therapy | luke hemmings a.u

:: Sixteen

:: S I X T E E N ::

Beep. Beep. Beep. That was all Luke heard. He tried opening his eyes. It seemed impossible, but he managed to crack them open. All he saw was white; white floors, white walls, white sheets, everything white. Heck, even his complexion was close to white – he was that pale. What was he doing here? What is this place? What even happened? With all those questions running through his head, he decided to get down from the bed he was lying on. Only then did he realize that his left leg was in a cast and so was his left arm. His head felt odd and when he reached up to it, he felt a bandage.

He groaned and leaned his head back onto the pillow and turned his head left. He saw an old man with a broken arm – he was wearing a cast, so Luke assumed it was broken – sitting on his bed, staring into nothingness. On Luke’s right was a girl – probably around the age of fifteen – in deep sleep. Seeing that girl made realization hit Luke like a lightning bolt. Ellie. His eyes went wide and he sat up quickly, which was a terrible mistake since he instantly felt woozy. He brought his right hand up to his forehead and massaged his temples, wincing at the pain.

Luke heard heels clicking on the tiles and looked up to see who it was. “Oh, you’re awake! Thank god!” The nurse said, letting out a breath of relief as the tension left her shoulders.

“How long have I been unconscious?” Luke asked, his voice sounding so raw and raspy from lack of use.

“About two days.” The nurse said with concern evident in her voice. Luke thought she was kind. Her hair was gray in places and she looked like a caring mother thrust into a nurse’s uniform.

“Do you know on which floor my girlfriend is?” Luke asked hopefully. “Her name is Elaine Hawthorn.” The nurse’s face dropped and she looked close to tears which immediately made Luke panic.

“Oh, I’m so sorry sweetheart.” The nurse, Melanie as mentioned in her name tag, said as she shook her head. “She’s not responding to any medicine. She still hasn’t woken up. I heard the doctors say that she’s in a coma.” She clasped her hand onto her mouth with tears in her eyes.

Luke didn’t respond. He couldn’t respond. He felt numb. He felt as though his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth. He stared at the nurse, his pulse increasing, his breath coming out in rapid short breaths. Shock consumed him. Please, he prayed, please tell me I haven’t done it again. Tears threatened to spill. And spill they did endlessly, uncontrollably as his jaws clenched. He wanted to punch something except he had no strength and no willpower to.

The nurse had no idea what to do, what to say, but she knew if he stayed the way he was it would affect him mentally so she went to call a doctor.

While she was gone Luke broke down completely. Never ending sobs escaping his lips. He hunched himself over, his knuckles becoming white from the grip on his thigh as he tried to control himself. She’ll be alright, he comforted himself, she’ll be…

“El,” he sobbed, “what have I done? How can I live with myself now?” He chocked as sobs kept escaping his chapped lips. He cried, screamed in pain. He felt his heart shriveling up. Was that possible? For him it was. He could feel something burning deeper and deeper into him where his heart was supposed to be. He screamed one last time before his vision became blurred and everything blacked out.

-

“El, what are you doing?” Luke giggled as he chased after her around her backyard.

“Running away from you, you goofball!” She chuckled, running around in crazy circles and beginning to feel dizzy.  “Okay, peace, peace, time out,” she breathed out as she sat down on the grass.