ALEC’S P.O.V.
“Alec, you’re scaring me.” Amy admitted, her bottom lip wobbling as I paced back in forth in the nearly empty waiting room. “Can you please sit down? Or at least drink some water-“
“Amy, I can’t. Not while Charlotte is in that hospital room probably dying for all I know. Fuck, I didn’t make it in time. How could I have been so slow? So stupid? If I just would’ve made it in time, we wouldn’t even be in this mess.”
“Alec, just imagine what would’ve happened if you didn’t show up at all? She’d probably be dead already! Just be happy that you made it in time for her to be hospitalized.” Amy said from her chair in the waiting room. My mom and dad had went to the counter about 10 minutes ago to see if they would make an exception to let us see Charlotte, but by the way they were still at the front desk, I knew it wasn’t working. With a sigh, I plopped down beside her, running my hands down my face.
“How do you always know exactly what to say?” I asked after moments of silence, and she let out a breathless laugh, shaking her head.
“I don’t know.” She said with a shrug, and then we were quiet again. Amy nearly looked as bad as me: Her eyes were bloodshot with light bags under them, and she was in her pajamas and her hair in a bun; Knowing Amy, she wouldn’t even be caught dead in public looking like that if it wasn’t a strict emergency.
“I’m sorry for worrying you about Charlotte-“
“Don’t be. I’m glad you did, I care about Charlotte.” She replied honestly, and I nodded, dropping my face in my hands.
“Alec?” My mom’s voice was slow and cautious, as if I was about to jump up and attack her. That’s how they were all treating me: Like I was some fragile little thing, and if I wasn’t so stressed out about Charlotte, I would’ve yelled at them for it.
“Yeah?” My head snapped up as I expected good news, and by the small smile on her face, I knew it was coming.
“We pulled some strings, and the nurse said we can see Charlotte, but only for a little bit-“ Before she could finish, I was already on my feet, rushing to where I knew Charlotte’s room was. I knew where it was because I heard the front desk calling John and telling him where her room was, as if he’d really come though.
Her room was on the second floor, room 192, and I was in front of it like a flash, already twisting the knob before I could catch my breath. As I slowly opened the door, I couldn’t help but gasp audibly. The sight fueled my anger, and I nearly wanted to go to Brandon’s hospital door, where he was being treated, and beat him some more, but I knew I had to be here for Charlotte. Her whole face was a sickly purple, but certain parts of her face was darker, like her eyes, that were closed, her jaw, and her nose. Her eyebrow was cut, her lip was busted, and her jaw slanted unusually to the right.
My angel…
“Holy shit.” Amy breathed from beside me, and if it wasn’t for her comment, I wouldn’t have realized she was there.
“Good grieve.” That came from my mom, who currently had tears flowing down her face as she looked upon Charlotte, a hand raised to her mouth. My Dad just exhaled loudly, looking away due to the sight of Charlotte troubling him too much, and if it wasn’t for the clench of his jaw or how his eyes drifted closed, a sign that he was pissed, I would’ve thought he didn’t care.
“Who did that to her?” Charlotte demanded, her voice cracking at the end as a single tear rolled down her contorted face, her fists clenched by her sides.
“An ex-boyfriend.” I said, not even able to hide the disgust and hatred I felt towards the guy. “I outta’ fucking kill the guy for what he did to her.”
“Alec.” My mom whispered, her eyes now closed as she closed her eyes. “That wouldn’t help anything. What this boy needs is a jail sentence.”
“More like death row.” I spat, my eyes still set on Charlotte. Not even this beating though, could take the beauty out of her. She was still the girl I fell in love with, bruises or not.
“Broken ribs, broken wrist, a concussion, internal bleeding in the skull and stomach area, slight possibility for comatose, and-“
“Wait, what?!” I nearly snarled, facing the small petite nurse who was nonchalantly chewing gum, rolling her eyes as she turned to me.
“I said,” She sighed. “Broken ribs, broken wrist, a concuss-“
“No, I heard what you sai-“
“Then why did you cut me off?” She snapped, glaring at me with a scowl playing on her lips.
“Did you say a possible chance of comatose?” I snapped incredulously .
“You just said you heard what I said.” The nurse snapped before cocking her head. “But yes, that is what I said.”
“W-What?! How?!”
“She had internal damage and a lot of internal bleeding. She hit her head pretty badly, and had a lot of damage to her head.”
“What is the percentage possibility of her waking up?” My mom asked, stepping forward and clutching my arm in a comforting matter.
“Um, I don’t know, you’re going to ask the doctor, I’m just the nurse. I’ll leave you guys to it.” And with that, she turned and left, leaving me gaping at Charlotte. A coma?! I thought as I went to Charlotte’s bedside, clutching her hand as tears pricked my eyes.
“We’re going to step out.” My mom whispered in my ear before kissing my temple, and then they all filed out, Amy sending me a sympathetic smile over her shoulder before they were gone, leaving me to kneel by Charlotte’s bedside.
“Charlotte.” I breathed, staring at her closed eyelids. “You have to wake up, for me. I…I don’t know what I’d do without you, Charlotte…I need you to wake up.” I whispered, but I knew this wasn’t a fairytale. Charlotte was right that day in the hall: “You’re not special, Alec.” Now, I knew her words were right, because as I looked at her fallen face, feeling useless as ever, I knew I wasn’t special.
If I was in fact special, I could somehow wake Charlotte up; But no, I was as useless as Charlotte thought.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJBplkgLPk
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It was only three days that Charlotte was out, but it felt like a week, knowing she might not ever be able to wake up. As Amy and I huddled around Charlotte’s hospital bed, watching ‘Frozen’ because that was Amy and Charlotte’s favorite movie, I couldn’t help but think of the possibility of Charlotte never waking up. We had just turned exclusive, and that very night, she was taken from me.
And I couldn’t do anything about it but stare at her like a lovesick puppy.
“Alec, she’s going to wake up.” Amy assured, and I just wished I had her determination. Reasons like this, her staying strong at a time this fragile for us, made me envy my sister, and admire how mature she was.
“I know.” I nodded, giving into her advice. “I love you, Amy.”
“Love you too, big bro.” She smiled before turning back to watching Olaf sing about summer. What a weird snowman.
I wish I could say the next second went by with Charlotte waking up, coughing harshly before her eyes landed on me, and she breathed my name, and then I called the doctors in, who later told us Charlotte was going to be fine, but it didn’t.
Instead, Amy and I were interrupted with a loud and flat beep, the scariest sound I’ve ever heard in my whole life. As I jumped up in my seat and whirled around to stare at Charlotte, who looked the same, save for her mouth now slightly agape, Amy gasped, rushing to her other side and slamming her hand repeatedly over the ‘PANIC’ button.
“Charlotte, no,no,no,no,no,no.” I pleaded, squeezing her hand as if the slight pain would bring her back. “Charlotte, get up, we didn’t even get to live our lives together!” I cried, shaking her shoulder before I was harshly pulled away by the swarm of doctors who instantly started yelling back and forth to each other, ordering people around as we were ushered out the door, but nothing could calm me down.
“What happened to her?!” I tried to make sense of what was going on, turning to the nurse who was fast to pull me out. “What happened?! She was doing fine! I-Is she going to be alright?! W-What?”
“I’m sorry, sir, we’re doing all we can, but I need you to take a step out in the hall, go get you some water, and go have a seat in the waiting room-“
“Don’t patronize me!” I shouted, hating her sympathetic tone. “What happened to her?!” Knowing I wasn’t shitting around, she sighed, dropping her gaze.
“Her heart gave out sir.” She said, a sympathetic grimace playing on her face. There was a silence as I tried to come to terms with her words.
“How could her heart give up?! She’s 17, not 70!” I argued.
“There could be a lot of reasons. Maybe due to stress if you want to talk emotionally, or maybe due to the damage that her body went through three days ago if you want to talk physically. Like I said, there could be a lot of reasons, but-“
“You guys have like defibrillators right?” Amy interrupted, her eyes wide with panic, and I could see her shaking, knowing she was just as scared as me. The nurse’s eyes turned sympathetic as she glanced down at Amy who was nearly in tears, before sighing.
“Yes, honey, we do. Don’t worry, Charlotte’s a strong girl.” She assured, and I could tell she was just telling Amy that Charlotte was a strong girl to comfort her, but I actually knew Charlotte was strong. Hopefully strong enough to push past this.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRjSvBCYfs
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