© Copyright 2012
All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.
Authors Note: First of all, this chapter contains a lot of explicit language. After spending four years getting to know him, Sawyer is like a real person to me and I found it emotional and aboslutely difficult to write, however given the subject matter, the cursing (more than he usually does) seemed fairly realistic. Apologies if the language or more specifically, the content of the chapter offends anyone. - LC
There were no words. Alexa stood frozen and mute, watching the scene unfold trying to make sense of anything. Sawyer remained crouched in front of Sadie, his hands clasped over her ears, trying to block out her demons. Sadie's eyes focused on his and only moved to blink.
When she did discover her voice it was a dry croak. “She's your what?” What he'd said was so unbelievable, so far fetched, she wanted to hear him say it again.
“She's my sister,” he said, for the second time.
Sadie's breathing evened out, calming each time he told her they were okay. Gabby's voice echoed as she walked down the hallway. “Alexa? Lex?”
Alexa peeked her head around the door frame. “In here. We're in Sadie's room.”
Gabby joined them in the closet followed by Marco Pearson, head psychiatrist and the man responsible for reporting to the medical board about Paper Planes successes. This fact made him almost obsessive about the control he sometimes tried to exert over the patients. Alexa could never establish a fondness for him. Something about him was off, and judging from the syringe held between his fingers, he preferred drugging his patients rather than treating them with traditional coping methods. He was everything Alexa didn't want to be.
Marco stepped forward, “young man, you'll have to move.”
Sawyer ignored him. He ignored everyone except for the scared girl in front of him, who upon seeing Marco, began to scream.
Marco used his shoulder to wedge himself in front of Alexa. “Young man,” his voice was firmer, more dominant than before. “Get out of the way.”
Sawyer rose to his feet and turned to face Marco. He was a good six inches taller than the man, squaring his shoulders, his eyes boring into Marco's. His face had changed from the boy she'd shared a kiss with less than an hour before. Shadows stole the happiness from him in a flash, leaving a foreboding darkness in its place. Hostility dripped from his words. “You take one more step toward my sister with that thing,” he nodded to the syringe, “Ima stab it in your neck, yeah?”
Sadie's blood curdling scream continued as Alexa dropped to her knees. She didn't dare touch her, but she wanted Sadie to know she wasn't alone.
Marco's face twisted, as if he couldn't believe anyone would try to stop him. Boldly he moved even closer to Sawyer and put his hand on Sawyer's shoulder. “I'm afraid you'll have to move.”
Sawyer's hands clenched into fists at this sides. “I'm afraid you have ten seconds to get your hand off of me and back the fuck off,” he hissed. He leaned until he was no more than an inch from Marco's face. “Don't. Push. Me.”
Gabby's eyes widened. Paper Planes was for mental illness, problems stemming from inside a person. She had no experience with a large and angry physical threat like him. “Marco,” she said, “I'll deal with this. She's in my ward.”
Marco looked at Gabby, Sawyer and Sadie before wordlessly turning and walking away.
As soon as he left, Sadie's screams subsided.
