All Star Prom

All Star Pain

The almost non-existing blue walls of the hospital room were unwelcoming. Even the couple that occupied the single hospital bed and cushioned side chair were unsettling in the room. Zach wanted no more than to walk away from the wooden door that he lay sheltered behind while his hand rested, still on the cold metal doorknob while he watched the couple through the small glass window in the door. His mind was telling him to walk away but his heart knew that Brittany was dealing with the same thing as him, and so much more.

Brittany sat pale and sickly against the torquoise green pillow covers and matching bed sheets. A light colored hospital gown that was decorated with dark blue polka dots was tied high on her neck. Her hands fumbled at the edge of the gown that was close to her throat. This gesture made Zach feel like the gown was choking her but he could see her lips moving and the nervous tick of her hand as it pulled at the collar.

David seemed to notice the way her hand was shaking slightly because, even though from where he was standing he could still see how David's golden eyes were watching Brittany's hands with such focus. Zach watched from his place behind the door as Brittany talked.... and talked..... and talked. The conversation had lasted so long it almost felt like it would never end but Zach just watched them intently like they were the most interesting things in the entire world. He noticed the way David grabbed onto Brittany's hand and played with her fingers and how David watched the way their hands fit together like Zach had done with Mandy just a few nights before.

The thought of Mandy caused a furious pain to pinch at the edges of his heart. When Zach woke up the day after the Prom in an empty hospital room with the knowledge that everything that happened the previous night wasn't just a nightmare, it was in fact a piece of reality that he would have to face hit him like a large piano crushing his entire body. Like most people, Zach didn't do such a good job of facing the situation with a calm head. Actually the moment he realized that Mandy was really gone, that it was all real, he couldn't stay calm. He ripped an cords, needles, or tubes that clung to his body off and pushed the covers off of him, identical covers to the ones Brittany was currently laying under, and ran out into the open hospital screaming for answers.

The memory of the two cops, who stood guard outside his door, even Nathan and Michael all yelling at him to calm down and forcing him back to the bed where a doctor clad in white and green injected him with a sharp needle which they intended to force him back into a medically induced sleep made Zach feel dizzy and unstable. He ignored the self-induced nausea that came with the memory and focused back in on the doddling couple.

It was the exact moment that Zach looked into the room David stood up from his chair and looked down at the Brittany with one last soulful glance before he headed in his direction. A simple smile lay across Davids face and when he exited the hospital room he found Zach standing there.

"Hey." David greeted him with a slight smile before continuing on down the hall. He dug his hands in his pockets feeling the days events drag his shoulders down as he walked down the halls that oozed an infectious mood that caused David to fell uncomfortable. Even with the hideously decorated hallways and the stench of faecal, disinfectant, copper, and the overwhelming smell of bleach it didn't completely expel the conversation that lifted a little of the weight from his shoulders. He feels reassured by the let down of Brittany's words but he also feels absolutly numb about it all. Although he knew he had to expel all of it from his mind, all the memories from that night, that's all he thought about as he walked down the hall way with Zach watching him go.

When Zach headed into Brittany's room she chuckled lightly at his prescence.

"You see all that?" She asked looking at her hands then up at him with a stern look. He simple nods his head unwilling to say what he is really thinking and risk upsetting her more.