SEVEN MINUTES || L. NORRIS

THIRTY SEVEN

I forgot to love you, love you, love you

---

LANDO

Twelve hours later and I was still sitting in the same spot beside Isabelle's bed, her hand resting between my fingers. Her parents were on the next flight to London and landed around an hour ago, her mother calling to tell me that they'd brought Charles along after reaching out to him. He was at home in Monaco, and I knew that he was very close to Issy especially when she was younger, when she spent her school holidays in France. It would be nice to see a familiar face, but I knew he was going to be distraught, just like I was. Jennifer told me that they would arrive at the hospital just after lunch time, so I expected to see them shortly.

I'd not slept one wink since I arrived here last night. Isabelle's condition remained the same, it did not improve but it also did not worsen, right now she was stable and the doctors were keeping her in a coma whilst they monitored the injury on her brain. They didn't know whether she would survive, but if she did, there was always the chance that she wouldn't be able to remember me, or she would struggle to walk or talk. I didn't like to think about the potential outcomes of this because none of them were all too great. I just didn't want to lose her. Her hand was so light and so cold as it rested in the palm of my own. I was so afraid of hurting her. I knew she couldn't feel any pain right now, but I was still so terrified of causing further damage to her broken body.

I couldn't believe this was happening. From what the doctors told me, it appeared that Isabelle was headed to my apartment to see me and she crossed an empty street, but a drunk driver sped around the corner at speeds well over the limit. The car collided with her body and sent her onto the concrete, her head smacking against the hard ground as she collapsed. The thought of it absolutely traumatised me. All I wanted was for her to pull through this. I just wanted to be able to stay at home with her and cuddle her there.

I broke down into tears when Jennifer, Louis and Charles walked into the private room. Issy's mother burst into tears after just one look, her father holding tightly onto her hand, while Charles watched on in complete horror. He didn't cry. He walked to her side and stood behind me, his eyes staring at the top of her body and moving their way down to the bottom. Jennifer placed her hand on my shoulder and I looked up at her with a trembling lip.

"My parents are on their way too," I whispered, choking on the tears and feeling uncomfortable as a lump grew in my throat. "I hope you don't mind. I just wanted my Mum to be here."

"Of course," she smiled as she stood at the other side of the bed, her hands running softly through her daughter's hair. "Thank you for being here with her, Lando. She would have wanted you to be here."

"I hurt her," I whispered, as Charles wrapped an arm across my shoulder. "I hurt her and she was punished. I should be lying there instead of her."

"Lando," Jennifer shook her head. "This isn't your fault."

Tears spilled from her eyes as I stared at Isabelle's broken body. The cuts and scratches all over her skin looked a little better compared to last night, but the sounds of the monitors and machines keeping her alive made me feel sick to my stomach. The sound of the machine which was literally breathing for her upset me, because I knew that she couldn't breathe for herself. Each tube looked so uncomfortable, each wire so painful as they clung around her body to keep her alive. I stroked the skin on the back of her knuckles, biting down on my trembling lower lip.