Part 5 of Chap. 1

“Blake!” Blake turned around swiftly, to see Alana’s mother waving him over, her face pale and her eyelids drooping.

“Mrs. Flannigan! Are you alright?” asked Blake, giving her a reassuring hug.

“She’s been in there for apparently almost an hour. I got called twenty minutes ago and the only person I’ve talked to is Dr. Kappa, who called you, right?”

“Yeah, she’s the one. Do you have any idea what happened?”

“The doctor said that they found her crushed under her motorcycle and that there was an overturned truck on the other side of the street and a bunch of other minor car crashes surrounding that. I’m pretty sure she was leaving Dane’s house,” said Mrs. Flannigan, tears forming in her eyes. “Come, I’ll bring you to the waiting room.”

Nearly doing a double-take, Blake felt dizzy from realizing that what had happened was exactly what he had seen. Steadying himself on the closest wall, he followed Alana’s mother into the waiting room, where he father was pacing back and forth, shock clearly written across his face. He turned and saw Blake, a sad smile peeking out of the corner of his lips.

“Blake, how are you?”

“Pretty much as shocked as everyone else is I guess. I can’t help but feel that it’s my fault though…”

“Don’t put pressure on yourself, it’s only an accident,” Mrs. Flannigan said, trying to take some un deserved guilt off Blake’s shoulders.

“But I knew about the wind warnings, I should never have let her leave my place.”

“Oh, Blake, I didn’t even know she was going over.” She gave Blake another hug, and he winced noticeably. “What’s wrong? Oh my goodness! What happened to your arm?”

“Nothing as bad as what I think Alana’s going through…” Blake left it at that, and sat down on one of the chairs when a thought occurred to him. “Where’s Dane?”

“We called him about half an hour ago. I think he should’ve been here by now, the road’s aren’t that bad,” Alana’s father said pointedly.

At that moment they heard two people arguing down the hall, Blake jumped to his feet and peered around the corner, seeing Dane trying to be held back by a doctor.

“My girlfriend’s in there!” he urged madly.

“I don’t care, it’s family only down this hall!” the doctor said, his face reddening with frustration.

“Doctor, it’s okay, let him come. I’m his girlfriend’s father, he should be here,” said Mr. Flannigan, more signs of stress creasing his brow.

The doctor gave him a look of uncertainty, then shrugged and took off towards his own business as Dane walked slowly towards them.

“Mr. and Mrs. Flannigan, Blake! How is she?” Dane asked, his dark brown eyes slightly dilated.

“She’s in critical condition Dane. How the hell do you think she is?” Alana’s father said angrily.

“Kevin, take it easy, you don’t need any more stress on you now,” said Mrs. Flannigan, softly rubbing her husband’s back and motioning for him to sit down. She gave Blake a pleading look, and sat down beside her husband.

“Come on, we’ll get some fresh air Dane,” Blake said, motioning for the two of them to leave the parents alone.

Dane nodded airily, and followed Blake down the hall and towards the elevator shaft. They went outside in silence, Blake realized that he was no longer shivering, and he looked up at the many hospital windows, wondering how Alana was doing. Dane had turned around, and he heard a faint click, and Dane toss his hand to his mouth, and then shove it in his pocket.

“Dane, what are you doing?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing, I was just yawning,” Dane replied, stepping ahead of Blake and heading back indoors. “I’m cold, I’m going back inside.”

Blake shook his head, and followed Dane back indoors. As they went up the elevator, Blake heard the faint click sound again, and saw Dane swallow something this time. Fury building inside him, he thought of the image of Dane hitting Alana again. As they walked down the hall, Blake stopped Dane, and pushed him against the wall. Dane’s eyes were almost purely pupil and no iris, and he looked at Blake, uncomprehending.

“Are you on drugs Dane?” Blake shouted angrily.

“What the hell are you talking about man?” Dane said, pushing Blake back.

“I just saw you swallow those pills twice within the last five minutes! What the hell are you doing?”

“What the hell is it to you? My life is none of your business!”

Blake turned around and clutched his hair with his left hand. Touching the string around his neck, he turned around and shoved Dane again. He hit the wall harder this time, and got winded from impact.

“What do you think the doctor’s are going to say when they realize the bruises she has aren’t just from the crash. What then Dane?”

“What are you implying?” Dane asked, standing up straight. He was a few inches taller than Blake, but that didn’t intimidate him.

“You know what I’m implying. You think that you can just cover abuse with long sleeves and pants? What about the bruise on her face Dane? How many more car crashes does she need to have to cover up what you do?”

“How the f*** do you know about that?” Dane yelled, the drugs finally taking effect on him.

He took a swing at Blake, who dodged the blow and caught Dane’s fist instead. Pushing him back against the wall, he took a step back, holding his broken wrist that was now burning with pain.

“What on earth’s going on here?” Mrs. Flannigan cried, coming out from the waiting room.

“Yeah, what’s happening here Dane? Care to explain the bruises on her daughter?” Blake said furiously.

“Blake? What’s wrong?” Alana’s mother asked shakily, her eyes darting between the two young men in front of her.

“Nothing’s wrong Mrs. Flannigan,” Dane said impatiently.

“Nothing’s wrong? Then why are you on drugs Dane? Why are you abusing their daughter? Why don’t you care about her being in the hospital as much as we do?”

Dane cried out angrily, and swung at Blake again. The drugs were taking a stronger effect on him, making his motions sloppy and not as precise as they would’ve been. Blake punched Dane in the face, and Dane shouted in pain, clutching his cheek with one hand and swinging at Blake with the other. He missed where he wanted to hit, and hit Blake’s cast instead.
Blinding pain flashed through Blake’s eyes, and he stumbled back a few feet.

“Kevin! Kevin come here please!” Alana’s mother shouted, frightened, as more tears fell down her already tear-stained cheeks.

“What’s wrong Sarah?” he said, coming out of the waiting room and seeing Blake and Dane glaring at each other furiously. Dane charged at Blake, who kicked Dane in the stomach. Dane doubled over onto the ground, a sign of giving up. A doctor came out of his office, hearing the ruckus, and rushed up to Dane who was wheezing on the ground.

“What the hell happened?” he asked, staring up at Blake.

“Dane there is currently drugged and lunged at me when I denounced him of abusing their daughter,” Blake said, pointing towards Alana’s parents.

“What?!” roared Alana’s father. “Dane, get the hell out of my sight, now before I kill you.”

“Sir, please calm down. He needs to be seen by a doctor, I think his cheekbone is broken.”

“That’s the least of his worries now. Oh, I’m going to press charges on you so hard you won’t know what happened to the rest of your sorry life.”

“Sir, please, calm down. If not for me then at least for your daughter and the other patients in this ICU wing.”

“Don’t you bring my daughter into this!”

“Mr. Flannigan, come on, we’ll go back into the waiting room, that way you won’t have to see him anymore, agreed?” Blake asked, holding
Alana’s father back.

He nodded, and turned around on his heel and clenched his fists as he tried to calm down. Mrs. Flannigan sobbed into her husband’s chest, and Blake caressed his arm and looked at his friend’s parents.

“I’m really sorry, I hadn’t meant for it to get that much out of hand… Or for you to find out that way,” Blake said apologetically. They weren’t paying attention to him, too focused on the well-being of their daughter, now more guilt weighing down their shoulders.

“Clear!” shouted a voice from inside the room.

The three waiting outside patiently for Alana jumped upright, and Blake tried to calm himself down and not shake again.

“Clear!”

Silence followed the second shout, and Mrs. Flannigan bit her quivering lip as she dug her fingers into her husband’s arm, who was looking quite pale himself. Blake rose to walk towards them and console them, but stopped when a doctor came out of the room, trying not to cry herself. Blake sank back down in his chair, and Mrs. Flannigan sobbed even harder.

“Estimated time of death, 2:19,” said a surgeon from inside the room.