Hold a Smile (Demi Lovato) COMPLETE

Thirty-Six: Awake

Demi's POV

"Merry Christmas, Princess," I said as I stroked Avery's hair. It was Christmas morning, and Avery was still asleep. My heart sank. I had pictured this day to be so joyful. Instead, we're spending it in a hospital with Avery still knocked out. The doctors say she's getting stronger, and that there is hope for her. There was so much relief when I heard that. Now we are all just waiting for her to wake up. Wilmer has been up here almost everyday to keep me company. At first I was skeptical of him taking care of me, but now I realize how much I needed the support. He always knows what's best for me, even when I'm unaware of it. I've always loved that about him.

Another couple of days past, before the best thing in what seemed like eternity started to happen.

Avery's POV

I slowly opened my eyes, almost blinded by the unexpected light coming from somewhere, but I couldn't tell where. Everything was blurry. Within a few minutes, my eye sight started to clear up and I looked around. I recognized it as a hospital. I use to come here when my mother would hurt me too badly. I had different things stuck in my arm, and I heard the beeping of the heart monitor. I realized Demi was no where to be seen. I was relieved in a way. As much as I thought I wanted her back, I realized that I don't want to see her. I don't want to see anybody right now. It was nice being asleep. No one was hurting or bothering me. I knew I couldn't call Demi my mom anymore. She said moms were supposed to protect their children. Demi wasn't my mom. At least not anymore.

It was only a minute of waking up when Demi came back in the room. She was looking at her phone, not realizing I was awake until after several seconds. She gasped when she looked at me, but I refused to make eye contact. She ran to my side and wrapped her arms around me, and I flinched away, letting out a cry of pain at the sudden movement of my sore body.

"Avery?" Demi asked, a hint of hurt in her voice. I didn't respond. I didn't even look at her. "Avery, sweetie." She reached out to touch my arm, but I flinched away again, causing another pain to shoot through my body.

Honesty, I was more scared than upset. I don't know why. I knew Demi was nice. But I felt like any physical contact would be painful.

"Avery, it's me. It's Demi. It's Momma."

I couldn't do anything but shake my head. She wasn't my momma. She didn't keep her promise.

Demi didn't say anything else for several minutes. She was sat there, shocked. I almost felt bad, but how was I supposed to trust her again? How was I supposed to trust anybody?

Just then, a man I had never seen before showed up. It was obvious that he saw the tension.

"I'll got get the doctor," he stated.

Soon, he was back along with the doctor. "Hello, Avery, I'm so glad you're awake," the doctor said. "Do you know how long you were out?" I shook my head. "Almost two weeks. That's just from when we found you." I didn't respond. "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst, what's your pain level?" I slowly held up 8 fingers. "Hmm, that's still pretty high. I'm surprised your body hasn't healed more by now." He wrote some stuff down on his clip board. He asked me several more questions, but I never talked. I either nodded my head, shook my head, or shrugged my shoulders. I wouldn't even look at Demi. I almost felt sorry, but I was honestly too nervous to look at her. I felt like I would cry if I did. I didn't want to cry anymore.

It's final exams week for me 😒

Quick update because you are amazing, and also if it know when I'll be able to update again.

Seriously, thank you for your support and kind comments on this book and my others. It really means a lot to me, especially right now.