FAMILIAR

Chapter 8

Bon Iver - 29 #Strafford Apt

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CHAPTER EIGHT.

I think Rosie is ignoring me. I keep thinking back on what I said to her that night. Did I do anything that could offend her? We were getting along so well, and I could tell she was enjoying it too.

Images of her face flash through my mind while I'm running through the woods, the trees now a collective shade of black. It's getting dark and it's quite cold to be running in November but I needed to clear my head.

I couldn't think straight through our meetings today. Rosie left my message unread, and when I called her, she didn't pick up. It probably seemed psychotic but I just needed to know she was safe.

I finally cracked and asked if Poppy heard from her. She said they were on the phone an hour before and Rosie had been home for a while then. So, it means she was avoiding me, but it's puzzled me to no end. Even the next morning we seemed good, she fixed my collar and it was the most intimate thing she's done to me in a long time. Just the touch of her fingers on my neck, and the familiarity of it.

I'm running past trees and bushes, and although I've been through this route many times, the darkness makes it hard to see. The moon peaks through the crack of the leaves and it's probably my only source of light. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears when I trip on a fallen branch.

My hands manage to break my fall but the sharp pain that pierces through my arm from my wrist tells me I may have injured it. There's a deep burn in my abdomen, and even though it hurts terribly, it feels numb enough for me to continue running.

Once I'm out of the woods, I continue running past buildings and traffic, ignoring the horns from angry drivers. The streetlights finally give me a clearer view of myself. My shirt is soaked and I definitely fucked up my wrist. Is that blood? I need to get help because I'm starting to feel faint.

Somehow, I manage to run all the way to the emergency room, fluorescent lights guiding me. A nurse greets me at the door. At first with a smile, until she sees my dishevelled appearance. And the blood, I assume. I can't quite tell what else is happening, or where they bring me because all I see are black and white dots, like television static.

I can't feel anything anymore and I think I must be sleeping. Images of Rosie are all I imagine, and I hear her voice in this unknown abyss that I'm in. And I imagine how I'd feel if she was the last thing I ever set my eyes on, how I'd be content with that. No, I'd be in fucking euphoria if she was the only thing I saw in my entire existence.

Rosie

My phone rings, and when I check the time it's 2:27AM. When I answer it, my blood runs cold. The person on the other end informs me that Dalton's in the hospital, that he's okay, but I'm his emergency contact.

I tell her I'm on the way and I change into tracksuit bottoms and throw on a jacket. My chest feels like it's about to explode but adrenaline seems to take over all of my instincts, and I'm out the door and in my car within ten minutes.

The hospital is closer to me now since I moved closer to town but the drive feels like an eternity. I can barely feel my hands on the steering wheel and I'm relieved when I finally drive into the hospital parking lot.

When I ask the front desk for Dalton Atwood, the receptionist begins looking through his files when a nurse in blue scrubs tells me she was the one I was talking to on the phone. Her hair is wrapped up in a neat bun and her badge says: Nurse Alice.

Nurse Alice brings me to his room that's on the second floor, and she reassures me that he's fine. She calls for a doctor, who is called Dr. Henderson. She tells me that he lost a lot of blood but he got to them in time. His injuries aren't that bad, it was just the blood loss they were worried about.