Thunder

Jack's heart beat sped up, his mouth became dry. This wasn't supposed to be happening. This would kill Alex. This was going to kill him . How was he meant to tell Alex and Rian this? This was just a dream, right? This wasn't really happening.

Jack kneeled down next to the girl lying on the floor, with her brunette hair spilling across the tiles. "Fuck, Abigail, please be alive, please, please, please." Worry overcame the teenage boy; how long had she been in this condition? There was no telling...

The boy attempted to check the fragile girl's pulse, but he didn't feel it. Maybe he was just missing it... right? That had to be it. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he muttered to himself, grabbing his cell phone out of his pocket and dialing 911.

"911 operator, how may I help you?" a woman's voice sounded from the opposite line.

"My friend.. s-she... she's attempted suicide.. I- I th-think she's dead.. I don't know what to do," Jack finally spoke the words he feared the most. Abigail couldn't be dead; she just couldn't.

After a few minutes, Jack had given the woman his location and she had told him that the ambulance would be there shortly.

The minute he hung up the phone, Jack phoned Alex. After three short rings, Alex answered. "Jack? Is she okay?"

"Alex, I need you and Rian to meet me at the hospital. Please," Jack's voice shook. He couldn't bring himself to tell his best friend the news.

Deep down, Alex already knew what had happened, though. There was no sense in denying it. "Wh-what? Jack, is she okay? What's going on?"

"Alex, just meet me at the hospital. I have to go," Jack tried to steady his voice as he heard the sirens going off, sounding nearby. "I'll see you there."

Ending the call and shoving the phone back in his pocket, Jack collected the small girl in his arms. "Come on, Abs. You can do this. I know you can."

The paramedics rushed into the front door just as Jack was walking down the stairs, as quickly as possible. The medics had the stretcher already in the house and ready for Abigail to be laid out on. "Her name's Abigail Speed." Jack blurted out to the rushing doctors.

"Are you family?" one doctor asked as the stretched wheeled out of the home.

"She doesn't have family... I just... I'm her friend and, uh... I'm the one who found her..." Jack choked on his words; this wasn't fair. She wasn't supposed to die... Alex was supposed to be helping her... He thought Alex had helped. What the hell happened?

"Okay, sir, you may sit in the back of the ambulance with her, if you'd like," the blonde male offered, shooting Jack a sympathetic smile.

"Thanks," Jack muttered, as everyone exited the house, he climbed into the back of the vehicle. "Her.. her boyfriend, Alex, and her other friend, Rian, are supposed to be meeting us there," Jack spoke, trying to keep his cool, holding on to Abigail's limp, pale hand.

"Is this the first time she's tried... doing this?" the blonde medic asked, as he did the necessary procedures to the girl, eyeing her cuts and scars.

"N-no.. I don't know how many other times she's tried. Quite a few, though, I think," Jack answered honestly, eyeing the freshest cut - the one she must have ended it all with. It was straight up and down her arm, long and thick, and still bleeding.

"She seems like was by herself for quite some time," the medic continued to speak while doing the procedures. "By the way her skin is so pale, I'd say a traumatic amount of blood was lost. And the fact that she's still bleeding... What's your name, sir?" the blonde medic's brown eyes flickered up to Jack's.

"I'm Jack."

"Jack, I don't think she's going to make it..." the older man finally spoke.

*****
As Jack entered the waiting room, while Abigail was being wheeled off into ICU, he spotted Rian and Alex, both looking tiresome and worried as hell.

"H-hey, guys..." Jack's voice shook uncontrollably. "Alex..."

"Jack, where is she? Is she okay? How is she doing right now?" Alex asked question after question, scared for the answers.

"She tried to kill herself again," Jack spoke softly. "'Lex, they don't think she's going to make it out of this one..." Jack's brown eyes avoided Alex's caramel ones.

The tears that had threatened to fall since he had gotten to the hospital finally dropped from Alex Gaskarth's eyes. His entire world was crashing down right before his own eyes. There was nothing he could do to stop it, either.

"Jack, this isn't funny. Stop joking," Alex stated sternly; he refused to believe that there was even the slightest chance that Abigail wouldn't make it.

"Alex, she took a whole bottle of some kind of pills and she cut her arm pretty deep... The paramedic said by how pale and limp her body was, she'd been like that for a while... when I got there, she was still bleeding. It's going to be a miracle if she makes it out of there..." Jack spoke softly to his best friend.

"Jack, s-stop," Rian finally spoke. "She's going to make it, right? Abigail's a strong girl... stronger than anyone we know."

Alex's eyes were filled with every single kind of emotion possible as he looked up at his two best friends. "I love her... so much," Alex choked on his own sobs, before being engulfed into a hug by his two best friends.

"I know, 'Lex. I know," Jack spoke in a comforting tone.

*****

A few hours later, the waiting room had mostly cleared except for the trio of friends, waiting on the fate of their newly found best friend, or in Alex's case, girlfriend.

All three teenagers were half asleep once a male's voice sounded the room. "Abigail Speed's family...?" he spoke with uncertain in his voice.

Alex was the first to pop up out of his seat, "Yeah, that's us. I'm, uh, her boyfriend; Alex Gaskarth. How is she?"

The doctor's eyes filled with sorrow and a bit of sympathy. He knew that he was about to crush this young boy's entire world with just a few words and only a couple of seconds. "Mr. Gaskarth, I'm sorry... Abigail didn't make it."