brenton's girl

fifty one

Vivian's pov

I pushed the hospital door open and poked my head through, a nurse was standing beside Ashton's body, he looked at me and gave me a soft smile and continued on.

"I'm just taking some blood," the nurse said.

"For what?" I closed the door all the way and pulled a chair from the corner of the room until it was right beside the bed, opposite the nurse.

"Whenever coma patients vitals change we need to take blood so that our labs can run tests and make sure everything is okay."

"Is this vital change good or bad?" I asked.

"It's not bad, but it isn't good. His heart beat has picked up a lot over the past two days."

"How's that bad?"

The nurse closed the tube and began writing on a label. "A speeding heartbeat can mean many things, Mrs Collin, and we just need to make sure that ashton isn't having a stroke while he's asleep."

"He isn't asleep." I said aggressively. I hated that the hospital staff would say that he's asleep when he's clearly not. "Ashton is in a coma. Not asleep."

"Do you know what sleep paralysis is?" He asked me, I nodded. "Think of it like that. Think of it like Ashton is in a sleep paralysis dream and he can't move, he can't talk, he can't tell anyone that something is hurting him, that something is suffocating him. If Ashton was having a stroke right now, he would have no way of telling us, he wouldn't be able to help us help him get rid of the pain. So, yes, I like to think of it as Ashton being asleep, because in any sense, it's like he is."

The nurse pushed a button on one of the monitors and walked away from Ashton's body, he had the tube of deep, beet colored blood in his hand.

"Can he hear me?" I shouted quickly before he opened the door. "Ashton, I mean, can he hear me?"

"We aren't sure." The nurse said turning on his heel to face me. "Some say that they heard and felt everything, others say that they don't remember a thing, that it's black, like before life."

I looked at Ashton's body and released a breath, I closed my eyes and shook my head. "Do with that what you will, but I have to get this to the lab before it goes cold." I heard the heavy door open and shut, then i was alone.

"Do with that what I will, huh?" I said to myself. "Real helpful doc."

I looked up from my hands and at Ashton's, they were still large and calloused, just a paler shade than normal. His hair was messy blonde locks  - like usual - just more oily than what he'd ever allow it to be. His biceps were still toned under the relish colored hospital gown, I couldn't help but chuckle because I knew he'd never be caught dead in such a color.

His jaw still had scruff hair shadowing it, growing past what he usually let it grow and his face was oily, not the usual clean pallet.

I picked up his heavy hand and placed it in mine. His nails haven't changed though, they were still close to the normal length he trimmed them to. The palm of his hand was still calloused from long days in the gym and all of the hours that he had a gun in his hand. I kissed the back of his hand and smiled, somehow he still managed to have his Ashton smell. I pressed my cheek against his hand and took a deep breath, I squeezed my watering eyes and quickly brushed away the tear drops.

Tubes rested across his torso torso, one leading up to his face and into his left nostril, another tube also led up to his face, but this one was placed in his mouth.

His lips looked textured and they were flaking white - he'd never allow his lips to get that chapped. His cheeks were missing his soft pink blush, but the image of them didn't face from my vision. He's still ashton. He may be still and seemingly lifeless, but he was still ashton. He was still the same exact guy I fell in love with.