CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR: YOU DON'T REMEMBER, DO YOU?

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with a very confused look around the room at her surroundings, elsie groggily asked jj, "what happened?"

"i don't know, darlin'. just how much alcohol did you drink last night?" the boy eyed his girlfriend, who still looked sickly pale. elsie tried to think of an answer to his question, but she could barely remember. nothing of the previous night was coming to her brain. "you don't remember, do you?" jj's eyed her, knowing that she probably had more to drink that he hadn't known about.

"i really don't, but i feel like there was something bad that happened, t-that caused me to be like that, y-you know? to drink a lot?" elsie innocently responded, completely clueless.

"john b and sarah, they-" jj trailed off before a doctor came into the hospital room, interrupting them.

"hello elsie, how are you feeling?" the middle-aged man inquired. "i'm dr. smith."

elsie simply shrugged, "could be better i guess. can i ask, what the hell is going on?"

"that's what i'm actually here to talk to you about. first of all, we have been unable to contact any family members," he explained, which was anything but surprising for the teenage girl. elsie's aunt never answered the phone. "i assume the answer is yes, but do you give consent for this young man to know your medical information and visit you? it's protocol."

"of course, yes."

"alright, good. now that that's out of the way, we ran many tests. you went unconscious for a decent amount of time. and we happened to figure out that this was because of a large amount of alcohol consumed at one time. but in addition to that, we found underlying issues from drinking a lot over time. you know, for a child your age-"

"yes, i know it's bad," elsie stopped the doctor. she didn't need to hear a lecture; hell, that wasn't going to help her. "believe me, i'm aware."

"i don't doubt that, elsie. but it has caused internal issues to parts of your body. like your liver. with how small you are, and how young you are, it just makes it that much worse. you just turned 16 two months ago. i'm not trying to be harsh, but it's got to stop. there's no other way."

"or what, i'm gonna die?" the girl replied, sitting back in the bed.

"don't talk like that, darlin," jj chimed in, just the thought of that causing him to be uneasy.

"listen, elsie," the doctor dismissed her question, seeming more sympathetic. "you're a teenager, you're gonna drink. i get that. for your own good though, you've gotta cut down. a lot. and i can tell that you don't only drink. is that right?"

"sure, yeah-- whatever," the girl shook her head, there not being any point as to denying the fact that she was not only had alcohol coursing through her veins, but drugs too. the blonde next to her looked at his feet, almost as if he was trying to ignore it. "so um-- how long do you think i'll be staying here?"

"it all depends. that's the answer i'll give you right now," the man made his way out of the room, leaving the two lovers alone. jj then eyed the girl.

"how are you actually feeling?" he asked elsie, knowing her all too well. "and d-don't give me some bullshit answer, darlin."

"my head is fucking pounding," she responded with a light chuckle.

"you can't lie about shit being alright, especially now. maybe you should get some rest."

"okay, j. i think i will," she let out a small nod as jj ran his hand along her cheek lovingly. he knew that she had to be in pain. usually, she would protest against going to sleep, but she agreed immediately.

"i love you baby girl," he gently kissed her lips, his hand holding the back of her neck.

"i love you more blondie."

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flashback to the night before

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elsie woke up abruptly, hot tears stinging the sunburn on her cheeks. she had been having a nightmare, but it wasn't a nightmare. it was simply a rendered version of the traumatic events the pogues went through just hours before. with that came more silent tears that had failed to escape her eyes when everything initially went down.

careful to not wake the blonde pogue boy up, elsie tiptoed to the kitchen, finding a bottle of vodka. "i need something to take it away," she whispered to nobody but herself before opening up the alcohol. holding the bottle in her hand, she took a long swig of the beverage that burned her throat on the way down.

it didn't take long for elsie to begin to feel the haze she came to know and love, despite how awful it was for her. naturally, she took another large sip, and before she knew it, half of the originally unopened liquor was gone.

shockingly, even under the influence, elsie still was slightest bit herself. so, the girl carefully walked back to the bedroom, being sure to not trip. but by accident, she had managed to bang her head on the way there. groaning slightly, she slipped back into the bed. jj wouldn't know a thing. or at least she thought.

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kiara, jj, and pope all sat in the wreck, pope wondering why he was called here.

"why are there only three of us here, jj?" pope rubbed his eyes; it seemed like he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. "where's elsie?"

"well, to answer your question, she's in the-- hospital, pope," jj slowly spoke, not wanting him to get overly worked up.

"but before you flip, she's alright! right jj?" kiara chimed in, knowing they needed to explain fast before pope started firing questions. "right?"

"yes, for now. she'll be okay."

"wait," pope intervened. "why do both of you know?"

"well, i needed to talk to someone. and i knew that kie had electricity living on figure eight and all. besides, i barely wanted to call her with everything going on-"

"you mean the fact that john b and sarah are dead, and now our other friend, not to mention your girlfriend is staying at the hospital?" pope rose from his chair in frustration. jj bit his lip and nodded slightly; he pretty much summed it up. "what the hell even happened anyway?"

"alcohol poisoning," jj huffed, fiddling with a ring on his thumb. "we drank last night, but not even that much compared to usual. she had to of-- i don't know. got up in the middle of the night or something."

"did she tell you that she did?" kiara inquired.

"she doesn't fucking remember," jj retorted, "anything from last night. i didn't get a long chance to really talk to her. i don't even know if she remembers about-"

"jb and sarah," pope finished for the blonde boy, causing them all to sigh.

"now i don't know, okay? but she said that something bad happened which caused her to drink a bunch of alcohol."

"holy fucking shit," kiara ran her hands through her hair, "if that's the case, how are you supposed to tell the girl 'hey, two of our friends are dead', you know?"

"she's not clueless," pope contradicted, "she might remember bits and pieces. she had just woken up after being unconscious for-- who knows how many hours? maybe it just didn't come to her right away."

"exactly!" jj pointed at the boy, appreciating him thinking positively on the situation that seemed so bad.

"i hate to be negative, but it feels really fucking weird with only the three of us," kie let out, stating the obvious that the boys were choosing to ignore.

"don't worry, kie. she'll be out of that shitshow soon, i promise ya."

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