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[ Ben ]

��������������� I awoke with a strangled yelp, eyes snapped open with a force that could have ripped me in two. �DARREN!� My heart was pounding inside my chest like a Tom-Tom Drum, and sweat was rolling down my forehead in salty beads. Calm down� it was just a nightmare. Darren�s fine. He�s not dead. Just a nightmare. Any different from the nightmare that I�d been living in for the last two days?

��������������� After Daniel had stormed from the hospital, I�d made a feeble attempt to follow him, only to drop back after he exited the building. He needed some �alone time�. We both did, especially after the incident up by Darren�s room. Yes, I was still grating myself upon that. With a fain�ant shake of my head, I slumped back down into the pillowy confines of �my� bed.

��������������� The hospital had put us (meaning Daniel and I, though he had yet to show) up in a hotel set up across the street from it, so that we could visit Darren with ease. The same was being arranged for his family, who I�d learned were flying up as soon as possible. Hell was really going to break loose once they arrived. I could picture it� screaming, crying, hugging� screaming at the doctors, crying at the doctors� I really don�t think they�d hug the doctors but� you never know.

��������������� After I�d calmed enough to sit up, I did so and wiped those errant spikes out of my eyes. Of course, they immediately flopped right back into place, absolutely plastered to my forehead with sweat. Ick. I glanced over to the other bed, which occupied the hotel room.

��������������� The room was moderate� decorated with two beds, a dining table with chairs, an entertainment center with a television and VCR� there was a pretty nice adjoining bathroom, and a little kitchenette with a microwave, coffee machine, and tiny refrigerator. Everything was basically a navy blue or grey in color� nothing fantastic. But I�d stayed in worse. The bed closest to the door (Daniel�s, since I�d taken roost in the other, obviously) remained unoccupied, and a slight tinge of worry crept into me. What if Daniel had gone out, gotten drunk, and passed out in some bar? What if he�d been mugged? Or what if he�d� Stop it. Just� stop.

��������������� Daniel was sensible. He was smart. He was� in excruciating (emotional) pain. I had reason to worry, didn�t I? But, above all odds, Daniel would be fine. He knew that Darren was going to get through this� they�d escaped tighter situations before.

��������������� Together.

[ Daniel ]

��������������� I opened my eyes with a soft groan, much akin to the way I�d opened them last week in the accident. Last week�? It took a moment for my mind to collect itself. Not last week. Just the day before yesterday. Ugh. I sat up and glanced around, unsure of where I�d managed to pass out this time.

��������������� Luckily, I was still on Darren�s balcony (it was freezing� and I was cold and hurt, but it didn�t really matter), and I presumed that I�d been slumped over the railing. My stomach churned in hunger� but I didn�t feel like eating. My head pounded with utter exhaustion� but I didn�t feel like sleeping. I didn�t feel like much of anything. There was just a void inside me that had annexed all other emotions and sensations. I wondered if I could still hear, taste, or even touch, it hurt so badly. But my arms hurt the worst.

��������������� A glance downwards affirmed my �fears�: I�d gone absolutely nuts with the cigarettes. I�d smoked every single one, and for each there had to be three or four small, circular burns on my lower arms and wrists. A few littered my palms. Bloody� God, Jonesy, what�ve you done to yourself?-- Stop it. You�re starting to sound like Darren.

��������������� Darren. No. The riptide of emotions swallowed me in that instant, and I let out an inhuman cry of anguish. I�d fallen asleep�I�d DARED to�when Darren was laying in an eternal slumber, forever within that sea of machines and blood? His blood, my blood. Oh, Christ.

��������������� I slumped against the aluminum railing, and opened my eyes to stare downwards at the lightly snow-covered ground a few stories down. A few pedestrians lined the sidewalks: a few teenagers smoking a big roll of somethingorother, an old lady walking a German Shepard� the usual kind of traffic. Then it occurred to me just how easy it would be to stand up, and hop right over the thin, metal bars separating me from peace. But I couldn�t.

��������������� Not with Darren�s blood on my hands.

��������������� I was just� overcome by pain. I felt weary, emotionally and physically. I had to go back to the hospital. But what if Ben was still there? I didn�t feel much like confronting him, again. Just� not in the mood. Like you�ll ever be. You can�t let this ruin your friendship, Danny� you�re shunning him. You two need each other through this. To stay united.

��������������� It hurt too much. So much that it dizzied my thought and blurred my vision. The same as it�d been for what seemed like forty-eight hours stretched into the length of a thousand lifetimes.

��������������� But I�d been right: the physical pain had lessened the mental.. greatly. In fact� I picked up the lighter off of the wooden floor, just out of curiosity, and flicked it. The tiny flame leapt from the apex of the tiny pyre, and a sadistic, cobralike smile spread up my lips.