Chronological Chaos - Temporal Tides

•seven•

It passed like a blur. Grayson grabbed her and sat her down. Her dad appeared and Grayson said something to him. Then her father left, running down the hall. Grayson looked back and forth. seemingly not knowing what to do.

Her mother eventually appeared too, panicked and face bloodless. Grayson spoke with her too.

"I'll sit with her," she remembered him saying.

No, no, she didn't want that. She stood and began to walk down the hall, her right hand brushing against the smooth handrail that lined the sterile halls.

"Hey, Sybil," Grayson said. His voice sounded like her ears were full of water. He stepped in front of her. "Let's go sit down."

"No," she said.

Grayson looked up and down the hall, hand on the back of his neck. "Ok," he said, taking her arm. "Let me take you to my dad's office. You can't just wander off."

"No," she said. "Where's Maeve?"

"Your sister?"

After she nodded numbly, he said, "Yeah, okay. She's... probably in an OR. So let's head over there, okay?"

He slipped his arm in hers and led her down the hall and to the left. Now they were in a quiet waiting room. Several people were sitting, some were standing. Her parents were talking to someone in scrubs. Her mom saw her and opened her arms to embrace her. "What's happening?" Sybil asked. Her mom didn't answer.

"Thank you for sitting with her," she said. Grayson muttered a, "You're welcome." He must have walked away because when Sybil turned out from her mom, he was gone.

"We're still trying to see the extent of the damage," the person in scrubs said. "We'll keep you informed."

Sybil sat with her parents and they explained what they knew. Her mother was calm, while her dad was practically drowning in his tears and sweat.

There was an accident. Someone had driven up on the sidewalk and hit Maeve. No one else was hurt and the driver kept driving. Police were trying to identify him.

Her dad's tears had dried to his cheeks by the time the surgeon came and took them to Maeve's ICU room. There were only two chairs to sit in so Sybil sat, cradled on her dad's lap. And there, they watched Maeve, waiting.

•••

"We cannot tell you if Maeve will wake up," Dr. Womack said. "I would feel awful giving you false hope, just to take it away."

"But she'll live?" Sybil's mother asked.

"We can certainly keep her alive, but in what condition, I couldn't tell you. My recommendation would be to keep monitoring her for the next couple of days and see how far she'll come. But don't... don't expect her to ever be the same, should you choose to continue care."

Sybil's dad closed his eyes in pain and put his head in his hands.

"Okay, thank you, doctor," her mom said. "Could we have a few minutes?"

The doctor nodded and ducked out of the room, pulling the glass sliding doors behind him. While they were in a private room, it was hard to feel as if they were all alone when they could see the whole ICU from the hospital bed.

Sybil took her mom's hand. "What are we going to do?" She didn't specify the question but her mother knew.

"We'll... have to talk it over," she said. "We'll wait a few days and see how much better she gets."

Sybil let go of her hand and got closer to her sister. The young woman's light brown hair was braided into two plaits. Sybil had done this the day before, knowing that Maeve would be furious if she had known that her hair had been a mess for days on end. Sybil rubbed one of the braids between her fingers and closed her eyes. She tried to... feel. To see if Maeve was still there.