Weeks passed and Riley was still in a coma. She faded in and out, sometimes able to hear the voices around her. Once she was stable, her parents allowed Brett to visit her, but she wasn't able to be transported back to the United States. She wanted to sit upright and scream at the doctors that she was alright. She wanted to remind Brett how much she loved him...
She ached to assure her brother that it wasn't his fault, even though he believed otherwise because she was only in London to see him. And she wanted to tell her parents that she wasn't mad at them anymore for withholding the fact that Jackson wasn't her biological brother. The doctors were unable to tell when she would wake up.
She was going crazy in the confines of her own mind...
***
"Riley?" Jackson whispered to his sister as he leaned against her bedside and squeezed her hand. "I know you can hear me. The doctors said that you can hear and feel... Listen to me; every accomplishment starts with the decision to try, Riley. So you have to try, okay? Because I need you here. And that Talbot kid sitting out in the hallway - anxiously, I might add - is a good guy.
"And he needs you here, more than he'd probably admit. I've had you for sixteen years, but that poor kid? He's only had you for a few months. I feel bad for him," Jackson chuckled.
And that was it, amazingly. That was the first happy sound Riley had heard in weeks and she chiefly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly. She looked down at her brother, who was smiling down at their hands.
"Your laugh always brought me out of my worst moods," she said through a hoarse voice. Jackdon's head shot up and his eyes filed with tears.
"Riley!" he exclaimed, jumping up and wrapping his arms around her shoulder. Multiple pairs of feet pounded in the hallway and people filed the room. Riley and Jackson's parents were first, then Brett and Liam.
