in my veins | jason dilaurentis [discontinued]

three

CHAPTER THREE

Arabella woke up in a hospital room, her eyes having trouble adjusting to the lighting. She was on the bed, lying with her back facing the door. This had been a constant cycle. The brunette would wake up suddenly, only to drift back to sleep a few moments later. She didn't know how often this had been happening but if it helped her escape the world for a little bit, then she wasn't complaining.

Arabella also wasn't aware of the date or the time, or even what day it was. She hadn't seen anyone since what happened at the church, aside from Spencer who had been here when she woke up the first time.

The brunette shut her eyes, hoping to just slip back into her dream world, which was much more pleasant than the hell she was living in. At least she thought so now. Arabella could only imagine how bad things would get in the next few months or even years. If A ever goes away, or if they can all live through A's torture. 

"Ellie," Arabella's eyes snapped open at the familiar voice. "Are you up?"

The girl sat up and turned quickly, instantly regretting it when she felt a sharp pain travel throughout her head. She groaned, laying back down and gripping her head in her hands, looking downwards in an attempt to make it stop.

"You might not want to do that again," he advised, now standing next to her hospital bed, rubbing his hand on the brunette's back in a circular motion.

Arabella glared up at him after her momentary state of weakness. "Oh, thanks captain obvious. I was totally planning on repeating that notion several times."

"Alright, no need for sarcasm. I'm only trying to help here." Noel raised his hands up as if surrendering, letting out a chuckle.

The brunette looked around, taking in her surroundings. The room was just like any regular hospital room. The walls were painted a light green shade, a couple paintings were scattered throughout, seemingly random. There were barely any windows and it smelled of medicine, which Arabella loathed.

"Noel," she started, sitting up again, this time lightly. "How long have I been in here? What even happened? I can't remember much after leaving Spencer's house to go to Emily's and even that seems like it was ages ago."

Noel frowned, taking a seat in one of the chairs next to his best friend's bed. "You really don't remember?" The girl shook her head as an answer to him, causing him to sigh. "It's been a few days now since what happened at the church. Of course, I don't know precisely what happened, since your friends refuse to tell me anything. They wouldn't even let me in to see you. But according to Spencer, Ian bashed your head into one of the benches in the church."

Arabella scowled at the mention of Ian, not having trouble believing Spencer's claims at all. Ian and her always hated each other. Actually, no, she hated him, he was just a dick. Although, she never thought he would resort to violence.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'according to Spencer'? Do the police not believe her?" Arabella questioned, not really grasping the events of the last couple days.

"It's not that they don't believe her about Ian doing this to you, being that there's really no other explanation for it. It's just that they have their doubts. The thing that's causing even more confusion is that Spencer claims to have seen Ian being pushed over the bell tower, a rope tying around his neck and hanging him from the landing as he went down. But when the police searched the church, Ian was nowhere to be found. So I don't blame them for being a little skeptic." Noel explained, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair.

"Hold on," she stopped him before he could fill her in on anything else. "Ian's dead?"

Noel shrugged nonchalantly, not seeming too affected by everything that's been happening lately. "No one really knows, since he kinda just disappeared."