ZANE, MEET THE ASHIDA FAMILY

CHAPTER 23 / PT.3 - THE GUILT

ZANE

Around four in the morning, a nurse came into Nana's hospital room, changing her insulin and blood drip. I woke up with a jump thinking that the movement was Nana who had finally woken up. 

"Are you okay?" the nurse asked. 

"Yes. No. Not really. I can't stop but think that this was all my fault," I sighed. 

"How could it be your fault?" she asked, as she was reading the clipboard on Nana's bed with her medical records for her hospital stay. 

"Because I was the one who put her on the horse in the first place. She was even hesitating and didn't want to get on. I put her on and then she fell off, and now we're here." 

"Oh. I see. But was the horse cooperating just before she fell off?" she asked.

"No, it wasn't. She couldn't control it."

"And did the horse go up on its hind legs and sort of throw her off?" 

"Y-Y-Yeah. How do you know?"

"Oh, I was a stable girl when I was a teenager. It happened before once when I was on duty. She was probably sitting too far forward or too far back, causing the horse to throw her off. So don't beat yourself up thinking about it. The concussion isn't too bad, but I mean... the shattered arm is rare... But don't put all your guilt on what happened, it's making you weigh yourself down. Come on it's nearly Christmas! She looks like a tough girl, she'll pull through." 

"Um, thanks."

"Do you want any ice cream or water?"

"No thanks I'll pass, I'm okay."

(Worst mistake EVER, in my opinion, I was asked that question and I did the same thing as Zane and yeah, I didn't get my ice cream...)

"Okay, don't worry though, she will fight through this battle."

"Thank you."

She rolled her cart out of the room, Nana still hadn't woken up. How long could she possibly be out?

I went back to sleep, waking up from the glare of the morning rays, at around seven in the morning. 

Nana. Still Knocked Out. No purring. No smile. Hospital Bed. Drip. Cast. 

I felt bad, but she needs my support. No matter what. I kissed her on the forehead. There was no smile like there normally is. She was completely still, the only thing moving was her chest up and down as she was breathing. 

I got changed into some new clothes from the bag that Remmi had brought with her. When I left the bathroom, I got out a bow from the portable table ledge and put it in her hair. Now she looked more like the Nana I know. 

I was craving to see her caramel eyes again and hear her voice. 

I had a small breakfast in the downstairs cafe and around ten in the morning, a doctor came into the room. Nana was still asleep. How long could she possibly be out?

"Mr Ro'Meave?" the doctor asked. He had pastel blue hair, blue eyes and navy ears and tail. 

"Yes?" 

"Can I speak to you for a second?" he asked.

"Of course."

"So Miss Ashida has been out for quite a while and it doesn't look like she's going to be waking up for a while. We may have overdosed on the anesthetic, but it won't do her any harm. Only the fact that she'll be out for a while. During the chest surgery, we found a fragment of this stone, deep in her chest." he explained, showing me a chunk of a stone in a sample jar. 

It was the same stone on the sword that Garroth had used to cut Nana in the first place. The navy stone was the size of the missing part of the sword. I was horrified by the sight of it. 

"And also not to mention, the concussion and her shattered arm. They've repaired the bone as much as they can, but in three months if it's not healing, we'll need to 3D print a new bone and insert it in." 

"Oh," was all I could answer.

"If we do that, she'll have limited mobility to her left arm. She'll also have a scar on her arm, but when it's fully healed, it will be not very noticeable, same with the stitches on her chest."

"So she'll be fully recovered in six months?"

"Yes, but she can leave tomorrow, or the day after before Christmas. She can also have a few visitors. That's all I need to catch you up o-" he said, but we were interrupted by the sound of coughing. 

And a whisper... 

WORD COUNT: 760