Survivors

Chapter 10: Jada

          He. “Clayton?” I ask.

          The doctor shakes his head, confused by the name. “A Xain Austin, apparently a famous fighter.”

          My heart stopped after he said “Xain Austin”. I’m shaking and beginning to breathe very hard. All three of the medics rush over to try and fix whatever the problem might be, not knowing that there wasn’t one—not a physical one, atleast—to begin with. Xain Austin gave blood to me. TO ME! He was within reach, and I was unconscious. I’m about to say something when I feel a poke in my arm and black out.

          When I awake from my induced slumber, it’s not the medics that I see, but Melissa. She’s just sitting in a chair and looking at me with a crazed look on her face. I can’t tell if she’s holding back tears or choking on words. Either way, she’s been here a while.

          “Hey,” I say softly and try to smile. My voice is hoarse, probably from lack of use.

          Melissa just sits with the same expression on her face. It’s a little scary. Her face is pale white along with paled blue eyes. Her hair is frizzled, as if she just woke up or got out of bed. She definitely just got out of bed. She’s still in her fitted pajama sweats and shirt. I’m guessing that she ran all of the way here when she found out I had awoken.

          “Mel,” I start after a brief silence, “I’m s...”

          Melissa hops from the chair and plants her face into the bottom of my ribs. She is bursting into tears, and within seconds, I’m soaked.

          “Jada, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean what I said, I was just talking. I didn’t mean for you to get mad. It’s all my fault that you got hurt and had to be here. And...and...”

          She’s overwelmed by the tears. I feel around for my legs, and when I feel them, I sit upright as best as I can. Melissa slips onto the bed and joins me, now crying in my lap. I’m stroking her hair as her tears dampen my legs. We just stay like that for about another ten minutes. I notice that she is bare-footed, proving that she just woke up and ran here.

          “Jada?” Melissa says almost inaudibly.

          “Yeah,” I answer, still stroking her coarse, blond hair.

          “I thought you were dead,” she says a little louder, “It’s all my fault you’re here.”

          “No, Mel,” I start, “it’s not your fault.”

          “If I hadn’t said those things, you wouldn’t have gotten angry and stormed to your room, and you wouldn’t have cut yourself,” Mel continues in her same position on my lap.

          “If I hadn’t gotten angry like I did, I wouldn’t have stormed off and accidentally knocked over the vase,” I respond to try and take the blame off of her, “It’s not your fault Mel, it’s mine. I went for Xain’s rose.”

          At those words, I realize it was no longer clasped in my hands. I’m about to hop down when Melissa sits up and points to an end table with three vases. Xain’s rose is the center one. The others are an assortment of wild flowers.

          “You had visitors,” Melissa says while still pointing at the vases, “Katya left wild flowers from her own miniature garden, and Clay left some flowers he...‘picked up’ from bushes outside.”

          I smile, because I know what is meant by “picked up”. Melissa looks at me with a slight smile. “He was here, you know.”

          “I know,” I say, trying to smile, “He gave me blood.”