Michael sat, rubbing his face roughly. He blamed himself. He should've never left her alone at the table. He sat and stared at her.
She was asleep. The doctors decided to put her in a medically induced coma to let her body heal itself. There was tubing everywhere. One was skinny and had two opening that went into her nose, the other was large and went down her throat. Her mouth hung open in a dead-like state. She had monitors hooked up to her head, her arm, anywhere they could easily reach and still get information, Michael thought. He sighed as he watched her chest rise and fall slowly, but every breath she took was shallow.
"Her lung will heal in a week, and she'll wake up in her own time. The collapsed lung was probably from falling down." The doctor reassured him, but Michael wouldn't believe her until Savana was awake and okay, "Mr. Clifford," She spoke quietly, "Right now, there's not much we can do right now. We've gotten rid of the air that was causing her lung to collapse, but it's up to her now to heal. In my professional opinion, I've seen people pull through these, but I've also seen someone lose this battle. She's strong. I think she'll be okay."
Michael had to think of this as a survivable situation, he couldn't imagine losing her. He nodded before walking back into the room. The doctor followed.
"There'll be a nurse coming in a few moments to discuss some things with you about Savana, if that's okay?" She had a sweet smile that soothed Michael a bit.
He smiled back, "Yeah, that's alright. There should be a girl coming soon, would it be okay if she was in here, too?"
"Yes, but please keep the noise down. We have sleeping patients, alright?" She said.
Michael was relieved, "Thanks." He brought his chair over to Savana's bedside and watched her sleep for a bit. He'd watch her sleep before, but this time was different. He felt if he looked away, something would go wrong like last time. Lindsay quickly walked in with the nurse, who explained everything about Savana's condition on the way to the room.
The nurse checked Savana's vitals while Lindsay comforted Michael and reminded him that this wasn't his fault. "Mikey, neither of you knew there were peanuts in it. This is no one's fault except the restaurant you two went to for not having allergy information on the menu. If you have to blame someone, blame them."
"I know, but if I had been there, she'd be awake and happy like normal. Not," He looked at her, "Tubed."
The nurse spoke before Lindsay had a chance to respond, "Okay, I have some questions for you regarding Savana's medical history, if either of you are up for it?" Both of them nodded, "I know this is a rough time for you, so I'll try to make it quick." She smiled, "Do you know if Savana is allergic to anything besides peanuts?"
Lindsay answered quickly, "I know she's lactose intolerant, but she doesn't mind dairy at all."
"Chlorhexidine. She's allergic to chlorhexidine." Michael spoke up, "She said she had mouthwash once and it made her tongue and mouth swell and go numb."
The nurse nodded, "Anything else?"
"Not that we're aware of no." Lindsay placed her hand on Michael's leg to try and comfort him.
"Is there any family history of certain allergies?" She stared at the clipboard in front of her.
Michael looked up at her with sad eyes, "Her grandma had a shellfish and aspirin allergy, and that's all she knows about."
"Alright, thank you." The nurse flipped the page, "Has anything been different about Savana in the past three weeks? In any way."
"What do you mean?" Michael asked.
"Has she had sudden outbursts of anger or sudden withdrawal from activities that used to make her happy?" The nurse felt like this was a straightforward answer, but no one liked to answer it.
"N-No, she's been pretty happy and excited about the holidays and the new year." He leaned onto his knees, "But she's had mental health issues in the past."
The nurse walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, "Everything you tell us helps her. You know that right?"
Michael nodded as he let tears fall. He still felt like this was his fault, even though Lindsay continued to reassure him that it wasn't. Had he been there, he would've used her Epi-pen and she would've been here with them: talking and smiling. She trained him how to use it extensively in case this ever happened. Of course the one time it did happen, he wasn't there. He felt stupid.
The nurse finally left after making sure Savana's tubes and wires were all okay. Michael looked at Lindsay, "She looks like a robot. Are they saving her or are they just making her death less painful?"
Lindsay stood up, "She's not going to die, Michael. I can promise you that. Something bad happened, yes, but that doesn't mean we get to give up on her. Yes, she may look weird but that's because we're used to her eating something we didn't know we had or constantly holding something to drink. She can't eat on her own right now, I'm sure breathing is hard, too. The needle they had to stab through her abdomen probably doesn't feel good right now, either. She's still alive, and that's what we have to focus on." The girl sat on the bed with Savana and held her hand, "As long as she's hanging on, we'll hang with her."
They had been there for hours now, fielding texts left and right from the others. Sierra came in to let Lindsay go home and take care of Niall, who was horribly hung over.
"Hey, Mikey," She sat next to him, "How you holding up?" He looked up at her with baggy, dark under eyes and red stains on his face from crying all night. She brought her arm across his back, "I know, I know. I'm sorry this happened."
He nodded, but kept his tired eyes fixated on the blonde girl in the hospital bed. "You should've seen her Sierra. It was something straight out of a horror movie. Her face was purple and her eyes," He paused, "It looked like she knew she was dying. She was so scared and- and I wasn't there to hold her hand and tell her she was going to be okay. I saw them put the needle in her chest before they left. She took a bigger breath than she had, and for a minute, I thought she'd be okay right then and there. When I got here, they told me she was getting stitches and they said they were giving her antihistamines." He sighed and leaned his head back onto the wall, "If I had just been there and given her the Epi-pen, she would've been here."
Sierra looked at Savana. It was weird for her to see her so still when it was light outside. "I know this is hard, but we can't change the past. We can look forward to her getting better and preventing this from happening." She looked back to Michael, who had fallen asleep in his chair. She smiled and patted his leg, "I'll keep an eye on her for you."
