A Summer to Remember

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

            Is Liam going to be okay? Is he even alive?

            My running shoes slam on the hospital floor one after the other as my heart beats miles a minute. Tears streak down my face as I drag Alex behind me and Colby, I clutch to my chest as if he is my life. My heart aching for him to be okay, even if he does want me to leave him alone, this is an acceptation. He would come for me if it were the other way around, right? I run for everything, for Liam, for our friendship, for how much I like him, for his safety and so much more. I run to the secretary’s desk and she looks at me as if I have scared her.

            “There are no dogs allowed in the hospital” she says sternly.

            “Where is Liam Forest’s room?” I ask ignoring her statement. She points to Colby with her eyebrows raised.

            “No dogs allowed.” She says, Alex loops her arms around Colby and takes him from my arms.

            “I’ll take him outside, you go see Liam” Alex says before I can protest she leaves with Colby and he looks at me with puppy dog eyes.

            “Where is Liam’s room?” I ask again and she gestures to me to follow, and I do.

            The secretary leads me to his room; I follow her with my palms sweating like a fountain, forming in both hands. The worst situations run through my head at a million a minute, he is dead, I’ll never get to tell him how I feel, they had to cut off a limb because it was too badly damaged, he could have brain damage from the impact, or broke his neck and was instantly dead. The secretary’s pace slows but I run up on her heels because I’m not patient, I need to see Liam. She turns to me before a large room, in a hall that didn’t have many rooms only one other and I didn’t know where I am. I see Laura and Rob sitting outside the large room, Laura’s eyes filled with tears and red rimmed. Rob is a strong man, very emotionless, but his eyes looked as terrible as Laura’s, very red indicating they’ve been crying.

            “Laura? Rob?” I ask as the secretary nods and leaves.

            Laura stands and hugs me tightly within her arms, we both cry together; she strokes my hair and sobs. Trying hard to comfort me but in truth she is the one that needs comfort, there is nothing I can say considering I don’t know what has happened. Therefore we stand there sobbing into each other’s shoulders and I see Rob staring painfully at the wall.

            “He’s dead?” I ask.

            “No…” Rob chokes and there is a pin of hope for me now, now that I know he isn’t dead. I let out a breath that I have been holding and not knowing.

            “He is in a coma.” Laura sobs into my shoulder.

            Nothing makes sense, my lungs feel dry as well as my throat and there is a lump in my chest and my pulse feels like it will burst. Coma. The word rings through my head, like as if I have never heard of such a word before but I have. The terrible word rings through my head over and over, as if looking for a response that would help me understand the terrible situation. Is this real? I pull my sweater over myself as the cool chill from the hospital makes me shiver, but also the thought. Liam= coma. How? How could this happen? It’s my fault.

            “The doctors say they don’t know when he will wake up but it won’t be soon-” Laura chokes into more sobs and Rob wraps a supportive arm around her but I could even see he is broken.