Don't Judge (Interracial)

7

Chapter 7

“I think I’m afraid to be happy because whenever I get too happy, something bad always happens.”

-Charlie Brown

Elliott

Tiana still hasn’t woken from the coma she is in. Everyday I come to the hospital to be with her and it scares me that she can’t talk back to me. Dad said that it was no accident that two cars purposely ran into her. The fact that she didn’t die from the accident is a blessing in itself. A head-on collision is already deadly but a collision from the side too? The guys on Dad’s team promised they would find the people responsible even though this isn’t their case. When I first saw her lying in this hospital bed hooked up to various machines I broke down.

Flashback

As I rush down the hall, officers try to stop me but I push them out my way. Joey emerges from the room they say she’s in with tears running down his face but wipes them away when he sees me. My dad puts his hand on my shoulder but I shake him off. Walking past all of them, I fall to my knees in the doorway.

“Nooooooo.” I wail staring at her. On the ride over I was hoping it was a mix up and not her. “Tiana!” Dry heaves hit my throat as I take in all the machines helping her breathe right now.

“Come on, El.” My dad pulls me to him letting me soak his shirt with tears.

"How is she doing?" I hear from the doorway. Looking over I see Noah standing there with his hands in his pockets. It's been three weeks and now he cares?

"She hasn't changed. Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to check on her." Rolling my eyes I focus on the book I was reading to her. "Come on, man."

"What, Noah? Do you expect me to confide in you after you've been so rude to her? You might know about my past but you still don't know me."

"She was going to tell me something important that night." So she finally decided to tell him. Touching her hand I look him fully.

"Her parents were killed 8 years ago in a drunk driving accident. She's been living with her brother and his wife since then." His face gets pale.

"But she said they are doctors."

"She lied. She didn't want you to know but now you do. So everytime you talked about them she put her emotions down to let you talk about something you didn't know about.”

“I didn’t know.” He shakes his head plopping down in one of the seats on the other side of her bed. “Tell me about her. The things only you know.”

“She’s immensely insecure about everything having to do with her body. She hates how she looks. I try to tell her that I think she looks perfect but she never agrees. Most guys don’t put up with insecure girls but it’s something that makes me love her more. We all have problems to deal with and the people that love you the most will take some of that burden.”

“Does she ever just break down? It seemed like the only time she cracked in her normal facade was when I brought you up.”

“Whenever she really misses her parents she cracks. After they died, she started having panic or anxiety attacks. It makes her feel helpless so she hasn’t even told her brother that she has them. I love her, Noah. She’s been in this coma for almost 4 weeks now. I don’t how much longer I can take her not talking to me.”

“I don’t know much about ya’ll relationship but it seems like she would want you to live your life. Maybe go play some basketball so you can go to FSU.”