Broken Wings

Chapter 20: Asleep

"Can you hear me?" - Selena Gomez

We all sat in silence for a long time.

Nobody left, not even when the sky turned dark and not even when the clock struck twelve at midnight.

Jesse had fallen asleep an hour ago but the rest of us were still wide awake, almost getting too impatient. We would ask every now and then when we would be able to see her. A lot of the patients already left but there were still tons of them waiting. I was really beginning to get impatient when I noted a nurse leading Paula to the front desk.

Paula looked like a mess; her hair was carelessly pulled up into a bun and her eyes were red and dark from crying and exhaustion, I immediately guessed.

I stood up, hoping she would notice me. The girls in front of me noticed and stood up and turned around to see what I was witnessing.

I made my way around the girls and walked towards Paula.

"Ms. Grey?" I choked out.

She turned away from her conversation with the nurse and saw me coming towards her.

"Oh, Luke. It is so good to see you again." She managed a weak smile and grabbed me in a quick hug.

"How is she?" I asked right away.

She took a deep breath. "She's... she's in a coma."

Someone tell me this is just a freaking nightmare.

She's in a coma, the words echoed.

In a coma meant that she was dead. Almost dead. In deep unconsciousness.

No.

One girl.

One kiss.

And she was gone like the wind.

"Can I see her?" I tried to blink back tears but it was too late.

"I don't know, Luke. She looks terrible."

"Please," I pleaded to the nurse.

"No. Absolutely not." He shook his head.

"Actually, I think it should be fine," Paula reconsidered. "I think Sasha would be delighted to see him when she wakes up."

"If she wakes up," the nurse corrected. "And remember, it could take an entire month until she regains her memory. She might not remember him."

She had lost her memory as well. That was definitely not a good sign.

"I don't care! I still want to see her!" I shouted, causing everyone to look up.

"And so do we!" Gabrielle said from behind me.

The nurse let out a heavy sigh, taking a few seconds to consider it.

"Okay, only one for now. And once she's awake, one at a time. Just so she can regain some memory a little at a time," the nurse explained. "We don't want to put a lot of pressure on her."

"Alright, Luke. Let's go." Paula and the nurse began to lead the way.

Paula and the nurse led me through the doors and down the corridor.

Sasha was probably worse than I thought. I was imagining her body dead now, yellow starting to crawl onto her skin. Which, obviously, meant that she was very close to the end of her life.

I swallowed the lump in my throat but I failed again. I quickly wiped the tears off my face as we stepped into the elevator.

"How many bones did she break?" I asked as I felt the transport of the elevator.

"Both of her legs, her right arm, and a broken bone where blood started to fill her lungs," she swallowed. "And the right side of her jaw."

"It could take her until September for her to recover, maybe even longer," the nurse explained as we stepped out of the elevator. "But we were able to stop the blood from getting too deep into her lungs."

He led us up a stairway and down a long hallway until we reached one of the last doors.

I tried to calm myself before he extended the door and let us in. I'd get to see her face again, only deadly.

The nurse led us to where she was laying. Paula was right, she looked terrible. Gruesome.

"She got hit in the face?" I gasped.

"She hit the ground with a lot of force," the nurse explained. "The whole right side of her body is mostly crushed but we did our best to cast the bones back in place. She's very lucky to still be alive, she's a miracle."

There was a cast that held her broken jaw bones back to where it was supposed to be. Everything else was covered by the blankets but I could tell that her body was thick, wrapped tightly with casts.

"Why in a coma?" I asked quietly. "Why?"

"It's very likely that she's not going to make it. We fixed the bone that broke for blood to fill her lungs but her breathing isn't normal and her hearts beating at an unnatural rate," the nurse replied.

Sasha also had a nasal breathing tube in her nose and it ran up around her ears. I was now standing beside her. She was laying on her back but she wasn't laying down flatly like she usually would. Her brown hair was spread out on the pillow and her cheek looked like it was jammed into her mouth, even with the cast holding her jaw back in place.

I rubbed my eyes, not believing what I was seeing. "Oh, my gosh."

As I studied her, I could tell that she was not going to make it.

"Luke, are you okay?" Paula asked me.

I didn't answer as I continued to stare at Sasha's broken body. Her face was pale but it hadn't yellowed...  yet.

"Luke." I felt Paula's hand on my shoulder. "Would you do me a huge favor by staying in here for the night? I'll go home to rest and pack up a few of her things and come back in the morning."

I slowly drew my eyes off of Sasha and looked at Paula. "Sure."

"Thank you. Here's my number if you need to call me. If she wakes up, call me immediately." She jotted down her number and handed me the paper.

"And you know what to do when she wakes up, right?" The nurse asked.

"Yes." I nodded.

"Good."

They both left me alone with Sasha's dead body.

I crashed into the chair that was at the heels of me and threw my head into my arms. I let out whimpers and let me body take over by disintegrating. I couldn't stand to look at her for another second, but I did.

"Oh, God. Please." I stood back up and let my shaky hands work their way to Sasha's beautifully torn face.

They were still so soft, but broken. I held her in my hands for so long, I couldn't bare to let them go, just by the way she looked. I stroked her hair as I cried out and rubbed her left cheek.

"I miss you. I'm sorry," I mumbled, hoping she would hear me when I knew she wouldn't.