It Was Supposed to Blossom

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ryan POV

Why was the Uber driver going so slow? We were running out of time to get to Lilly and make sure she was all right. I leaned forward to ask him to speed up again when David put a hand on my knee. "Three minutes, Ryan. We're almost there."

Defeated, I flopped back onto my seat and exhaled sharply. Immediately, Liza's hand went to my shoulder. "It's fine, Ryan. She's going to be OK." But the look in her eyes and the constant chew of her manicured fingernails told me that she was trying to convince herself of the same thing.

"I hope so, Liza."

I forced myself to sit still, not to frown or fidget or wring my hands in worry. I hardly dared breathe. It was only when the Uber pulled up in front of the hospital did my chest rise and fall again.

We got out and dashed inside. Liza, David and I crowded around the counter to ask the nurse on duty, "Hi, is there a Lilly Saini Singh admitted here?"

"Well, as a matter of fact-" she began.

"Are you a Mr Ryan Higa, Ms Liza Koshy and Mr David Dobrik?" A doctor asked as he walked up to us. We nodded. "We've been told to expect you. Please follow me."

Anxiously, we trailed after him down the corridor and stopped at a door. He put his hand on the doorknob and paused. "Now. I need you all to be ready for this, OK?"

It wasn't OK, my heart felt like it was thumping out of my chest, but we nodded all the same. He opened the door and ushered us into the ward.

My heart stopped.

Lilly's frail, lifeless body lay there on a hospital bed. A jumble of cords connected her to an IV drip, a heart monitor, and a bunch of other machines, purring and beeping and pulsing. Her beautiful Rapunzel hair was hidden under a cocoon of bandages, her right arm strapped and put in a sling. Her knees and legs were both bandaged as well. A stitched-up crescent scar arches on her left cheek. Her skin has scarily whitened to a color lighter than snow. But her left leg...her poor leg...

"Oh. My. God." Liza breathed out. David's mouth hung open. As for me... I could scarcely breathe.

Her foot twisted at an awkward angle, and was completely covered by bandages. I could just see her bone poking out frighteningly. It looked like that leg could never be used again. The sterile whiteness of the bandages were soaked with scarlet blood, and my stomach lurched.

Just then, Lilly's sister and parents burst into the ward. Immediately, Mr. Singh gasped. Tina flung herself in a chair, shell-shocked. Mrs. Singh threw herself on top of Lilly and wailed in incomprehensible Punjabi in between sobs. I shared a look with David and Liza and we quickly left them alone.

We sat down, but a silence had stilled between us. What could we even begin to say? After a while, the same doctor walked up to us.

"A while back, we performed surgery on her. The anaesthetic is out of her system. But her injuries are extremely instensive. Not only has the glass cut her legs and cheek, but her knee has dislocated and her left leg is completely immobile, not to mention a broken ankle and bones in several places."

"Will she wake up?" The hope in Liza's voice pained his professional doctor's face. He sighed.

"The concussion is what we're concerned about now. When she might regain consciousness is hard to say; Ms. Singh is badly hurt. We will  do our best."

"But will she wake up?" I interjected before Liza could.

"Like I said, we will do everything we can...but be prepared for the worst."

When he walked away, Liza completely dissolved into tears. David went to put his arm around her, soothe and comfort her, hush her cries. I couldn't move from my seat. Lilly couldn't not make it. No. No, she couldn't. She would leave behind too many broken hearts.

Some more broken than others.

I saw Lilly's family flee from the ward. I stood up to offer my consolation but they were already out of the doors. I guessed they were going home to nurse their sadness.

We entered the ward, Greg, Derrick and Shawn joining us a few minutes later.

None of us said it, but we knew chatting was not an option. No conversation was suitable to have right now. I didn't think talking about Lilly's impending demise would calm Liza.

No. I mentally corrected myself. Not demise. She isn't dead. She isn't dead.

Not right now, my brain taunted, but I pushed it away.

The clock ticked slowly. We sat there, afraid to move, breathe, terrified of what could happen to her. Suddenly, the heart monitor emits a high-pitched scream and the electronic trace flatlines.

Greg and Derrick gasps.

Shawn is frozen in his seat, face pale.

Liza faints into David's arms.

And my heartbeat slows into stillness.