Not Alone

Enid covered her nose to combat the acrid scent of stale blood and vomit and tried not to panic as she scanned the room. In an attempt to keep calm, she told herself that Wednesday was probably fine and maybe just in the bathroom. But the tension that she had released when talking to Yoko was back and she could feel it building between her shoulder blades.

Wednesday was fine, she was fine…

But then Thing frantically scurried into her line of sight and pointed towards Wednesday's desk and hurried back to where he had just been.

From where Enid was standing, there was a pillar and Wednesday's bed in the way, so she couldn't immediately see her until she stepped further inside. She let out a gasp and rushed towards her roommate who was lying unconscious on the floor between her desk and chair. Thing was at her side tapping her face and trying to revive her.

Enid froze in place as she stood over her. For a moment, she was back in the crypt, discovering Wednesday as she lay dying. Her breath caught in her throat. No, no, no…this wasn't happening. Goody had healed her. This was different. She was fine, just ill from blood loss. She wasn't dying, she wasn't dying…

Thing snapped his fingers and brought Enid back to the here and now.

"Thing? What happened?"

He quickly explained that she woke up and got sick, which explained the smell, and then stubbornly forced herself to get up when her body wasn't ready and fainted.

"Wednesday," Enid murmured, dropping to her knees beside her. Her skin was covered in a light sheen of sweat and was so pale it was almost grey save for an oddly pink flush to her cheeks and dark circles under her eyes. Enid reached to brush her bangs off her sweaty forehead and recoiled in shock, "Oh, you're burning up! Wednesday!" she grabbed her right shoulder and shook her gently, rolling her onto her back, "Wake up!"

Wednesday groaned, her face scrunching into a pained wince as her eyes fluttered.

"Wednesday…" Enid said, "you need to wake up."

"Goody?" she mumbled, her voice barely audible.

"No, it's me. Come on," Enid urged, "open your eyes"

With what looked like a lot of effort, she blinked groggily and her eyes met Enid's. "Enid? What happened?" She glanced around the room in confusion. "How did I…?"

"You tell me," she said, only slightly relieved, "I just got back and found you here passed out on the floor!"

Wednesday frowned and tried to push herself up, still out of it. Enid reached down and helped her lean against her desk. Her hands dropped to her side, and she leaned her head back, her eyes closing once more. "I'm so tired."

"You should be in bed," Enid exclaimed, "what were you thinking?"

"Hmm?" she murmured, sounding like she was drifting off.

"You should be taking it easy," she continued, looking her up and down. She noticed the bandage on her hand was stained red. She grabbed her hand and Wednesday didn't even resist, "Wednesday, your hand…"

"'s fine…"

Enid gently removed the bandage, trying not to be grossed out by the blood. Blood had always made her squeamish, and not even being covered in both Wednesday's blood and her own last night was enough to change that. She was surprised and a little confused when she got the bandage off. There was a cut that crossed her entire palm, it was angry and red and was still slowly weeping blood, but it wasn't bleeding enough to soak through the bandage. The blood had come from somewhere else.

"Hey, stay awake," Enid said firmly, shaking her gently as she tried to figure out where the blood was coming from. She instinctively looked at her left shoulder. She had gotten the sense that her left arm was bothering her, but Enid, foolishly trusting that Wednesday was telling the truth when she had said that there were no other injuries to worry about, had assumed that maybe she pulled a muscle or sprained something. But there was patch on her shirt that was a slightly darker shade of black that told another story. Enid gently pressed two fingers to the area, it was hot and wet to the touch and stained her fingertips with fresh blood.

"Wednesday!" Enid exclaimed in alarm. The girl had already lost too much blood already! "What happened to your shoulder?" She shook her again, this time she wasn't as gentle. Enid was both terrified and furious and the situation became more urgent. "Hey, wake up!" what happened?"

She groaned and looked up at her wearily.

"Your shoulder is bleeding, and you're burning up, I'm afraid it might also be infected," Enid explained, "I need to take a look, OK? Will you let me open your shirt to see?"

Wednesday nodded once and closed her eyes again. Enid couldn't tell if she was still conscious or not, but it didn't matter. She undid the top few buttons to get better access to the mystery wound, wincing with sympathy at the sight of the purple and yellow bruising forming around her chest and neck from Tyler's attack. When she saw there was a cami underneath, Enid tore it open the rest of the way, not caring that some of the buttons popped off.

"Thing, can you get me some towels?" Enid asked as she peeled back the blood-soaked bandage that was taped to her shoulder. She gagged at the sight of a deep, jagged gash that was partially stitched closed but some of the stitches had torn and it was now bleeding heavily. Worse still was that it wasn't just blood seeping from the wound, it was also mixed with yellow pus and the edges of the wound were swollen and purple with dark lines spreading out from the area. It was definitely infected and it was bad.

As soon as Thing returned she grabbed the towel from him and pressed it against the wound.

Wednesday let out a pained gasp, her face contorting into a deep wince as her body tensed and she breathed through her nose to deal with the pain.

"Sorry, sorry! I know it hurts but have to stop the bleeding," Enid exclaimed, "it's infected too."

"F-fuck," she murmured between breaths, so quietly Enid barely heard her.

"What happened?" Enid asked again, once it seemed that the shock of the pain calmed down enough that Wednesday was able to somewhat relax.

"Xavier's failed attempt at chivalry and heroics," she muttered with an annoyed sigh, her voice strained.

"Care to elaborate?"

"He fired an arrow at Crackstone," Wednesday explained, breathlessly, "but Crackstone he, uh, had a magic staff and stopped it mid-air and fired it back at him. I stepped in the way to save him."

It took a second for Enid to process what she said but when it clicked she exclaimed, "Let me get this straight, you were shot? With an arrow?"

Wednesday nodded.

"What the hell, Wednesday!" Enid snapped, "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you lie to me?!"

For a moment she was quiet but then she replied, "You had enough to deal with, I didn't want you to worry."

Enid barked out a short, frantic laugh, "Didn't want to worry me? That's bullshit! Are you hearing yourself right now?" She took a breath, trying to calm herself but she was too worked up, "After everything? How can I not be worried? You almost died in my arms, and you're in such bad shape I'm still not sure if you're out of danger! You lied to me. You said there was nothing else, no other injury to worry about and meanwhile I'm watching your health rapidly deteriorate and until now, I had no idea why!"

"I took care of it," she said, shrugging her other shoulder, still trying to downplay it even as Enid tried to stop the bleeding.

"Obviously you didn't."

"I thought I did. I stitched it myself while you were in the infirmary."

Her words took her by surprise, even though the evidence that it had been stitched once already was right there, "That…that's insane! It's also really impressive but also insane! Why would you do that? The nurse could've helped. We could've helped," she gestured to Thing, "there was literally no reason why you should have to do that on your own – especially considering the shape you're in! Maybe if you got help, they would've held and it would've been cleaned properly."

Wednesday bristled, "I know how to stitch a wound just fine."

"I don't doubt that, but on yourself? After all you had been through last night? I don't understand why you'd think you should have to deal with things on your own even when you're not well. You don't need to prove anything to anyone so…"

"Yes, I do," Wednesday whispered, but the way her eyes widened after she spoke, Enid got the impression that she never meant to say that out loud.

Enid wanted to know what Wednesday meant because there was an emotional vulnerability and self-doubt behind it and how she was carrying herself in general. It went against pretty much everything Enid knew about her and this newly exposed layer to Wednesday Addams was oddly terrifying. Wednesday's eyes betrayed such pain and exhaustion and she seemed so small and out of it that Enid couldn't help but take some pity on her so she didn't press the issue. In her weak and feverish state, she was clearly overwhelmed and trying so hard to appear like she was mentally OK, even if physically she was not.

Wednesday wasn't even close to being OK.

"Well, you don't have to prove anything to me or Thing," Enid promised, softening her tone. She was worried and angry, but somehow, Wednesday's quiet distress helped Enid find her calm. They could talk about this later, when Wednesday was on the mend, "We all know you're a scary badass capable of handling anything."

"Except this," she lamented quietly, closing her eyes.

"I don't know many people who can fight a zombie and win after almost bleeding out from being stabbed and apparently getting shot with an arrow!" Enid pointed out. "Anyway, there's no shame in needing or asking for help, you know."

"Mmm," she turned her head away from her. She seemed defeated and it broke Enid's heart to see her that way.

Enid peeled back the towel and tried not to gag at the sight and smell of the infection. The wound was still bleeding, though it was starting to clot around the edges, however, it was worrisome that an infection had developed so quickly. The whole area was so swollen and hot to the touch, and considering how feverish she was, between that and the already frightening symptoms from blood loss, Enid feared that this was more than any of them were equipped to deal with.

"Wednesday, I think we need to get you to a hospital," Enid announced.

She shook her head, "No."

"What? Why? This is bad!" Enid exclaimed, "I'm really worried about you. Your wound shouldn't be this infected this fast and…."

"And it'll be fine," she said softly, "I know it looks bad. But it's nothing I can't handle."

"No! Wednesday, you're scaring me, OK?" Enid exclaimed, "I was scared enough before I found out that you were shot with a friggin' arrow! You need help!"

"I have help. I have you and I have Thing."

"I think this has turned into something beyond what we're capable of dealing with," Enid said, checking the wound again. The bleeding had slowed down, but Enid still wasn't happy. She couldn't afford to lose much more blood.

"No hospital," she insisted, her voice weak but firm.

"Why?" Enid asked again. "You'll get better so much faster if you go."

"They…they'll want to give me a transfusion…" she said, as though that was a bad thing.

"Well, if you ask me, that sounds like a really good idea," Enid argued, "probably should've gone last night."

"No."

"Why?!"

"I… I can't explain it, I just…need you to trust me," Wednesday frowned, her voice drifting off. She was trying to sound firm and strong but she was quickly fading.

Enid wasn't sure if she could trust her with that. Not after she lied about her injury.

"Please," Wednesday added, as though sensing Enid's skepticism.

It was that word, that one little word that made Enid relent. Wednesday almost never said 'please' for anything and she sounded almost desperate, so, clearly Wednesday meant it. Enid may not understand it, but Wednesday had to have her reasons.

"Fine," Enid said reluctantly, absolutely hating the idea, "but on one condition…no, two. One, never lie to me again about this sort of thing, or anything for that matter. You want me to trust you, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

"OK," Wednesday whispered.

"And two, Thing and I will do what we can, but if you don't start getting better soon, I'm taking you to the infirmary at least, and if you take a turn for the worse? I don't care if you hate me forever, I'm taking you to the hospital. Last resort, OK? Deal?"

"Deal," she closed her eyes, her body relaxing.

Enid frowned, not sure if Wednesday passed out or not. She brushed the back of her hand against her forehead, and then, when Wednesday didn't move or pull away, Enid pressed her fingers to her neck. Her pulse was racing and Enid was immediately doubting her decision to agree to not take her to the hospital. Blood loss put so much strain on her body as it was, and now an infected wound? Wednesday was strong, but how much could her body take without proper treatment?

"Don't make me regret this," Enid begged quietly, but there was no response. Wednesday had indeed drifted back into unconsciousness. "OK, now what?" she whispered to herself. First things first. Stop the bleeding, clean the wound and focus on getting her fever down. "Thing, I need you to put pressure on the wound for me. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Thing took over without hesitation. Enid didn't want to leave again so soon, but she knew that Thing would watch over her. He hadn't left her side once since they returned from the infirmary last night.

As she left to get supplies, Enid could feel the panic building within again as her mind filled with doubt, but Wednesday needed her to keep it together, especially now that she finally accepted her help. Though she was way out of her element and didn't really know what she was doing, Enid was not going to let her down.

She just hoped she was doing the right thing.