Promises

Chapter 10.6

"It happened during the class trip, after Disneyland. Star called me in the middle of the night, distressed."

Janna POV

"2811" Janna mumbled as she stared at the number on the hotel room door.

She noticed the door was left ajar and looked down to see light peeking through the open gap. She placed her hand on the door and her eyes widened at the sound of muffled cries inside.

"Not again..." Janna mumbled, pushing the door open, shutting the door behind her. She ran into the room and the sight was not pretty.

"Star..." Janna's voice trembled, frozen in place.

Star was by her bed, laying on her side in a foetus position. She was holding her head with her hands and crying out as tears rolled down her face. Her golden hair was in tangles and some of the strands were stuck to her already damp cheeks.

Janna blinked a few times and ran to her side.

"J-Janna...Help me..." Star managed to cry out, as she pressed her hands into her ears tightly.

Janna looked to Star's bed then to her nightstand, where many of her prescription bottles were half emptied and lopsided. There were pills scattered on the rug. Janna looked back to her friend then to the nightstand and grabbed the bottles.

"Star...I don't know which to give you!"

"Any one of them...Please! Make it Stop!" Star screamed out.

Tears continued rolling down her already flushed face as she gripped her hair tightly.

Janna shifted her eyes between the bottles. She picked one of them and took out 2-3 pills. She looked around and spotted a glass of water across the room, near the television. She ran over and picked it up. She settled the glass on the carpeted floor and pulled Star to her lap.

As Janna held Star's head up, she realised that Star was no longer screaming, but her eyes were rolled back, and more blood was streaming out of her nose.

Janna's mind went blank and couldn't stop shaking. She managed to snap out of it and inserted the pills into her mouth. She reached out to the glass of water and angled her head as she slowly poured its content into her mouth.

As she watched and waited in fear, with her hands on Star's face, Star's chest was finally rising up and down normally. Her face was now relaxed and she was sleeping peacefully. Janna sighed relief and laid back onto the carpet, breathing heavily.

"Janna...Janna."

Janna woke up from the call of her name and looked down to see Star had her hand slightly raised. Janna quickly sat up and grabbed her hand, looking down at a half-lidded Star.

"Star...Are you okay?"

"I...I dreamt of Marco..."

Janna's eyes widened. She cleared her throat and tugged her hair behind her ear.

"W-what did you dream about?"

Star's eyes wandered to Janna then to the ceiling.

"He...was doing a speech...He looked so happy being there. People were cheering...and clapping for him..." Star mumbled as Janna gazed at her.

"He was thanking people...Mrs Thompson...Alfonzo...Ferguson...His karate team..." Janna looked away, letting go of Star's hand as she cradled her closer into her lap. "And me..." Janna looked over and Star was smiling weakly.

"He mentioned...about me being a brat..." Star chuckled weakly. "but he said...I am one of those precious gems...and that he thanked his lucky stars for ever meeting me..." Star said weakly, as tears were forming at the corner of her eye.

"He called me funny and beautiful...Janna." Star said as she began to sob. Janna felt her eyes watering and her lips started to quiver.

"He...called me one of his best friends...and asked me to be his date...to the prom..." Star said as she sobbed quietly.

Janna looked away from her friend and held her hand over her mouth, muffling her cries.

"It felt so real Janna...my life has gotten better ever since he appeared in my life..."

Janna looked down at Star and she wasn't crying anymore; She was smiling. Star reached out her hand to Janna, which she gladly took.

"I don't know...if I can make it till that day Janna...It's been getting harder...to resist them..."

Janna tightened her hold on her hand and started to cry into it.

"Star...Please don't go just yet...please..." Janna managed to say.

"Oh Janna..." Star trailed off, closing her eyes, letting a tear roll off her cheek.

Present

"We stayed like that for hours. After that, she fell asleep soundly, while I was trying to keep it together..."

Janna looked over to Marco who had his head hung low and his hands in his hair.

"After that day, I have always stayed close to her and carried some of her medicines, making sure she didn't...split again..." Janna trailed off with her hands on her lap.

"But then...you did your speech...and she ran off...without her medicines..."

Marco looked over to see Janna's lips quivering and tears rolling off her cheeks.

"She didn't take them...her phone or anything...I have been trying to find her ever since, knowing that she could split and she didn't have what she needed." Janna cried. 

Marco looked away and gripped the fabric around his lap.

"I feel...that it's my fault."

Marco looked over as Janna sobbed, staring at her hands. 

"I kept her promise to not tell anyone...and now she's out there alone, with no one knowing what's going on with her..." Marco frowned and sat closer to Janna.

"I shouldn't have..she won't be..I..I-" 

Janna couldn't continue and sobbed into her hands. Marco put his arm around her and pulled him into his chest, letting her cry.

Marco's face scrunched up as the sight of Janna wailing was nothing more than heart wrenching. He quickly looked away, and held his gaze as a rainbow casted on the waterfall, where the sun's ray hit.

The longer he stared, his mind raced, eventually to the day of his speech and the look on Star's face. His vision started to blur and a wet sensation touched and rolled down his cheeks.

He turned his attention to Janna and held her tighter, forgetting the world around them, for just a moment.