New Girl

Chapter 19

Piper broke down. Tears streamed down her face. She cried and cried and cried, until her eyes ran out of tears. She ran her fingers through Alex's hair and raised her hand up to her face. Piper closed Alex's eyes.

            Her shoulder began to throb. She stood up and reached for her phone. Piper called 911.

            "Hello. 911. What is your emergency?"

            Piper looked over at Alex. She couldn't take it anymore. She fainted.

~~~

            Piper woke up in the hospital, confused as to how she got there. Her shoulder was numb. Slowly, she sat up in bed and pain exploded in her head. A nurse rushed into her room.

            "Careful Ms. Chapman. You hit your head quite hard when you fainted." she said.

            "What... what happened?" Piper said, obviously dazed.

            "You called the police from your friend's apartment. You fainted before you could explain what was happening. The police tracked where the call was coming from and found you. You gave us quite a scare Ms. Chapman. You lost a lot of blood."

            Piper's parents and brother came into the room. "I'll leave you guys alone," the nurse said.

            The first thing that Piper noticed was that her brother's eyes were red from crying. "Cal, are you okay?" Piper asked.

            "No," Cal said, moving close to Piper and pulling her into a light hug, avoiding the wound on her shoulder, "I can't believe -"

            "I know." Piper said, looking over her brother's shoulder at her parents. They both looked at her sadly.

            "Piper, I'm sorry. Cal told us about you two... We had no idea. We're so sorry."

            Piper could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, and before she knew it tears were streaming down her face again. She looked over at her brother and saw that he had begun to cry too. Even her parents had tears in their eyes. The family sat there in silence, grieving for the amazing girl who was no longer a part of their lives.

~~~

            Diane and Nicky came to visit Piper in the hospital. Both of them looked as miserable as Piper felt.

            "I'm sorry," Piper blurted out, "If I had gotten there literally one minute earlier none of this would have happened and she would still - "

            "Chapman it's my fault. I left Vause there alone so I could go hook up with Lorna." Nicky said softly.

            "Actually," Diane pointed out, "It's my fault. If I had been a better mother and had been there for her - "

            "It doesn't matter." Piper cut her off in a monotone voice.

            "I can't believe she's dead." Diane broke down. She started crying hysterically. Piper got up and went over to her, giving her a huge hug, being wary to not hurt her shoulder.

            "I know Diane. I know. She should be here right now." Piper said.

            "Her funeral is on Saturday," Diane choked out, "I thought that you would want to know. Do you think you could write a eulogy... just because you know her so well... I just thought... No never mind. Forget I said that."

            "No Diane, I'd be happy to do it."

            Diane smiled weakly and said, "Sorry for being a terrible visitor, but I have a funeral to plan. Do you need a ride home Nicky?"

            "Yeah, just gimme a sec Diane," Nicky replied. Diane left the room to give the two some privacy. Nicky wrapped her arms around Piper and cried into her shoulder a little bit. "Jesus Christ Chapman, how the fuck did this happen?"

            Her eyes bright red, she gave Piper one final hug before following Diane out of the room.

~~~

            The first thing that Piper did once she was released from the hospital was go to the police. She needed to tell them what happened. As she walked into the station, her arm in a sling, she was immediately confronted by a police officer.

            "You must be Piper Chapman. We've been expecting you."

~~~

            The next few hours were unbelievably hard for Piper. She had to relive the night over and over again as she recounted her story to countless members of the police force.

            Not only did they make her tell them what happened that night, but they also made her tell them all about her relationship with Larry before she moved.

            They asked her question after question after question. They drilled her to recount every single detail, things that she hadn't even noticed in the first place. Piper had never been more uncomfortable.

~~~

            A few days later, she got a phone call from the police station. They told her that they had enough evidence to put Larry on trial, but they would need her testimony during the trial.

            She agreed on the spot. Anything to get Larry out of her life forever.

~~~

            Piper woke up with a start. Today was Alex's funeral and she still hadn't finished the eulogy that Diane had asked her to write. Whenever Piper had tried to write it, her sadness became too overwhelming for her to deal with and she had given up.

            She sat down at her desk and started writing. This time, the words flowed out easily, and within an hour or so she was done.

            She looked up at her clock. Time to go. Piper dressed in her funeral attire and a few minutes later she was on her way. When she got to the funeral house, she was greeted by Diane and Nicky, both looking as grief stricken as they had looked a few days before.

            Piper walked to the front of the building, where Alex's coffin was. The brunette looked more beautiful that she had expected. She looked happy.

            For a second, Piper could almost believe that Alex wasn't dead. She looked as if she was just sleeping, and that at any moment she could wake up and everything could go back to normal. But of course it didn't. And it never would.

            Piper stood there, her heart broken, tears streaming down her face. She took one last look at the beautiful girl and whispered "I love you Alex." She turned around and walked towards Nicky and Diane. Within a few minutes, the service started. And before Piper knew it, it was her time to talk.