Abused

49: deep deep sleep

"The impact was to her brain. This is possibly the worst injury that could happen, her brain will swell and its really just a waiting game. If the swelling goes down, she will live but it's not certain that she will be the same or function proper. If the swelling does not stop, she will either be in a coma forever or die which is technically the same thing. There are many possibilities, so we can not be sure of exactly what will happen. Well keep a close watch on her, but that's all we can do for now is observe. She could be in a coma for months, days, week, years. She may never wake up, she may open her eyes tomorrow. We know nothing of what will happen... we're trying, sir."

Josh and Tyler stood impatiently, tears dried to their cheeks and feet tapping the ground fidgety. Tyler bit his lip, and left the room before anyone saw him cry. He brushed the door frame and turned to see a white board outside her room in the ICU.

Patient: Jolie Joseph
Injury: Brain Trauma/ swelling
Release date:

Blank. The release date was blank. As if they knew she was never going to leave, at least not alive. They say they don't know what will happen but Tyler feels like they just say that to make them feel better. There's probably a larger chance of her dying. Tyler was being very blunt with himself, not knowing how to deal with this. She was just a small child, starting Senior Kindergarten. If a grown man rarely survived this, how would little Jolie survive it? His mind raced. Tap. Tap. His feet tapped the grey tile floor and his eyes skimmed the pale green walls of the hospital walls. It smelled like old people and soap... it smelled like disaster. A place such as this was only to be smelt, seen or felt by the suffering. Hospitals. The worst place to be. Tyler would rather be dead.. but that's no surprise. Tyler's wanted to he dead almost his whole life. The only time he didn't want to be dead was when he was in Josh's arms. Jolie was such an amazing human. Her blonde hair.. it almost reminded him of Jenna. Her green eyes, like emeralds. Her cheeks, red. Like... Ruby. He sat. Was this his fault? He was so worried about not being a good parent and not being able to care for Jolie to actually pay attention to her. Tyler had a tendency to blame everything on himself.

Weeks passed, and the doctors have done nothing but observe. Josh and Tyler were both a mess. Josh hadn't left Jolie's side once. He sat there. The thing about comas, they are not there. Jolie had no signs of life. The only thing to show she hadn't left us quite yet is the beeping of the machine keeping her alive and the air being pumped into her lungs. That's the only reason her heart was beating.. it couldn't on its own. The oxygen being pumped into her lungs forced her heart to keep going. He hadn't slept well or barely at all since he arrived, those plastic chairs made sleeping hard to achieve. But at this point even a comfy bed wouldn't help, and Tyler had to go home to tend to things. He visited daily, and often tried getting Josh to come home and shower or eat... but he refused. Tyler felt guilty when he left the hospital.. but it was too depressing for him to be there too long at a time. Finally, the doctors did their final testing.