*Jaxon*
The whole school has been here waiting for hours. Besides Meanna, three others have been wounded and one is dead. One of the injured is in critical condition.
My mom and Xahlia are sitting on either side of me crying, while Elijah and my dad are trying to be strong and console them. I am numb and staring off into space. I don't know how to feel right now.
"Hey, how are you doing," Jen asks me, sitting on my lap and pulling me in for a hug. I bury my face in her neck and inhale her scent like a creep, but she doesn't seem to mind. She pulls me closer and kisses the top of my head.
"I don't know how to feel Jen. I'm numb and I have no more tears to cry. This wasn't supposed to happen, why did this happen," I mumble. I actually feel like I am about to cry, which is funny since I just said I couldn't cry anymore.
"Have there been any updates since I was gone," she asks me, massaging my head.
"Not on Mea," I tell her. "Colt is dead, Hope was shot in the shoulder, Henry was shot in the thigh, and Victor was shot in the side of the neck. Colt's mom came in but he was already dead by the time she got here."
"This is all going to hit everyone so hard. How is Jake doing?"
"He's just been sitting there against the wall with his head in his knees the entire time."
"It's probably killing him, I know if it was you it would kill me," she says, pulling my head up to look into my eyes. "She's going to be okay. We all know that she is a fighter and she's not going to go out like this."
I just give her a small nod and a weak smile.
"How the hell did this happen, Ariel," mom suddenly yells, making everyone turn to her.
"I don't know, it was supposed to just be a practice mission. No one was even supposed to be there but us," Aunt Ariel cries.
"It's not her fault, honey. They go on missions like this all the time, you know that," dad says, sitting down and pulling her to sit on his lap.
"I know that, but what happened," she buries her face in his chest and begins to sob uncontrollably. Seeing my mom this way puts me over the edge and I begin to cry once again. Jenna wraps her arms around me again and pulls me closer to her.
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At some point, I find myself sitting next to Jake on the floor. He suddenly lifts his head and his eyes are bloodshot.
"What time is it," he croaks out. I look at the time on my phone and see that it is after two in the morning.
"It's two thirty-three in the morning," I tell him.
"Has there been any news," he asks. He stretches his legs out and leans his head back against the wall.
"She's out of surgery, but they said she's in a medically induced coma. She's still critical, so they want to keep her in the coma to give her body time to heal."
"This sucks. Nothing like this has ever happened. Why now, was this accidental or purposeful?"
"I keep asking myself that same question, man."
"Where is everyone," he asks after looking around the waiting room.
"Uncle Rico and Aunt Beth took Elijah, Rodney, Hayden, Kailer, Xahlia, Mckenlee, and Hardin home and your parents took Cierra home," I tell him. "My parents are in the room with Mea and everyone else is around, either sleeping or just around the hospital."
He gives me a nod and stands up from the floor, offering his hand to me. I take it and he pulls me up.
"Wanna head to the cafeteria," he asks me.
"Yeah, sure," I say and follow him to the elevators to head down to the lobby where the cafeteria is.
"This is all so effed up," he says, slamming his head against the elevator wall once.
"You trying to lose more brain cells that you don't have," I joke weakly.
He gives me a slight smile and pushes on my shoulder. "Shut up."
When we make it to the cafeteria, we find Jenna, Shayla, and Kennady sitting at a table.
"Hey guys," Shayla says when we walk up to them.
"Hey, Shay," Jake says with a weak smile.
"Did Brad and Dylan go home," I ask.
"Yeah, they left about an hour ago," Jenna says.
"How are you feeling," Kennady asks me and Jake.
"As good as can be expected," I tell her.
She gives me a short nod and me and Jake sit down. We're all sitting there silently until Uncle Brian comes down.
He lays his head down on the table and lets out a deep sigh.
"How is she, daddy," Shayla asks him after a few moments of silence.
"She's alive," he says after lifting his head off the table. "The doctors put her into a medically induced coma because her injury is so severe."
Jenna lets out a sob and covers her mouth to try and muffle the rest. I put my arms around her and pull her close to me. She buries her face in chest and sobs softly.
"Junior is looking into a few leads," he informs us. "They have someone in custody and they're trying to get him to talk, but he's being stubborn."
"Whoever they are, they are dead," I say coldly, and everyone nods in agreement.
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"Hey, Mea. Everyone is here waiting for you to get better," I tell her, holding her hand in mine.
"The whole school is in a panic over what happened. We lost Colt and three others were injured. Our whole family has been going crazy over what happened to you. Grandpa Greg has come out of retirement to help find the people who are behind this. Xahlia misses you so much and so does Elijah. Eli tries to be brave for her, but I caught him crying in his room when I went home to shower and eat once."
I take a deep breath and continue, "Mom is really depressed, she doesn't even cry anymore. She just sits there, staring at the wall. She doesn't eat or sleep and we're all worried about her. We really need you to come through this Mea, we're all struggling without you. It's like we're missing a piece of us, I'm missing a part of myself. You're my twin and when you hurt, I hurt. Right now I'm hurting a whole lot so I can only imagine how you're feeling. I really hope you're not in any type of pain right now."
I have tears rolling down my face. I bring her hand up to my lips and place a kiss on her knuckles before I lay my head down by her hand and fall into a deep sleep.