Breaking Point

Breakdown

"Were you able to get a hold of her parents?" Pattie asked softly, so as to not wake Justin.

Scooter sighed and shook his head. "No. they're not returning any of my calls. It's like they don't even care about their only child."

Pattie sighed and stared at Jennifer's face, covered by the tube and head bandage. Pattie ached for Jennifer to come back to them, so she could see her one more time, so her son could be at peace with himself again.

"Do you think I should punish Justin for doing what he did to Jen?" Pattie asked after a few silent moments. Scooter sighed and pulled up a chair next to her.

"No, I don't think you should. He's punishing himself for it. Punishing him would only make him think it was his fault even more." He said finally, and Pattie nodded.

"I was thinking the same thing."

The two sat in silence for a while and stared at the two adolescents. Justin had his head leaning on the hospital bed next to Jennifer's waist, holding her hand, mumbling softly in his sleep. Pattie sighed and sat back against the chair she was sitting in.

"Was it this painful to wait for Jeremy like this?" she asked after a bit, and Scooter shook his head.

"No. no this is far more painful. Jeremy was awake the whole time. Awake and aware of everything. This is worse, because we don't know anything about what's going on with her right now, especially with the fact that there's a machine breathing for her."

"I'm sorry, Scoot. This must be so hard for you." She replied, and wrapped her arms around his torso.

"It is. But... you know I gotta stay strong for them. Especially Justin. If I fall and crack, he's gonna break altogether."

Pattie nodded. "You're right. It's hard being the grown-ups, isn't it? We can't just break down and cry whenever we feel the need."

"You're right. But still... we need our moments too." Scooter and Pattie laughed silently and watched Justin turn over restlessly in his sleep.

"Do you think she'll want to come back to us, Scoot? She's probably in her happiest place ever right now, not even thinking about coming back." Pattie asked after a while of comfortable silence between them, the two adults who have tried their hardest to make Justin and Jen grow up to be the best people the could grow up to be.

"I don't know. It's hard to tell. She was just beginning to feel happy with Justin. Maybe she is in her happiest place. The only way we'll find out is if she wakes up or not."

"I really hope she wakes up. I hate seeing Justin like this. He's not himself."

Scooter nodded. "Then again none of us are ourselves. Jen was like... the glue that held us all close together. Without her, we're all gonna fall."

"You're right. Maybe you should try getting a hold of her parents again." Pattie suggested, and got up so that Scooter could stand from his chair.

"You're right. I'll call them right now." He said, and walked out of the room, phone in hand.

Pattie stared down at the two adolescents. She ached for her son back, because a part of him was dying with just the thought of Jennifer being taken from him forever. Pattie closed her eyes and said a small prayer to get her son and Jennifer back.

"You can't have her," Pattie whispered. "She's ours now. She belongs to us, give her back."

Pattie took hold of Jennifer's hand, and started rubbing it lightly with both her hands, as if rubbing the life back into her.

"Give her back, you can't have her back. Give us a little more time with her." Pattie finished. "Come back to us, Jen."

After a few hours, Justin finally woke up. "How's she doing?" he immediately asked his mother.

"Still no change. Scooter's trying to get in contact with her parents." Suddenly, one of the nurses walked in to check on Jennifer. She checked her vitals, her robotic heart rate, amongst other customary things, like switching her IV over to a new bag.

Justin sighed and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He stared at Jennifer's face as if he stared at it long enough, she'd wake up.

Justin turned to the nurse. "What are the odds that someone comes out of a coma after three days?" he asked, and the nurse gave a polite smile.

"Well, it depends. Sometimes people come out of a coma after months of being on the machine. Some people don't. it all depends."

"On what?"

The nurse shrugged. "I don't know, I guess it all depends on whether or not they're ready to come back, I guess." She said, and Justin nodded, turning back to Jennifer's face.

"What could happen? You know, are there bad things that could happen if she's under for too long?" he asked, and the nurse sighed.

"Well... she could get brain damage. With all those hits she took to her skull it's possible. There are a lot of things I could list, but that are very rare. Usually it's just slight brain damage that clears up with a few weeks."

Justin set his head on the hospital bed and groaned. Pattie sat on the chair next to him and started rubbing his back soothingly.

"Justin, calm down, she said it's rare." She said, but Justin shook his head.

"We never know, we'll never know if she doesn't wake up!"

"Justin we just gotta be patient."

"I'm through with being patient! Every day is another day she might not wake up, mom! I want her here now!"

"I know, sweetie, I know. We do too, but Justin... we gotta be strong. We just gotta be strong, okay?"

"I don't wanna be strong." Justin spat out venomously. "I want him to give her back to me. he can't have her!!"

Justin stood up from his chair roughly, causing it to topple on the floor, and walked out of the room for the first time since he entered.

Out in the hallway, Justin leaned against a wall, grief overcoming him. This is all my fault. He kept thinking. I should never have done that with Selena.

I'm the stupidest person to ever walk this earth.

What am I gonna do if she never wakes up?

This is all my fault.

Justin let out a cry of grief, frustration, and anger and punched the wall as hard as he could. It felt good to let that out, so Justin did it again, and again, and again.

He punched the wall so many times his knuckles developed small cuts, blood slowly leaking out from them. He stared as the blood seemed to darken with the more that slowly trickled down the open cut.

Someone handed Justin a tissue, and he took it and pressed it against his knuckles. He leaned his forehead on the wall and took a deep, shaky breath. Tears started falling from his eyes and trailing down his cheeks.

He wanted her. Her touch, her smile, her lips. He wanted to hold her in his arms again and never let her go. He wanted to smell her familiar cucumber melon shampoo, just once more. He ached to feel her lips on his, he was in pain that he went to sleep without her in his arms, though she was only a mere centimeters away.

He would never find someone like her, he was sure of it. She was the one for him. His rock, his world, his pride and joy. Without her, he was nothing.

As the sobs started to rock his body, he sank to the floor, his head in his hands, leaning on his bended knees.

"Don't leave me." Justin sobbed, directing his words to Jennifer, wherever she was at. "I miss you, please come back to me."