Chapter 16- Consoler of the Lonely

 When Eli and I arrived at hospital they put us in a room and told us to wait until a doctor comes in. We both sat on one bed, still holding hands. It turns out that nothing was wrong with me except that I had two broken ribs and a lot of bruises. They also found out about my cutting habit. Eli had a fractured arm, bruised ribs from Aarons' accomplices, and minor cut and bruises. The medics also found out that both of us were still higher than kites. I sighed and glanced at the clock hanging by the TV, it was 9:37.
‘Are you okay?’ I jumped at Eli’s voice and turned to look at him. When my dad was still living with us and times were good, we were the two demon partners. We would throw eggs at people’s house during Halloween, we would steal things from stores and cause mayhem at public events. There was one time during the Christmas parade when we had caught all sorts of birds, frogs, snakes, and mice. We set them free into the crowd and sat on the public library steps to watch people screaming and horses rearing up at fear of the creatures and loud noises. Or during the July 4^th fireworks display when we threw explosives at little kids and watched them scream and go running towards their parents. What happened to those good times? ‘Alice?’
Eli was waving his hand in front of my face, I focused back at him. ‘What?’
‘Are you okay?’ he repeated, stroking my hand with his thumb. I detached myself from him and lean back to lay down. ‘You’ve hardly said anything since we got here.’
‘Today hasn’t really been a good day for me, Eli. Ravez is furious at me, Noah is scarred for life, Mom is gone, you are here and hurt. I’m about to be sent to the Centers because of my cutting habit. My world has officially been stomped into the ground.’
Eli looked at me thoughtfully, ‘Everything is going to be okay, you’ll see.’ I just closed my eyes and waited for the doctor to come in.
We he did finally came in ten minutes later he introduced himself . ‘I’m Dr. Greenland. Now, we have decided to discharge you two. Ms. Autumns you will be directed by one of our nurses to the Centers and stay there overnight for evaluation.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with me Doc. I’m fine.’
‘There’s nothing fine with injuring yourself, it’s protocol anyways. You will be going under psychiatric evaluation,’ he stated.
‘That’s just lovely,’ I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
He ignored my comment and continued, ‘The nurse will be in here with the discharge papers for you to sign. When he comes to get you,’ he pointed at me, ‘you must give him all your clothes and jewelry. He will give you something to wear.’
‘Ohmygod people. I’m not going kill myself!’
‘I‘m sorry, but that‘s the way it has to be. Goodnight to you both,’ he said walked out without another word. I slammed my head back down onto the bed.
‘Ugh! Why is my life so stressful?!’
‘None of this is your fault, Ali,’ Eli said gently caressing my arm and laying down next to me.
‘It feels like it,’ I mumbled, on the verge of tears for the millionth time that day. God, I feel like a baby. ‘I feel like I let you and Noah down. I should have just took the chance and told the lady on the phone the truth. Raven wouldn’t have gotten hurt and wouldn’t have found out about us, you wouldn’t have had to get off work.’
‘You did what you had to. I’m fine, I took my own risk. Raven is okay, at least he didn’t break her leg. You have to think on the positive side. Everyone is just caught up in the moment, once this all blows over everything will go back to normal.’
I was quiet for a minute, ‘… You promise?’
‘With all my heart,’ he whispered, kissing the back of my head. I closed my eyes and was content. I had him with me at least. I turned around and cuddled up against his warm body. ‘Alice?’ I opened my eyes and looked up at him, he just looked back as if deep into my soul. ‘I love you…’ He adjusted himself. I guess he wasn’t expecting me to say anything back.
I closed my eyes and nuzzled against his chest, ‘I love you to,’ I whispered before drifting off to sleep.