Metal Chains {Dylan O'Brien}

Chapter 7

I watched blankly as the sink water turned red and swirled around the drain. Did someone call Dad? Does he know anything that just happened? Someone had to have called him, preferably one of my brothers, seeing as though it would be even more upsetting to hear from someone else. Two large hands grabbed mine. "Katy. You've been washing your hands for the past 5 minutes." Dylan looked concerned. When I had walked into the bathroom, my brothers held him back and filled him in on what they knew. When I didn't respond to his statement, he let go of my hands and cut off the water, then turned his attention back to me.

"How about I run you a warm bath and ask your brothers to grab you some clothes and then I'll drive all of you over to the hospital?" he asked.

Slowly, I nodded and sat on the toilet seat as he ran the water for me.  As it filled up, Dylan knelt down and kissed the top of my head. "Everything is going to be okay." he whispered into my hair. "I promise." I just nodded and then turned my head towards the bath and watched the water fill up slowly. Dylan left me alone in the bathroom with my worries to go fetch me some clothes to change into. About 3 minutes later, he came back and sat the clothes and towels down by the sink. He cut off the running water and then he got down on his knees so he was eye to eye with me.

"Are you going to be okay in here alone?" he asked me. I nodded. "You sure? I can have one of your brothers—"

"Dylan." I cut him off, finally gaining back my ability to speak. "I'll be okay." I told him.

He smiled that cute half smile he does and kissed my forehead. "Okay." he whispered. Then he stood up and hesitated as he left. I left the door unlocked as I started to undress slowly and put my hair in a ponytail. Then I let my body be submerged in the warm water. How relaxing. I reminded myself to thank Dylan for suggesting this. He even added bubbles for me.

When I exited the bathroom fully dressed and ready to go, I nearly walked in on my brothers having "the talk" with Dylan. No, not the sex talk if thats what you thought. The "fuck with my sister's emotions and I'll fuck with your face" talk. None of them knew that I was there so I eavesdropped for a little bit.

"—so I will say this clearly, so we don't have a misunderstanding. Katy is very important to us. If you hurt her, we will hurt you."

"I definitely won't hurt her. I'm not like that, and Katy... she's different." Dylan's sounded unfazed by their threat to say the least.

"I believe you. You seem way better for her than Adam was."

Silence fell throughout the whole house and I nearly fell to the ground because of the pain that spread through my whole body. "Adam?" Dylan asked, obviously confused because I hadn't told him. "Yeah, didn't Katy t—" I cleared my throat loudly and stepped around the corner. They all looked at me, but I broke eye contact first. "Can we just go see mom now please?" I mumbled and grabbed my coat. Dylan stood up quickly and grabbed his keys. "Let's go."

The car ride was silent. I sat in the passengers' seat and stared out the window, thinking. Rain had starting falling lightly outside and I watched the drops race down the window. I felt the tension increase as the huge city hospital came into view, pulling me out of my thoughts and snapping me into a harsh reality. Dylan parked near the main entrance and all of us climbed out of his truck.

"We're here to see Kristen Enderson." Tristan said to the lady standing at the front desk. "I believe she was placed in trauma." the lady told us, without having to look in the computer. Trauma? My stomach churned. What kind of trauma? We all silently walked over the the trauma wing, probably thinking the same things and getting lost only once on the way. Once again, Tristan spoke for all of us. "Do you have any information of Kristen Enderson please?" he asked. The lady began typing on her computer and then her eyes flicked back and forth as she read.

"She isn't allowed visitors at this time, but the doctors have said that she is stable."

"Is she awake?" I asked hopefully.

A sad look flashed across her face. "No. She hasn't waken up and tests are still being given, but doctors fear that it may be a coma." The lady gave us a sad look. For the second time today, the room started closing in around me. I must have stumbled or given some sort of clue that an attack was coming. "Katy?" Matt looked at me and grabbed my arm with his huge hands. "Look at me." He grabbed my hands and pushed me into a seat. "Breathe slowly. Deep breaths." he said softly, getting on his knees to be eye to eye with me. I nodded and took slow, deep breaths just as he instructed. "What's happening?" Dylan asked, sounding worried.

"Anxiety attack. They usually happen once or twice a week depending on how much stress she's having."

Suddenly, Dylan was in front of me instead of Matt, and his brown eyes were looking straight into my blue ones. "Katy." he cautiously said. "You've gotta breathe for me, okay?" he grabbed my hands just like Matt had, but his hands were larger and enclosed around my small ones easily. I nodded through my blurring vision, trying to focus on his eyes to keep myself from losing consciousness. "Remember our ride on the Farris Wheel?" Dylan asked quickly, as if he was more nervous than he looked. I nodded again and forced myself to breathe deeply and slowly.

"Think about all the lights, don't think about anything else." he calmly said.

I imagined the lights being right in front of me again. In that moment, I was next to Dylan, staring out at the city lights from the highest point of a Farris Wheel. I wasn't in a hospital, and my mom was waiting for me at home. I could feel the breeze on my face. I could even see how the lights reflected off of Dylan's eyes when he looked at me before our kiss. Next thing I knew I was being snapped back to reality by my brother's voice asking, "How did you do that?" He looked at his watch on his left wrist again. "That's the shortest one she's ever had." Dylan didn't say anything else. All he did was grab my face and kiss my forehead, and he didn't let go of my hands for a while. I think he was scared I'd have another attack, but when they finally let us go see mom, he let go of one hand and held on tightly to the other.

Surprisingly, mom looked like she was sleeping peacefully. Her brown hair was fanned lightly around her and her face was full of color. Somewhere on the back of her head there were probably stitches, but we couldn't see them. Two IVs were stuck into her body somewhere, but covered by the brown blanket that lay over her. The only thing different about her was her eyes. Her blue orbs of light were closed and I wanted so badly for them to flutter open and for her to smile at me, but they didn't, and she didn't.