Can You Hold Me?

Chapter 2

The thought of death that came over every now and again. It was a thought that Lucas had been familiar with, all too familiar with the last couple of days. Lucas had wondered if he had ever felt this afraid of something as much as he feared for someone else's life.

Lucas hadn't left the hospital in the last 72 hours. Riley and Farkle had gone back to New York while Lucas and Zay had stayed behind to be there when Maya would wake up.

Lucas had sat beside Maya's bed, wishing and praying that she would wake up. Zay had come and gone, mostly spending his time with Vanessa, while still attempting to be there for Lucas. He had still remembered the last thing Maya said to him.

If you do this, I will never speak to you again.

Those words stuck to him. It stuck to him like the very last words spoken to someone before the only person they care about dies or leaves them alone to deal with all of the anger inside them.

"You can't keep in doing this, Luke," Zay said as Lucas looked at his best friend.

"I definitely do think that all of this is going to be an incredible experience for all of us. Maybe we can even imagine that things can work out different," Zay said as Lucas exhaled.

"She's in tubes, Zay. Maya can't breath on her own. She's had five emergency surgeries over the last three days and there's a chance that she might be paralyzed after all of this. How the hell is this not my fault?" Lucas asked as Zay looked at him.

"Because it isn't. None of this is your fault, Lucas," Zay said.

"All of this is my fault," Lucas said.

He gently scooped Maya's hand in his, feeling the coldness of her skin against his as it felt like for the first time like it stirred something up in him that wasn't supposed to be stirred. He felt... Alive.

Lucas had shaken his head, a smile forming in his face, as all he could think of was all the times where Maya would make fun of him. How everything that didn't matter suddenly mattered.

Lucas felt a slight movement as he looked at Maya. Zay moved closer to the two of them as both watched Maya and saw her eyes opening.

"Maya! Oh, my... Hey," Lucas said as Maya just looked at them.

"Don't speak. Zay go and get the doctor," Lucas said as Zay was off.

"Hey, it's so good to see you awake," Lucas said as Maya tried to speak, the tube that was down her throat slightly stopping her.

"Hey, don't. It's okay, it's to help you breath. Squeeze my hand if you can hear me. As hard as you can," Lucas said as he felt the tiniest squeeze and smiled.

"Okay, that's good. Don't overdo it. You're going to be okay," Lucas said as the doctor came in.

"Ms. Hart. You're awake. You're one lucky lady you know," the doctor said as two nurses came in and Lucas stood up, stepping aside.

"I'm right here," Lucas said.

"Okay, Maya. We are going to remove the tube. The air is going to overwhelm you as it enters your body. Just breath though. Nurse Johnson, oxygen mask," he said.

The tube slowly got removed as Maya gasped for air. A mask was placed over her mouth for a couple of seconds as all Maya could do was stare at Lucas. He gave her a knowing look, assuring her thag he wasn't going anywhere. The doctor gave the nurse one look as they removed the mask and replaced it with tiny pipes.

"There you go, Maya. Lucas, step closer. It's okay," he said as Lucas resumed his place next to Maya's bed.

"Don't talk a lot, okay? Give your throat some time to rest," he said as the doctor left the room.

"Hey," Maya murmured under her breath, her voice sounding soft.

"You gave me a big fright," Lucas said as Maya smiled slightly.

"What happened?" Maya asked.

"We'll talk about it later. Get some rest."