The Letter (part 5)

There was a whole minute when Kevin woke up before he remembered.  A whole blissful minute, in which he wondered where he was.  A minute before a deep cloud of pungent guilt suffocated him.  There were tubes in his nose, an IV needle in his hand, and a thick layer of bandages around his lower arms.1

The second wave of guilt came when he saw Jamie, asleep in a chair beside his bed.  Kevin  felt like he couldn't breathe.  Desparate breaths sucked in air as desparate eyes tried to deny what he had done.  The noise woke Jamie.2

"Jamie!  I'm so sorry!  I can't believe I did this!  I can't believe I gave you that letter!  I wish I could take it all back!"3

Jamie leaked tears again, and got up and hugged him.  She hugged him like she would never let him go.  "I care about you, Kevin.  I'll be here for you, I'll help you.  We'll get you help.  Just please don't ever do this again."  Pause.  "I don't understand.  I thought you were happy, Kevin.  I didn't know.  I wish you'd told me."4

"I'm sorry.  I'm just so sorry.  I didn't mean to put you through this.  I didn't think, I just needed to escape.  I should have thought.  I'm sorry."  Kevin kept apologising.5

"It's okay, I promise.  Calm down.  I'll be alright.  It's not your fault, I should have noticed you weren't alright.  Stop apologising, it's alright."6

Everything was quiet for a while until the nurse came in to check on Kevin.  She asked Jamie to leave the room so she wouldn't get in the way.  Really, the nurse just didn't want to let Jamie see the wounds as she redressed them.7

"Please don't go Jamie, I don't want to be alone" Kevin almost whispered.  So Jamie stayed.8