Lumax - STAY

4

Lucas's POV
I took a quick shower and changed my clothes. I told my mum Max awoke and her eyes lit up "Oh Lucas that's amazing" a bright smile formed on her lips.

Erica was smiling too but she was quiet, too quiet. Erica does not do quiet but I guess considering the situation it made sense after all she's still a little kid and what she saw..

It's traumatic. I curse myself for letting her get involved in this shit.

When I arrived at the hospital I saw Max still fast asleep with Dustin and Steve by her side. "Hey," Steve softly greets me. "How is she?" I ask.

"Still the same" I sit down next to her and grab her hand, flinching from how cold she is.

"Lucas?" Dustin grabs my attention. "My mum wants me home," he tells me keeping his eyes on Max. "That's fine," I say.

It is fine. They all just went through hell they deserve a good nap.

"I'll give you a ride," Steve tells him and then turns his head to look at me "What about you? Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'm staying over" Steve simply nods.

We then talked for a while about Max, the upside-down, and lots of things. "Okay well we better get going" Steve sighed and patted Dustin's shoulder.

"Lucas you should try to get at least a little bit of sleep it's midnight. I'm not playing" Dustin says pointing at me, and Steve just nodding along. I laugh and shake my head "Don't worry I will" Lie.

"Okay good. Call us when she's awake" Steve takes a last look at Max and then walks out with Dustin.

I looked over to a pale Max still fast asleep. I had the urge to burst out crying but I had no tears left to cry anymore.

I hadn't let go of her hand since I got here, so as I gave her hand a soft kiss, I pulled out a book from my backpack.

Some reading couldn't hurt.

❤️‍🩹

4 hours went by and it was 2 am. I've read to Max for about 2 hours and then when I realized Max wasn't waking up anytime soon, I decided to try and sleep.

No luck tho. Every time I closed my eyes I saw her. I saw Max with blood over her face, gasping for air, begging not to die.

So I just sat and tried to get more comfortable, maybe sleep would overtake me. It didn't.

I still held onto Max's hand. I played with her small pale fingers to distract myself and maybe again drift off. Of course, It didn't help but really what did I expect?

Suddenly I felt a sudden shift on my hand.

Max

"Max?" her hand weakly grips mine and small coughs leave her mouth. "Max! Hey, it's okay, I'm here" I press a button to call for help. Her eyelids flutter for a while before actually opening. Her eyes gained color but still, you could see the faint shade of grey.

She's gripping my hand for dear life still coughing, I look around the room searching for the breathing mask the hospital keeps here and when I finally took hold of it, I quickly bring it to her face and gently hold it against her mouth.

It helped her calm down even if her hand still had a firm grip on mine well as firm as it could get with how weak she was.

"Hey Max, it's okay. You're safe" few tears escape her eyes, her lips trembling. I caress her cheek "Shhh. It's okay"

She seemed confused and lost "You are in a hospital," I tell her. She groans and closes her eyes clearly in pain "Hang on, please. The doctors are coming"

"L-Lucas" she breathes out, she opened her mouth and tried to say something again but that didn't last when a sob ripped out of her lips.

"Yes it's me, I'm here. Don't talk If it's too hard"

It wasn't long after when the doctors walked in and surrounded Max "Hi sweetheart, can you see me? I'm Doctor Lauren, can you tell me your name?"

She opened her mouth and struggled for a few moments "M-Max" It came out more as a mumble but at least something.

"Okay sweetie, that's a beautiful name. Can you see me?" Doctor Lauren asks smiling at Max. The other doctors are taking her vitals and checking her injuries.

"Y-Yes" Max cries and pain takes over her. "Can you tell me what is hurting?" Max shakes her head and starts sobbing, trying to wiggle but it just brings her more pain.

I see a doctor preparing an injection before pinning her arm down and injecting the medication, she immediately seems to calm down and her eyelids slowly start to drop.

"Wait, what? Is she okay?" I ask worried, did they just drug her or something? "It's okay kiddo. This will help her with pain" Doctor Lauren tells me. Another doctor clears her arm and wraps a little bandage around it.

"Let her rest. We can't do much other than try to ease her pain at this moment" I sit on her bed and nod, the doctors give me a soft smile and leave.

I wondered if they called her mother and I wondered if her mother cared that her daughter woke up from a coma. But I guess since Steve is kind of her 'guardian' they didn't bother to call.

Right, Steve.

I picked up the landline and dialed Steve's number. I knew his number by heart since Max got to the hospital, he was the guardian so the doctors wouldn't tell me about Max's condition and I always had to call Steve to come if he already wasn't here.

Steve was here a lot wherever alone or with others.

He picked up and I told him what happened. He said he'd come soon and we agreed not to tell the others, we would tell them when she was feeling better.

❤️‍🩹

It was around 5 am and I still haven't slept. I couldn't, I kept thinking about how she woke up.

The girl I love is suffering and there is nothing I can do about it. I have a lot of nightmares about what happened.

How she fell to the ground unconscious, how she stopped breathing in my arms, how blood dripped from her beautiful eyes.

God, I feel so guilty.

She's so fucking strong. She went through hell and back but she's hanging on, still breathing.

Tho she is pumped with oxygen tubes.

Still, she deserves the whole word and I'll make sure I'll give it to her.