Northern_Lights_2017

47 You Are My Sunshine AJ Johnson ‘You are my sunshine...’ Bethany felt tears fall from her eyes as she held Peyton a little closer in the hospital room. It had been an accident; she hadn’t meant to crash the motorcycle. Not that anyone actually ever intends to crash a motorcycle, especially not with a girl riding with them. She had just thought she had the time to make the turn. The light had been green. She had the go-ahead. She should’ve been okay. Neither of them had expected that car to run the light—some drunk idiot coming home from a party that was probably still going on. He got away scot-free, just getting a ticket instead of being charged with hitting them. Bethany had thrown a fit through it all, wanting to beat him to a pulp before she heard about the state that Peyton was in. ‘My only sunshine...’ Now she sat on the bed in the hospital room, the nurses and doctors having practically given up on trying to save Peyton. They said that there wasn’t anything else they could do, that her injuries were too severe. She might pull through but there was a very slim chance of it actually happening. They let Bethany hold her, telling her to say her goodbyes even if Peyton couldn’t hear her. So she did. She repeated in her ear over and over again that Peyton was going to make it, that they were going to be together for a long time. Bethany was going to make sure of it. She would whisper how much she loved Peyton as her voice cracked and faded in and out, causing the blue-haired girl to just fall into a fit of sobs. It wasn’t fair. Why did it have to be Peyton that was hurt? Why couldn’t Shock be the one in the girl’s place? ‘You make me happy...’ Bethany kept her head buried in the crook of Peyton’s neck, hands trembling as she laced her fingers with the cold fingers of her girlfriend. “Peyton.... You’re the only girl I think I could picture myself with. Please... I need you to pull through. I need you to be okay. I love you so much.... Please don’t leave me like this. I was so stupid. I was just so stupid. I should’ve seen him coming.... Please don’t leave me.” The younger girl looked up as the door opened, a nurse walking in to check Peyton’s vitals, not even caring how Shock was curled up with her. She gave a sad smile when Peyton hadn’t gotten any better and just shook her head at Bethany. She wasn’t better. She wasn’t even close to how she had been. Bethany had sealed her fate by being a little careless about everything. If she had just looked.... If she had made sure that she would be okay to turn.... ‘When skies are grey...’ Bethany felt her tears fall down her cheeks as she felt something squeeze her hand. She looked down at Peyton’s hand intertwined with her own and gave a soft chuckle in shock. Had Peyton really just squeezed her hand? Had she imagined it? She wasn’t sure but she pressed a soft kiss to the girl’s hair, whispering to her, “Peyton... Can you please do that again? Please tell me you can hear me....” Another squeeze—meek and shy but it was there. “Peyton... Baby...” Bethany whispered as she held the injured girl a little closer, not even caring that her own leg was fractured. Peyton was worse off; Peyton needed to be taken care of. She had to pull through so that Bethany could care for her and make sure that she survived, that she made it through so they could be happy together again. They had to be happy again. ‘You’ll never know dear...’ Flat line, the loud beeping ringing through the room right after the nurse had left. The blue-haired girl squeaking and shaking her head as the word ‘no’ fell from her lips in quick succession. It wasn’t happening. Peyton hadn’t just flatlined. She wasn’t dying. But the beeping resumed at its normal pace after a few moments, making Bethany relax slightly as the nurse came in and asked her to move so she could give Peyton more medicine and try and fix her, keep her going for a little while longer. Bethany scrambled to move but kept her hand in Peyton’s the entire time, hoping to feel another soft squeeze from the girl. She needed to feel that squeeze to keep herself going, not knowing if she personally could live with losing Peyton. The girl was her everything, her only reason for continuing on with her life after everything that had happened to her in the past few years.