“My head hurts. My chest hurts. What’s that beeping? Where am I? Where is Jack?” So many things were going through my mind at once. I felt my heart racing in fear as I tried to grasp what was happening. “It’s so dark.” After a few seconds, I opened my eyes. Floods of light made me wince as if I was looking directly at the sun. Then everything came into focus. I was in a hospital bed. The beeping was coming from a machine next to me. IVs were stuck in my wrists. It hurt to move. I bobbled my head up to look around and saw Jack sitting in a chair beside the bed, his hands covering his face. He looked worried. Almost like he was going to cry. My brother doesn’t cry! Not since our parents… When he noticed me, he stared in disbelief. He stood up and held me in his arms, crying. He was crying!

“Oh God! Oh God, Dove! You’re okay!” I realized how terrified I was when I felt cold, wet teardrops run down my cheeks.

“Jack! I was so- so scared! I’m scared!”

“I know sweet pea. Hey, everything’s alright now. I’m here. You’re okay. I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you,” He smiled and wiped the tears from my face, then from his own. I took a deep breath. Jack adjusted the bed so I was sitting up instead of uncomfortably lying flat on my back. I clenched his hand tightly, and I didn’t plan on letting go. Soon, there was a knock at the door. James and Nick walked in.

“She’s okay! Kid, don’t ever do that to us again!” Nick said sitting down next to Jack.

“We’re glad you’re alright, Dove,” James said as he leaned against the corner wall. I thought that the whole gang was there. But, boy was I wrong! That door swung open so fast everyone jumped! Then in strolls Adam!

“Man, this place smells too much like chemicals. I hate it!” Adam obnoxiously swung himself onto a chair. “Hey!” Jack glared angrily at him. I don’t know what drugs that hospital put me on, but they must’ve been strong because I actually laughed at Adam! (Something I’d never do if I was sober.) Nick grinned at me and shook his head.

“Don’t go encouragin’ him now!” He warned. A couple minutes of silence fell over the room.

“I’ll be right back.” James said standing up straight.

“Whoa! Take Adam with you!” Nick ordered. “Let’s try to get rid of the problem waiting to happen for at least five minutes!” James agreed and they left the room. Jack leaned forward with an expression of concern.

“What are we gonna do?” He asked “We’re gonna be sent away if they find out!” Nick put his hand to his face as he thought.

“What? What’s happening?” I wondered. I had no idea what they were talking about.

“We gotta lie again,” Nick said turning to me worriedly. I looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Jack’s too young to be your guardian. And since you two are technically in the records as “missing” they’ll find out about your parents and you’ll both be sent to an orphanage.” Nick looked very upset as he spoke. So did Jack. We all did. Nick ran his fingers through his hair and finally broke the silence.

“I’m gonna say I’m babysittin’ you two. As far as they know, your parents are out of town. Got it?” Jack nodded and I followed his lead. When the door handle turned, we thought James and Adam had returned, but when that white-coated doctor walked in and asked for Nick and my brother to step outside with him, my heart sank and a lump formed in my throat. I just sat there, in the quiet, creepy room. Taking it all in made me sick to my stomach. Hospitals are filled with death. Some even being poetic injustice. I’m not dead. I’m here. Alive. If everyone cared, and nobody cried, or felt hated, worthless, if this place were so beautiful, and everyone realized it, people could die happy. At that moment, I knew that I was gonna show people how beautiful the world really was, and how beautiful it can be. Jack and Nick came back in. I didn’t want to know what was wrong, so I hastily asked,

“Nick, you play guitar, right?”

“Yeah. Why?” Nick responded, confused.

“I was thinkin’ about being a musician. I think I’d do good! I thought maybe you could teach me how to play.”

“Well, sure kid! But we gotta get you outta here first!” He smiled happily.

“Why the hell do you wanna play guitar? I mean, I’ve heard you sing but, why guitar?” Jack questioned with a smirk only he could pull off. He got noticed by a lot of girls using that smirk. I’ve seen him break a lot of hearts. Ladykiller. Young casanova. It sadly came natural to him. I just wished he’d try to find someone. I didn’t want him to always be seen as a heartless player. I ignored his question and went on.

“Doesn’t Bell sing?” I asked turning to Nick.

“She sure does! And boy ain’t she good at it too!” He bragged. “She’s plannin’ on singin’ at our wedding!”

“Oh yeah! I forgot you two were gettin’ married! Have a date yet?” Jack looked up to the ceiling in realization.

“Not yet. We’re still deciding,” Nick explained.

“Maybe she could give me lessons,” I said.

“Oh, I’m sure she’d love to! She thinks of you as her own kid!” He smiled. Then once again, the door flung open followed by a cold gust of wind!

“We’re back!” Adam exclaimed in a singsong voice. James followed him inside and said,

“I tried to lose him in the parking lot. Didn’t work.” Everyone but Adam laughed at his sassy remark. James walked over to me, knelt beside the bed, and handed me the camera Nick had given to me.

“We went back and grabbed it for ya.”

“Thanks,” I said with gratitude.

“Where’d you get that thing?” Jack asked examining the foreign object I held in my hands as if I was holding an artifact that I’d just scrounged up out of an ancient tomb.

“It was a gift from Nick. He gave it to me before… this.” I stopped when I realized that I still had no clue what had happened. Adam seemed to have read my mind when he asked,

“So, did they ever say why you passed out? Did the doctor tell you? I mean, it was probably from dehydration! You should always stay hy-”

“It wasn’t dehydration,” Jack interrupted. “They said they at least know that much.”

“What do you mean?” James cut in. His caramel colored eyes widened.

“Well they don’t exactly know what caused it. All they know is that if that ambulance hadn’t gotten there when it did, she could’ve died.” As Jack spoke, I regained that sinking feeling of dread. “Died? No…” I felt my feelings of shock swarm the room like a colony of angry honeybees.

“L-let’s take a photo!” I said trying to lighten the mood. “Everyone get together!” I picked up the camera off of my lap as the boys grouped together by the door.

“Say… this sucks!” I exaggerated. They all posed and a flash came from the camera like lightning. I pulled the film out of the camera and set it on my lap where the camera was. “Nice.” Everyone settled back in their seats, James back at the wall. As our laughter and smiles came to a stop, a knock on the door, followed by a doctor, came once again.

“We’re going to release you in a bit, but since your parents are out of town, I need their phone numbers so I can notify them of the events that occured tonight, and just in case something else happens.” Nick opened his mouth to speak but froze. He closed his mouth once more, wondering what to do. Thankfully, before the doctor could grow alarmed, Jack spoke up.

“T-they didn’t leave a number. They weren’t sure where they’d be staying and they haven’t called.” He stammered so much, anyone in their right mind could tell he was lying. But the doctor didn’t! He gave a frustrated nod and handed Nick a form and pen.

“Since you’re the babysitter, you need to fill this out. Then we can release her.” He spoke in a slightly suspicious tone, but I could tell he had no idea Jack had lied. When he left, Nick looked at the form and shook his head.

“Shit!” He exclaimed angrily.

“What? Somethin’ wrong?” I asked. He slammed down the pen.

“I don’t know any of this stuff! And what if they search for your parents? We can’t give ‘em your real name!” Nick sounded frustrated.

“Let me see that.” Jack took the form in both hands and tore it down the middle, then into fours. “Get dressed. We’re gettin’ outta here!” He stood up.

“I-I can’t!” I stammered.

“We’ll wait outside! You don’t have to change in front of u-”

“The IVs.” I interrupted. He looked at all the machines, their wires connected to me. Needles stuck in my arms as if I was a human pin cushion! Nick walked over to the machine monitoring my heart and oxygen. He examined it carefully before succeeding at disabling it. Using my free hand, I pulled off the sticker and let it dangle above the floor by its wire. Next were the needles. Jack unwrapped the medical tape holding the needle for the drip in and gave a sigh.

“Don’t get pissed if I mess this up.” He said before carefully pulling on the needle. The room was dead silent and everyone was as still as a doll, watching him as he slid the needle out. No one in our group likes needles. Especially James. He’d been playing in the junkyard with Adam when he fell and got an old syringe stuck in his right leg and the only one there to pull it out was a drunk Adam.

“One down, two to go.” Jack said, reassuringly. We all let out a sigh of relief as the last needle was removed. Nick, James, and Adam left to get the truck pulled around to the front.

“Here. Let me help you,” Jack said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “You were out for hours! We almost thought you weren’t gonna wake up!” With a pain induced groan’ I slowly slid my legs to the side of the bed. I still felt numb, and almost sick. Probably from being asleep for so long.

“I brought this for you to change into.” Jack handed me my old blue nightgown. It was tattered and worn, but I loved it. “I know it’s your favorite.” I took off the ugly white hospital robe and slipped on the nightgown. Then I put on my shoes, with some assistance from Jack. I tried to stand up but immediately fell backwards. Jack caught me moments before my head smashed into the floor and pulled my back to my feet by my arm.

“You can’t walk on your own, sweet pea. Hell, you can barely stand!” He stated. I was too exhausted to understand what he was saying. He lifted me up and carried me out the door into the large hallway. The bright lights made my eyes hurt and I smarted. I held onto Jack, scared we were going to get caught sneaking out of the hospital. I remembered my camera and realized I hadn’t picked it up.

“The camera-”

“Shh. It’s okay. James grabbed it. Hide your face!” Jack whispered looking straight ahead with a determined look you’d expect to see on a soldier marching into battle. I quickly put my head down so my hair would cover my face. Thankfully, my hair had been taken out of its ponytail and now reached the middle of my back. I buried my face into his chest and stayed perfectly still and silent as Jack carried me past crowds of patients, nurses, and doctors and out the front doors. Nick had the truck pulled up in front by the time we got out. He got out of the driver’s seat, went around the front, and opened the back door. James got out and jack slipped me into the middle seat next to Adam before climbing into the front passenger seat. The ride home would be a long one, about two hours, and I was out of it. I looked at Nick, who was driving and talking to Jack about something I couldn’t hear, then at James. He was inspecting my camera, trying to figure out how it worked. He looked up at me and gave an uplifting smile. I gave a tired grin and closed my eyes as I laid my head on his shoulder. The cool, night air from the open window was comforting and the road was quiet and peaceful. I looked at the clock on the dashboard. 11:36pm. I felt my eyelids get heavier and slowly close again. I fell asleep to the smooth car ride, the refreshing night air, the smell of Adam’s cigarette, and the comfort of James’ shoulder. The night was almost resplendent. Little did I know that that was the best night I’d have for a long time.