Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"st. marys?" mia repeats.
"yes, we are located by the intersection off of fairway dr. and colima road," the woman answers.
"o-okay," mia ends the call and tries to process everything that's happening. julian stares back at her worried.
"what'd they say?" he places his hand on his shoulder.
"sean was in an accident, and they needed me to sign off on his surgery," her expression falls.
"what? where is he?"
"st. marys... do you know where that is?"
"st. marys?" julian's eyes widen. "mia, that's in california. i think he was going to visit his mom's grave."
— two days later walnut, california
mia pushes the hospital doors open and runs to the desk, gasping for air. julian attempts to catch up behind her.
"i got a call the other day about sean lew," she pants.
the woman types the name into the computer then looks up, "ah yes, he was put into emergency surgery. our doctors advised it to the best decision upon his arrival after taking into account his severe injuries."
"w-what happened to him?" mia asks nervously, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"well," the nurse takes a deep breath and starts to walk, with the two trailing behind her. "he was in nearly fatal car crash with another truck almost twice the size of his car."
mia's heart drops at the mention of car crash, starting to believe sean was right about being cursed with them.
"also, large amounts of alcohol were found in his system. if that car crash didn't kill him, the alcohol poisoning surely would've."
julian glares at the woman's insensitivity.
"but he's okay now, right? the surgery was successful, right?" hope fills mia's eyes as she looks at the woman.
the nurse stops walking and sighs, "i'm sorry, hun. we did the best we could, but he fell into a coma after the surgery."
"w-what?" her voice cracks, and her face pales.
"a coma? is he going to wake up soon?" julian steps forward, holding onto mia's hand.
"that we don't know," the nurse frowns. "it could be tomorrow, next week, or even a year."
"a year?" julian repeats. "there's nothing you can do?"
"i'll just leave you two to see him," the nurse excuses herself, leaving julian and mia with no answer.
the two look at each other, trying their hardest to garner up the courage to open the door.
"it'll be okay," julian tries to assure mia, tucking her hair behind her ear. "he'll be okay."
he takes a deep breath and twists open the door to see sean in the hospital bed with several tubes and wires attached to him.
the room is completely silent with only the beeps from his heart monitor sounding off. mia stares at the red lines go up and down, then looks away.
"i-i'm gonna go to the restroom," mia mumbles as she stares at sean's nearly lifeless body. she quickly excuses herself, leaving julian alone.
she pushes past the various nurses and doctors scattered through the hallway, avoiding eye contact with everyone. she enters the restroom and locks the door behind her and goes straight to the mirror. she grips the edge of the sink and breathes heavily.
"i'm so sorry sean," she says quietly to herself. she pulls out her phone and sees the two voicemail notifications with sean's name flashing on her screen.
she presses play and sean's voice starts to softly fill the empty restroom. "hey mia... i know i haven't talked to you for a while,"
by the time the first message ends, she's interrupted by a phone call from julian.
mia messily wipes away the tears and splashes water onto her face a few times, but it doesn't do a good job of concealing her bloodshot eyes.
"yeah?" she answers.
"the doctor has a couple of questions to ask you over here," julian responds.
"o-okay, i'll be there in a bit,"
she unlocks the door and makes her way back to the room to find the doctor speaking with julian.
"you must be mia," the doctor says as she walks in. he extends his hand over to shake hers. "i'm dr. walters, i was one of the few doctors who performed sean's surgery the other day."
"oh hi," she shakes his hand, and julian excuses himself to leave the room.
"so, i do have a couple questions concerning our patient over here," he motions over to sean. "do you know if he smokes?"
"i don't think so..." she racks her brain trying to remember if she ever saw him holding a cigarette.
"has he had any major injuries or surgeries within the last year?" the doctor jots down something on his clipboard.
"i, uh, don't know," she says. "i don't think so."
"alright," dr. walters said. "do you know if he has been in any altercations with alcohol lately? basically, does he have a drinking problem?"
"he did," she answers. "but he'd been sober for about a month and a half."
"he must've relapsed," the doctor sighs. "he may have not fallen into a coma if he hadn't consumed so much alcohol - nearly two times the capacity of the average human. his intoxication mixed with his injuries were surely fatal, but there's still hope."
"there's really nothing we can do to make him wake up soon?"
"i'm afraid not, all we can do is wait," he sighs. "even then, if he wakes up, he has a high chance of getting retrograde amnesia. he may not remember anything that happened before the accident."
"oh,"
"i'm sorry," dr. walters frowns. "i'm also sorry for all the questions. it's just the only family listed on his file is his father, and unfortunately he's currently in a rehabilitation institute, leaving us to call his only emergency contact - you."
"i was his emergency contact?"
the doctor nods and starts to head for the door.
"i'll leave you two alone-"
"wait!" mia turns around. she hesitates for a moment before asking, "have you ever heard of someone's countdown changing?"
