A Night In the Hospital Together

The night we went to the hospital together is a night I'll remember for the rest of my life.
She and I had known each other for...well, a long time, and we were close. Closer than most people had any right to be.
But after a while, we came to the conclusion that we weren't close enough. We wanted-- we needed-- to know each other better. We needed to see more.
The room was all white and sterile. And it was full of so many toys. All the stitches and staples and bandages and gauze we could've ever asked for were right there for us to use.
We didn't think any of it was was going to do us any good, but we were happy to have it all the same...
I took the scalpel and handed it to her. Her fingers closed around it without taking it out of my hand. She closed her eyes, and I guided her hand until the blade pressed against her other wrist. She made the incision herself, lengthwise, and I felt like my heart was going to leap out of my chest as she did. I saw her skin separate...and her forearm turn red...
She took the scalpel from me and did the other arm, and it was like seeing a wide, smiling mouth open up in her skin. She bled more, and more, and just kept on bleeding. I didn't know someone's arms could hold so much.
I wanted to shut my eyes and look away, but I didn't. I couldn't. I made myself look at her and take in what she had done to herself, even as I took another scalpel and sank the blade in deep.
Inch by inch, I did exactly what she did. I ruined my own arms, doing my best to ignore the pain as I did, until eventually they looked just like hers. I could feel them going numb, but I refused to let go of the blade.
Our eyes locked, and we both stepped forward. Both of us were trembling, and I could tell she was scared out of her mind. She was starting to think this was a mistake, that we shouldn't have come here and we should've just left each other alone. And I knew that, because I looked her in the eyes, and I saw everything I was thinking...
It felt like we were looking at each other for a long time, until finally I took the scalpel in my hands and plunged it into my chest. And then I watched as she proceeded to do the same. Together, we tore ourselves open until we could see inside each other, and then neither of us could stand anymore. We fell to our knees at the same time, and then the world went all hazy.
I remember my vision started to clear, and I just...remember I saw nothing but red. Our blood was everywhere, mixing in pools underneath us like we were some morbid fountain display. I saw her heart, and it was still beating inside her chest, and then I realized she was looking at mine too.
I felt tears roll out of my eyes, and things went blurry again. I can only imagine it was the same for her.
I don't know how much time went by before we woke up again. That last moment of us seeing inside each other should have been the end...But it wasn't. We were still alive, wounds and all, and slowly our energy came back to us. We helped each other stand, and then we took care of each other. We stitched and stapled and bandaged each other back together, and as we were holding each other afterwards, we came to understand that one day, our wounds might actually heal.
She and I are closer than we've ever been. I never should have doubted us for a second.