sweethearts

𝟏𝟐 • gotta have faith

(trigger warning: dissociation)

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CHAPTER TWELVE:
"GOTTA HAVE FAITH"
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SILENCE. IT WAS ALL she heard. A faint beeping noise began to ring throughout the silence. The blackness fades slightly. Light leaks through the crack. It flickers with the fluttering of her eyes. She hesitates to fully open her eyes, afraid of the light.

Something in her brain wanted her to wake up, open your eyes. Alíz wanted to ignore it; she was too tired to do anything right now. Her breathing was slow, soothing. Bliss.

Wake up.

Open your eyes.

Please open your eyes.

I SAID WAKE UP.

Alíz's eyes flew open, and she sat up quickly, frantically. She started taking deep breaths and looked around at her surroundings. The girl yanked the respirator off of her face which caused an instant pain in her nose and on her head. She quickly pulled out the needles embedded into her veins, stinging her skin in the process.

Alíz didn't want to pay it any attention; she wanted to get out of bed. As the girl tried to move her legs, she instantly let out a pained cry. Still, she forced herself to move her legs. As she dragged on and on painfully, she began to feel the soreness of her entire body. Each shift and turn increases the aching by tenfold.

Her eyes began watering from the overexertion she put herself through in the act of trying to move her legs. Alíz managed to lug herself to the side of the bed. The girl inhales and exhales slowly as she thinks about trying to stand up. She mentally prepares herself for the pain that would overcome her when she tries this.

Stop being a pussy, she says to herself and stands up. A burning sensation consumed her legs causing her to shake until she fell backward onto the bed. Shit. Alíz couldn't stand up if her life depended on it. She rubs her hands over her face—feeling all of the cuts and scabs that brushed her hands. All of her features felt rough and foreign to her touch. The most noticeable thing she felt on her face was her bandaged nose and the metallic taste of blood on her tongue.

The door to the room opens, and Alíz hears the clicking of high heels on the tiled floor. The girl felt a hand on her cheek, "Anna, are you okay?" Alíz instantly recognized the soft voice of Tabitha. The girl removes her own hands from her face and saw Tabitha standing over her. The dark-skinned woman smiled at her, "You're awake!" She sounded relieved and ecstatic all at the same time.

The woman looks over the girl, an eyebrow raising as she did so. "Did you try to stand up," she questions as she realizes the strange position Alíz was in. The girl smiles, "Maybe..." Tabitha's face immediately grew worried, "You're not supposed to stand up without any help, Anna. If you need anything, just ask me or Barbara or whoever's nearby, okay?" Alíz nods, "Um, can I ask you what happened last night," the girl asks dryly, "I can't, I can't remember what happened."

"I will, but first, you need to lay back in bed and we need to hook you back up to that machine," she says as she begins to help Alíz revert to her previous position. Tabitha begins speaking as she reinserts the needles into the girl's veins, "Yesterday night, you guys came back from the job and you collapsed on the couch. You were bleeding out."

The woman paused briefly before continuing, "Your head was bleeding, your nose was broken, you were bleeding from your bitten tongue, your left leg got shot twice, and both of your legs were badly scraped."