The Next Step:Jiley's story

Hospital

The noise shook the car and then everything went still and black.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep..." the repetitiveness was driving me crazy but I knew James would turn the alarm clock off soon, he knows not to wake me up too early if I'm tired. But it doesn't stop, I wait to hear the door open and him switch it off but he doesn't seem to hear it

"James." I mumble in my half a sleep trance, I expect a reply but I don't so sleepily I open my eyes and I'm not met by the sight I expected, white crisp sheets surround me, blue and white walls, no alarm clock, wait why am I in hospital? I begin to panic, I don't remember coming here nor do I remember any reason why I should be here. My room is empty but I need to talk to somebody about how I ended up here so I press the emergency button next to my bed because right now it feels like an emergency, how do I not remember how I ended up in hospital? The whole ward begins to flash and wail because of the emergency button being pressed and within a matter of seconds I'm greeted by tens of doctors all trying to talk to me. I'm slightly overwhelmed by everybody so I just raise my hand to silence them but instantly shooting pains are sent up my arm and I'm wincing in pain. My face must be easy to read because everybody silences and one doctor steps forward and begins talking

"Riley, where does it hurt?" I'm asked in a slow patronising voice

"My arm, I can't move it without being in pain but I don't really care about that right now I want to know how I ended up here." I say angrily, the doctor sighs and then begins to explain

"You and your son, Josh, were in a car accident thirty three days ago and you've been in a coma since then, Josh woke up about a week ago but is still on the brink of life." wait, what Josh is nearly dead and I've been in a coma for thirty three days and we were in a car accident?

"Ermmm, why exactly have I been in a coma so long and why does my arm hurt so much and why can't I remember any of this?" I say quickly desperate to know how this happened.

"You've been in a coma because you lost an awful lot of blood and we were keeping you in a coma because you are in too much pain which brings me to talk about your arm, it was severely broken along with your neck, which explains the neck brace, and the reason you can't remember anything is because as soon as the car hit you blacked out in a matter of second." he tells me, I take a deep breath and try to process this much information, I need to speak to James

"Is there any chance my partner can come an visit?" I ask hopefully because right now he's the only one that could make this any better, he nods his head and then walks out, signalling for everybody else to leave as well, piece again. 

I'm left with just the beeping of all the different machines for about ten minutes before my door re opens and James walks in. He gives me a weak smile and then sits down next to me, taking my hand in his. We sit like this for ten minutes before he speaks up

"How bad do you feel?" he asks me quietly, I don't know what to say because physically I don't feel to bad besides my arm but mentally I'm dying, Josh is dying. I no there's no point in lying t o James because he know me better than anybody but I also don't want him worrying about me so I decide to keep it simple

"Not great, my arm feels like it's on fire and I can't believe Josh is on the brink of life and death." I say simply, he sighs and then looks down at me

"Yeah, he's not in a good state but right now all you need to focus on is getting better because you've not had it easy, you're arm was shattered into thousands of fragments and right now it's been operated on three times but it will still need another two or three but you're neck is doing much better recently." he tells me, I don't even care about my arm or neck or my health all I want to do right now is see Josh and the others because they're the ones that always remind me why life is worth living but I know that's not happening for a long time.

"James, where are the kids?" I ask him kind of hoping that there here and I can see them and we can be a family again

"at the studio, all of A-troupe and old A-troupe and anybody there has been looking after them whilst I've been visiting you." he tells me, a small smile dances across my lips at the thought of James visiting me whilst I've been in a coma, I love him too much.