fameless → ZACH HERRON ✓

t h i r t e e n

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
( DON'T SAY THAT )

     CARMEN AWOKE WITH a start. Her mother clutched her chest, tears beginning to fall from her eyes as she realized her daughter was finally awake. Carmen glances around the room, her eyes adjusting to the bright light.

Her eyes find her mother's, of which she sucks in a breath.

"Mom?"

"Oh my gosh, thank goodness," Her mother gasps, placing her hand on Carmen's cheek as she cries. "I thought I had lost you."

Carmen smiles weakly, something that assured her mother that she was fine. She then looks around the room again, disappointed at what she finds.

Nothing.

"Where are the others?" Carmen asks, her voice cracking. "Zach, Aurora, Jonah, Callie . . . Where are they, mom?"

"In the waiting area," Her mother replies, wiping her tears with a crumbling tissue. "The nurses wouldn't allow them in since you're in the ICU."

"Can you find them?" She asks, her eyes begging. "Please? Tell the nurses."

"They'll only allow a few," She sighs in response. "Who would you want to be in here? That is- if I can convince them."

"Jonah, Aurora, and Zach." Carmen states without hesitation, her voice coming out in a croak.

"Okay."

---

Zach was relieved as Carmen's mother finally arrived in the waiting room, bringing the best news- Carmen was awake. And when she announced that she could have three guests, he was overjoyed to hear that he was one of them.

But when entering her hospital room, he winced at the sight of her. Carmen was staring up at the ceiling, a breathing tube placed in her nose. Her position was very uncomfortable, as Jonah, Aurora, and Zach noticed.

"Zach," Carmen says weakly, a smile spreading across her lips.

She moves to sit up- something that only caused her more pain. Carmen cries out as a pain erupts from her ribs, and sinks back down into the bed. Aurora places a hand over her mouth, and Zach rushes to her side.

"Are you okay?" He asks, surveying her as he takes her hand in his.

"I'm far from okay," She admits, motioning to her broken arm, her collar, ribs, and bandaged head. "But I was lucky."