Yin & Yang

"Death's favorite hangout."

Adam POV

          It takes me four minutes, a shot of whiskey I keep stuffed in the glove box, and a short jam session to Biggie Smalls before I can get out of my car this morning.

          But, like I had been doing every day for the past two weeks, I went right back inside and slammed my palm against the steering wheel.

          I hate hospitals. Like, really hate them. The hospital just seems like limbo to me. It’s an institution where people come to die. Those who go in may never come out. Death’s favorite hangout. Despite my disdain for all things medical, there is a certain girl in there that I know I have to see –that I have been aching to see.

          The first thing I should have done once I was released from the county jail was come and see Annette. It’s the only thing I thought of the entire time I was locked up. As soon as I was out, I drove here. But, just like today, I couldn’t bring myself to leave the car. I know that I need to visit her and see how she’s doing, -physically and emotionally- but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

          She lied to me. She lied right to my face. She would have rather crushed my heart in the palm of her manicured hands than tell me that her twat of an uncle was back in town. Even though she was scared and hurting every day, she couldn’t trust me enough to tell me. She was going to skip town without as much as a goodbye. Again. As if the last few months had never happened.

          The image of Annette’s body collapsed on the bottom of the stairs –limbs tangled, blood oozing around her head, face pale, and an old bruise around the base of her neck haunts me in my dreams every night. I could have stopped it before it got out of control if I had known. I would have made sure she wouldn’t have had to suffer at the hands of her uncle again. Instead, I was blind-sided and let the anger control me.

          The feeling of his greasy flesh against my knuckles is indescribable. The way his nose snapped under the pressure of my fist only brought me blind joy. The color of the blood that stained my hands, like red wine on a white carpet, brought me retribution. The sight of him being wheeled away in an ambulance adjacent to Annette’s gave me an odd sense of euphoria.

          I wouldn’t have stopped if the cops hadn’t pulled me off of him. The guy deserved a lot worse. I can’t wait to see him rot in jail for all that he had done to Annette.

          I didn’t notice that these flashbacks had made my jaw clench together and the grip on my steering wheel to tighten to a frightening degree until my knuckles started to ache. I rub the spot absentmindedly and gaze up at the haughty EMERGENCY ROOM sign in exasperation.

          A sharp tap on my window almost makes me fly out of my seat and I squint through the darkness to make out glossy blonde hair and a manicured hand pressed up against my window.

          Great.

          Without bothering to actually get out and talk to her, I silently roll down the window and let the summer breeze waft in her expensive perfume.

          “Why are you such a dick?”

          “Nice to see you too, Ava.”

          She rolls her cerulean eyes before straightening up and crossing her arms in such a manner that you just know you’re in for a lecture. If there is one person I don’t want a lecture from, it’s Ava. I don’t want anything from her.

          “Seriously, how can you not visit Annette at all since she has been in the hospital? God, you should see her face every time the door opens and it isn’t you. She almost died Adam. Again.” My knuckles turn white against the steering wheel at the thought.