The Ones Who Don’t Want to Be Saved [POV: Nate]
The moment I stepped into Hannah’s hospital room, I knew something was wrong.
Two nurses were struggling to restrain her, their bodies pressed against the bed rails as she thrashed wildly, her eyes wide with desperation. Her hair was disheveled, her hospital gown soaked with sweat, and her wrists were already red from where she had been trying to rip out the IVs.
“She’s trying to leave again, Dr. Wood,” one of the nurses called out, her voice strained as she fought to hold Hannah down.
I didn’t hesitate. Grabbing a syringe from the tray, I quickly filled it with a sedative and moved toward the bed.
“Hannah,” I said firmly, keeping my voice calm but authoritative. “I need you to breathe. Just breathe, okay?”
Her chest was rising and falling in erratic bursts, panic radiating from every inch of her.
“I don’t want to be here,” she gasped, her voice raw, broken. “Let me go, please, just let me go.”
I didn’t respond. Instead, I gently took hold of her arm and administered the medication. Within seconds, her body began to relax, her movements slowing as the drug took effect. The fight drained out of her, but her eyes still burned with unshed tears.
One of the nurses secured the restraints around her wrists, ensuring she wouldn’t be able to hurt herself again. I hated seeing it. The sight of her tied down like this, like she was a prisoner in her own life. But I knew it was necessary.
She had already tried to die twice.
We couldn’t give her the chance to try again.
Tears slipped down her cheeks as she turned her head to look at me. “Why do you keep saving me?” Her voice was barely a whisper, cracked and hollow. “Why won’t you just let me die?”
Her words hit like a fist to the chest, but I didn’t flinch.
Because I had heard this before. I had seen it before. That deep, sinking darkness that convinced people there was no way out. That nothing would ever get better.
I ran a hand down my face, exhaustion creeping in. I should have been home by now. But home didn’t even feel like home anymore. Not with her gone.
I exhaled, shaking my head. “Because no one ever said life was supposed to be easy.”
Hannah let out a humorless laugh, her lips curling bitterly. “Easy for you to say,” she muttered, her voice thick with resentment. “You have everything. A good job, probably a good family—”
She didn’t get to finish.
I cut her off, my voice sharper than intended. “The woman I like left without saying anything.” I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, forcing myself to keep going. “When all I wanted was to save her from her past.”
Silence settled between us.
For a moment, Hannah just stared at me. Then, slowly, her lips parted, something flickering behind her eyes. A realization.
“Maybe,” she murmured, “you’re trying to save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.”
The words sank deep, lodging themselves somewhere I didn’t want to acknowledge. Maybe she was right. Maybe I had spent all this time trying to fix something that wasn’t mine to fix. Trying to be someone’s safe place when she never asked me to be.
And now, she was gone.
Just like Hannah wanted to be.
