(Bill's POV)
***
I adjusted myself in my seat, growing anxious. I tapped my hand against the table, listening to silence as I looked at my bad hand of cards.
I sighed, looking up at Gustav as he tapped his foot along with me. He always knew when I had a bad hand, nobody ever beat him.
"Check." I broke the silence, I couldn't bet yet- not with this shit row of cards.
I slowly sunk in my seat, peering next to me at Tom. I knew what the son of a bitch did; what he said to Angelina. But he was my brother, he's tried to steal my girls before. We always settled it over an easy poker game- classic Texas hold 'em. Forgive and forget, and I'm positive that fat lip I left him would be burned into his memory as a reminder for long enough.
He looked over at me, we always secretly played as a duo. I furrowed my eye brows, looking down to my cards.
"All in." He said, sliding in his racks.
He slowly looked over at me, smiling a tad. He had a good hand, finally.
Gustav puffed his lips, blowing out. He looked over at Georg as he tilted his cards down.
"I'm out." Georg said, leaving only Gustav.
Gustav slid his rack in, eyes slim. Tom's quiet snickers eased into an obnoxious laugh as he flipped his cards.
"Royal flush!" He declared, the highest hand you could get. "Pass those chips." Tom smiled, harnessing them all into his embrace.
"Took long enou-" He started, only to be cut off by a shrill scream.
I tensed in my seat, hearing my name echo through the sudden cries. I pushed out of my seat, almost falling backwards and through the wooden door. Our lot was huge, they could've came from anywhere.
Tom, Gustav and Georg came out from beyond me just as fast as I did, shooting up the stairs. I ran around the corner, making sure Katie was still locked in her room. She was still there, so what could've happened? My heart skipped a beat, sinking into my stomach as all of the possibilities ran throughout my mind. I ran up the stairs, my hands gripping the rails as I became unsteady.
"Tom?" I yelled. "Anyone? Anything, Gustav?" I shouted out, hitting the top step.
"Bill?" Someone cried out from down the hall, her voice gruesome with pain.
"Kandy?" I murmured to myself, confused.
My jog down the hall turned into a sprint, the reek of iron growing stronger and stronger. It smelled shallow, like an open organ.
Nearing the open door, my heart began to pull apart as the shadow became clearer. In the doorway was blood, actively pooling out into the hall. My eyes widened, dried with the empty breeze coming from the rusted vent above me. I turned slowly, my gaze landing on the soft, tan hands of Kandy as they began to pull a glass dagger from the chest of my dear, dear Angelina. I closed my parted lips, my eyes growing moist with the strange tears feeding from the corners. I felt a sharp whine in my chest, something nobody had ever made me feel. Like I was losing the stitches that held my wounds shut. Like I was losing her.
"What did you do." I whispered, getting to my knees, tears falling over my manicured eyelashes, onto Angelina's pale- bleeding face.
Kandy's hands were covered in blood, and so were my pants as she began to rip my phone from my pocket. She flipped it open, dialing three digits in a fit of tears. My hands- shaking- slid under Angie's limp back, pulling her on top of me. Her eyes were open, yet emotionless, and empty. Her usually blue eyes- bluer than the sea, as blue as slow jazz.. bluer than the sky on a cloudless spring morning, dusted with the flying petals of daffodils and blossoms now grayer and just as dim as the eye of a hurricane.
I hiccuped, my slow tears growing into muted sobs. She slightly bounced on my lap as I breathed In and out, sharply.
"Bill.." A distant voice whispered from behind me. I felt the hand of my brother on my shoulder, and the presence of my best friends.
I never let myself love, never let myself grow to be in love. Instead I hurt her, would say horrible things to her, treat her like the dog I used to see her as. In my eyes, it had been so long with her. A period of time that changed my whole perspective of life. My heart was tearing, overflowing with the stolen love I hadn't ever let myself feel for her. Now that she was seeping away, through cracks I couldn't reach through, I new I was in love with her.
"Give me the phone." I whispered, a tremor in my voice.
Kandy slid the phone into my hands, and I pressed it to my ear. The phone transferred Angelina's blood to my face, I hated feeling it knowing who's it was. I stood up, Angelina in my arms as I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder. I held her towel tight around her, making sure she wasn't exposed, or any more vulnerable than she already was.
My voice sounded strange, unfamiliar. It's like I was feeling what it was like to be human for the first time. My eyes flashed up as Georg rushed up the stairs, holding Katie by the arm. She tore off of him, mouth gaped at the sight of Angelina. She yelled out, her hands beginning to shake as I held her bridal style. Tom took the phone from my ear, putting it on speaker. The dispatcher spoke in a hurry, a keyboard clicking from the other line.
"The soonest the paramedics will be there is about.." she paused, typing. "Six minutes. Stay on the line with me, tell me what her physical state is like."
I hiccuped, I couldn't talk. Because I knew if I did, only cries surrounding her name would escape my lips.
"Unconscious," Gustav started. "Bleeding. A lot." He panicked.
"She's not breathing." Katie yelled out, feeling Angelina's pulse.
"What the fuck even happened?" Katie said, looking at Kandy.
"She.. she showered-" Kandy breathed, slumped against the wall.
"And?" I choked.
"And I heard a shatter come from the bathroom." A single year fell from her eye. "When I got to the door, she had already impaled herself." She didn't look me in the eye.
I turned away, slowly trudging down the hall; leaving a trail of her sacred blood. I hated glancing down and seeing an obnoxiously large piece of glass in her fragile chest. But I knew if I took it out, she would only fade away faster.
I sat in the chair near the window, pulling up the blinds forcefully as I looked for the ambulance. I looked down at her, looking at myself in the glass. What had I done? What was I going to lose? What was Angelina going to lose?
I squeezed my eyes shut, holding her as close to me as she could physically get. Her hair was cold and wet against my skin as I wrapped my arms around her, protecting her from everything I should've from the start. I inhaled, trying to find her familiar smell through all the blood. The sweet vanilla scent buried deep within her curls, and the sweet rosy smell she would waft through the air as she walked. I parted my lips, breathing rapidly as I curled in my seat, Angelina in my arms.
"Oh baby." I quietly choked through my thick, unwelcome cries. "Baby don't leave me. Don't go." I took a sharp inhale, my chest tightening as I imagined how much pain she was in, how much pain she was always in. I thought about how I never gave her a break, she was still growing up. I had taken everything from her, taken away her whole future.
I began to realize that with me, she wasn't living. She was only trying to survive.
"Angelina, don't go yet. Please, please stay. Open your eyes, breathe." I sobbed, burying my face into her blood struck hair.
I sat there, waiting. Waiting until the EMT's rushed in and stole her from me, ripped her from my arms. I sat back in my seat, covered in her blood. I didn't care- in fact I wasn't planning on washing it off. Fuck, if she died I wouldn't ever wash it off.
I got up, running out behind them; my heart stopping as I watched her drive off in the ambulance.
"Get my key-" I started, interrupted by the slam of Gustavs car behind me. I turned around, Tom dangling my keys in my face.
"We'll be right behind you." He whispered, his eyes searching my spoiled face.
I took them, going through him straight to my car. I pulled out, not knowing where I was going. I never cared to know where the hospital was, I never needed it. All I knew was that I needed to find it, and find Angelina.
+++
The hospital was closer than I expected, so it didn't take much time before I was through the front doors, gun drawn.
"Get out." I called, my barrel pointed towards the front receptionist. She was the only one here at such an hour. She was out the door, quick past me, Georg, Gustav, and finally past Tom. I grew sick, my stomach turning as I thought of what state she could be in. I tucked my handgun back in my pants, hesitant down the hall.
(Kandy's POV)
'I hated what I had done. I had been here for so long, as did Katie. How could she not want to go with me? Yes, we both loved Angelina- so much. But her for our freedom? The freedom we had fought for for so long? We would put her out of her misery, and get away to start over aswell. So why did she reject me?' I thought to myself as I ran back out to the car, flying in before anybody noticed I was gone. This was perfect- Angelina was Bills main focus, I could go. I could be free, be free without Angie's death on my hands. I smiled to myself as I pulled out, this was it. I was gone, all I had to do was ditch the car. I wasn't Kandy anymore, I was a ghost. A ghost to everybody. From now on, I wouldn't be found unless I wanted to be found. I pressed the gas a bit harder, going for a joyride. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back. I relaxed, opening my eyes once more.
(Bills POV)
I turned back to look at my brother, my brothers. I loved them like family, even though Tom was my only blood relation. They all stayed behind, leaving me to go down the hall alone. Tom sat down, so did Georg and Gustav. I didn't even care I couldn't see Katie, nor could I see Kandy. They were the least of my concerns.
Down the hall I went, looking through each door. My eyes widened as I saw familiar golden locks, twisted around that white pillow they gave her. She seemed steady, her heart monitor was stable, there wasn't a blanket over her face, her I.V fluid was fresh. She was going to be okay. I felt a flush cover my heart, like a refreshing glass of water. But in her case, wine. Like the delicacy she was.
I slowly turned the door knob, the air smelling just like her as I walked in. I looked over her, running my fingers over her clean skin. It took me half an hour to get here, but they did a hell of a lot of work until then. They got her stable, cleaned her up.. it didn't make sense. They would be back soon, I had to leave quick.
I thought hit me, I had to leave. This was the last time; I had to leave her. I couldn't bear to think about her enduring this again, and she would if I still dragged her around like a doll. I hated giving up my pride, hurting my ego like this. But I truly did love her. If that wasn't love, I didn't know what it was. I wanted to see her again, I couldn't leave forever.
My eyes watered as I opened the drawer from beside her, pulling out a small piece of paper, and taking the pen from the clipboard at the end of her cot. I wrote her the goodbye she deserved, and slid it into the front pocket of her scrubs.
+++
I wiped my eyes, exiting the room as a nurse ran in, looking at me confused. I was done, done with every woman except for Angelina. I didn't need Katie anymore, especially with her gushing over Angie. I drew my gun, turning the corner back to the waiting room. It was completely empty, except for my brothers, and Katie. I looked at Katie, then at Tom, and nodded each of them away. I walked up behind her, cocking the gun so she heard exactly what I was thinking.
"Bi-" she started to turn around.
"Thank God you're in a hospital." I whispered, putting one in her neck without a flinch. I glanced to the t.v, the news channel was on.
"...A sports-car over the edge of a highway in Los. Angeles California, set ablaze as it crashed a mere 30 minutes ago. No passenger has been identified." The sponsor rambled on.
I walked out of the building, leaving the corpse of some one my past mistakes behind me.
"Where the fuck is my car?" Gustav yelled.
(Angelina's POV)
Days had passed, almost a week. All I could think of was him. I hadn't heard from him since that evening, or heard about him. None of them. I had nowhere to stay, no money, nothing. But, somebody had been renting a hotel out for a few days ever since I got released from the hospital. In my room was a few fresh pairs of clothes, a pair of shoes, and a set of socks. After that, nothing. I lasted on the couch, my chest tight with the familiar pain. It was so traumatic, I forgot what happened. The doctors labeled it as a suicide attempt, which was reasonable. I inhaled the scent of the sweater left for me, it smelled just like him. It smelled like a sweet peppermint, showered with sugar and maple. I let a tear fall, I knew I shouldn't have missed him. But oh, did I love him. I knew I loved him, I just hated how he acted; who he was.
I looked over at the counter to the pair of scrubs I came home in. I slowly got up, trudging over to where they were folded. I rested one of my shaky, bruised hands on them, swiping my thumb over the pocket. I furrowed my eyebrows, feeling a strange lump. I dug my fingers in, pulling out a small, crumpled piece of paper. I unfolded it, my eyes widening as I gazed at Bills hand writing, forming a page-long letter. I began to cry, even after the first word; the spelling of my name. Who cared if I were a crybaby, this was something to cry about.
+++
"Angelina,
Your hands were the only ones that I've wanted to hold. Your lips were the only ones I thought of, and your eyes were the only sky I ever yearned to look at in the early morning. My sweet girl, the secret I kept from myself for so long. You're not just a girl, you're my girl. My girl that I mustn't stay with any longer, my girl that I must leave. Angelina, this is the last time. The last time until I decide. You'll always have a shadow, and in that shadow I will stand. Watching over you, making sure nobody else will ever hurt you again. I've never loved anybody, but if I did- this is what I imagined it to be like. To my girl, I strive to be your last love even if it's the death of me, never you. Listen for me, and you'll know when I'm back.
-Yours forever.
You're my poetry."
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