Sleeping Beauty: A Malec Fairytale #2

The Forest of Thorns (15)

The plane boarding had gone surprisingly smoothly and with the Divinely sent tailwind, Magnus arrived home two hours before he was scheduled to. Maybe there were fairy godmothers after all. Magnus grabbed his suitcase and was dropped off at his loft by a taxi an hour after landing. Magnus changed out of his awful plane outfit and switched it out for his favourite black skinny jeans and a crew neck. It wasn't his most fashionable look, and normally he wouldn't allow himself to be seen outside his home with this bland outfit on, but he was going to the hospital. He didn't care. He said hi to his cat, who Isabelle had so graciously had taken care of, grabbed his car keys and raced out the door.

When he got there, he went up to the front desk where a lady was typing on a computer.

"Hi, my... friend is in the hospital and I need to see him." Magnus didn't want to bug Isabelle with such a basic question like wanting to know the room number. It was her day away from the hospital today and she needed to rest.

"What's his name?" the nurse asked.

"Alexander Lightwood." Another nurse behind the one helping him, looked up. She had her long brown hair pulled into a high ponytail and pink scrubs on. She had a stethoscope around her neck and a clipboard in her hands.

"Um, Jessamine, I'll take him up to the Lightwood kid's room. I'm heading there to to a daily report anyways," The nurse told the lady at the computer. Jessamine, motioned for him to follow the other nurse and he did.

"You one of the boy's friends?" the nurse asked.

"You could say that." Magnus' answer caused her to look at him oddly.

"I'm his nurse, Tessa."

"How's he doing?"

"Sorry, dear. That's confidential, unless you're family," she apologized as they got into the elevator. Magnus nodded.

"Is he awake?" Magnus asked. She shook her head, solemnly.

"I've been with Alexander for his whole week here and I hope he pulls through. He seems like a good kid," Tessa explained.

"He is. He's the sweetest, most selfless person you will ever met." Magnus blurted out. Tessa smiled up at him.

"Hopefully, I get to met him, officially." The elevator opened up on the eighth floor and they stepped out and turned left. She led him to Alec's room. Magnus froze a few doors down. She looked back at him. "You coming in?" she asked. Magnus hesitated.

"Give me a minute." She nodded and walked in. He could faintly hear her talking to someone. Magnus didn't know why he was so worried to go in. He didn't know why he stopped walking. It was as if his body was sensing danger and sending him into fight or flight instinct. He wanted to scream at himself. This isn't dangerous. There is no need for fight or flight. His mind was making his body think that between him and the door was... like a forest of thorns. He wanted to make himself move but after a few minutes Tessa walked back out and saw him still standing where she had left him.

"What's wrong?" she asked him worriedly. "Are you feeling alright? You look pale." Magnus shook his head.

"I'm fine just..."

"Worried for him?" she added. He nodded. "That's natural. You don't have to go in there. But if you do, you know what people say about those in a coma: they can hear everything. Just go talk to him. He's a great listener." she joked. Magnus smiled. Over her shoulder, he saw Jace leave the room. No one would be in there besides Alec. Maybe he could do it after all.

"Okay. Thanks Tessa." The nurse patted his shoulder and walked away. Magnus took a breath and walked towards the room.