Chapter 3

The blare of the alarm only sounded for a second before Jack silenced it. The clock read 6:45 AM. A truly ungodly time of day. Exhausted, he disentangled himself from the bed, conscious of Rapunzel's still sleeping figure. Well at least she can get some rest. She's going to need it. Jack grabbed his scrubs before heading to the bathroom. In the mirror the bags under his eyes showed the evidence of his few hours of sleep. Disgruntled, he sat on the counter before methodically brushing his teeth. The smell of mint strummed up old memories that he didn't dare touch.

The image of a slight girl, flitting about the hospital. Always smiling, always handing out lollipops when the other doctors weren't looking. For an oral surgeon, she sure did indulge a sweet tooth. It was always like Christmas when she visited the emergency room on call. She'd repaired dozens of injuries along with the commonplace procedures, but she never showed her exhaustion. She would stay at the hospital for 36 hours straight, simply taking 3 hour naps during the slow hours of the morning, huddling up on the couch in the nurse's lounge. The smell of her perfume would follow her down the hall like a bizarre route through candyland. Her smile alone could make you melt, but it was her eyes that gave you pause. They were so colorful, so vibrant, a welcome sight during the night shifts. But with the good, inevitably came the bad. The image of her eyes and her smile dissolved into images of the wound, the gaping, gushing wound that wouldn't stop bleeding from beneath his hands. The other doctors were screaming, trying to get the hospital on lockdown to contain the terror. The sight of her blood staining her bleach white lab coat burned itself into Jack's retinas. By the time that the police arrived he had already shot himself and Jack was left, voice cracking, throat rasping, trying to get someone, anyone to help her. It was too much blood. He knew it was too much blood. She watched his panic and gently put her hand over his, an encouraging smile telling him that it was okay. That this is how it should be. Her eyes never left his face as the light drained from them. Jack closed her eyelids, smearing blood on them in the process before he removed his hands from the wound and just sat next to her body. The emptiness he felt then was never equaled. He sat against the nurse's counter and brought in his knees. Police swarmed the area and doctors came out of the patients rooms that they had locked themselves into. Everyone looked at Jack but knew better than to ask him to move. It was so long ago, but he still remembered trying to scrub the blood from his hands. The paranoia lingered longer than the smell did.

The sound of the front door closing brought Jack out of his head. He spit into the sink before leaving the bathroom. A note was stuck to the door that read:

Had to go to class.

Thanks for everything.

I'll see you tonight.

Jack plucked the note from the door and threw it out on his return to the bathroom. He jumped into the shower still trying to rid his thoughts of the ghosts. It always twisted his gut the way they would invade his mind and just discolor everything around him. Now Rapunzel's mother was on the long list of people who suffered untimely deaths. The number of people he'd seen pass away was daunting enough to make him wonder if his presence alone had this effect. Laughing at himself he rinsed the shampoo out of his hair before turning off the water and half-heartedly drying off. He pulled on his scrubs before running a hand through his hair and leaving for work, a silent prayer that today would be more uneventful than the last.

Rapunzel awoke to the jerking motion that silenced the alarm. She heard him get up and pretended to sleep until she was sure that he was in the bathroom. Signaled by the running water, she dashed out of bed and put on her clothes from the day before. After pulling on her shoes she scribbled a note to Jack and stuck it to the front door. With a brief glance in the direction of the bathroom she left the apartment. Unwillingly her feet took her back around the corner to her house. All she had to do was go inside the vestibule, retrieve her book bag from the hallway and slip out the door again. Easy. Simple. The sight of the house stopped her. It seemed to be leering down at her, the windows looming impossibly high and the door in the shape of an awful scream that she could feel building at the back of her throat. This wasn't right. She shouldn't be here. Class. She had to get to class. Rapunzel shook her head, freeing it from any psychological horrors that might prevent her from getting her materials for school. She had worked too hard and too long for her to slip now. She was even taking summer courses to finish her nursing degree early. She couldn't afford a setback, no matter how understanding the professors would be. Her key slid in easily at her touch and the door opened silently. She walked in, scanning the all familiar sight as though it were a crime scene. A day's worth of dust coated everything. Despite the brightness of the morning, the ghost of her mother seemed to lurk everywhere. Rapunzel dashed to the hallway and upon finding her backpack, retreated to the front door only stopping to throw a backwards glance at her prison. With a sigh and shake of her head, she locked the door behind her and followed the familiar path to school.

Jack yawned through his shift, fully aware of his exhaustion. The kids were moody and unresponsive to his suggestions of tag or catch so he had some free time. Every so often he would catch himself looking up at a clock, counting down the hours until Rapunzel would arrive. He could already picture her back at that little desk sorting through files. Yesterday felt like a lifetime ago. Yesterday had changed everything in his life. It always revolved around her, but yesterday really sealed his fate, and he was tired of pretending. If she loved him he was ready to love her back with all the force he could muster. If she didn't, then she would have the best friend that he could possibly be. If she didn't want him to be a part of her life…

Jack sat down at her desk and glanced at the unfinished work she had left. He sorted through the papers and started auditing the files. After a couple files he looked up at the clock, shocked that only 5 minutes had passed. No wonder she wanted to tear her hair out over this work. Bored already, he wandered through the corridors checking up on patients. People were always coming in and going out, a bad environment for those who got too attached too quickly. Except Emma. Emma was the ol' faithful of the hospital. She seemed to have taken up a permanent residence there. Ever since her Alzheimer's had gotten out of hand, she had been living there almost full time. She was always up for a good story, but she would tear up when she couldn't tell you one of her own. Her disease had progressed to the point where she couldn't correctly remember her family members. The worst part is that her eyes would light up at the memory of you, but she couldn't get past the hint of the memory. She had just enough recollection to give herself the memory of happiness. That was probably why Jack spent so much time talking to her. She didn't care about his past or his name, just about the person he was right then.

Jack swung open the door to see Emma sweetly sipping a ginger ale and watching a noisy game show on the television. Her gap-toothed smile greeted him and he sat down on the bed next to her, to see what she was watching.

"It's a good one, today," she informed him. "I never would have known how much a bag of peanuts cost."

"Aw sure you would have, Emma. You're a whiz at pricing things. I bet you could give them a run for their money."

"Oh you, always entertaining these grand thoughts about little ol' me." Emma sweetly patted his arm before returning to the show.

"Oh come on, you could! I really mean it."

"Never mind that it's a memory game."

"It's not a memory game. It's a guessing game. Do you really think anyone memorizes the price of toothpaste?"

Jack gave her a smug grin that made her giggle.

"Oh boy if you were my age we would have gotten into loads of trouble."

"Funny, Emma. How old are you?"

"A lady never reveals her age."

"Okay, well I'm 300 years old. So I'm the old one here."

Emma just laughed and shook her head, the ginger ale fizzing happily in her hand. One of the residents swung their head in the door, and smiled at the scene. Jack waved, Dr. Swanson was one of the best in the entire hospital.

"Sorry Jack, but we're going to need to steal Emma away from you for a little bit."

"That's alright, I better go see if any of the kids are up and moving."

"Slow day?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

Jack hopped off the bed and swung an encouraging smile over his shoulder at Emma.

"I'll see you around, Emma!"

"Alright. Take care of yourself," she replied, still watching the show.

Jack walked down the hall before looking up at the clock. Still hours left before Rapunzel arrived. Frustrated, he got on the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor. Once there he found himself tracing the path that they had taken the day before. The smell of the plants soothed him as he sat down on the bench, grateful to get away from everything for a little while. Exhausted, he leaned his head back and within minutes, felt himself drifting off. Without complaint, he gave into the dreams that sprung up before him.

Rapunzel scribbled down notes, uncomprehensive of the meaning attached to the various names and symptoms she scrawled in her notebook. She just had to get through 10 more minutes and then she could break for lunch. An expectant silence filled the air, leaving the space where the teacher's droning voice usually stood, completely empty. Rapunzel looked up from her notes long enough to see that everyone was looking at her. Her stomach instantly dropped.

"I'm sorry what was the question?" She asked, hoping that it had nothing to do with what they were currently learning.

The teacher sighed before repeating herself. "What are the signs of cardiac arrest?"

Rapunzel froze. She looked down in horror at her notebook and then up at the screen displaying the answers. A jagged breath raked across her throat, her vision losing focus. She shook her head in disbelief before grabbing her back pack and leaving the room with a rushed apology. Legs weren't swift enough to distance her from the scene. The answers. They were all right there. They were a day too late, but they were there. Suddenly she could see each sign, a glaring red behind her eyelids. Her mother collapsing, turning pale. No breathing, no pulse. No one to save her. Rapunzel impatiently wiped a tear from her eye as she ran to the bathroom.

Jack felt the familiar buzz in his pocket and fished out his phone. A single word on his screen was enough to make him run from the hospital without so much as a goodbye to the lady at the front desk.

"Help."