The nurse re-enters the room, ignoring everyone as she pushes herself between me and her patient to check his vitals. Her brown hair is tied into a low bun, a small white hat placed on top of her head as if she stepped right out of the 1940’s. I move back to join the others, watching as she pulls down his blanket and reveals a blood soaked bandage covering Axel’s abdomen. Tutting to herself, she presses a red button on the wall and a buzzer sounds further down the hall in response.
Another nurse in the same white and blue button-down dress soon enters, pushing a silver trolley holding multiple tubs filled with items such as dressings, swabs and wipes. The room is beginning to feel crowded, all of us hovering over the nurse’s shoulders to get a peek at the angry stitched line below Axel’s belly button. Pulling Garrett towards the door, he resists, his eyes tracking every moment of Axel’s wound being cleaned and redressed.
“Come on Gare, let’s give the nurses some space. I saw a canteen downstairs; we can grab you some food.”
“I’m not hungry,” he grunts, and I fall still for a second. I could have bet my life I’d never hear him say those three words, but then again, I didn’t think he would openly accept Axel as his boyfriend either. So much has changed since we left Waversea to watch over Avery, and nothing will be the same when we return.
“He’s in safe hands,” I try to convince him, but Garrett’s arms bunch and lip peels back in a snarl.
“I’m not leaving him.”
“Look at me,” I bite out, his bloodshot hazel eyes narrowing as they swing to me. “He’s not going anywhere, and we have a lot to discuss,” I say darkly, my jaw clenched and nose flaring. With one last glance back, he gives me a swift nod and moves to leave. Patting Huxley on the back, he then leans in to kiss Avery on the cheek on the way past, begging her to look after Axel in his absence. She softly strokes a bump on his forehead I hadn’t noticed before, promising she won’t let anything happen to any of us ever again. I catch her blue eyes for a spilt second before she looks away, but the truth to her statement was there.
Leaving the ward, Garrett cuts in front of me and leads the way towards a set of elevators I hadn’t noticed before. A short woman gasps at the murderous look in Garrett’s eyes as the doors separating us open, pushing her son behind her as we enter the steel box.. I notice a smear of Axel’s blood poking out from the V necked t-shirt Garrett must have been given upon arriving at the hospital. He presses the button to the lower level impatiently while I shed my navy hoodie and shove it at him, straightening down my ruffled white t-shirt. The doors slide open a moment later, the general smell of old people washing over me once again. I seriously hate hospitals.
The canteen has a varied choice of stale sandwiches or lumpy yoghurt. I grab Garrett a BLT, order us a suspiciously murky coffee each and join him on a raised bench at the back with a row of tall stools. A wall of glass lines the bench, a small patch of green grass circling a water fountain and surrounded by the grey brick of wards on all other sides. Pushing his food away, Garrett leans on his chin on top of his fist.
“What are we going to do about him?” The him being clear. The one that backstabbed us all, the traitor who chose his side and left Axel for dead.
“We focus on Axel’s recovery and rescuing Meg first; Wyatt’s punishment will have to wait.” I say evenly, breathing deeply to control my emotions.
“How can you be so fucking calm?!” Garrett slams his fist on the surface, the loudness of his voice halting everyone’s movements around the canteen. A fork clashes loudly as its dropped, the silence hanging for a few seconds before people slowly return to their business, hushed whispers floating around behind us.
“I don’t do violence.” I lean over to speak directly into Garrett’s ear. “However, don’t be mistaken, I’m angry as shit. Wyatt’s dead to me and I take solace in the fact you, Axel, Huxley and even Avery will not rest until he’s got what he deserves. Bring a world of agony to his doorstep, rip away anything he still cares about and rain down hellfire until he begs for forgiveness. He will suffer, but I can’t lose myself to do it.” This allows a miniscule amount of tension to leave Garrett’s shoulders, his head nodding slowly. I can practically see the visions taking place behind his eyes, the way he’s going to make Wyatt suffer.
“I love him,” Garrett’s voice barely registers with my ears, a secret he could no longer hold inside but didn’t want anyone to hear. Snatching his sandwich, he hops down from the stool and walks away before I have the chance to ask him if he was talking about Wyatt or Axel, but either way his heart is in for a rough ride. Emotion is a weakness in Garrett’s mind, and loving someone gives them ammunition to hurt and abandon him. I’d like to think he knows by now I would always be here but considering the betrayal Wyatt has handed us, I can understand his unease.
None of us saw it coming. The switch in Wyatt was instantaneous since arriving home to care for Avery, the easy smile he always had at the ready wiped from existence. We were a team at college, and not just on the basketball court. A family unit who did everything together, it was us against the world. Maybe I should have tried harder when
