Addicted to You

Louie awoke slowly, painfully slowly, her eyelids the weight of lead and her muscles unwilling to move. She could hear a soft, repetitive beeping to her left, and smell sanatizing agents and latex in the air. Her head was throbbing and she had a fierce pain in her chest where, she found out later, the paramedics had pumped her sternum when her heart had stopped beating for two full minutes in the ambulance. But she was unaware of all of that at this time.

She got her eyes to open slightly and was met with lighting so bright that it hurt her eyes. She groaned in pain and quickly shut them again. Something stirred beside her and she felt a hand grab hers.

"Lucrezia. Are you awake?" A voice sounded beside her, piercing her brain and causing it to throb even more, but she still was able to recognize it as Tom's.

"Stop yelling." It took great effort to speak, but her mouth and throat were so dry and she was in such a fog that it barely came out as a whisper. She heard Tom sigh in relief before releasing her hand. She heard his footsteps run a couple feet away and his yelling to someone that she was awake before running back to her side and grabbing her had again

"Oh, darling," he whispered as he lifted her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss there. Even in her foggy state, the feeling of his lips on her skin sent warmth through her body. Soon more footsteps approached and she could hear buttons being pressed and soon something on her upper arm began to squeeze tighter and tighter, causing her to wince, before finally releasing.

"Lucrezia, can you speak?" A female voice asked from her right. Louie did all she could to squeak out a single word.
"Water."

She slowly began to open her eyes, letting them adjust to the light, but her vision was still blurry. But she could make out that she was in a hospital room, and judging by the white coat of the blurred figure to her right, the woman speaking to her was a doctor.

"Here," she spoke gently as she pressed something against Louie's dry lips. She made it out to be a straw and closed her lips around it before beginning to suck and gulp down room temperature water. She drank fast and hard, praying it was endless she was so thirsty, but before she could get her fill the doctor pulled it away from her lips.

"Not too much. You will make yourself sick," she stated. Louie groaned and pressed her head back into the pillow. Her vision was starting to clear and though she still felt thirsty, her mouth and throat were now lubricated. She looked up to the doctor who gave her a small smile.

"Hello, Lucrezia," she greeted her.
"Hi."
"I'm Dr. Lewis. It's nice to meet you formally."
Louie stayed silent. She felt Tom's hand squeeze her own but she couldn't bare to look at him. She had figured by now that she must have over dosed, and she was ashamed.

"Do you know why you're here?" Dr. Lewis asked her. Louie closed her eyes for a moment and gave a single nod of her head. "You gave us quite the scare."

Tears threatened to fall from Louie's eyes as she thought of what brought her to this hospital bed, of all of the events that unfolded to lead her here again. At least this time it wasn't Jason at her side. She held back a sob and turned her head to the side in an attempt to hide her face.

"How are you feeling, Lucrezia?" Dr. Lewis asked. How was she feeling? She was feeling like the universe had abandoned her. She was feeling hopeless, useless. She was feeling the darkness closing around her soul.

"I am feeling like you should have let me die."