It's Not Perfect

Chapter 27

When I opened my eyes, everything was blurry. The lights were too bright and the air was oddly cold for being somewhere in North Carolina. I blinked my eyes closed again, squeezing them shut tightly. This time when I opened my eyes, things were a little clearer. But none of this dulled the deep ache pulsing in my head.

At first I thought the white color surrounding me was simply my because of my eyes, but now I could see that it wasn't just because of my eyes. I was in an all white room, laying on an all white bed, in an all white hospital gown. Confusion struck me like a bolt of lightning.

I tried sitting up but as soon as I tried, someone was there pushing me back down. For half a second, I panicked. What if Duke was trying to drown me like he was-

But then my mind flashed back to what happened in the warehouse. Duke was dead, and Ryder was...

When I looked up I saw Maria and Julie standing over me. They were smiling at me and soon both of them were curled up on the bed hugging me.

"Thank God you're awake." Maria muttered as she hugged me tighter, "We were so worried."

"What's going on?" I asked, my voice so hoarse you could barely hear my question.

Julie brushed the hair out of my eyes and sat down on the side of the bed, "You passed out. The doctor's said there wasn't anything medically wrong with you, they said you were just extremely exhausted and went into shock after..."

"Ryder was shot." I finished for her. I remembered everything clearly and the sight of Duke's body being jerked in every directions as bullets ripped through him, was permanently etched into my brain. On some level I did feel bad for Duke, he was a terrible person and he had put me through hell. But I never wanted him to die, just suffer as I had.

"The doctor's worked on him for hours." Maria was rubbing her wrists, and when I looked down I saw that she had rope burns along her skin. Julie did too, and when I looked down I saw that I had them too.

"Can I see him?" I asked quietly, turning to face Maria again.

She bit her lip and let out a long sigh, "The doctors said you need to rest and they suggested that when you woke up you should stay in bed. Besides, all the boys are in there and it's getting crammed. You don't want to really go in there do you?"

All I could do was nod.

Maria sighed again but nodded as well, "Alright then. Come on, we'll help you down the hall."

Julie and Maria helped me sit up and eventually stand up. When I looked around my room for the first time I saw that Brooklyn wasn't here. When I asked Maria about it she said Brooklyn was on her way to pick up my parents from the airport.

"The hospital called your parents after you were admitted here." Maria explained as I stumbled out of my room and let the girls lead me to wherever Ryder was, "They left as soon as they could and arrived about thirty minutes ago."

I nodded, feeling dread rise up in my gut. They were going to go crazy when they saw me here. It was hard enough trying to get them to let me leave for college, now they were going to lock me up in their basement forever. Goodbye freedom, goodbye Iphone, goodbye Ryder.

"He's in there." Maria informed, nodding towards a closed door.

I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted too open the door, I didn't really want to know how bad he looked or how injured he truly was. But Duke was finally gone, I wasn't going to live my life in fear anymore. So I slowly made my way towards the door, my legs nearly buckling several times as I walked. And once I reached the door I had to remind myself why I was doing this in the first placed. But without waiting any further, I reached out and opened the door.