M I L E S

The lights in the halls flicker. The hospital room begins to dim as the sun goes down. The only sound that can be heard is the beeping of the heart monitor and Ryan's light snoring beside me. Other than that, everyone and everything is silent. Too silent. Aria's room is on the second floor, and the lobby is just around the corner. There's no reason for the area to be so quiet. Usually, this floor has people running down the halls and such, but for some reason, it isn't like that tonight.

Even Hunter noticed the strange aura, though he didn't think much of it since he was too busy trying to beat Hailey at Go Fish. An hour later, and he still hasn't won a single round. Ryan would usually be the one to notice the silence first—and question it until he got an answer—but since he's out cold on the chair next to me, I'm the one who is itching to get answers.

"You're cheating, aren't you? There's no way I've lost this many times to a little girl. At a stupid card game, too."

Hailey throws the deck of cards at Hunt's face. Somehow, one of them ends up in his mouth but instead of spitting it out like a normal person would, he chews.

"Huh," he says, the card hanging out of his mouth. "Paper doesn't taste that bad."

"Ew," I scrunch my face. I don't remember Hunt ever being a goat. But really, it's not even surprising. Both he and Ryan will eat anything they're given—even if it's out of a dumpster.

"Ooh, really? Can I try?" Hailey grabs at a card and holds it midair.

"Sure." Hunt shrugs at the same time I yell, "No!". In one swift move, I rush over to the seven-year-old and snatch the card out of her grasp. Then I turn to my friend with a look of disbelief.

"Hunt, please don't ever have kids. You'd be a terrible father." I smack the back of his head and take Hailey's hand.

"You're so mean," He pouts and huffs like a child. I sigh just as my stomach growls. None of us have eaten since we got here, in the afternoon. Visiting hours doesn't end anytime soon, but as soon as it's eleven o'clock, the nurses would come to kick us out. I don't plan on going anywhere, though.

Ryan begins to stir, so Hailey takes the opportunity to jump onto his stomach. He bolts upright with a wince and lets out a string of curse words, but once he realizes Hailey's right there, he immediately shuts up and mutters an apology. "Could someone please explain why I was awoken from my nap?"

"Because hungry."

"Hailey, you need to work on your grammar." Ryan shoves her off his stomach in the most gentle way possible. She drops onto the floor and sprawls across it.

"Uh, what is she doing?" Hunt appears by my side and whispers into my ear, watching Hails lay there on the ground.

"I wish I knew," I say.

"Shhh," She scolds, closing her eyes. "I'm trying to communicate with the dead."

"Wha—"

"SHH!" She cuts Hunter off.

"Okay, geez. Sorry."

Yeah, no. I am not letting anyone conjure a bunch of demons in here, especially with Aria so vulnerable. I swoop Hailey up from the ground and drop her into Ry's arms. "You guys go downstairs and get some food."

"Why aren't you coming?" Hunt nudges me.

"I can't just leave Shortcake alone. What if someone sneaks in? What if she gets hurt? What if she wakes up, and no one's there? What if—"

"Dude, someone tried to kill her. I'm sure that's why this room has about a million automatic locks. And if she does wake up, we all know she'll probably just shrug and go to sleep. Chill out. Plus, isn't Joyce at home now? We can drop Hails off after we grab pizza or something. There are five hours left of visiting, anyway." 

"He's right, Miles." Ryan sets Hailey back down. "You're being a little bit too paranoid. She'll be fine. It's not like this is the first time you've left her alone."

"Yeah, but someone was always with her. Either my parents or her aunt and uncle, or her freaky friends." I glance at the hospital bed and sulk. Every time I look her way, I hope to see some sort of movement. A twitch, even. Anything. But that hasn't happened yet, not even once.

"You can borrow the car to come back here after we drop Hailey off. Now, come on." Ryan pushes me out the door. And just like that, we are already driving away from the hospital.

● ● ●

The second he drops his car keys in my hands, I shove Ryan out of the vehicle so I could get behind the wheel and drive back to the hospital.

"Hey! Where's my goodnight kiss, dude?" Ry puckers his lips and pokes his head into the open window.

I throw the first thing that I find at him. Turns out it was his GPS, so when he winces, I do too.

"There goes my beautiful face." He mutters, rubbing his nose. "Whatever, I'm too good for you, anyway. This relationship is toxic. What we had between us was special, but this can't go on. I'm sorry, Miles. I'm breaking up with you."

"Lizzy is going to be pissed when she finds out you've been "cheating" on her." I snort with an eye roll and push his head out of the car before driving off. My mind wanders and a million questions race around in my head, but I shrug them off. It's highly unlikely for anything to have happened in the span of four hours, right?

When I make it to the hospital, the sickening stench of blood hits my nose as soon as I enter. Nurses are running down the hall, pushing a stretcher in front of them. They pass right by me so I manage to catch a glimpse of the patient, but I instantly wish I didn't. The old man's face is slashed with what looks like claw marks, and so does his chest. The cuts are so deep that bone can be seen. I feel nauseous, but thankfully I don't throw up. What did that? It definitely wasn't a human. A cougar, maybe?

I shake my head and sign in at the front desk before walking into Aria's room. I wasn't expecting to see anyone else in here, so when I spot two figures looming over Shortcake's body, I'm even more shocked to see Paul and Lydia. They're supposed to be at work. What are they doing here? Something isn't right.

I notice their fingers are entangled and Lydia has her head rested on her husband's shoulder. Soft murmurs and sniffling are all I can hear from where I stand by the door, so I take a step back and knock. They jump at the sound and whirl around with startled faces.

"Hey, guys," I give them a small wave. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at work until late at night?"

Paul shakes his head while Lydia wipes away at her eyes. They look a bit swollen, giving off the impression that she's been crying a lot. I frown. What's going on?

"We both got a call from Dr. Rhodes. He was running another test and he just got the results back two hours ago . . . They weren't good." Lydia's voice cracks and the tears start trickling down her cheeks, unable to continue speaking.

"He's certain she's not going to wake up." Paul finishes, rubbing Lydia's back.

I feel like someone just reached in and ripped my heart out.

"N-No," I stutter, shaking my head violently. "No, you're lying. You have to be lying."

They don't say anything.

The world around me collapses, and suddenly it's just me and my thoughts. She's not going to wake up. Aria's not going to wake up. I hoped I'd never have to hear those words, yet here I am. My chest feels heavy and breathing becomes harder. How could I let this happen? Why did I think playing Tag in the woods was such a great idea?

It's my fault.

If I had caught up with her, if I had seen Mike coming at me, if I had been there, things would have been different. She wouldn't be stuck in a coma for the rest of her life. Now, I'll be here, watching the heart monitor until all it shows is a thin line. It's my fault. A lump forms in my throat as I slump against the wall and slide down, putting my head in my hands.

I hear the door shut beside me, indicating that the couple has left the room, except Lydia's sobs instantly stop once they're out the door. I don't think much of it, raising my head to look at the bed and my vision becomes blurry. I drag myself to the chair and pull it closer to the bed. I plop down and rest my head on her shoulder, then take her hand and entwine our fingers.

It's my fault.

"I'm sorry, Shortcake," I whisper, closing my eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to save you. I'm sorry for being a jerk to you when we first met."

My gaze shifts to all the tubes around her, but I notice something is different. Some of the tubes aren't attached to her anymore. Does she not need them anymore? That's . . . strange. My brows furrow. I stare at the ceiling and remain quiet for a few moments, lost in thought until I speak again.

"They said you won't wake up. Who am I supposed to bug every lunch? Who am I supposed to solve this mystery with? Who am I supposed to be a troublemaker with?" I hide my face in the crook of her neck and squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to keep the tears from falling. A few managing to slip out. Why did this have to happen? Why is the world so cruel? Why did it have to be her? Why couldn't I be the one who had to be stuck? Breathing, but not living. She doesn't deserve it. "Please, wake up. Please don't leave me alone. I-I'm in love with you, Shortcake. I can't live with the fact that you'll never wake up. You can prank me all you want. You can get back at me for telling you I'll make you a banana smoothie but then I used egg yolks instead of bananas last month. Please, please d—"

"That was disgusting."

What?

My eyes fly open at the sound of her voice? Am I dreaming? I lift my head to look at her angelic face. Sure enough, that beautiful smile is on her face and her eyes are twinkling with mischief and amusement. She's awake.

Wait, she's awake???

"You're awake?" My jaw hangs open.

"No, I'm dead."

"So . . . you're a demon?"

"Are you still scared of them?"

". . . Maybe?"

"Then, yes." I missed her.

I can't fight back the grin that takes its place on my lips. "You heard everything I said, didn't you? You were awake that whole time?"

She nods. "I woke up a while ago—three hours ago, I think—but when no one was here and I realized I was in a hospital, I just went back to sleep. What else was I supposed to do? My arms are too short to reach the button thing that calls the nurses so I just waited until someone—" She suddenly stops talking, but only for a second after she draws in a sharp breath. "—came. Some doctor came in, finally. The look on his face was funny. He called in my aunt and uncle, and from there I was told you'd be back to visit me, so I kind of bribed everyone into helping me with a tiny prank."

Seriously?

Speechless. I'm speechless. I feel angry. Annoyed. Shocked. Confused. Happy. Relieved.

"That was too far, Aria. Do you have any idea how this affected me? It drove me crazy." I frown and stand up, never breaking eye contact with her.

"I know. I'm sorry. Wait," Her breath hitches again. "no, I'm not sorry. At all. My prank got you to confess. That was adorable."

She reaches out to boop my nose. Why does everyone keep saying that? When I don't react, Aria pouts. Oh, no.

"Are you mad at me?"

Yeah, I'm mad. But not at her. I could never be mad at her. I'm mad at myself. She's the strongest person I know. How could I believe she wasn't going to wake up?

I shake my head. "No, Shortcake. Never."

She scoots over, wincing a bit as she does so. She pats the empty space beside her, so I sit on the small bed next to her with our heads leaning against each other's.

"Where does it hurt most?" I ask, entangling our fingers once again.

Shortcake closes her eyes and whispers, "My chest. It's harder to breathe because my lung is still healing . . . but other than that, I'm okay, I guess. One of the nurses gave me painkillers earlier."

I wish I could take away her pain. If I could, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I can't.

"Hey, Miles?" Her voice is raspy and her eyes become droopy. She looks like she's about to fall asleep any second now.

"Hmm?" I hum in response, letting go of her hand so I can play with her hair.

She smiles. "I'm in love with you."

The blaring beeps from the heart monitor are a little faster than they were before as she gives in to sleep. I press my lips to her temple and feel her lean into my touch. For some reason, knowing that her heart is beating as fast as mine makes me happier than I've ever felt before.

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AHHHHHH MY BABIES ARE SO GROWN UP 😭❤ THEY FINALLY SAID IT! AHHHHHH 😭😭 Was it too soon? Let me know XD So I attempted to make this chapter a bit sad, but I don't think it's the best lmao. I guess I just wasn't feeling it. Anyways, Aria's awake! Guys, I'm not that mean, I swear. I wouldn't kill off my child like that. You all think so low of me :/ Meanies.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: I updated the character aesthetics, so go check that out if you wanna!

Soo, guess wha? Today's mah bestie's birthday, peeps! MistyEyedMermaid This chapter is another gift to you ;)

Happy birthday, my love ❤ At this point, I have written like 300000 thingies to you wishing you happy birthday, but honestly, I could go on forever about how much I love you. Words cannot describe how much you mean to me, and I know that's really cheesy, but it's the truth. You've been by my side since the third grade, and even after I hit your face with that chunk of ice when we were playing soccer with it, you are still my friend. I remember how I burst into tears and practically ran away, since I couldn't bear the thought of you getting hurt because of me. You're like my other half. And no, you're not perfect. No one is. Perfect doesn't exist. But that's what makes you, you. Please, just be yourself. No matter what anyone tells you, just be yourself. Oh, and, did you actually like that gelato? You're stuck with me till the end, by the way. So even if you didn't like the gelato, I'm not going to stop shoving samples of different flavours into your mouth until you find your favourite, even if we're crazy old ladies.

P.S Twelve is still better than thirteen.

If you don't follow Misty, go follow her. Like, now. And if you wish, go read her awesome, unique story called "Anti Social Siren" ;)

Chloe ❤