Vote - Comment - Share (You don't have to but please do, I'd really appreciate it!)

- - - -

- - - -

evangeline blackwood

••••••••

"Morgan, I don't know what to do. She's dying."

"She's going to be good, she's strong. C'mon, Darlin', keep fighting."

"The ambulance are coming."

••••••••

"There's no pulse. Get the defibrillator."

"Morgan, I can't lose her. God, I can't lose her too."

"Again!"

"Come on, Eva. Wake up for me, please."

••••••••

"Where's my fucking daughter? I swear to fuck if she's dead, I will kill every single one of the bastards who ever hurt her."

"Sir, please calm down."

"She's my baby girl. I need to see her."

••••••••

"Mister, you can't be in here. It's family only."

"He is family."

••••••••

"I couldn't protect her, Sir, I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Donnie. I just want to know who did this to her."

"Mr Blackwood, I promise you that I'll get justice for Eva."

"I can't lose her, not after Jonah."

••••••••

Darkness.

I blink, opening my eyes to be submerged entirely in overwhelming brightness. The lights of the hospital room reminds me of harder times and I just want to leave.

It takes me a second to remember exactly why I'm here.

I ignore the nurse that hurries over to me, checking the monitors. "Evangaline, look at me. Do you remember what happened?"

My eyes close as I try desperately to stop the tears that I knew were coming. "Yeah." I can't hold them in. I cover my face with my hands and cried until I heard my father's voice.

"Squirt?"

He hasn't called me that in years.

"Dad." I wince at the sound of my own voice and try to pull myself up. A sharp pain shoots through my abdomen and I shout out in pain.

"It's okay, Baby, don't move." Cami comes to my side, gripping my hand. She edges towards me hesitantly before wrapping her arms around me suddenly, careful to not touch my stomach. I hear shuffling, a door slamming shut and then her eyes meet my Dads.

"What?"

"Donnie's just left." She says, "He's been here since you came in, didn't leave once but he just did."

"Would've liked to have been told about the lad, Evan." My Dad says in his father voice, "And have met him under different circumstances."

I stay silent until I realise why he left. "Dad, he's going to get himself hurt. You gotta stop him." I start coughing, feeling my throat go incredibly coarse.

"Who's he going after, Evan?" My Mum questions. She's on her own, I realise, Jace isn't here.

"Where's Mum?" I ask her, but she ignores my questions.

"Who?"

"The people who put me here." I don't want to say it, I don't want it to be real.

"Who did this to you, Squirt?" My Dads on my other side. Anxiety courses through my veins.

They love him like a son. They took him in when he had nothing

"Logan." I whisper, before saying it again louder. "Logan."

I clench my eyes shut, not wanting to know their reactions.

"Logan did this to you, alone?" My Mum speaks first, her words unusually quiet.

"He was with three kids: Michael Jacobsen, Karis Crookes and Mohammed Osman."

"And they are?" I open my eyes to see my furrowed eyebrows.

If anybody ever hurts you, little sister, you bring them down to their motherfucking knees and make them pay for what they did to you. You make them bow.

"They're the people who killed Jonah."

"What?" There it is. The confusion, the pain, the grief.

"They're the ones who killed Jonah and they wanted Logan to kill me."

"And Donnie knows that?"

"No..." I pause, my head spinning. "He knows Logan's been threatening me and that Morgan knows who hurt Jonah. If they put that connection together, he'll try to even the playing field."

There's a knock on the door and I see Ashanti's braids through the window. My Mum and Dad give each other a look and then my Mum goes outside, probably to tell Ashanti what happened.

It's takes a minute or so but as Ashanti walks into the room, my Mum and Dad walk out to probably give us some space.

"Why didn't you tell me you was in danger? Do you have a death wish?" She screeched instantly, I noticed tears in her red-rimmed eyes. "You could've died!"

"I don't-"

"Stop." Ashanti cuts me off, pushing her braids out of her face. "Just stop." Her anger was gone. She slumped on the far wall, exhausted. My heart stinged as I see the tole that my attack has had on her.

"I'm okay, 'Ti. I promise." I take a deep breath, "I want to know what's going on."

"Apollo, Morgan and Donnie have disappeared. Rory and Phoenix don't know where they are." She hesitates, "I was with Morgan when we got that phone call, he left instantly and I haven't spoken to him."

"Where'd he go?"

"I think he's searching. I know he waited for you to wake up so Donnie would actually leave the hospital."

"You need to find them, 'Shanti. They can't get hurt too." I try to control the break in my voice but it doesn't work. Her eyes are fixtated on my stomach, where I knew there were stitches under my robe. They ached and they burnt, reminding me of what exactly had happened.

"Who did this, E?" She asks quietly, her sad eyes begging me to tell her.

I swallow, "I can't...Morgan knows. Ask him, please. I can't say their names again."

Ashanti walks up to me slowly, with her hands held up before she pulls me gently into a hug, cradling my head like you would do to a newborn. She rubs circles behind my ear and it doesn't take long for me to feel tears falling into my hair.

"I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you, man." She mumbles, "I can't lose you."

••••••••

Mum, Dad and Ashanti left a while ago. Ashanti was attempting to contact any of the Walkers and Morgan while my parents had to 'discuss' some things with the doctors.

My eyes flicker open as I notice a familiar figure sat across the room, on the chair beside the door.

He's sat staring at me. Like he's zoned out and can't find it in himself to look away.

"Stop looking at me like that." I speak up first, snapping him out of his daydream.

Logan Wildgust meets my eyes, before his gaze flickers to my stomach.

"You weren't lying, were you?" He almost croaks out, he sounds like he hasn't drank anything in days. "About Jonah's death?"

I kept going back to him, kept fighting for him. If he knew me as well as I thought he did, he wouldn't ever question me. Adonis told to me that our friendship would end with me getting burnt and it did, I just didn't believe him.

"Why would I lie about that? Even Michael said it." I muttered, looking away from him.

"I thought you were lying, that Michael was just toying with you."

"I wish I was." I bite my lip, internally begging for my parents to come back as soon as possible. I don't like this.

Michael, or Karis, or Mo could come back at any moment. Finish the job.

I don't want to die.

"You were screaming in your sleep." He says and I freeze. "I think you were remembering it."

"How do you know it was Jonah's stabbing and not my own?" I reply snidely, ignoring the way he flinched back at the venom in my tone.

"Because you kept saying Jonah's name...and telling Michael to stop."

"Fuck." I say under my breath.

"Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"Would it have changed anything?" I gesture to the room.

"Probably not." He admits, pausing for a second.

He stands up and takes a few steps closer to the bed.

"Don't." I try to push myself closer to the bed frame, as far away from him as possible, my heart rate speeding up considerably. Panic began to build up in my stomach. "Logan, don't."

Pain erupts around my stomach, I bite my lip to suppress any cries of pain but I stop trying to increase the distance between us.

He holds his hands up behind his head, taking a step closer.

"You're scared of me." His eyebrows furrow, eyes squinting.

"I didn't think you'd do it." I whimper, a lump clogging my throat.

I never thought he'd hurt me. No matter what.

But he fucking did.

I notice how he looks then. The bags under his eyes are dark, as though he hadn't slept in days. Bloodshot eyes and the same clothes as those he had on the day he stabbed me.

"I'm sorry, I had to." His voice breaks and it takes everything in me to not start crying.

"No, you didn't."

"I did..I did. We just..we just wanted to scare you. This is their fault. This is on them. It's not on me, no, no, no, no." He trails off, his body beginning to shake. "I didn't want to hurt you, you're my family. I didn't...I didn't. I'm not like them, I'm not."

"Don't say we." I clenched my fists, digging my fingernails into the palm of my hand. "Logan, you...you did this to me." My chest tightens as bile rises in my burning throat. My heart thuds in my chest, again and again and again. "They...They said." I can't breathe. I can't. I can't. I can't.

"Evan, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The tears turn to flames, burning and scaring my cheeks as Logan Wildgust falls right in front of me.

"I could've died." I panted, attempting pathetically to steady my erratic breathing. "I could've died and Atlas would've lost his brother and his sister. That would be on you."

"What do you want me to do, Evan?" His fingers interlock, mimicking that of a praying hand, and his hands tucked under his chin. "I'll do anything, anything you want to make it better. Please, E."

"My name is Evangeline and I want you to stay as far away from me as possible." It hurts, physically and mentally, saying that. My tears aren't just for me at that moment in time. They're for Jonah, and Ashanti, and Atlas, and Logan. "You fucked up, and you know that. I understand you're sorry, trust me I do. But you being remorseful doesn't change what you did, it doesn't change how scared I am to be in the same room as you. I told you once that everyone's got limits, lines that you can cross but never come back over. Like Julian with me...You crossed my line and now I want you to stay on the other side of it, as far away from me as humanly possible."

"Okay, Evangeline." He nods his head, accepting my words.

"I'll always love you like a brother, Lo. That'll never change, but I'll never be able to forget this."

"I understand." I see my Dad through the window, but I try to not to draw Logan's attention to him as I watch him rush to get security. It was only then that I noticed the blood coating Logan's shirt. "Can I...Can I hug you?"

"Yeah."

He won't hurt me. He won't hurt me. He won't hurt me.

Logan takes the necessary steps closer to me and wraps his arms around me, leaning his head into the crook of my neck. I kiss his cheek, feeling the tears commence again as the door opens and two security guards, my father and Ashanti walk in.

"Step away from my daughter." I've never heard my father sound so callous, it sends goosebumps down my spine. Logan, however, does so wordlessly and without argument, once again placing both hands on the back of his head and allowing them to handcuff him.

I watch them lead him out of the room, refusing to show any physical signs that this ordeal is affecting me in any shape or form.

Ashanti watches him walk too, with her hand to her mouth and tears dripping down her face.

Confession: I need to learn that just because you want someone in your life, it doesn't mean they should stay. A snake who sheds it's skin is still a snake, someone should've told me that.