Do What It Takes to Survive

I woke up and rubbed my eyes. “She’s awake!” someone shouted. I instantly knew it was Leah, one of my best friends.

My eyes shot open. Many people were crowded around me. “Lana!” It was my mom. She threw her arms around me and rocked me back and forth. She was crying. “Oh, my baby, I didn’t know if I would ever see you again!”

My dad hugged both of us. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” I replied. The words hurt my lungs and made me want to cough. To make matters worse, I was crying just like my mom.

When they finally let go of me, I could see where I was. I sat on a hospital bed. “Ugh! They didn’t let you take me home?”

It was Leah’s turn to hug me. “They just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” she whispered in my ear.

I was surprised that there were a lot more people in my hospital room. The first group of my band – basically the rest of my best friends – did not surprise me. Emily, Sarah, Matt, and Johnny all took their turns hugging me. I hadn’t realized how much I missed them until then.

I was extremely surprised to see four more familiar people shuffling their feet and looking very awkward standing in the far corner. Bob, Frank, Mikey, and Ray weren’t looking at me, though. They were curiously eyeing Gerard, who was approaching me cautiously.

My family and friends parted like the red sea so that he could stand at the edge of my bed. The whole room seemed to have gone completely silent. Leah looked as if she thought he was going to attack me. The expressions on everyone else’s’ faces weren’t much more confident of my safety. Matt and Johnny actually positioned themselves on either side of Gerard, like they were going to protect me if he did anything. I almost laughed.

Gerard’s arm was in a sling. It wasn’t casted yet. He also had a bandage on his nose.

I smirked, shaking my head. “Your nose was broken after all, wasn’t it?” I asked in amazement. How had he endured that without complaint?

Gerard smiled sheepishly and answered, “They say so, but it wasn’t that bad. I swear it didn’t hurt.”

I laughed. “You’re such a liar. It hurt like hell, didn’t it? Oh, don’t answer. You’ll just tell me it didn’t.” A few people’s mouths actually fell open, including Leah’s, Frank’s, Sarah’s, and Matt’s. A lot had changed in… I found that I didn’t know how long it had been. “How long have we been gone, anyway?”

“Almost three weeks,” he informed me. Amusement filled his eyes, but I wasn’t sure if it was from my request that he didn’t answer, or from the fact that Bob, Emily, and Mikey now had their mouths wide open now. Trying not to laugh, he continued, “I talked to the police already. They had The Boss – I mean Brad Mayer – on criminal records. He won’t be hard to find. They think once they find him, they’ll be able to find the others, too.”

“Good.” I was far passed relieved. I didn’t want them out on the streets any longer. I saw that his eyes were examining me from head to toe, looking for injuries he hadn’t noticed before.

I wasn’t surprised that my ankle was in a temporary brace. Besides a few other scrapes and bruises that I could see, I was in pretty good shape, considering what I could’ve looked like. “Can you stop looking at me like that?” I pleaded. “I’m perfectly fine.”

He scowled at me. “I see that now. I just needed to make sure.”

Frank made a noise that sounded half way between a gasp and a snort. Gerard ignored him and picked up my hand with the broken finger. He pretended to look at it, but I think he was just making an excuse to hold my hand.

Leah noticed this, and her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. I glared at her. Winking subtly at Gerard, I said, “Oh, wow, I haven’t eaten in a long time. I sure could use some food.” It wasn’t a lie. After bread and water, I was defiantly looking forward to some real food. Just the thought of it made my mouth water.

“Oh, of course, honey,” my mom sputtered quickly. She and my dad quickly exited the room.

Looking meaningfully at Leah and Matt, I decided to give them a hint. “They might need some help. A lot of help,” I prompted. After being frozen for a few seconds, Leah pushed them out of the room.

Gerard caught on. Clearing his throat, he looked at Ray and then to the door. Ray ushered everyone else out. At last, we were alone.

“They act as if I’m going to kill you. As if we hated each other or something,” Gerard remarked sarcastically.

I laughed. “Well, give them a break. It’d be a little shocked too, if I were them. I amshocked at myself, actually.”

He frowned, looking troubled and sat on the edge of my bed. He reached out and brushed my throat lightly with the very tips of his fingers. “The bruises are going away.”

“Are they?” I asked, taking his hand and holding it to my cheek. I closed my eyes and mumbled. “We probably don’t have that long. Once my parents come back with food, the rest of them will come in. They won’t be able to help themselves, and I can’t blame them. They must be dying of curiosity to find out what is going on between us.”

“Lana, what is exactly going on between us?” he whispered.

I frowned and let go of his hand, but he kept it on my cheek. His words stabbed like a knife. “What is that supposed to mean?” I asked angrily. “Are you saying we should just go back to hating each other after everything that happened? Is that what you want?”

“No!” he cried quickly. “I don’t want that. I’m asking what you want. We can try to make this work. I think we can do it, although it won’t be easy.” He got more and more intense as he spoke, leaning closer to me and holding my gaze.

“I’ll tell you what I want!” I retorted. Without any more warning, I threw my arms around him and kissed him. This kiss was different than the others. It wasn’t as urgent, like we were about to die. It was sweeter and longer.

When he peeled my arms off of him, he laughed. “Okay, I think I got the message.”

“I hope so.”

He sat next to me and held my hand, allowing me to put my head on his shoulder.

You should’ve seen the looks on everyone’s faces when they came back in the room one by one. They were each different, but they were all absolutely priceless.