Lexi finally pulls away and Scott takes a seat in the chair beside her bed. The pain from moving around doesn't quite hit her at the moment shes going to take advantage of that and sit right up because she can feel her whole body going numb from laying down for god knows how long.

She eyes the needle in the vain of her arm no doubt administering the drugs she clearly has in her system. It makes her feel a bit trippy but at least she can't feel the pain.

She dares to look down at her hospital gown which surprisingly isn't covered in blood. She doesn't lift it up to look at the wound though because it just might make her cry. And she's done enough of that lately.

"Re's just down the hall from you, you know. I tried to convince them to wheel her in the room next to yours so it saves me from having to walk up and down but they keep telling me it's against policy." Scott sighs in obvious humour.

"H-how is she?" Lexi asks.

"Yeah she's doing good actually. I mean she doesn't have all those cool wires hooked up to her like a robot like you do. But at least she's not on all those drugs." Scott explains. "She's going to be let out soon. Maybe even later today if her wounds are dry enough."

Lexi averts her gaze feeling guilty all of a sudden. This is all her fault. Her best friend could've died. Almost did die. "So, I'll get to see her?" She asks, hopeful.

Scott's gaze falls too and it's so unlike him. "Uh..she. Lex she..."

"She doesn't want to see me." Lexi finishes off for him.

Scott pauses for just a second before replying. "No, it's not that. It just a lot for her to take in right now. She just needs some time alone. Her family is here too. They've gone back to college dorms to collect a few of her things so she'll most likely be busy with them."

Lexi nods firmly once and before she knows it, another stream of tears run down her face. "Will..will you tell her? Tell her I'm sorry?" She asks tearily.

Scott's face softens. "For what Lex, this isn't your fault. You can't blame yoursel-"

"It is my fault!" She cuts him off with her voice raised. "You weren't there Scott, you have no idea what happened. Everything that happened was because of me. Re is never going to forgive me. And it's just as well too. I don't deserve to have a friend like her, or even you. It's best if you all just stay away from me."

Scott laughs like she's said something funny. "You're going to have to try a lot harder to get me to stay away from you." He says pulling her into another embrace.

She's crying against his chest and trying to push him away but it doesn't work. She's weak and he's considerably stronger but after a few moments, she doesn't seem to mind being in his embrace. "How long have I been here?"

"Two days. You were asleep for most of it. But apparently you woke up once last night when..." he trails off.

"When he was here?" Lexi asks referring to Caleb.

Lexi feels Scott nod against her head. "What day is it?"

"New Years eve." Scott says and she can her the smirk that's most definitely on his face through the way he talks. "You know what that means right?"

Lexi rolls her eyes, trying so hard not to cry again. "I am not kissing you at midnight."

"Why not?" Scott complains.

"Because your breath stinks." Lexi says with tear brimmed eyes. "And your haircut looks stupid."

• • • • •

Words: 2700

A/N: Y'ALL THOUGHT SHE WAS GONNA DIE