Never The Same

Chapter Four

I opened my eyes to see a few of my friends surrounding me, in what looked to be a hospital room. Miss Kent sat next to Jenna in the far corner of the room. Luke was in a chair right by my bed. I noticed he was holding my hand. I didn't mean to pull it away, but I did and he just smiled at me. Their were tears forming in his eyes. I tried to sit up and make it look like I was alright, but Luke put his hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back.

"Lay down," he said. "I'll go get the nurse."

Jenna walked over by me and sat where Luke was sitting. She wasn't crying. It made me feel better, because I felt like there wasn't anything wrong. Jenna would only cry if she knew something bad was about to happen. So, this means she thinks I'll be able to get through whatever is happening.

"There were so many people here for you," she says. "I swear I had to wait hours before I could come in and see you."

"Did you tell my parents? I don't want them to worry."

"No, I didn't tell them."

"Okay, thank you."

"But..."

"Yeah?"

"I sort of told Luke."

Two people walk in through the door and Luke follows. I'm afraid of what's he's thinking. I can't help but wonder how long he has known. I look at him apologetically, and he looks back at me like he's scared. But I can't tell whether he is scared for me, or scared of losing me. Maybe even both.

"I'm glad to see your awake, Ella. I'm Dr. Bryce."

"How long have I been in here?"

"Three days," the other doctor says to me, but turns and talks to my guest. "I'm sorry, but only one of you can be in here at a time. We don't want to overwhelm the patient."

It shouldn't bother me that she said 'the patient' instead of my name, but it does. Luke and Miss Kent left the room, and Jenna stayed with me.

"Are you mad," she asks.

"No, I'm too scared to be upset."

"I'm sorry, it's just-"

"You don't need to explain it to me."

"I, I have to go, there's something I need to do."

I nodded my head, and she walked out the door. I look at the nightstand and saw the time was 7:43. I grabbed the television remote and pressed the power button. I flipped through the channels, but there wasn't anything good on. The news came on, so I stayed on it for a few minutes, until Luke came in.

"I don't think this is the best thing to watch," he says.

"Yeah, you're probably right. So, she told you?"

"Not everything, but most of it. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, you don't have to be sorry for me. You can leave and we don't have to see each other again. We can pretend like we never even met."

"What do you mean? Why?"

"I mean that we just met each other, and now this is happening. Do you really want to be friends with me? It's risky. If Asher comes to find me, he'll kill. He already has."

"I want to show you something. Can I sit with you?" I nod. He sits with me on my bed, and hands me a picture. I start to cry.

"How'd you get this?"

"Brooke is my sister. We were separated when our parents got divorced. I contacted her a while ago, and we started sending letters. This was with the last letter I received. She told me that there was no one in the world like her best friend Ellie."

"Emma," I whisper to myself.

"What?"

"That's not me. It's Emma."

"Your sister?"

"My twin sister. We lived right in the middle of two school districts, so I was sent to one, and she was sent to the other. That was the day we switched positions."

"Where is she now?" I was crying really hard now. Luke put his arm around me and I set my head against his chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't-"

"No, no, it's okay. I'm okay," I managed to say. "She, um- she killed herself."

"I'm really sorry. Should I leave?"

"No, please stay."

"I will." He brushes his fingers through my hair. "I'll do anything for you."

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared. I'm really scared."

"Can you explain it to me?"

I nodded my head and took a deep breathe. "One day, Emma told me she had a boyfriend. His name was Asher. I thought they were happy, but she came home crying one night after they were going out for a while. She didn't like him anymore. He became obsessed with her. She was afraid of him. So, I did the only thing I thought I could."

"You took the fall for her," he says, actually thinking about what I've said.

"We made a commitment to switch spots. We even slept in each other's beds. Then Asher started to confront me in public, thinking I was Emma. That's when I had to stop hanging out with her, other than at home. We couldn't risk him finding out about both of us. Our parents didn't even know we were acting different. It was only a matter of time before he kidnapped me. I was really afraid of him, but I was more afraid of him hurting Emma."

"And Emma let you do this?"

"For a while, but then she wanted to go back. She didn't want to do this to me. I told her that I needed to do this, because I was the older one, even if it was by four minutes. It was my job to protect her. We would get into fights about it for the longest time. But we'd make up that night. We were scared for each other."

"How did she die?"

"She watched something on the news, and she thought Asher had killed me. She left a note for my parents, saying she couldn't live without me, especially knowing the fact that she did this to me. She ran off and killed herself. Her body was revealed the next morning."

Luke waited a minute before he spoke, taking in what I said. "Thank you for telling me."

Dr. Bryce walked through the door and saw us laying together. "I just came in here to tell you that you'll need to stay here one more night, but we will have everything ready for you to go to school tomorrow. And, we normally don't allow over-nighters, but I think we can make an exception."

Luke said thanks and smiled at her. Then, she left us alone again. I was sort of glad she let him stay. I took the pills from the table and swallowed them with a drink of water. I whispered goodnight, and within minutes, I was asleep.