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Chapter 18.

Vanessa

My eyes shot open to find my head resting on the bamboo coloured hospital wall. I grunted, wishing it had been just a nightmare but it had been as real as the pain that shot through my body. My neck ached, my head ached, my heart ached. I rubbed my eyes, which were swollen from crying. A hand rubbed against my back, making me jump.

"Hey, sorry. I brought you some coffee." Diego said.

I looked at the cup in his hands, the steam rising from its surface, and the foam made my stomach grumble. I shook my head, however.

"Thank you, but I don't feel like anything." I said.

"You need to drink something. You refused to eat, so take this. Please, Ness." Diego said.

The way he said "Ness" made my heart tighten in my chest. Cameron flashed back into my mind and I shuddered. Without arguing more, I took the coffee cup from his hand and brought it close to my lips. Since we'd still been here, I thought Cameron was okay again and that he didn't leave me the way I thought he was going to. I wanted to ask, but fear consumed my body and bile rose to my throat.

But I needed to know.

"So, um.. how's he?" I asked, not wanting to say his name as much as it hurt.
He smiled sadly, "He's okay now. He's stable and the possibility of a coma is dull, thank God. Though we don't know when he'll wake up." He sighed.

I felt my body instantly relax and I let out a breath I had been concealing.

"But what happened?" I asked, curiosity piling up.

"Guess he just decided not to give up." He answered sincerely like he truly believed it.

I nodded and drank a bit of my coffee, inhaling the strong aroma. A slow smile crept to my lips.

I had believed it too.
****

Cameron

"I'll never forgive you! Do you hear me!?" Her voice shot arrows through my heart. It could've been a cupid. It had been the only thing that swarmed in my head as I felt electricity flow through my body.

Damn, those shocks could've brought a horse back to life.

Suddenly, the numbness faded. I felt my blood rush through my veins faster than it did on its slower pace, I could feel my fingers and I thought about moving them or giving them a sign that I was breathing again so they would stop with the morbid shocks. I heard the beeping sound of the heart rate machine and if I could smirk in triumph I would've done that but the sedatives were too much. I needed Vanessa to see this. I wasn't giving up anymore and as much as I was adamant on letting go, the thought of her never forgiving me made me want to die right here, no scratch that.

It made me want to jolt awake right here.

Hell, she might not even visit my damn grave. Since Christmas was almost two months later, being in a cold coffin without her warmth, being in a dirt hole, throwing witty comebacks with the joyful spirits of the past, present and future were not my Christmas goals. Not that I did give a damn about Christmas and spending it happily, I had been spending it alone for years. Last time I had lit up a tree was when I was eight and I ended up breaking two ornaments and my thumb.

Merry ho-ho.

I felt my body more this time as I heard the door open and the sound of two nurses chatting over my head made me want to roll my eyes at them.
I groaned mentally and just wanted to open my eyes and ask for my beautiful girl but I couldn't. It ached. So I just listened to their tedious talks about how Eddie, the manager always left coffee stains on the coffee table and didn't bother to clean it up.