Clockwork [final]

Twenty-Seven

“What’s the news, doctor?” he pleaded, “Just tell me. I can’t stand any more waiting games.”

A bedraggled man sat beside a hospital bed, barely recognizable from his former self. His blonde hair was a tangled and greasy mess, dark shadows under his bloodshot eyes and his stubble so thick it could almost be called a beard. He reeked of sweat, desperation and regret. He almost resembled how he had looked the day he and the very person he was in this state over had first met. It’s evident from one glance at him that he hadn’t left the bed’s side except to go to the bathroom in days.

The doctor sighed, clearly not looking forward to what he has to say next. “She’s in a deep vegetative state and her brain is too severely damaged for her to ever emerge from it. I’m sorry, Mr McCary, but at this point your only options are either to keep her alive via the machines or to pull the plug.”

Never before had the hope crumpled and fallen from someone’s face like it did from Derek’s at that moment.

“I’m sorry, sir. There’s nothing more we can do,” the doctor said, giving him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “Here are the scans we did of her brain and her overall condition like you asked for.” With that, he left him to mourn in peace.

Derek slumped on the bed, racked with sobs while he clutched her small, pale hand. She looked so peaceful, lying there amongst the white hospital sheets. The scar on her face from the last time she had laid in a hospital bed had faded so much it was almost invisible to him; he had come to hardly notice.  His sobs quieted to ragged breathing before he eventually fell silent, the only sound in the room the beeping of the heart monitor. He glared at the steady, continuous pattern on the screen; it was driving him insane. Each second, her heart beat. Each second, he pined for her. Each second, he didn’t know if she could even hear him.

Since that day that the car crashed, she had been completely unresponsive. The baby had been lost, but that faded to insignificance compared to the horror of never seeing the only person who had ever loved him open those beautiful green eyes and smile at him again. Kevin, ironically, was almost completely unharmed in comparison to Adette; a broken leg and a few cracked ribs were nothing in comparison to her extensive damage. He had been placed back in jail, but that meant nothing to Derek anymore. What was the use? He couldn’t hurt her anymore. Instead, he had changed his focus solely on her. It had been two weeks since the accident and he had stayed by her side every second he could. Two agonizing weeks of talking to her every second he was awake without even knowing if she could hear. Two weeks of desperate hope. Two weeks of bitter hatred of himself for not being there. Two bitter weeks of regret. Two weeks of falling apart. Two weeks of hell.

If he had been there for her, this wouldn’t have happened. He would have been there to stop Kevin; to protect her like he had sworn he would. But he had been selfish and cowardly, and in the process, he had lost her. She had been stolen away and she wasn’t coming back.

Now he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t cope living without her. It was out of the question. What was the point of living like that? There was none. He knew there was some way around it, he just had to think.

He sat and stared at her angelic face, still and peaceful as if she were only sleeping. He could save her, he knew he could. He couldn’t give up. Not while that infuriating heart monitor reminded him with every beat that she was still alive. Still alive, and maybe reachable. His mind wandered. The laboratory; it would never be up and running again now. All she had ever thrived on; her inventions, towards the end, him. He gently touched her face, his eyes filled with sadness.

“What do I do, Adette?” he whispered to the lonely room, feeling the tears threaten again, “What do I do, baby? You would know… you would know.”