Sad, Beautiful, Tragic

It had been a week since Alex was over consoling Madison. A week since he had even seen Madison. A week since he had talked to her. He dejectedly stared down at his phone checking the inbox again only to find that it was still empty. He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder “Have you tried going over to her house?” Rian asked.

Alex nodded his head and groaned “yeah, her mom said she isn’t feeling well. I’m just worried, ya know?” Rian nodded and sympathetically patted his friend on the back before sauntering outside where his other band mates were relaxing by the pool.

“So?” Zack inquired as Rian sat at the edge of the pool, his feet dangling in the cool water, he shrugged his shoulder at his friends question.

“He’s got it bad, dude. I’ve never seen him so torn up over a girl not talking to him—Jack, aren’t you supposed to be at the hospital doing that volunteer thing?”

“Ah, fuck. I forgot about that…” Jack groaned. His dad had signed him up for a month long volunteer service with the local hospital.

“What do you even have to do?” Zack asked

Jack carelessly shrugged his shoulder “Hang out with some girl in the terminal ward, offer company I guess. Fucking sucks, like that shits depressing”

“That blows” Rian agreed while Zack nodded his head and muttered out “better you than me” though it didn’t go unnoticed by Jack. Jack flipped Zack of off of his float and into the water before scrambling into the house to change his clothes. He quickly dried off and threw on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt before running downstairs to find Alex.

“I know you’re busy pouting but could you give me a ride to the hospital? I totally blanked on that volunteer thing

Alex let out an annoyed sigh “I guess so”

The ride to the hospital was mostly silent; Jack knew to just leave Alex alone when he got into one of his moods. He swore sometimes his friend was more moody than a hormonal girl going through a rough patch of PMS, but he kept that to himself.

“Why do you think she’s ignoring me?” Alex finally asked, turning to Jack with sad eyes.

“I doubt she’s ignoring you, dude. You said she’s sick so I’m sure she’s just busy sleeping and vomiting.” Jack tried to reassure his overdramatic best friend.

Alex ran a hand through his hair and sighed “but why won’t her mom let me check on her?”

Jack shook his head and laughed at how pitiful Alex sounded “Careful, I think you’re growing a vagina ‘Lex” he joked as the car came to a stop in the parking lot. Alex punched Jack in the arm “You’re mean” he pouted.

“Awww I’m sorry, baby. For real though her mom just probably doesn’t want to be responsible for getting other kids sick. Just chill out, she’ll call you eventually…pick me up at five?” Jack smiled and kissed his friend on the cheek leaving Alex with an amused scowl on his face.

Jack ran to the front lobby desk knowing Cathy, the receptionist, would probably give him her famous “look” for being late. He stopped at the desk and looked up just in time to see Cathy glaring at him as she pulled his file out and handed it to him “you’re late, Barakat!” she snapped at the lanky boy. Jack shot her a sheepish smile and stalked off like a child that had just been publicly disciplined.

He let out a breath he wasn’t aware the he had been holding in when the elevator doors closed, leaving him by himself. He opened his folder and quickly noted that he was to go to floor three, room 431 “this is so dumb” he muttered to himself as the elevator binged to announce they had arrived at the destination.He slowly navigated the hallway trying to avoid eye contact with everyone; the terminal floor was by far the most depressing place on earth as far as Jack was concerned.

“400…415…430…ah, 431” he quietly counted the room numbers until he was standing outside of the door of his assigned room. He let out a shaky breath and slowly turned the door handle, lightly pushing the door open.

“Hmmm…” he looked around the room, the bed was empty but the bed was a mess so it was evident that someone had been there. He threw his body into a hard chair and reached for the remote, aimlessly flicking through the channels until he heard the door open. His head snapped up and an audible gasp escaped his mouth “Madison?! What are you doing here?” he questioned before his eyes catch a glimpse of the hospital bracelet that hung loosely from her wrist. His forehead creased with question, his eyes searching her face for an answer.

“Well…this is awkward” Madison coughed but stayed put still standing just barely in the room. She had forgotten that the hospital was implanting this new buddy system for the patients, and she definitely hadn’t expected to run into any of Alex’s friends at the hospital, much less have one of them paired as her “death accomplice” as she liked to call them. She awkwardly shuffled into the room and crawled back into her bed, all the while feeling Jack’ eyes bore into her with every move she made.

“You’re dying” Jack said after a while of silence, it wasn’t a question but Madison nodded her head anyways.

“You lied to Alex” Jack stated and Madison suddenly felt like a child being reprimanded. She shrunk back against the bed “I didn’t” she shook her head.

“Does he know?” Jack asked more gently this time. Madison closed her eyes and shook her head once again.

“J-jack…P-please don’t tell him. P-please!” Madison begged, tears welling up in her eyes.

“You’re going to hurt him, Madi. We told you about that break up…we told you and you turn around and do this? Is this a game to you? Get some guy to fall for you just to let him know you’re dying? I can’t believe you!” Jack ranted his voice loud and angry. Madison sat still and took it, he was right after all; she was going to hurt Alex. She knew that, but she had warned him. She had tried her best to convince him that she was no good. Jack had every right to be mad at her and she knew that too, she knew that he was just looking out for his best friend but it didn’t make his accusations sting any less.

“You know, I told him you had some scary ass skeletons in your closet but I never thought it was going to be this bad. You’re a real trip, Madison” Jack spat her name out like it was venom. Madi looked up with teary eyes when he had finally finished though he was still pacing around her small room.

“I-I told him I would hurt him. I t-told him to not mess with me” Madison whispered loud enough for it to be carried across the room to Jack. She didn’t have the energy to speak any louder or to put up an ounce of fight.

“I just wanted to feel n-normal” she cried both out of sadness and because of the violent wave of pain that ripped through her body.

“Because that makes it so much better, you’re pathetic” Jack spat

Madison’s hands clutched her ribs as she curled into a ball and began gasping for air, no longer caring about the boy in the room that was fighting with her. Jack tentatively made his way towards her, scared at of his mind, the screams that were emitted from the small girl sounded inhumane.

“Madison?” He whispered, his hand touching her shoulder lightly as he sat himself beside her on the small bed. "Just go, Jack" she rasped out between shaky breaths as she lurched forward and grabbed the small waste basket, emptying her stomach of the small lunch the doctor practically forced her to eat. She sat the waste basket back down and slumped forward, almost falling off the bed if it hadn’t been for Jack pulling her back to lie down. Jack took a moment to look her over, suddenly noticing her pale, sweat covered skin and how he could see her veins so clearly. How her lips were badly chapped and her eyes held no light to them but most of all he noticed how she looked so ready to just give up.

“I’m sorry, Jack” Madison croaked out, her voice raw and quiet.

“Shhh” Jack grasped her hands in his, the guilt overwhelming him. Here this dying girl was apologizing to him because she just wanted an ounce of normalcy in her life before she died. Apologizing for wanting a friend, something he had taken for granted. Here this broken girl was laying in front of him apologizing for dying and Jack felt ashamed at the words that he had said to her; ashamed that just minutes before he had called her pathetic but she was anything but that.

“I’ll c’ya tomorrow” Jack patted her hands and shakily left the room, numbly navigating his way back to the parking lot where Alex was waiting for him. He silently got into the car and pressed his head against the window.

“Madison still hasn’t answered or anything” Alex said as pulled out of the parking spot.

“Maybe it’s for the best, ‘Lex” Jack whispered sadly, not having the heart to tell him what he knew.

“What?!” Alex asked incredulously “just a few hours ago you were telling me it was fine! What’s your problem, Jack?”

Jack shrugged “you’re just going to get hurt, Alex.”