The pain was unimaginable. Every nerve in my body screamed, my brain throbbed against my skull and my heart was beating so fast I thought I it was going to go into overdrive.
Everything hurt and then…nothing.

This was it. I was dead. It’s different than what I imagined. It was like…nothing at all. There was nothing to see, it was just like I was lost in my thoughts. Except…what was that beeping? It was steady, almost soothing.

“Sheridan.”

It was like being pulled from a dream. I felt myself leave the emptiness, my fingers brushed against something soft and warm. Whatever I touched moved suddenly and I felt the warmth on my face. My eyes felt like they had ten pounds of weight holding them down. My throat was dry, and as I finally got my eyes to flutter open I realized they felt like sandpaper too.

“Sheridan.”

The figure in front of me slowly came into focus. God, I felt awful. Zack was bent over the bed, he cradled face in his hands. I looked away from him and to my left. A pitcher sat on the bedside table. I wasn’t sure what was in it, but I was so thirsty.

Zack noticed my gaze and reached for the pitcher and filled the cup up with water. “Yeah, that’s probably the hangover making your mouth dry,” Zack told me as he brought the water to my lips. “They have you on fluids, but…”

I didn’t hear the rest of what he said. Instead, I looked around at my surroundings. I was in a hospital. Suddenly, I remembered what happened and sat up.

“Hey, slow down,” Zack cautioned.

“My mom…”

Zack bit his lip. “Uh, Sheridan…your mom was going super fast. Matt and I had a really hard time following you guys in Val’s car. By the time we got to you guys…your mom had crashed the car. Um, she was ejected from the car and well, baby, she…there was no way she could have made it. The impact through the windshield killer her, probably instantly.”

“What?” I ask, shaking my head. “She’s not…she can’t be.”

“I’m sorry. Matt performed CPR but…she was gone.”

I felt like crying but the tears wouldn’t come. Both of my parents were dead, and I wasn’t even eighteen yet. “I was just getting to know her.”

Zack took my hand in his. “No, Sheridan. You’ve known who she was your entire life. These past few weeks…she’s an addict, she was always going to go back to using. It was only a matter of time.” I didn’t answer him. “Sheridan,” Zack said after a few long moments of silence, “I’m sorry.”

I nod and lay back down. “No, you’re right. I was stupid to believe she was better.”
Zack shakes his head. “No, you weren’t stupid just hopeful.”

I didn’t reply for a long time. Zack didn’t say anything else either, but he played with my fingers and in a way, it comforted me. “What happened after…that?”

Zack took a deep breath. “Well, I had a hard time pulling you out of the car. The airbags deployed, and the seatbelt was stuck…thank God you were wearing that seatbelt. I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you. After Matt uh, gave up with the CPR he came over and helped me. As soon as we got you out and away from the car, he went and called the paramedics. I was just…desperate to keep you alive. You wouldn’t wake up and it just…absolutely terrified me, but you were still breathing and after what felt like forever, the paramedics showed up.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, shaking my head. “You begged me not to get in the car and I did it anyway.”

“Hey, don’t you apologize,” Zack told me. “You did what you thought what you had to do. It’s not your fault that this happened.” I nod and he continues with the story. “So, we got you here and they took you back. It was hell getting them to tell me anything, but finally, I was able to trick one of them into thinking I was your brother. Um, you can’t really see it, but you have a couple of cuts on your face. When the airbag deployed it cracked some of your ribs and also caused a laceration on your spleen. Also, your wrist is broken. They think, maybe you tried to brace yourself for the crash and then the airbag deployed and hit it. I don’t know…they’re going to keep you for a few days to make sure you don’t have any delayed injuries.”

“Oh, okay,” I say trying to take it all in. I look down to see my wrist in a cast.

Zack looks like he wants to say something else but before he can, the nurse walks in. “Ms. Davis, you’re awake.”

“Yeah,” I mumble.

She flips through the pages on my chart. “Well, your numbers look good. I’ll have the doctor come in and talk to you about your injuries. How does the pain feel?”

I shake my head. “It’s tolerable.”

“Okay, well I will order some pain meds with something to help you sleep,” she tells me. “Has someone talked to your mom and what’s going to happen next?”

I swear I saw Zack sink into his seat out of the corner of my eye. “I know she’s dead, but that’s it,” I tell her.

She nods. “Okay,” she says as she jots something down. “Alright, well I’m going to go find the doctor and I will send him your way so he can answer any questions you may have. If you need anything, press the handheld remote to the left of your bed.”

She leaves and I turn to Zack. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He takes a deep breath. “I uh…I went to your house while they were seeing what was all wrong with you. I couldn’t just sit in the waiting room and wait. I would have gone crazy. So, I went and got you a bag with some of your things, some of your clothes and I made sure to get your journal. I know you write in it every night, especially when you had a rough day so I figured you could really use it.”

“Zack,” I press. Zack studied my face. I know he was looking for a way out of this, but I couldn’t let him. “Whatever it is, I need to hear it from you.”

He takes a deep breath, opens his mouth, and then closes it. He rubs his face with his hands before lacing my fingers with his. “Sheridan, unless he rejects it, Eli will be your legal guardian.”

“What?” I ask. “No, no. That can’t…I can’t…He can’t…” I couldn’t breathe.

“Sheridan, it’ll be okay. Your birthday is in like three months. We can make it through three months. I don’t know how but…I promise I’ll protect you.”

“Eli is gone for a week…I have a week to figure it out,” I say more to myself than to him. Zack face, however, told me a different story. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“He’s on his way back from New York,” Zack told me. “I don’t know how they got his number. I guess one of the cops knew who you were and…I don’t know. I just heard one of the
nurses saying that he would be here by morning.”

I shake my head. “Zack, what am I going to do?”

Zack shakes his head. “I’ll figure it out, okay? Maybe we can get you emancipated.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I say.

Zack doesn’t say anything else. We sit there in silence until the doctor comes in and announces that it’s time for Zack to go so I can get some rest. I wasn’t ready to get any rest, though. I had to come up with a plan.

“Can he stay, please?” I ask.

The doctor shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Davis but it’s against policy. You need your rest so your body can heal.”

Zack gives me a weak smile and leans over to kiss my forehead. “Get some sleep,” he tells me. “I’ll be back in the morning and I’ll have some answers for you, I promise.”

“Okay,” I reply softly. I felt like crying, I did not want him to leave.

Zack brings his lips to mine and I kiss him. I pull him closer to me and feel him smile against my lips. “I love you,” he tells me as he pulls away.

“I love you, too,” I reply.

I try to listen to the doctor as he gets me up to speed on everything that’s wrong with my body. He tells me a social worker will be here in the morning to talk to me and that they had gotten ahold of my brother. They said his flight would land around seven in the morning. He told me he was sorry for my loss and told me they had a grief counselor on staff if I needed someone to talk to. After I declined, he asked me if I had any more questions, I shook my head and he handed me a small clear cup with two pills inside.

“To help you sleep,” he tells me. He gives me a small smile and I try to return it as he turns to leave the room.

I look down at the small pills in my hand and sigh. I wished Zack was here, I didn’t want to be alone tonight. I didn’t want to be alone when Eli got here. I looked at the clock while setting the pills down on the bedside table, it was just after three in the mornings. I had four Eli-free hours left – four hours until my life went to total hell.

Notes

So she's alive! Yay! This chapter is really short, but the next chapter had to be its own chapter, so i couldn't combine them and i didn't want to fill this chapter up with stuff that didn't matter. Thank you so much for reading. The next chapter will be the last chapter and it MIGHT be posted tomorrow. Depends on if i feel like the majority of readers have read this one before then. Don't forget to comment, rate if you haven't already and subscribe so you don't miss the ending! Thanks again!

Thank you, countzackula6661 for being my sole commenter! You rock.

Title credit: You Me at Six “Take on the World”