The Silent Fighter

Chapter 44

Chapter Forty-Four

Joshua made me go to the last week of school. Olivia and Tucker still hadn't seen or heard from Sara and I, but I guess seeing them would help.

"Where have you been?" Tucker asked, hugging me tightly. Once he pulled away and saw the bruises on my face, the tape across my nose, it's like he knew the whole story. "No. No, they didn't."

"Damon, where the hell is Sara? I've been calling her and texting, but not a single-" Olivia took one look at my face and gasped out loud. "Oh my god, what happened to your face? Where's Sara?"

"It's a long story," I whisper, looking down so that they don't see me blink back the tears. "But I'll tell you after school."

**

The entire day was awful. School, to me, was so much better with Sara by my side, holding my hand or doodling on my notes. Now, there was an empty seat where she used to work that magic of her's and make my day a hell of a lot better.

I was dreading telling Olivia and Tucker for my own sake and their's. It'd hurt them so much to hear it- to know that they probably wouldn't be able to be with their friend- but it hurt even worse for me to re-tell the story that didn't have a happy ending to it. The whole time, their faces contorted in horror, disgust, anger, fear, and sadness.

By the time I was finished, both Tucker and Olivia were trying to fight off the swirl of emotions that had been brought about.

"A coma?" Olivia asks, her voice breaking as she looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. "Did the doctors say whether she was going to wake up or not?" Another stab to the chest at the mention of it.

"Two percent chance." I couldn't trust my voice at full capacity, so I held up two fingers to make sure they understood me. I didn't want to repeat it ever again.

"No," Olivia cries, throwing herself into Tucker's arms. She cried Sara's name, praying that this was just some awful nightmare, asking to be woken up from it. Tucker tried his hardest to comfort her, but it looked as if he was having a hard time doing the same for himself.

"Can we go see her?" Tucker asks as he fights the lump in his throat, continuing to rub his hand over Olivia's back.

"Yeah. It's the main hospital not too far from here," I nod in the direction of the location. "I was heading there anyway. I can drop you guys off here afterwards."

They simply nod, following me to my car. The drive was silent, just as I hoped and expected it to be. When we arrived at the hospital, I lead them to the room where they had moved Sara to, due to the condition she was in.

Olivia was the first to react, breaking down to her knees when she saw her best friend laying on the hospital bed. She sobbed, unable to control herself from holding the emotions back anymore. Tucker picked her up in his arms, holding her to him as he buried his head in her neck. I watched as his own sobs shake his whole body. I had never seen my best friend so weak, and it only made my heart break even further.

When Olivia had slowly settled and was going to advance towards Sara, I quickly blocked her path. "We can't touch her. I'm sorry." Olivia only nodded, more and more tears falling down her cheeks as she looked past me to her unconscious best friend.

"How long are they going to keep her like this?" Olivia asks, looking up at me.

"However long we say," I sigh. "But Joshua says its not right to keep someone around once it's their time. It would make them suffer for too long."

Tucker nods. "He's right. We can't do that to her, and we're not going to."

"But she's still fighting," Olivia says, her voice firm now. "And until she stops fighting, we're not giving up on her."