Alternative Ending- Sometimes Things Happen
*Jeff's point-of-view*
I'm standing in the hallway now, looking inside the door of the hospital room where Charity lay almost lifeless on the bed. Matt, Adam, and Jason are all sitting in chairs, while I sit in the floor beside the door, staring inside. She can't die, not now. Not before I have the chance to tell her how I really feel. Because I love her. I should have told her before now, before this wreck. That's why I kissed her in the club, in the middle of that argument. I just got this overwhelming feeling to kiss her all of a sudden, and before I could stop it, I was already doing it. But it felt really good, you know. But now here we are, in this hospital in a city that I've forgotten the name of because I'm so worried about Charity and I'm so sorry... "Jeff, you okay?" I hear Matt ask me. I shake my head no wordlessly, hot, stinging tears welling up in my eyes. "What's wrong? She's gonna be okay; Charity Nolan is the strongest girl I've ever known, right Adam?" Jason says. "Yeah..." he says slowly, hanging his head down in his hands. "What if she dies?" I say a minute later to nobody in particular. "Don't say that, Jeff! She's not gonna die, right guys?" Matt says. They both shake their heads yes after a moment. "Oh God, please let her live..." I whisper to myself. "You're really worried about her, aren't you? Almost more than we are... what's up with that?" Jason says. "More than you know, Reso," I say. "You love her, don't you?" Adam says, looking up at me with tears in his green eyes. "Guilty," I admit, tears falling down my face as anger begins to well up inside me. "Why did I have to be so damn stupid?! It's my fault we had that wreck, and you all know it!" I stand up and begin to pace the small section of hallway. "Guys, she's awake now, you can go talk to her. But I need to tell you all something... we don't know how much longer she has left," I hear the doctor say, and tears begins to fall down my face as I slump down in the middle of the floor again, sobbing and holding my head in my hands. Adam, Jason, and Matt all get up and start inside the room, but I stay in the hall. "Jeff, why aren't you coming?" Matt says. "I don't deserve to go in there. I've caused her enough trouble already, Matt. I can't bother her now. I'm never gonna bother her again." "What do you mean?" "I don't deserve to have her in my life. I'm gonna stay out of hers from now on." Matt shrugs his shoulders and walks inside the room, taking one more look at me before dissappearing inside the hospital room. God, what have I done? I've practically murdered the one woman I've ever really loved, and for what? For nothing. "Jeff?" I hear a voice say. I turn around to see Jason. "What?" "She's asking for you." "Why?" "She said she wants to talk to you." Slowly, I pull myself up before cautiously stepping into the room, expecting a flying lamp or vase or something of the sort. Which I deserve, really. Because I know it's my fault. The whole Hardy/Nolan feud is my fault. Walking over to stand with my brother, my heart almost stops as I see her lying there completely still. "Oh God," I gasp, shocked at the damage I had done. Her beautiful face is covered with nasty-looking purplish-black bruises and stitched gashes. She still has her street clothes on, except for her jacket, which is tossed on the chair at the small desk in the corner of the clean room. Matt nudges me, and I take a deep breath, holding back the distressed hiccups that fought to come out. I step towards her bed, and she opens her eyes, which were thankfully mush more alive and brilliant than the rest of her body. "Hey, Jeff," she says, her voice slightly stressed but still angelic. "Hey," I say, walking over to her side and taking her hand. She looks down at our entwined fingers, then up at me. "What are you-" "Don't you know by now?" She smiles, a tear slipping down her battered cheek. "Yeah, I know. I can see that much, Jeffrey." A few tears slide down my face as I gently brush her cheek, touching the cuts gently before running my thumb over her trembling lips. "Jeff, I love you, too," she says softly, squeezing my hand. "Then you have to promise me you're not going to leave me, Charity. Promise me." "I... I don't know if I can, Jeff... it hurts-" "Promise me, Charity." She sighs, deeply frustrated as she begins to cry gently. "I can't! That's why I've always argued with you before, because you're so damn difficult," she says jokingly. I can't help but laugh, then I lean down and look into her sapphire eyes. "Promise me." She turns her head slightly. "I can't... it hurts so bad," she says, leaning back into the pillow and squeezing my hand. I think desparately. "Charity, if you get out of here, I want to marry you. I want to marry you as soon as you get out of here, because you're going to get out of here, do you hear me?" She looks up at me, a look of total surprise in her eyes. "That's how much I love you. I knew the night I kissed you in the club that I loved you. But I knew I liked you the first time I saw you." "Jeff, I'm not going to make it. I know it. My daddy said I wasn't. But he said I was coming home soon," she says, looking up towards the ceiling. I look at Jason, who is standing with his mouth agape. "Jeff, Charity's dad died when she was eleven." I feel my heart come to a complete hault. "Jason, I want you to run, not walk, run downstairs and find that damn pastor that does service in this hospital, and you tell him to get up here right now. And I'm serious. Now go," I say. He hesitates for a moment, then runs out the door. "Charity, baby, I'm not letting you die without me giving you something; the least I can give you here is my name. Because you already have my heart." I talk to her a few more minutes as Jason goes to get the pastor, and when they finally get there, I explain our situation to him quickly. "I don't know, son..." "Please! Please do this, I'll give you anything you want, just please... please marry us. I love her, and she's going to die." He sighs, looking down at his watch before turning to face me again. "All right."
****************
"Please hurry this up, okay? We don't know how long she has." "All right." He skips to the 'I do's'. "I do." "I do." Two minutes later, I'm kissing my new wife. With her permission this time, and with no risk that she's going to knock my lights out afterwards. Unless my nervousness gets to me and I bite the tip off her tongue now. But I don't, and as I look into her beautiful blue eyes afterwards, I'm overwhelmed with the love I feel for her. Now she's mine, even if it's not for long... "Hey, what's that beeping?" Matt says, bringing me out of my dreamworld. Suddenly, a doctor rushes into the room, looks at her monitor, and insists we go outside, telling the nurse to get more help. Unwillingly, I walk into the hall and stand beside the door for almost an hour, about to chew a hole in my already sore bottom lip. She's my wife now, after all. She's Charity Danielle Hardy, my wife. "Are you the men with Charity Nolan?" "Hardy. She's Charity Hardy now. She just got married," Jason says. "Very well, Charity Hardy. Either way, I'm afraid I don't have very good news for you. Which one of you is the husband?" "I am," I immediately say, and he pulls me away from the others. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hardy, but Charity didn't make it." Immediately, I begin to cry, covering my face with my hands and almost falling in the floor as he says, "We tried everything we could to save her, but there was no way we could. I'm sorry." "Oh God..." I say, suddenly feeling very faint. Not two hours ago, she was alive and getting married to me, and now she's... I can't even say it. The doctor walks away, and Adam, Jason, and Matt all come to me immediately as I fall in the floor. They remain silent as I grip Matt's hand that he gives to me. I lean my back against the wall and pull my knees up to my chest, covering my face with my free hand. Matt gently tells me to loosen up, that I'm cutting off his curculation, and that with my shaking, I might cause his hand to get sick. "She's dead..." I say. "We know. The doctor told us," Jason says, crying. "Why did it have to be her, why couldn't it have been someone else?! Why couldn't it have been me... not her..." I get up and kick over a plant stand, which comes crashing to the floor. "Jeff, calm down-" "Calm down?! How the hell do you expect me to calm down?! My wife just died, stupid, and you're tellimg me to fuckin' calm down?! Where the hell are you coming from?!" I exclaim, before reducing to tears once again. "Charity, I'm so sorry, baby... I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to make you hate me... I didn't want you to die..." I mumble to myself. "I don't know how I'm going to live without you..."
****************
The next day, I bought a ring for both me and Charity. You know, one to put on her before they buried her. Inside mine, I got her initials, birth and death date, and inside hers, I got my initials and my birthdate and her deathdate. Because that was the day my soul died. How I was still alive, I didn't know. I felt like the air I breathed was a waste now, and that someone else could make the best of my wasted life, but not me. I wrote a poem for her; they're gonna put it on her tombstone.
"The air I breathe is useless now,
because without you, I'm nothing.
The ground I walk on is wasted now,
because without you, I have nothing.
Everything was great until that day,
now you've left me here with nothing.
I couldn't keep the car from swerving,
I know because I tried.
And as I watched you lay in that bed,
my soul, as well as you, died.
I know I should be grieving,
I am, but I can't cry.
The air I breathe is useless now,
because without you, I'm empty.
I can't find my purpose now,
because without you, life is empty."
It's not so great, but then again, I can't think clearly now. And on the tombstone, they're gonna put her real name: Charity Danielle Hardy. That's the one thing that makes me feel good. But this is eating me up inside, you know? It's driving me crazy. It's been four days now, and I haven't eaten nor slept all that time. I don't know if I can pull myself out of this. It's not just something you can just snap out of, you know? It's hit Jay pretty hard, too. But not as hard as me. He's been staying at her old house; he hasn't moved any of her stuff. He said he's expecting her to come walking through the door any second just like she used to. But then again, we know she can't. The funeral's tomorrow; I've decided that when it's over, I'm gonna go home to North Carolina, where we both used to live. But I'll be going to my house, not hers. The next time somebody sees me, I won't be talking much. In fact, I won't be talking at all. Because I want to die, and that's all there is to it. I can't see a reason for living, no matter how hard I try. That'll be the last time I ever see home again. I'm going to write a note and tell them to bury me next to her.
****************
Matt-
I'm sorry about this. I just couldn't find my purpose in life anymore without Charity. She was my heart, my soul, the very air I breathed. My world revolved around her. Funny, it's kind of like that Pearl Jam song, Black. You know, "I know someday you'll have a beautiful life. I know you'll be a star in somebody else's life, but why, why, why can't it be mine..." The pain hurts, Matt. More than you know. More than anyone else knows. Well, I want to keep this brief; I just wanted to let you know that there was nothing you could do about this, so don't worry yourself sick over it. I love you, and I always have, no matter what. We're brothers. Period. Well, I want to go ahead and get this over with. See ya in the afterlife.
Jeffrey Nero Hardy
P.S.- Tell Adam and Jason that this one goes out to the two that hear me all too well...
The End
*Jeff's point-of-view*
I'm standing in the hallway now, looking inside the door of the hospital room where Charity lay almost lifeless on the bed. Matt, Adam, and Jason are all sitting in chairs, while I sit in the floor beside the door, staring inside. She can't die, not now. Not before I have the chance to tell her how I really feel. Because I love her. I should have told her before now, before this wreck. That's why I kissed her in the club, in the middle of that argument. I just got this overwhelming feeling to kiss her all of a sudden, and before I could stop it, I was already doing it. But it felt really good, you know. But now here we are, in this hospital in a city that I've forgotten the name of because I'm so worried about Charity and I'm so sorry... "Jeff, you okay?" I hear Matt ask me. I shake my head no wordlessly, hot, stinging tears welling up in my eyes. "What's wrong? She's gonna be okay; Charity Nolan is the strongest girl I've ever known, right Adam?" Jason says. "Yeah..." he says slowly, hanging his head down in his hands. "What if she dies?" I say a minute later to nobody in particular. "Don't say that, Jeff! She's not gonna die, right guys?" Matt says. They both shake their heads yes after a moment. "Oh God, please let her live..." I whisper to myself. "You're really worried about her, aren't you? Almost more than we are... what's up with that?" Jason says. "More than you know, Reso," I say. "You love her, don't you?" Adam says, looking up at me with tears in his green eyes. "Guilty," I admit, tears falling down my face as anger begins to well up inside me. "Why did I have to be so damn stupid?! It's my fault we had that wreck, and you all know it!" I stand up and begin to pace the small section of hallway. "Guys, she's awake now, you can go talk to her. But I need to tell you all something... we don't know how much longer she has left," I hear the doctor say, and tears begins to fall down my face as I slump down in the middle of the floor again, sobbing and holding my head in my hands. Adam, Jason, and Matt all get up and start inside the room, but I stay in the hall. "Jeff, why aren't you coming?" Matt says. "I don't deserve to go in there. I've caused her enough trouble already, Matt. I can't bother her now. I'm never gonna bother her again." "What do you mean?" "I don't deserve to have her in my life. I'm gonna stay out of hers from now on." Matt shrugs his shoulders and walks inside the room, taking one more look at me before dissappearing inside the hospital room. God, what have I done? I've practically murdered the one woman I've ever really loved, and for what? For nothing. "Jeff?" I hear a voice say. I turn around to see Jason. "What?" "She's asking for you." "Why?" "She said she wants to talk to you." Slowly, I pull myself up before cautiously stepping into the room, expecting a flying lamp or vase or something of the sort. Which I deserve, really. Because I know it's my fault. The whole Hardy/Nolan feud is my fault. Walking over to stand with my brother, my heart almost stops as I see her lying there completely still. "Oh God," I gasp, shocked at the damage I had done. Her beautiful face is covered with nasty-looking purplish-black bruises and stitched gashes. She still has her street clothes on, except for her jacket, which is tossed on the chair at the small desk in the corner of the clean room. Matt nudges me, and I take a deep breath, holding back the distressed hiccups that fought to come out. I step towards her bed, and she opens her eyes, which were thankfully mush more alive and brilliant than the rest of her body. "Hey, Jeff," she says, her voice slightly stressed but still angelic. "Hey," I say, walking over to her side and taking her hand. She looks down at our entwined fingers, then up at me. "What are you-" "Don't you know by now?" She smiles, a tear slipping down her battered cheek. "Yeah, I know. I can see that much, Jeffrey." A few tears slide down my face as I gently brush her cheek, touching the cuts gently before running my thumb over her trembling lips. "Jeff, I love you, too," she says softly, squeezing my hand. "Then you have to promise me you're not going to leave me, Charity. Promise me." "I... I don't know if I can, Jeff... it hurts-" "Promise me, Charity." She sighs, deeply frustrated as she begins to cry gently. "I can't! That's why I've always argued with you before, because you're so damn difficult," she says jokingly. I can't help but laugh, then I lean down and look into her sapphire eyes. "Promise me." She turns her head slightly. "I can't... it hurts so bad," she says, leaning back into the pillow and squeezing my hand. I think desparately. "Charity, if you get out of here, I want to marry you. I want to marry you as soon as you get out of here, because you're going to get out of here, do you hear me?" She looks up at me, a look of total surprise in her eyes. "That's how much I love you. I knew the night I kissed you in the club that I loved you. But I knew I liked you the first time I saw you." "Jeff, I'm not going to make it. I know it. My daddy said I wasn't. But he said I was coming home soon," she says, looking up towards the ceiling. I look at Jason, who is standing with his mouth agape. "Jeff, Charity's dad died when she was eleven." I feel my heart come to a complete hault. "Jason, I want you to run, not walk, run downstairs and find that damn pastor that does service in this hospital, and you tell him to get up here right now. And I'm serious. Now go," I say. He hesitates for a moment, then runs out the door. "Charity, baby, I'm not letting you die without me giving you something; the least I can give you here is my name. Because you already have my heart." I talk to her a few more minutes as Jason goes to get the pastor, and when they finally get there, I explain our situation to him quickly. "I don't know, son..." "Please! Please do this, I'll give you anything you want, just please... please marry us. I love her, and she's going to die." He sighs, looking down at his watch before turning to face me again. "All right."
****************
"Please hurry this up, okay? We don't know how long she has." "All right." He skips to the 'I do's'. "I do." "I do." Two minutes later, I'm kissing my new wife. With her permission this time, and with no risk that she's going to knock my lights out afterwards. Unless my nervousness gets to me and I bite the tip off her tongue now. But I don't, and as I look into her beautiful blue eyes afterwards, I'm overwhelmed with the love I feel for her. Now she's mine, even if it's not for long... "Hey, what's that beeping?" Matt says, bringing me out of my dreamworld. Suddenly, a doctor rushes into the room, looks at her monitor, and insists we go outside, telling the nurse to get more help. Unwillingly, I walk into the hall and stand beside the door for almost an hour, about to chew a hole in my already sore bottom lip. She's my wife now, after all. She's Charity Danielle Hardy, my wife. "Are you the men with Charity Nolan?" "Hardy. She's Charity Hardy now. She just got married," Jason says. "Very well, Charity Hardy. Either way, I'm afraid I don't have very good news for you. Which one of you is the husband?" "I am," I immediately say, and he pulls me away from the others. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hardy, but Charity didn't make it." Immediately, I begin to cry, covering my face with my hands and almost falling in the floor as he says, "We tried everything we could to save her, but there was no way we could. I'm sorry." "Oh God..." I say, suddenly feeling very faint. Not two hours ago, she was alive and getting married to me, and now she's... I can't even say it. The doctor walks away, and Adam, Jason, and Matt all come to me immediately as I fall in the floor. They remain silent as I grip Matt's hand that he gives to me. I lean my back against the wall and pull my knees up to my chest, covering my face with my free hand. Matt gently tells me to loosen up, that I'm cutting off his curculation, and that with my shaking, I might cause his hand to get sick. "She's dead..." I say. "We know. The doctor told us," Jason says, crying. "Why did it have to be her, why couldn't it have been someone else?! Why couldn't it have been me... not her..." I get up and kick over a plant stand, which comes crashing to the floor. "Jeff, calm down-" "Calm down?! How the hell do you expect me to calm down?! My wife just died, stupid, and you're tellimg me to fuckin' calm down?! Where the hell are you coming from?!" I exclaim, before reducing to tears once again. "Charity, I'm so sorry, baby... I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to make you hate me... I didn't want you to die..." I mumble to myself. "I don't know how I'm going to live without you..."
****************
The next day, I bought a ring for both me and Charity. You know, one to put on her before they buried her. Inside mine, I got her initials, birth and death date, and inside hers, I got my initials and my birthdate and her deathdate. Because that was the day my soul died. How I was still alive, I didn't know. I felt like the air I breathed was a waste now, and that someone else could make the best of my wasted life, but not me. I wrote a poem for her; they're gonna put it on her tombstone.
"The air I breathe is useless now,
because without you, I'm nothing.
The ground I walk on is wasted now,
because without you, I have nothing.
Everything was great until that day,
now you've left me here with nothing.
I couldn't keep the car from swerving,
I know because I tried.
And as I watched you lay in that bed,
my soul, as well as you, died.
I know I should be grieving,
I am, but I can't cry.
The air I breathe is useless now,
because without you, I'm empty.
I can't find my purpose now,
because without you, life is empty."
It's not so great, but then again, I can't think clearly now. And on the tombstone, they're gonna put her real name: Charity Danielle Hardy. That's the one thing that makes me feel good. But this is eating me up inside, you know? It's driving me crazy. It's been four days now, and I haven't eaten nor slept all that time. I don't know if I can pull myself out of this. It's not just something you can just snap out of, you know? It's hit Jay pretty hard, too. But not as hard as me. He's been staying at her old house; he hasn't moved any of her stuff. He said he's expecting her to come walking through the door any second just like she used to. But then again, we know she can't. The funeral's tomorrow; I've decided that when it's over, I'm gonna go home to North Carolina, where we both used to live. But I'll be going to my house, not hers. The next time somebody sees me, I won't be talking much. In fact, I won't be talking at all. Because I want to die, and that's all there is to it. I can't see a reason for living, no matter how hard I try. That'll be the last time I ever see home again. I'm going to write a note and tell them to bury me next to her.
****************
Matt-
I'm sorry about this. I just couldn't find my purpose in life anymore without Charity. She was my heart, my soul, the very air I breathed. My world revolved around her. Funny, it's kind of like that Pearl Jam song, Black. You know, "I know someday you'll have a beautiful life. I know you'll be a star in somebody else's life, but why, why, why can't it be mine..." The pain hurts, Matt. More than you know. More than anyone else knows. Well, I want to keep this brief; I just wanted to let you know that there was nothing you could do about this, so don't worry yourself sick over it. I love you, and I always have, no matter what. We're brothers. Period. Well, I want to go ahead and get this over with. See ya in the afterlife.
Jeffrey Nero Hardy
P.S.- Tell Adam and Jason that this one goes out to the two that hear me all too well...
The End