Chapter 4: Slowly Slipping Away

It was the next day and Peyton, Haley, Nathan, and Lucas could not wait to go visit Brooke at the hospital. The thing they hated the most though was the fact that even though the school shooting was yesterday they still had to go to school but they sucked it up and dealt with it. As they walked into the school principal Turner approached them and told them that because one of their close friends was injured they all had to go into the library and see the grief counselor.

All of them talked to the grief counselor and they could tell the two people that were taking this the hardest were Lucas and Peyton. Their classes went by really slowly but pretty soon it was lunch time. Peyton was the first one at the table and she had her sketch pad out drawing what she witnessed happen yesterday with Brooke and their teacher. Haley was the second one to arrive at the table when she sat down and saw what Peyton was drawing she was worried about her.

"Peyton, Brooke is going to be okay the doctors called Karen and let her know that she had woken up last night and they moved her to a recovery room. I promise we will skip practice and go see her right after school" Haley says as she rubs Peyton's back

"W-what if I can't wait that long Haley? She is my best friend and she is in the hospital all alone and she hates being alone. Screw this I am going to go see her right now visiting hours started a half hour ago and I need to see her" Peyton says as she gets up and wipes the tear that fell from her eye

"I know I'm not going to be able to stop you no matter how much I try so I'll wait here for Luke and Nate and we will meet you in her room" Haley says and then watches Peyton walk away

After Peyton left the school it only took her 15 minutes to get to the hospital. As soon as she got there she went up to the front desk and found out what room Brooke was in. She said thank you to the nurse and walked down the hall until she found Brooke's room. Once she arrived at the door she took a deep breath and walked in. The sight in front of her was so sad; Brooke looked so little laying there on the bed just staring blankly at the wall. Peyton walked over to the bed and sits down on the edge of it. Brooke still has not moved her eyes from the wall and it was worrying Peyton.

"Hey Brookie, I'm so glad you're okay you had us all worried" Peyton tells her and Brooke finally looks at her but has no emotion in her eyes

"Shouldn't you be at school" Brooke asks trying to avoid talking about anything that has to do with her

"Yes but I didn't want you to be here all by yourself" Peyton tells her

"Oh, okay" Brooke says as she turns her head away from Peyton and looks out the window and being Brooke's best friend she knew something was on Brooke's mind that was upsetting her

"Brooke will you please talk to me and tell me what is on your mind?" Peyton asks and Brooke just shakes her head no

At that time that is when a nurse walks in with Brooke's lunch and sets it down next to her. Before the nurse leaves the room she has to check Brooke's vital signs to make sure everything was okay, once she was done she told Brooke she would be back in an hour to check on her and take her tray away. Brooke nods her head and keeps staring out the window. Once the nurse was gone Brooke turns her head and looks at the food that was brought for her. She didn't feel like eating at all. So she just turns her head back to the window. She is also doing this because looking at Peyton makes her want to cry because her face looks so sad. Peyton couldn't take it anymore so she got up on Brooke's bed right next to her and held her. When Peyton did this Brooke turned her body to face her and buried her head into Peyton's chest. Peyton hated seeing her best friend go through this. Finally after fifteen minutes of just holding Brooke in her arms Nathan, Haley and Lucas showed up. Brooke did not remove her head from Peyton's chest at all even while the others talked to her and asked her questions.

"Thank god you're okay Brooke we were so worried about you" Says Nathan but Brooke just holds on to Peyton tighter. Haley looks next to Brooke and see's the food and was wondering if Brooke wanted to eat it.

"Hey Brooke are you hungry? You have food sitting here" Haley asks and Brooke just shakes her head no without looking up

"Hey pretty girl" Lucas says as he sits on the other side of Brooke's bed and when he said that you can see her visibly stiffen and pull away from his touch she just couldn't deal with Lucas not since she knows who shot his uncle.

Nurse Ellie came in to make sure Brooke was okay and take her empty tray but when she saw that it hadn't even been touched she was even more worried about the teenaged girl than she already was.

"Brooke Sweetie I know it's cold but I need you to eat a little bit of your food for me. You hardly touched your breakfast this morning. If you want I will allow your friends to bring you food but Brooke you have to eat it" Nurse Ellie says

"But I'm not hungry" Brooke mumbles into Peyton's chest

"Tell you what Brooke how about Hales, Nate, and Peyton all go get you something from my mom's café and I'll stay here with you" Lucas suggested trying to be helpful but Brooke hated that idea

"NOOO, Peyton please don't leave me" Brooke cries

"Sweetie I'm not going to leave you until I have too" Peyton tells Brooke soothingly

"Why don't the three of you go and get her something and bring it back she doesn't want me to leave her side" Peyton says

"Okay we'll see you when we get back" Haley says as she drags both of the boys out of the room

When everyone was out of the room Peyton decided to ask Brooke what exactly happened inside the school because she knows Brooke is struggling and hiding something that will ended up eating her up inside if she doesn't talk soon.

"Brookie I know this is going to be hard to talk about but please tell me what exactly went on inside the school" Peyton says while rubbing Brooke's back soothingly because she started crying

"N-nothing, Peyt I'm really tired I'm going to sleep but please don't leave me I don't want to be alone" Brooke says and begs

"I promise you sweetie I will not leave you, now get some sleep" Peyton tells her

After Peyton was done talking within five minutes Brooke was asleep and Peyton was still lying with her. She could not stop thinking about what exactly had gone on inside that school when everyone else was outside. Peyton promised herself that she will not let this destroy Brooke and she will do whatever it takes to help her.

XXX

A/N: I'm really sorry to everyone who has been waiting for this chapter. School has started up again so my updates are probably not going to be as fast as CaseyJr's.

Anyways this chapter was written by: JustLikeBrookeDavis