Page 102 of Don't Leave Me

“No,” I snapped at him.

Even I knew I was being short. I sighed and looked up at him; his eyes were soft and tired and I felt so guilty for being so mean to him. “I can’t deal with it right now,” I said quietly.

He put his arm around me and nodded; he understood. I jumped again when I heard another phone vibrating, but this time it was Adam’s phone on the counter beside him. He jolted awake and looked confused when he saw who was calling but answered anyway.

“Hey, Jess,” he answered.

Jess?Why did that sound familiar?

“What?” he stood up. “You’re fucking kidding me,” his voice was bewildered as he walked out into the hallway.

Michael and I watched as Adam paced the hallway, his hand to his hair and his neck and his beard. A couple minutes later, he poked his head back into the room and looked at me specifically.

“Hana,” he said, his voice low. “Jack overdosed. He’s fine but he’s here in the ER. I gotta go see him,” he explained quickly, my heart dropping. “Can you call me when Emily wakes up?”

He then bolted out the door before I could even answer.

Michael turned to look at me quickly. I immediately started to sob into my hands:this is too much, this is way too much, I can’t handle this…Emily and now Jack? Two beautiful souls that were almost gone? What the fuck? Why? I can’t handle this.

“Hana,” Michael held me tightly as I continued to sob, rubbing my back and consoling me.

“This is so fucked up,” I cried quietly.

“I know,” he said softly, his lips to the top of my head.

I looked up at him, my eyes wide and I’m sure I looked like death, but he gazed at me sweetly anyway.

“You’re not thinking about going to see him, are you?” he asked, his tone somehow still sweet even though I knew he was fuming with jealousy behind those eyes.

I blinked a few times, going from sad to completely angry.

“Even if I was, you wouldn’t have any say in it,” I said, my voice low and angry.

Michael raised his eyebrows at me, amused all of a sudden.

“We’ll see about that,” he hissed, quietly seething.

I watched as he stood up and walked out of the room; I scoffed and folded my arms, quietly pouting alone. I looked over at Emily and her eyes were open and she was smiling right at me.

“You guys are already like an old married couple,” she said, her voice raspy but sounding like the Emily I knew.

I started crying right away as I stood up and sat down next to her, putting my hand atop of hers.

“Em,” I said softly, then put the back of my fingers across her cheek.

“I’m sorry, Han,” she shook her head. “I did it without even thinking. I seriously gave no thought to it whatsoever…I just did it,” she went on.

It was scary how much I could understand. I just nodded, squeezing her hand a little bit.

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again,” I smiled crookedly, tearing up again.

Emily sighed. “Yeah well, I’m pretty sure they’re gonna lock me up here for at least a few days. So we’ll worry about that when the time comes,” she said, almost lightly.

I sighed with relief.

“I don’t think you should see Jack either, for the record. Don’t give him any hope, not right now. He’s probably weak and embarrassed and ashamed,” she wrinkled her forehead.

She was right; I knew it was probably a bad idea for me to see him, but Michael forbidding me from doing it made me want to rebel.

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