Angels Fall (Stray Kids Kim Seungmin )

Fifteen

Maya rushed to the hospital as soon as school was finished. Never once did she stop worrying about Liv. She felt all of it was her fault.

"Hi," she greeted the lady at the desk through pants.

The nurse looked up at her and frowned.

"Maya Humphreys, right?"

She nodded with all the energy she had left.

"Yes."

The lady heaved a sigh before beckoning at the girl to follow her. Maya followed close behind her, enthusiastic to see her best friend recovering again however, the nurse came to a sudden stop in the waiting area.

"There's something I must tell you about Miss Taylor. Take a seat."

The girl felt as though her throat contracted and began inhaling massive amounts of air. This one of the last things she wanted to hear – the last being that Liv was dead. She hated herself for coming up with that assumption but it had been circling her mind ever since she saw her best friend recovering. I mean usually, when someone's sick or in critical condition they look as though they are getting better and then all of a sudden, they go just like that. It had happened before that's why she didn't want to bring her hopes up by saying, "Liv's going to be fine". That was never the case.

Maya sat in one of the hospital chairs, adjacent to the nurse and began fiddling with her fingers. The lady noticed this and took the girl's hands in hers to cheer her up.

"Miss Taylor's not dead, Miss Humphreys."

This statement made her brighten up which the nurse hated. She knew she gave her false hope but she just felt the need to say that.

"So, she's okay?"

"Now I didn't say that."

The girl furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side.

"Then? If she's not dead, she's alive and if she's alive it means she's okay." Maya didn't believe it herself, she just said it to cheer herself up but ended up getting the opposite effect. Her eyes began to water and her heart sank.

"I just said she wasn't dead, Miss Humphreys. I never mentioned that she was alive."

"W-what? How can someone not be dead or alive? You're contradicting yourself! What's going on with Liv? Tell me! What's wrong with her!"

She didn't mean to shout at the nurse, she just couldn't stop her emotions spilling out. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her nostrils began to sting. She knew what the nurse meant but she didn't want to believe it until she heard her say it. However instead of replying, the lady pulled her into a hug and Maya began crying harder.

"I'm so sorry," The nurse whispered.

"It's my fault. She's in a coma again because of me. I-"

"None of this is your fault."

"It is!"

"No, it's not."

Maya was aware of all the people watching her breakdown in the middle of the hospital but didn't care. At least one of them had to understand how it feels to lose someone so dear to you. She had been trying to stay strong for as long as she could but right then and there, she burst. She knew the chances of Liv waking up from this coma would be slim. It was best to start the funeral planning already. She was lucky to wake up once but Maya doubted that she was going to be lucky again.

Unable to take any more of the miasma of medicine and hospital equipment, Maya sprinted out of the building. She didn't even know where she was going – she just let her feet carry her to her destination, wherever that might be. She didn't even pay attention to the traffic lights. She wanted a car to crash into her or for her to run off a cliff or something because dying would be much better than living through this.