Raegan Gallagher-Milkovich

20-Like father like daughter

     A nurse finally came into the waiting room. "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Milkovich?" She asked. Ian and Mickey both jumped up quickly, followed by the others standing behind them. "That's us," said Mickey, voice still shaky as he was still fighting back tears.

     "So, we have her stabilised. She's still unconscious but her heart rate and breathing have returned to normal," she explained. Ian and Mickey sighed in relief, Ian putting his arm around Mickey and the rest of them smiled, tears of happiness forming in Debbie, Franny and Fionas eyes.

     "What happened to her?" Mickey asked quickly, hoping no one would hear the shakiness.

     "If I'm honest, it seems like a suicide attempt." All their faces dropped. "Suicide?" Lip asked, stunned.

     "Yes, you see we found a lot of OxyContin in her system, far too much for a regular dose. Was there any signs that could show that she might've been feeling down?"

     Ian sighed. "Well.. yes. She's been acting out kind of. She ran away from home, she got arrested and has to go to court. And the last two days she's been in a deep depression."

     "Well, we'll do a psychological evaluation once she wakes up. Is there any history of mental illness in the family?"

     Ian looked down. "Yeah actually, me.. and her grandmother actually both have bipolar."

     The nurse took note. "Okay well that's good to know, don't worry, your daughter is in good hands."

***

     Raegan slowly opened her eyes, only seeing bright lights and hearing faint voices. Nothing was in focus.

After a minute of blinking and trying to see clearly, she could see where she was. A hospital. There were nurses around and a blue curtain pulled around her bed. She felt an oxygen mask on her face.

A nurse noticed she was awake. "Oh, Raegan. Do you know where you are?" She asked. Raegan could barely keep her eyes open but managed to shake her head no.

     "You're in the hospital. You tried to kill yourself, but you're okay now. We're looking after you," she said, putting her hand into Raegans.

     Raegan was still struggling to keep her eyes open, she felt sick and groggy. The nurse suddenly left her, but Raegan had hardly noticed.

***

Kev and V had arrived soon after, bringing coffee for everyone as they struggled to stay awake from being there all night.

"Any more news?" V asked, sitting down next to Kev. "Not yet, she's still unconscious," Ian said, still looking sickly pale.

That's when they saw the same nurse approaching them again, they all quickly jumped up, Mickey and Ian being at the front of the group. "Is she okay?" Mickey asked frantically, not even giving the nurse a chance to speak.

     "She's awake," the nurse told Ian and Mickey with a smile. "She is?" Mickey sighed in relief.

     "She is," the nurse said smiling. Ian smiled big and pulled Mickey into a hug as they others cheered. "Can we see her?" He asked.

     "Yes you can, but you may not want to. She's very groggy, she isn't talking and she's confused still."

     "I want to see her," Mickey muttered. The nurse smiled, "of course Mr. Milkovich."

***

Mickey and Ian walked into her room, followed by Fiona, Lip, Debbie, Carl, Liam, V, Kev and Franny. Raegans eyes were half open, she didn't fully realise who had walked into the room.