Did You Get What You Deserve?

I blinked and opened my eyes. The room I was in was brilliantly white. I could hear a machine of some sort whirring. I turned my head and saw Dad sitting beside my bed, his head in his hands.

“Dad.”

He gasped and looked up.

“Alec... oh my god.”

He wrapped his arms around me, gently, as though I would break if he held me too tightly.

“Dad...”

He held my head against his shoulder and rocked me back and forth.

“Jesus, sweetie, I thought you were dead. They called me about two minutes after they got you out. Your mother and I were there in about thirty seconds flat. And they weren’t going to let us anywhere near until I convinced them I was your dad. Oh god... when I saw you... it was all my worst nightmares at once.”

I blinked away tears.

“Where’s Mum?”

“In James’ room, keeping him company while Mikey and Alicia talk to the doctors.”

There was another question, but I already knew the answer and I didn’t want my fears confirmed just yet. Then the door opened. I looked around and saw Mikey standing in the doorway. Dad stood up and walked towards him. Mikey took a few shaky steps and stopped, grabbing Dad’s arm. His lips quivered for a second, then he fell forward into Dad’s arms.

“My baby! My little baby!”

Dad patted his back.

“Shhh, Mikey, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not! She- She’s my daughter! Nine years, Frank! Nine years, and she could be gone like that.”

He dropped to the floor and screamed, pounding his head with his fists. Dad grabbed his arm and jerked him to his feet.

“Pull yourself together, Mikey!”

Mikey shook his head.

“That’s easy for you to say! You don’t know what it’s like. The idea that any second your child could die, that they could be gone and you wouldn’t even know it.”

Dad glared at him.

“Given as you seem to have forgotten, let me refresh your memory: Alec, beaten to within an inch of his life in the school playground. Alec, hit by a car. ALEC, WHO WE ALL THOUGHT WAS DEAD FOR THIRTEEN YEARS! I know exactly what it’s like. I have watched the boy I considered my son drift away, knowing full well that each breath might be his last. So don’t you tell me I don’t know what it’s like.”

Mikey looked down at his shoes for a moment. Then he looked up at Dad and said pleadingly, “Is she really going to be okay?”

Dad nodded.

“Dani’s a fighter. She’ll be alright.”

Mikey smiled sadly.

“I hope you’re right. I don’t know what I’d do if...”

He didn’t need to finish the sentence.

“Wait- Dani’s alive?”

Dad nodded.

“The fireman thought she was dead when he got her out. She’s badly burned, she’s going to need skin grafts.”

I sighed in relief.

“I heard them talking... I thought they said she was dead.”

There was a soft tap on the door. Dad opened it and there stood Mum.

“Mum!”

She rushed over and hugged me.

“You’re awake! Oh, Alec...”

She straightened up.

“It’s no use, Frank. He only says one word, I can’t get him to say anything else.”

“What’s he saying?”

“Alec. Just that. Alec. Nothing else.”

I sat up.

“Let me see him.”

She looked doubtful.

“Are you sure you can walk around?”

I nodded and stood up. After a moment’s dizziness, I took her hand.

“Where is he?”

She led me out of the room and down the hall. Then she stopped and knocked on the door. There was silence from within, so she pushed the door open.

“James?”

Silence. She pushed me inside and closed the door as she left. I walked over to the bed.

“James?”

His head snapped around so fast I was sure he’d get whiplash.

“Alec!”

His face was covered in red marks from the glass. When I stopped to consider it, I probably looked just as bad. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me down so I was almost lying on top of him.

“Alec...”

I sniffed and realised we were both crying.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, James.”

I sat up and he followed suit. He glanced at my arms and smiled apologetically, tracing the bruises with the tip of his finger.

“Sorry. That was me.”

I shook my head.

“Don’t worry about it. I can’t feel them- except when you do that!”

He snatched his hand away.

“Sorry!”

I grinned.

“You’re such an idiot, you know that?”

He nodded.

“I know. This would never have happened if it weren’t for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was me who suggested we stay after school, it was me who asked Mrs Hastings, it was me who let Danielle wander off to the music block... I should have sent her home with Linda.”

“No, don’t say that! It’s not your fault!”

He looked away.

“But it feels like it is...”

I put my hand on his cheek, gently turning his head to face me.

“James, if you had not acted the way you did, we would both be dead. We wouldn’t have known about the fire until it was too late. I... well, you’ve saved my life so many times... I don’t know what I’d do without you. You stick around for a few more years, okay?”

He grinned and nodded.

“I’ll try. Unless my heroics kill me first.”

“Don’t say that. You’ll jinx it.”

I kissed him.

“You’re no ordinary guy, James.”

He slipped his arms around my waist, holding me close to him.

“Yeah right. I’m just plain old James the nerd. Band nerd, but nerd.”

“And you know I love you, glasses and all.”

He grinned.

“We all know girls go for the smart ones. No, wait, that’s wrong. Girls go for jocks. Why aren’t you going for a jock, Alecsandra?”

I smiled.

“Because I’m in love with a nerd.”