The Guarded One ✔

Chapter Thirty-Three

"All done, Jason," Raff says as taking a step away from me. "I'll go get your release forms" he then leaves the room.

"Thank god, I need to pee real bad" Sam admits, following Raff outside the room.

I yawn before taking my flask from my jacket pocket and began taking slow sips.

Suddenly there's a knock at the open door. I look up to find a figure walking through the hospital room, towards me.

"You know, I remember when I got stitches...I was fourteen I think...and I thought it was a good idea to ride my bike without helmet" Hayden starts slowly.

She stands only a few inches in front of me. She seems confident, yet slightly nervous to be speaking to me.

I nod slowly. "Six stitches right here" I run my left thumb across the arch of her right brow.

I had a small smile but spoke almost at a whisper.

"Have I told you the story?" She questions in a hushed tone.

I exhale in sadness.

"I was there" I admit, "Duncan was pushing the back of your bike down the street...It flipped and you hit your head" 

"I never rode my bike after that" she announces softly, "I was so afraid to revisit the fear I felt, that I just...Stopped"

"Hay..." I look down at my dangling legs.

"Something's wrong with me, Jas" Hayden admits, "it's not just my memory anymore...I look at people...I look at you...and it's like I'm looking at a stranger"

Looking at a stranger? We've been best friends for years. I knew something was going on with her.

I shake my head slowly.

"I remember you...I remember our adventures...but I feel nothing and I don't know why but it's true" She continues.

"So what you're saying is..." I trail off.

I'm a stranger?

"When I'm with you...It doesn't make sense but I have these memories of us...But I cannot connect to those memories...It's like they belong to someone else"

"I'm a stranger to you is that it?" I gulp, "we started senior year with the intent to survive...I never imagined it would end like this" I mutter before looking Hayden directly in the eye, "I think you should leave"

"Jason—" she sighs.

"Please" I beg.

She looks terrified but eventually nods before leaving the room. I grab my flask and finish drinking the entire thing.

I have a pit in my gut and a feeling that won't leave me.

"What's the matter with Hayden?" Tyler questions while entering the room with Jess beside him.

"You mean that thing" I snap as pointing at the door and shaking my head violently, "she's not Hayden"

"Don't say that" Jess orders with a haunted expression.

It's true. She's not my best friend. She's a shell of a person with nothing inside.

"She doesn't remember" I cry, "its time you all stop acting like she's the same Hayden, cause we all know that she's not!"

"What's all this yelling about?" Sam enters the room, walking towards me quickly. "The nurses are going to call security"

Jess looks me dead in the eye. "You've been drinking!" She observes.

"What!" Sam folds his arms.

"Are you fucking retarded!" Tyler screams, "you cannot mix alcohol and painkillers"

"What do you know?" I slur my speech.

"Do you wanna die? Cause that's what's gonna happen" Jess clenches her jaw.

"Maybe!" I blurt out, shaking my head.

A Freudian slip or my true desires? Sam, Jess, and Tyler can't tell.

There's a moment of silence.

"Unbelievable" Jess shakes her head "Ayla's body is slowly shutting down and you're in here treating yours like it doesn't matter!"

Out of spite I take my flask out of my pocket and drink the last few drops.

"When did you turn into this person? The kind that is so reckless" Jess furrows her brows.

"Didn't you hear...I met up with Jimmy and got shot at" I inform, "that sounds pretty reckless to me"

"Okay, that's enough!" Sam orders.

Suddenly a nurse enters the room. "Is everything alright in here?" She asks.

"Peachy" I spat.

"Well keep it down, we have other patients" the nurse orders before leaving the room.

Jess looks over to Sam who looks me dead in the eye in anger. "Take him home" she shakes her head. "He's wasted"

***

I open my eyes slowly, before searching my surroundings.

"What the fuck?" I hiss as sitting myself up.

How the fuck did I get home?

I get out of my bed to find that I'm only wearing blue boxers.

I slowly exit the room before walking downstairs cautiously.

"Morning" a voice greets.

I look up to find Sam sitting around the table in the kitchen, drinking from a mug.

"How did I get home?" I question.

"You fell asleep in the car" Sam folds his arms, "oh and everyone is officially aware that have a drinking problem..."

I stick my middle finger up at my brother in law before going through the fridge. I grab the bowl full of leftover pasta before shutting the fridge door.

"Did I do anything stupid?" I question, grabbing a fork from the sink and eating the pasta quickly.

"Did you hear what I said—" he raises his voice.

I roll my eyes. "I heard you"

And I don't want to hear it again. If I have to hear how screwed up, one am one more time, I'll lose my shit.

"And you have nothing to say?" Sam narrows his eyes.

"Did I do anything stupid last night?" I repeat myself while chewing on the pasta with my mouth open.

I feel my head pound. Is it from the stitches or my hangover?

"Not that I know of" he sighs, "You want to tell me how long you've been drinking?"

"Fuck you" I roll my eyes.

Like he has never had a drink. Sam and Angel aren't even twenty-one yet and probably have been getting hammered since they were way younger then I am. 

"Jason, I checked your car" he admits, "do you have any idea how many empty bottles you have in the trunk?"

With that, I place the empty bowl on the benchtop. "Go back home to my sister" I order while climbing back up the staircase.

Everything from last night flashes in my head. From being shot at by Jimmy to the concussion that I sustained, to my stitches, to Ayla being in the hospital and pregnant.

I fall back onto my bed and look up at the ceiling.

What the fuck happened to my life?