Vampire Boy

XI

Connor

The last thing I had expected was for my mum to be waking me up at nearly seven in the morning, tears running down her face and screaming that Daxx's mum had called because Daxx was in the hospital. Never before had I moved so fast, scrambling into Mum's car while still in my pyjamas. 

I raced through the hospital, my heart was pounding. No way. I refused to believe it was true. Daxx's mum had gone to leave for her shift at the hospital and had noticed that Daxx's bed was empty. When he didn't pick up her calls, she rang her friend at the hospital who checked admitted patients and found Daxx there.

We had been together for about a month now and it had been the best month of my life. He made me so freaking happy and I was falling for him so damn hard. I was not about to lose him now. Apparently they found him half dead on the street.

He was surrounded by his own blood from a wound to the back of his head but the sun had made everything worse. He was found by a dog walker, who called an ambulance and stayed with him while he was taken to hospital. The ambulance team had tried to stabilise him but he had lost so much blood and his skin was blistering all over.

I rounded the corner and continued to sprint trough the hospital, my eyes probably looked wild since they were darting around the hospital so fast looking for his room. My breath hitched once I spotted it and rushed over, spotting his mum sobbing outside the room. I glanced inside and found it empty and my stupid brain immediately assumed the worst. A heart wrenching sob ripped through me and my knees buckled. It was so hard to stand.

"Is he...?" I tried to ask, my voice shaking with fear of the reply. 

I couldn't even finish the question it hurt too much.

"He's in emergency surgery." She whispered

She looked empty. Hot tears were still streaming down her face as she spoke.

I breathed out in relief. He wasn't gone. I sat myself down on one of the seats and pulled my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do with myself; all I could do was sit there and hope that he would be okay. I don't think I would be able to take it if he wasn't okay. I knew I wouldn't be the only person whose heart would shatter if he left this world; his mum would be broken and not to mention his siblings, their entire worlds would fall apart.

"Did you know about him sneaking out every night?" His Mum sniffled, glancing up at me curiously. 

Her voice was so soft and full of pain but it wasn't accusing.

I felt the guilt set in. She didn't know about her sons late night habits. I bit my lip as another sob threatened to run through me. I could have prevented this, if only I would have went with him tonight or argued with him a bit more and forced him to stay home and sleep like he had with me. I could have encouraged him to get some sleeping medication, told him it wasn't safe to be wandering the streets in the dark at all hours of the morning. I could have done something. 

I simply nodded at his mum and she smiled sadly, ducking her head.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. He's been doing it for years and I was trying to convince him to ask his doctor about sleeping medication but he's stubborn and... I'm so sorry." I sobbed, angrily wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Honey don't blame yourself. Daxx is a fighter and he'll get through this." His Mum reassured me, although her voice broke towards the end.

I nodded my head and we both slipped into silence as we sat waiting for news about Daxx.

The next three hours were hell. 

Waiting for news was agony and neither Daxx's mum nor I were taking the anticipation very well. I had chewed my finger nails down to the skin with nervousness and she couldn't keep her leg still. At some points, I had resorted to pacing up and down the long corridor, mumbling my hopes for him to be okay. I had practiced breathing techniques to stop myself from having a panic attack and Daxx's mum had bought a cup of tea although I hadn't seen her take a single sip of it, despite holding it in her hands for the last two hours. It would be stone cold by now.

When the doctor approached us, we both jumped out of our seats.

"He's had to have stiches at the back of his head and a blood transfusion, but he's responding to it well. He had blisters and burns from the sun, due to his condition, but they should mostly clear up with minimal scarring since he wasn't exposed for too long after sun rise. He was extremely lucky somebody found him when they did. He's asleep now, but he should make a full recovery." The doctor explained.

My knees crumbled and I dropped to the floor with happy tears streaming down my face as his mother did the same. Despite us not having said much more to each other than our hello's and such, we both clung to each other as we sobbed on the hospital floor, more than grateful for Daxx's promised recovery. The amount of relief flooding through my body was too much to handle as I cried. If he had died, I wouldn't have been able to handle it. We had grown so close and he was engraved into every fibre of my being. Life without him just didn't make sense at this point, but it's fine because everything was going to be okay.

He was going to be okay.