part of me | e.d

seventeen

we're in ethan's car driving to the hospital.

i could feel myself panicking, my breathing uneven. what if he died while i was gone? i couldn't accept the fact that our argument would be the last words we ever spoke to each other.

i know he's made mistakes, but he's still my dad whom i love and care for a lot. after my mom passed, he was a pretty good father to me, especially after matt "moved away."

ethan notices my uneasiness and reaches his hand over the console face up. i place my hand in his, interlocking our fingers.

"babe, don't stress. i'm sure everything is fine." he glances over at me, his eyes warm and tinted a light hazel.

i sigh, relaxing a little while his thumb moves back and forth, caressing the skin on my hand.

we continue driving in a comfortable silence until we finally arrive. he parks in the parking lot right outside the emergency wing, and we rush in.

i walk straight to the front desk again. "hi, i'm here for my father robert avery."

the nurse begins typing in her computer. "yes, he's been moved to ICU room thirty-two." she hands me a visitor's pass. 

i start walking with ethan following behind me until the nurse stops us. "excuse me, sir, are you family?"

we turn around, facing her. "why does that matter?" i ask. ethan was able to come into his room with me before.

"your father's been moved to a more critical unit. only family members are allowed."

i bite my lip before responding. "oh, well he's m-my husband." i look at ethan, who just nods along.

the nurse lifts her eyebrow suspiciously. "alright then." she writes out another visitor's pass, handing it to ethan. 

i exhale, grabbing ethan's hand and pulling him with me down the hallway. we eventually find room thirty-two. right before i enter my dad's room, ethan's hand around me wrist pulls me back.

i'm pressed up against his chest, and i look up, seeing the smirk on his face. "husband? really?"

i hit his chest playfully. "shut up. i wanted you to come with me." 

he holds my chin and leans in to peck my lips quickly before we turn around and enter the room.

my dad is lying on the hospital bed, still in a comatose state. he's still hooked up to a million machines, all of them beeping every few seconds.

ethan sits on the couch in the room while i sit in the chair by his bedside. "hi, dad." i gently place my hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat beneath it.

a doctor comes into the room then. "hello. you're rylin avery, i presume?"

i stand up, shaking the doctor's hand. "yes."

"it's very nice to meet you. i'm doctor johnson, the main practitioner on your father's case." i give him a small smile, sitting back down. 

"i'm sure you're wondering why your father was moved to a more critical unit. well, last night we discovered some internal bleeding in his lower abdomen and took him into surgery to fix it. due to the high risk of infection from the operation, he needed to be moved here."

i nod my head. "okay."

"but there were some complications with the operation." i feel my heart rate quicken. "due to the severity of the internal bleeding, his brain began hemorrhaging. under further inspection, we've found that his pupils are no longer responsive to light and that his reflexes are nonexistent."