Heartless

35

The hospital felt colder than it previously was, but it could have been because today was very different. I walked into the room and Dr. Richards was in there talking to my aunt. "He's been responding well, so we are going to try and get him out of the coma today." She said and my aunt looked over at me, "oh she's here" the doctor turned around, "hello Cora, it's nice to see you." She said as I walked into the room, "so we are going to try and wake him up today, I'm going to explain what can happen when and if he wakes up. He might not be able to communicate very well or at all, this doesn't mean he will never be able to communicate again. We are going to hope for the best." I nodded in agreement as my mom walked in the room. My heart started to beat faster. She didn't pay any attention to me as she joined the conversation. Dr. Richards explained some more stuff and then left the room. I looked at my aunt and she nodded, almost reading my mind and encouraging me.

"Mom...can I talk to you." I said timidly and she snapped her head towards me. "I guess." She said coldly and left the room. I followed her back to the courtyard we talked in yesterday. "What is it." She said and crossed her arms. I took a deep breath. "Are you and dad still married?" I knew the answer but I wanted to hear it from her. "Yes." She said and played with her fingernails. She was acting almost normal. "Okay...so you have been in contact with him lately?" She snapped her head up, "how is that any of your business." The coldness in her voice shook my core, "I just wanted to know..also I want to know why you hate me so much.." my voice trailed off as the nerves kicked in. "Listen. I don't hate you." She said with a dead stare. "Theres things you just don't know about." This was the most civil conversation I have ever had with her. "Tell me." I said sitting on a bench. I watched as she paced in front of me, clearly in distress. "I had a lot of dreams that I wanted to fulfill. I wanted to be a singer. I wanted to share my voice with the world, but then I got pregnant...with you." She looked up sharply to see my reaction, but I sat stone faced. "I took all my anger out on you, and then eventually your father..since he made me keep you." I closed my eyes taking a deep breath. "You resented me for taking away your dream" I repeated. "Yeah. And I'm sorry that it took this long to explain it to you. I have a hard time controlling my anger...especially around you." She admitted. This was a side I never saw of her. "It's okay." I said looking at my hands as she paced in front of me. "We will never be friends. We will never have a connection like we should, but I'm sick of being so bitter about what happened." She was rambling, walking in a circle. "You really hurt me." I said causing her to snap her head up. "I know." It came out mildly cold. "And I'm sorry." She said, I couldn't believe those words came out of her mouth. But I couldn't believe what I was about to say either, "I forgive you"

We walked back into the room and my aunt looked at us, the tension in the room melting instantly. She was right, we would never be friends, but it did feel nice to not feel like I was going to get yelled at for breathing.

After a couple hours of sitting around and waiting, my dads eyes finally opened. My aunt started to cry as she grabbed his hand. I sat in shook, horrified of what would happen next.

His mouth opened but words didn't come out, or at least words that were coherent. The doctor said this might happen, but it's absolutely terrifying when it actually is happening. He sounded like he was speaking a different language as his eyes shifted around the room sporadically. I closed my eyes and cringed, clearly emotional. I needed Colby. Kat rubbed her hand on my back trying to comfort me, as his incoherent words filled the room. "It's okay Cora, she said this might happen." My aunt said and grabbed my hand with her free hand. We patiently waited for the doctor to come in.

Dr. Richards eventually came in, "ah, you're awake" she said to my father as he mumbled words that we couldn't understand. "we are going to help you through this okay?" She spoke gently to him, as he nodded. Another doctor came in the room, he introduced himself and got to work. They worked with him on different things, like having him squeeze their fingers, trying to assess the damages. Eventually they stopped and my dad looked exhausted, "you can go to sleep now, we will check on you in a couple hours." Dr. Richards said and he nodded before dozing off, "good news is he can understand us, his brain is just a little confused on how to speak, it could be permanent but mostly likely he will come back around. As of now it's the best case scenario." She then left the room leaving us all staring at each other. It had been an eventful day, so Kat and I were going to get food for us. My mom had left, since she had to work. I was kind of glad for that. We were fine now but she still made me nervous.

We got to my car and Kat immediately called the boys, their meeting should be over by now.
"Hey baby" Sam said as the phone went to Bluetooth
"Hey love" She said and smiled, "you're on speaker." She said and giggled
"Oh hey Cora" Sam said and I smiled, "hi Sam" I chewed on the sleeve of my hoodie as I drove,
"I'm putting you guys on speaker phone" Sam said and Colby's voice came through, "hi guys" he said causing my heart to beat faster. His voice alone made my heart sing. "How did the meeting go?" Kat said anxiously and they both yelled, "we are getting a hot topic line!" My mouth flew open, "I'm so proud of you guys!" I yelled happily.
"This is amazing I'm so happy for you!" Kat yelled with a smile as she bounced on the seat next to me. We continued to talk to them as we drove, making me once again forget the reality that was my life.