Complications

Chapter 28 - Waiting Game

"Aria?" I heard a soft voice call, instantly causing me to pull myself off of Ishmael's shoulder.

"Yeah?" I responded, turning to see it was Monika half awake.

"Do you wanna sleep now?" She asked, yawning and stretching before she rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Ishmael you should too. I'll wake up Ramon."

"Okay." Ishmael and I said in unison, before I made myself as comfortable as possible in my plastic chair, which was frankly impossible, and dozed off to sleep.

*******

I woke up to Monika nudging me.

"Aria! It's about Mitchell wa-"

The second I heard Mitchell's name, my eyes instantly opened,

"Mitchell? What? Where?" I hastily asked.

"The doctors are calling you near his temporary ward, Ishmael just got up a couple minutes ago and is already there, waiting." She explained, patting my shoulder.

Without question, I stood up and made my way to the ward, speed walking past everyone in the hallway, until I recognised Ishmael's jacket, stood, facing towards the doctor in the room.

"How is he?" I rushed in, before pausing in my tracks.

There he lay, 2 needles stapled into each of his pale hands, no colour, even in his face, tubes flowing up and across his nostrils. His head was bandaged, although a slight drip of seeping blood was still visible on the side where it was obvious he'd require stitches. Even his jet black hair seemed dull against the sickly white hospital gown he'd been thrown into, you could barely differentiate between his skin and the cotton material had it not been for the odd, scattered blue dots across it.

"....we can't be sure until after surgery."

"Huh??" I asked, looking around, facing Ishmael then the nurse.

Shoot.

I'd zoned out.

"I'm sorry er - can you like, repeat all of that?" I asked, embarrassed, as I tried not to look over at Mitchell.

The nurse nodded and began to speak again,

"So he has suffered severe concussions and we have conducted the necessary MRI tests on him which show that his coma is, well on a scale of 1 to 10 to phrase it, a 9. But, we are prepared with the correct equipment to treat him as soon as possible." 

I nodded for a moment,

"S-so how long would it take for him to recover?" I asked.

"Well it's estimated quite a few weeks, however it could be much sooner or much later. Like I said before, we can't be sure until after surgery." She answered.

"How quickly can you guys operate?" Ishmael questioned.

"We will have the trained doctors in from 9am, his medication that is currently entering his system is more than capable enough of sustaining him until surgery is performed. Until then, it's a waiting game." She replied once more, before checking her wrist watch.

"It's 4:17am now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you and your friends leave. You were allowed to stay until you found out his condition as it was an emergency case. However, because he is now preparing for surgery, you are classed as visitors and we can't keep you in the hospital during these hours." The nurse added, before marking a couple of things on her clipboard.

"Thanks for all your help Nurse." Ishmael said, nodding and pulling the closest thing to a smile he could in this situation. I smiled aswell, before beginning to walk out before I paused in my tracks.

"I'll meet you in the waiting room." I said to Ishmael.

 Slowly, I ambled over to Mitchell, gazing at his closed eye lids, and drew myself to his face, so close that I could hear his soft, quiet breathing. Nearing closer to his ear, I whispered in the most hushed tones I could, my voice as soft as silence,

"I'll be waiting for you."

I grazed my hand against his, and slowly planted a soft kiss on his cheek as a tear landed on it, my tear. It slid down his face though, as if it escaped his own eye - and I was scared,

What if that was the last time we'd ever get to share the same emotion again?