It doesn’t take long before we arrive at the hospital. Naser never slowed down as he weaved through traffic to get here. I see the ambulance parked out front but neither Trish nor Reed are in sight. I hope they got her here fast enough to save her from…well, whatever the fuck she did to herself. Naser is already out the door but Anon just stares at his feet. I put a hand on his shoulder and he looks in my direction. The guilt is written all over his face and I know that nothing I can say right now will help him. We just need to get in there to help Reed. He does not need to be alone during this, no matter what happens.

“Come on, Anon.” I unbuckle his seatbelt and pull it over his shoulder. “Reed is in there and he needs us.” I step outside the car and tug on him. He eventually gets out of the car, limply shutting the door behind him as he stares at the ground.

“Anon, please…don’t beat yourself up over this. You had no idea that she was going to do that, none of us did.” I wrap a wing around his back, taking his hand in mine as he slowly walks with me. He doesn’t say a word; the only sounds he makes are a few heavy sighs as he stares a million miles away. Naser is waiting by the door, a mournful frown on his face as he takes in the sorry sight of Anon. I haven’t seen him this miserable since the day I nearly died.

Naser sighs and stops us at the door. I look at him, confused, as he puts both his hands on Anon’s shoulders. “Anon. Stop it, right now.”

Anon snaps out of his funk to stare directly into Naser’s piercing eyes. “What?”

Naser doesn’t break his laser-focused gaze as he shakes his head. “You did not do this. This is not your fault and you will not sit here and beat the shit out of yourself over this. Whatever Trish has done is her fault and hers alone.” He lets go of Anon and points a finger at Anon’s chest. “All you did was try to help two friends reconnect, giving her a chance to make up for shit. Nothing you did was wrong and there’s nothing you could have done to stop what happened. Hell, you might have just saved her life if the docs can help.”

Anon struggles to speak at first before sighing. “I mean…fuck. I guess you’re right. Just really sucks that she did that. Man, I hope they can help her…whatever the fuck she did, anyway. Did you guys see all those cuts on her? Fucking hell…I don’t want to know what she’s been doing.”

My hand finds Anon’s again as I lean against his shoulder. “Whatever she’s been doing, it hasn’t been good. I just hope that it isn’t permanent.” Anon squeezes my hand and Naser nods before we step inside the hospital. It’s pretty late at night so the waiting room is largely empty save for the telltale pink shape of Reed sitting in a corner. He looks a wreck; his hair is a tangled mess, his eyes are bloodshot, and there is blood on his tank top. He sits there slowly twisting his tail in his hands, a few feathers falling to the ground, knocked loose by his anxious movements.

“Hey Reed…” I say and he looks up at me. There is so much pain in his eyes as he struggles to keep his focus. Poor Reed, he has never had to deal with something as terrible as this. He spends most of his time just going where the carfe takes him…now he’s been violently pulled into hell and he’s completely out of his element.

A wan toothy grin grows on his face as he looks at us. “H-hey, dudes…glad you could make it.” He tries hard still to be the warm light in the room even with the agony he must be in. He pats the chairs near us and we take seats around him with Anon putting a hand on Reed’s knee. “She…she’s in the back right now.” He sniffles. “They took her away pretty quick. They…they….” He begins to tear up as he trembles in his seat and I put my arm around his back. “They kicked me out of the room when they said something…code blue or some shit. I don’t know what that fucking means!” He buries his head against my shoulder, a few quiet sobs shaking through him.

Naser face grows dark. He stares at the floor, pressing his fingers against his forehead before he taps Reed on the shoulder. Reed turns his head to Naser, still shaking, a few tears streaking down his face. “Reed, code blue more than likely means she stopped breathing…or her heart stopped. They had to remove you because they needed to do anything they could to get her back.”

“What?!” Reed’s eyes bulge as he grips Naser by the shoulders. “So what?! She’s fucking dead and they made me leave?!” He shakes Naser violently a couple of times as he grits his teeth. Naser sighs as Reed finally stops shaking him.

“It doesn’t mean she’s dead, Reed. It means they needed to get her stabilized. We won’t know until they tell us what happened. The good news is they aren’t out here already. It means there is a good chance she recovered. We just have to sit and wait until they come out to tell us more. Until then, it’s ‘hurry up and wait’ mode.”

Reed calms down and he lets go of Naser’s shoulders, his arms falling to his lap. “Shit dude, sorry.” Naser waves it off as Reed continues. “A little on edge, ya know? I mean, shit, here we were just having a good time on the beach then Trish rolls up. That alone would be a bit rough, but then this happens?” He looks around the room while waving his arm through the air. “Not how I expected our little shindig to end.”

“No kidding.” Anon leans back in his chair, rubbing his chin. “She had been talking about wanting a chance to apologize. She sounded desperate, like she had to do it and soon.” He shrugs. “I didn’t think anything of it…guess I should have dug more.”

I look down at my hands, picking at the flecks of dried blood stuck under my claws. “She wouldn’t have let anything slip.” I sigh heavily. “If it was anything like when I…you know.” They all nod in quiet agreement. “Then she would have been desperate to keep it silent. She had a plan…she had to see it through. The only hitch in her plan was us. I don’t know if she knew we’d care enough to call for help.” I grunt as I kick the chair across from me. “Yeah, like I’d let you fucking die, Trish…even after everything.”

“I’m still pissed at her for what she did to you, Fang.” Reed glances over at me. “It was fucked up but damn, bro…” He shakes his head. “Can’t say I don’t feel like shit about all this. Like, was I the only one oblivious to her liking me?” He looks at us, confusion twisting his face. “I mean, we hung out, but we were just smoking buddies. I thought she just enjoyed the high.”

I cock an eyebrow at Reed with a chuckle. “How high are you usually that you missed all the signs, Reed?”

“Uh…is that a serious question?” He shakes a thermos he has attached to his belt. “Bro, I don’t think there is a time I’m not floating somewhere.”

I facepalm with a tired groan. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Reed. You brought that into the hospital with you?”

He grins but there is grief behind it. “You think I’m going to make it through this without it? I don’t think there is any better time for a little bit of the creature.” He takes a deep swig from the thermos before wiping his lips, but it doesn’t seem to have an effect on his mood. “Just fucking with you, Fang. It’s just agua.” I kick his seat and he chuckles. “But what do you mean by signs? I thought she and I were just bros.”

I sigh and shake my head with a soft smile. “Reed, she’s been fucking crushing on you hard since the start of this year.” Reed’s jaw drops as he stares back at me. “I mean, she picks on you constantly, and always tries to be up in your business even if she wouldn’t really have a reason to be. She always…well, used to always hang out with you after school when I’d go home. She’s a hard bitch but she’s always been sweet on you. Fucking weird that you never noticed.”

“Wha’? What the fuck, bro?! I thought she just liked getting a free smoke every now and again!” He throws his arms up in exasperation and then looks at Anon. “Did you know too, bro?”

“Uh, duh.” Anon laughs as Reed slaps himself on the forehead. “I mean, she straight up hates me, but she was stuck to you like glue any time she wasn’t next to Fang. She’d give you such looks when she thought you were looking away. I can tell you for sure…she likes your butt.”

Reed looks around desperately for any hope that he isn’t a total oblivious moron and glances over at Naser. “Come on…you, at least, can’t have noticed. You were barely around us!”

Naser smirks and Reed bashes his head into his knees. “Sorry, Reed. I thought you guys were dating but keeping it secret or some shit, at least until what happened with Fang went down. Sorry bud, it’s just you.”

“Fuck me,” Reed groans as he squishes his head between his hands and sighs. “I’m a total idiot, aren’t I?” We all nod in agreement. “Heeey! You weren’t supposed to agree with that!” We all just laugh as he groans again. “Dammit, Trish better make it because she owes us an explanation…and I probably have to buy her chocolate or some shit since we’ve apparently been going out and I haven’t known anything about it.”

“That’s one thing I don’t get.” We all look over at Anon who is tapping his chin. “How would drugs even affect her? I thought you dinos were like super-immune to that shit.”

“Nah, bro.” Reed chuckles with a grin. “Just carfe. Funny that you guys made that shit in the war to mess with us, and all you ended up doing was make us really, really hungry and bored. But everything else works just fine, bro. How else would we survive if medicine didn’t work on us?”

“True, guess there is that. So…” He clasps his hands together as he glances between us all. “How are we going to handle this? I’m assuming since they haven’t come out and we’ve been here for, oh”—he checks his phone—“thirty minutes now, that she’s more than likely still alive and kicking. She still shit all over you guys, and she still made light of Fang almost dying and acted like it was just an inconvenience. We can’t just stroll back up to her even after this like all is forgiven.”

I nod my head with a sullen frown. “I know…you’re right. We’ll see what she has to say when she has more time to say it, since she won’t be vomiting blood all over my shirt.” I tug at my halter top, which is completely ruined at this point. “Naser, do you got any spare clothes in your car or something? Maybe something for Reed, too.”

Naser hops out of his chair. “Yeah, I got some athletic wear with a few of Naomi’s old shirts in the back.” I glare at him. “What? She changed whenever we went for a run in the morning.” I let out a sigh of relief. “And also anytime we snuck behind the bleachers to make out after practice.” I immediately gag while he laughs and disappears out the door. That is one image I really didn’t need in my head.

We wait a few minutes, the clock ticking and shuffling papers from the nurse at the desk the only sounds filling the room. Anon taps away at his phone while Reed snoozes on his shoulder. I suppose the shock finally wore off and everything hit him at once. The door opens again and Reed shoots back up with a snerk. Naser walks back over and throws a jersey at Reed while handing me a duplicate of my halter top.

“Wait…” I hold it up and look at him. “Why in the world do you have one of my shirts in your car? Oh, please tell me it’s not some weird ass roleplay shit Naomi had anyth—”

“No, god no, what the fuck Fang?!” Naser cuts me off as he groans in disgust and shakes his head hard. “Fucking hell, how twisted did you think she was? On second thought…please never answer that. I have spares of everything in my car; I never knew if I would have needed to pick you up somewhere, or if I’d find you in an alley or some shit.”

“Uh…the fuck? Did you think I was a drug addict or something?”

“Fang, you disappeared at night all the time and came back smelling like, no offense, like Reed.”

“None taken, bro, I know what I smell like.” Reed pulls the jersey over his head with a grin.

“Anyway,” Naser continues. “I didn’t know what you were up to at night, Fang. With how withdrawn you were from all of us, it could have been anything. I just wanted to be prepared if I needed to help you out of something, no matter what it was. That’s what family does. The good parts, at least.” He puts a hand on my shoulder as he sits down next to me. “With everything that’s happened lately, I forgot about them until I was looking through the back for a shirt for you.”

Guess he’s always been looking out for me…minus the Reed comment, it’s pretty sweet of him. “Well thanks for the shirt, Naser. However, I’m going to go change in the bathroom. Give me a chance to wash my hands, anyway. Be back in a sec.”

I look around for a bit before spotting the bathroom door. Thankfully it’s one of the single unit ones; don’t got to worry about anyone sneaking a peek through the stall doors. I slip out of my top and holy fuck, it’s a mess. Looking at it brings back memories of that night. I gasp in shock as the scene replays in my head. The crack of the gunshot, the searing pain as the bullet made its way through my chest, Anon’s face and the blood…so much blood. I stumble and fall to the floor. I press my back up against the wall, clutching my head in my hands and trying to silence the sounds. The gunshot repeats over and over in my mind. I slap myself, which pulls me out of my spiral. Fuck me…it’s going to be a long time before that nightmare fades.

Sighing, I pull myself up off the floor, dusting off my pants and stretching out my wings. I pull the new top over me and straighten it out. Huh, guess he’s been keeping this folded up the whole time—not a single wrinkle. I walk over to the sink and put my hands under the soap dispenser. It gives me a pitiful squirt of soap and I start washing the blood off. It swirls into the sink as I clean under every claw and between my fingers. A stark reminder again of a life almost lost. Fuck, what happened to all of us this year? I don’t want to think of the other ways this year could have played out. Too much could have gone in entirely different ways, some of them far more horrifying.

I finish washing my hands and snatch a few paper towels to dry off before flinging them in the trash. The boys are still chatting in a circle as I rejoin them, tossing my dirty top to Naser, who stuffs it in a bag.

“Any news?” I ask as I take a seat.

Naser shakes his head. “Nothing yet. Just been sitting here waiting.” He looks over at me with a worried look. “You alright? You look a little pale.”

I sigh as I sink into the chair. “Just had a mild episode while changing and washing the blood off my hands. Still not really comfortable seeing blood…don't think I will be for a while, if ever.”

Naser frowns with a somber nod. “I get you. You’ve been through this hell already. I can’t imagine how shitty it must be.”

“It’s not something I’d wish on anyone, that’s for fucking sure. How much longer do you think it’ll be, Naser?”

He shrugs. “No idea, Fang. I know a little about medical stuff, but I haven’t gotten to med school yet. They’ll come out whenever they are ready for us. We have to be patient until then. Come on, Anon had a deck of cards in his pocket and we’ve got a small pile of fake chips here. We can play some poker while we wait.”

“Sure, why not, better than doing nothing in this creepy ass waiting room.”

We play a few hands—with Reed somehow coming out on top every time—before a doctor walks up to us. He is a rather tall pterodactyl with varying shades of orange covering his body, vibrant yellow-striped wings, and bright green eyes. He looks rather young, probably only in his early thirties. He’d almost dwarf my dad if it wasn’t for the fact he’s about half his width. He scribbles on a clipboard as he stands in front of us.

“Hello,” he says calmly. “You are the friends of the young lady who just came in, correct?”

“Yeah!” Reed hops up out of his chair and gets almost uncomfortably close to the doctor. “Is she alright? Can we see her?”

The doctor nods at Reed and motions us to follow him. “She’s stable. She lost a lot of blood, though. The pills wouldn’t have been as much of a problem, but it seems she took them with a lot of alcohol which caused internal bleeding. With how much alcohol is in her system, she clearly has been drinking heavily for the past few weeks. Thankfully, we were able to pump her stomach and she is recovering. She won’t be able to go home tonight or maybe not even for a couple of days, depending on the damage she’s done to herself, but she can see visitors. I spoke with her mother earlier, but she can’t come in until later; she said you’re like family.”

He turns to us and holds the clipboard close to his chest as we look at each other silently, unsure how to react. “Take it easy on her if you can. She might be able to talk to you, she might not. She took a lot of sleeping pills that are still working their way out of her system, but you can at least be by her side when she wakes up.”

“Thank you, doctor…?” Reed holds out his hand as he raises an eyebrow.

“You can call me Gavin.” He takes Reed’s hand and gives it a shake. “Don’t need to thank me, just doing my job.” He opens the door to Trish’s room and lets us all walk in before shutting it behind us. God…she looks so fragile. There are a few IVs in her arm, fluids slowly dripping through bags hanging beside her with all kinds of monitors hooked up to keep an eye on her vitals. Her breathing is slow and labored, and she looks so pale with sweat on her forehead. Trish, what in the world have you been doing?

Reed moves up to her first, grabbing a rag off the table and dabbing the sweat off her forehead. “Fucking hell, Trish…why did you let it get this bad? I know we were all in a rough patch, but we could have made up later…we just needed time.” A sorrowful sigh passes his lips as he takes her hand in his. “God, guys…she’s so cold.”

I walk up beside him, wrapping an arm around his waist. “She’s okay, Reed. She’ll be fine. You heard the doctor, we just gotta wait for her to wake up.” I look around and spy a few spare pillows and sheets. “Look, we could easily make up a little makeshift bed. We’ll stay the night with you, don’t worry.”

“I appreciate it, Fang.” A weak smile flashes on his face for a moment as he caresses Trish’s hand. It’s a sorry sight to see her like this. In the bright light of the hospital, there are so many more details of her suffering. There are red streaks down her cheeks, like she has been doing nothing but crying for weeks, and long horizontal cuts mar her face. Her top left horn is cracked. She’d never let her horns get damaged…she loves them.

We all crowd around her, silently looking at our wayward friend, not one of us judging her right now. Whatever wrong she has done, she has clearly taken it out on herself. This was no ploy to try to bring us under her thumb or try to manipulate us into doing what she wants…this was going to be her last goodbye. She was ready to die. I’m just glad we were there to save her.

We all take our turns talking to her in her sleep, hoping that our words will reach her wherever she is right now. There is a soft, if weak, smile on her face every time either Reed or I speak. I guess whatever dream she is having must be pleasant—I can hope for that, at least. Anon and Naser pile a whole bunch of bedding into a functional if lumpy mattress and plop down, sending one pillow off under Trish’s bed before Anon fishes it back out.

“Slumber party in the hospital! Woo!” Reed says as he nearly piledrives Anon, landing between them. He grabs them both and hugs them tight. “I mean, there’s a million better places for this but I’ll take any win I can get right now, bros.” It doesn’t take long before Reed is already snoring between them both, with them helplessly trapped in his muscled arms.

Their eyes plead with me for help, but I just smirk and throw a sheet over the top of them. They will survive and Reed needs them right now. I opt to nap in the chair rather than risk getting my bones crushed by Reed, kicking off my boots and lying across the chairs.

“Why have you forsaken me, Fang?” Anon whines as he stares up from his prison.

“You’ll survive, dweeb.” I chuckle as I hear him grumble and shift on the makeshift bed.

We nap for a few hours, the welcome rest a godsend after the shit we’ve just been through. My eyelids flutter open as I sit up from the chair bed. Fuck, that was murder on my wings! I stretch them, plucking out a few bent feathers. Anon and Reed are snoring up a storm and a tendril of drool from Reed’s mouth is dangerously close to Naser, who is wide awake and staring at it in terror. I hop over and wipe it away, earning myself a silent ‘thank you’ from Naser as he closes his eyes.

I walk up beside Trish. She’s still looking pretty pale, but at least her breathing isn’t so terrible anymore. I take her hand in mine as I sigh. “Dammit, Trish, I really wish you hadn’t done this to yourself. I’m sorry. I’m sorry we left you all alone. I should have known better that you weren’t a monster…you were just scared of being left behind.”

A tear rolls down my cheek as I squeeze her hand. A moment later, I feel her squeeze back and I gasp. Her amethyst eyes peer into mine with such relief in them as she tentatively smiles up at me.

“Hey Fang, long time no see…” she says weakly, a half attempt at a joke. Hearing her voice, Reed instantly wakes and flies out from the bedding, sending pillows and sheets everywhere as he jumps up beside me.

 “Holy shit, she’s alright!” Reed shouts.