Razorblade |-/ Tyler Joseph Fic

chapter fifteen

I stayed with Lizzie all morning, despite my dad's multiple calls on my cell telling me to go to school. I eventually had to call him back and explain the direness of the situation, and then finally he stopped pestering me. However, I did consider going back after nothing happened for more than 3 hours.

And then she woke up.

Josh and I were down at the lobby looking for books or something, and Lizzie's mom had to go back to work, but I promised I'd call her if anything was going on. Josh and I talked about our Spanish final coming up, about what to say for the oral presentation and such, when we opened the door to Lizzie's room and both stopped dead in our tracks.

She was sitting up, hands in her lap, looking out the window. The mask wasn't on her face anymore, but she still had an IV.

I looked back at Josh, who was staring in awe. Then I carefully said, "Hey, Lizzie."

She flinched, having just been shaken out of deep thought, and her face absolutely lit up when she saw us. "Tyler! Josh!" She moved anxiously in her seat. "I'm tethered to the fucking bed, get your asses over here!"

I tossed my book aside and ran to her bed and kind of tackled her in a hug, which she returned with all the force in the world. Then Josh came over and sandwiched himself between us, which made Lizzie laugh.

And then she was crying. It wasn't a sad crying, not at all; she looked like she had never been more happy to be alive.

Both Josh and I tried to let go, but she held us close to her. "I'm so glad you're here," she said.

I pried myself away only to give her a kiss. "I'm glad I'm here too."

Josh started to get off the bed, but Lizzie caught him and pulled him to her so she could kiss his cheek. "Don't you dare think about leaving yet," she warned.

He just smiled and kissed her back. "I suppose I can tough it out here for a while."

So we all sat on her bed, the three of us cross-legged and everything, until I actually remembered that she had a completely new pair of lungs inside her chest.

"So," I began, "how do you feel?"

She took a huge deep breath, let it out in a long sigh, and closed her eyes with a smile. She didn't even cough. "I feel free."

I couldn't help my face smiling and my eyes watering. "You glad you went through with it?"

She nodded. "Yes. Very much so." Then she opened her eyes. "Guess what?" she asked us.

"What?" Josh asked immediately. God, he was ecstatic as a little kid.

"I get out of here today." She bit her lip.

I felt my heart skip a beat out of excitement. "You're shitting me," I breathed.

She shook her head and smiled. "I'll be out by 6 this evening."

"Don't you have to let that heal or something?" Josh asked, pointing to her chest.

"I just have to wear a bandage for a while, nothing too tedious."

I couldn't stop thinking about how she wouldn't have oxygen tanks or treatments anymore. "You're done with all of that," I whispered.

"All of what?" She put her hand on mine, and she seemed concerned.

"All those treatments, the oxygen tank, everything. It's over. You made it."

She started crying again, then held her sweater sleeve to her eyes. "I'm sorry," she sobbed out, still smiling. She was just so happy.

"Don't be sorry," I told her. "Let's just get you out of this goddamn hospital as soon as we can."

----

After I called Lizzie's mom, she arrived about 20 minutes later, and the two of them were crying all over each other. They called the nurse in to check up on her vitals and the healing progress of her incisions, and then her doctor came back in. She told them that Lizzie had to take some antibiotics for a while, in addition to her other 30 pills she still had to take, but that she didn't have to do another treatment in her whole life. She ordered Lizzie to keep missing school and stay home often and rest to heal as quickly as possible, which she didn't really object to.

Then at 4:00 that afternoon, Lizzie officially checked out of the hospital. Her mom had to go back to work, and not before giving her daughter a big, long hug, and then Lizzie got to come home with me and Josh.

We blasted the music the whole way back with the windows down, and she didn't stop telling us how good it felt to be able to sing as loud as she wanted and breathe as hard as she needed without struggle. I didn't want her to stop telling us, either. Her describing every detail to us was the closest we would ever get to experiencing the actual thing. And god, it was amazing just hearing about it.

We ignored the part her doctor told her about staying home, and decided Josh's house was home enough for the time being, so we went there. We watched movies, ate the candy I had bought her, and just talked, making up for all the time that she was unconscious.

Eventually she got pretty exhausted though, and complained a bit about being sore. So we all sat on the couch with blankets and pillows and watched a slower movie so that maybe she could take a nap. We ended up watching In Your Eyes, a romance movie that Lizzie claimed was really good. And I trusted her judgement, since she didn't like romantic movies at all. I held her in my arms as she eventually fell asleep, never had being more grateful to have her with me, alive and healthy.

Then at around 9, her mom called and requested that she came home for the night, even though she was still at work. So Lizzie said goodnight to Josh, then held my hand as I walked her out to my car and drove her home.

I stood with her on the front porch step of her house for a while, with my arms around her waist and her arms around my back.

"You should come spend the night," she whispered.

I sighed wistfully. "I'd love to, you know that, but I honestly think you should have at least one night in your own room by yourself."

She rested her head against my chest with a sigh. "Mmkay."

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Go sleep without your cannula for once, alright?"

She laughed into my sweatshirt, then leaned back and looked at me. "Gladly."

I brushed a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear before leaning down and giving her a kiss. She stood up on tiptoe and kissed me back, slipping her tongue into my mouth for just a second before pulling away. "I love you, Ty," she whispered.

I kissed her once more, because I had to. "I love you, too, Liz."

Then she blushed and bit her lip before turning around and opening the door. "You should come visit me, though," she said. "Tonight, at least once."

I laughed and looked at the floor. "Maybe I will."

She smiled. "Goodnight, Tyler."

"Goodnight, Lizzie."