Watercolour

Thirty Six

It's been a difficult six months and I'm so sorry for the complete lack of story. Here is the long-overdue Chapter 36...

Alana's P.O.V

We finally reached the door, bright white like everything else here, and I placed my hand on the cold metal handle before pushing it down.

"Here we go," I murmured, closing my eyes briefly as we stepped into the room.

The doctors and nurses that had previously surrounded the hospital bed, attaching IVs, heart monitors and oxygen tanks to him had now gone, leaving the three of us in the room along with two chairs, frayed from use. It was quiet; only the beeps from various monitors piercing the silence every few seconds.

Whilst Lucas went straight over to Alex, pulling up one of the chairs beside his bed, I took one look in his direction and immediately felt a rush to my head. I leant against the nearest wall and shut my eyes, telling myself it was to help ease the dizziness rather than hold back the tears threatening to fall. After many deep breaths, I'd managed to shake off most of the overwhelming sensation I'd first felt when I saw Alex and slowly stepped towards where Lucas was sat.

I sat next to him and stared dejectedly up at the ceiling. I didn't know what to feel as I looked at Alex. His pale face covered in cuts and grazes gave no expression and if it hadn't been for the slight rising and falling motion of his chest, I would have doubted the possibility of life in him at all. And even then, his breath was so light not even the oxygen mask had any condensation on it.

Everything had happened so fast and my brain was still struggling to comprehend all that was going on but I reached out and took Alex's hand in mine. The lack of warmth surprised me, even though I wouldn't have expected anything else, and I squeezed my hand around his. The uncertain words of the doctor replayed over and over again in my mind and it was becoming increasingly harder to convince myself he'd wake up and be alright. But I had to otherwise there would be no way I'd be able to get myself through the next few days - or at least, that's how long I hoped it would be.

I shifted my weight in the chair and scraped it backwards, letting Alex's hand fall out of mine as I did so.

"Lucas?" I ask, not removing my gaze from Alex.

"Yeah?"

"Where were you picking Alex up from?"

"A place called Sevenoaks," he answered, looking across at me. "He was meant to be getting the train home but the station was unexpectedly shut. He called me at about lunchtime and asked if I could pick him up. So, of course, I said okay."

"Do you know what he was doing? Like, why was he in Sevenoaks - that's kinda random," I pointed out, forcing myself to chuckle.

"You know Ruby?" he asked. "That girl in my business class and Alex's art class?"

"Yeah."

"They went out for the da-" he stopped mid-sentence, leaning back in his chair. "Shit. She won't know what's happened."

He stood up and headed for the door, pulling his phone out of his pocket on the way. I followed close behind him, stopping briefly to glance back at Alex. By the time I'd shut the door and joined Lucas a few metres down the corridor, he already had the phone held up to his ear, waiting for Ruby to pick up.

"Uh, hi," he eventually said. "It's Lucas."

There was a pause as, I assumed, Ruby spoke and I watched Lucas' face, trying to read his emotions.

"You haven't heard anything about Alex, have you?" he asked, initially making me uncomfortable for him but then realising there wasn't any good way to tell her what had happened. "Oh, no. Something's happened and I just wanted to make sure yo-"