BUT DADDY I LOVE HIM, ᵉᵛᵃⁿ ᵇᵘᶜᵏˡᵉʸ

056

It's been four days.

And in a few days, it'll be a week since the accident.

A week since everyone's world changed forever.

In those four days, Rylin and Buck were practically glued to the girls' bedsides.

Rylin stayed with Sarah as she came in and out of consciousness. Every hour, every shift change, every whispered conversation in the hallway, she was there. She held Sarah's hand through everything. She reassured her when confusion clouded her memory. She pressed kisses to her hair like she always had when Sarah was hurt.

She wasn't her daughter. But she might as well have been.

Luckily, Sarah gaining full consciousness for more than five minutes at a time was the only thing worth worrying about.

But Madison on the other hand—

Madison hadn't woken up once since the accident. There had been multiple times where she had to be resuscitated because she would spontaneously flatline.

Every single episode pulled the ground out from under everyone. Every single one made it feel like the world was tilting closer and closer to an edge they couldn't come back from.

It sent everyone into a panic every time the doctors ushered Buck out of the ICU and rushed in with a defibrillator because Madison's heart had stopped beating.

She was barely holding on.

The worst of those moments came on the second night.

Buck had barely left the ICU at all. His hair was a mess, his clothes unchanged since the accident. He sat with his elbows braced on his knees, staring at Madison's face, willing her to wake up. His hand never left hers.

Rylin had slipped in after checking on Sarah. She had been about to tell him she had convinced the nurse to sneak him some coffee when the monitor beside Madison gave that long, piercing sound.

That sound that froze the air in the room.

Flatline.

"No—no, no, no, no!" Buck shot up, gripping Madison's hand tighter like he could tether her back. "Stay with me, Madi, please, you can't do this—"

The door burst open. Doctors and nurses surged inside. "Mr. Buckley, out!"

"I'm not leaving her!" His voice cracked, desperate, but his body was dragged back toward the door.

"Charge to 200! Clear!"

Madison's body jolted violently against the bed. Nothing.

"Again—charge to 300! Clear!"

Her chest lifted off the mattress with the force. For a terrifying second, the line stayed flat.

Then—beep.

A weak but steady rhythm filled the air.

Buck sagged against the wall, his legs nearly giving out. His chest heaved, breaths ragged and broken. He shoved both hands over his face, muffling a sob that tore out of him before he could stop it.

Rylin was already there, sliding down beside him, wrapping her arms around his trembling frame. She pulled his head against her shoulder, her own chest rising up and down in fast motions, whispering, "She's still here. She's still here."

He clung onto her. And she held him, because she knew what it was to love someone so much it broke you.

Now, four days later, the waiting had become its own kind of torment.