Chapter 56 - a panicky realisation

Maria

A nurse wake me up from my little slumber.

"Young lady, you can enter and the the patient now." The nurse informed.

I burst into Alex's hospital room, my eyes swollen from weeping. One look at Alex's mother stricken face told me she knew - this attack was meant for me, not her innocent son. The nurse informed her. I didn't blame her every mother is protective of her son.

Seeing Alex lying there so pale and lifeless, guilt threatened to swallow me whole. My best friend could die because of my weakness. The blood staining his bandages may as well have been on my hands.

I tried to explain to her through heaving sobs. "It was Archer...he came for me but Alex jumped in the way..."

She stared at me with such grief it was unbearable. I wanted her to scream at me, punish me for destroying her only child. Instead she pulled me close as we both shook with anguished cries.

"Shh darling, just breathe," she whispered, stroking my hair. I didn't deserve her empathy when this was all my fault