Illuminate

Chapter 26- Colton

9:30 AM- Tuesday:

We walked into the hospital with Grandpa, he had been very nice to us all night. He even talked with Eva about everything that had happened, and I could tell it helped to vent to a new set of ears. Austin and I were happy to see her start to feel better.

"Hey, everyone," Uncle Josh greeted from his chair. He looked exhausted and his usually well-kept hair was matted. We all got up and hugged him.

"How's he doing?" I asked immediately.

"Better, he's awake and starting to talk. Your mom has been with him for a good chunk of the night," he explained.

"Have you seen him yet?" Eva asked.

"No. I don't know if he's up for visitors right now," he responded. My grandpa reached into the bag we had brought and handed Josh some fresh clothes and a banana.

"Thank you for being there for her," he said genuinely. Josh took the clothes and hugged him.

"It's my job," I heard him say as they retreated. Josh came and quickly hugged all of us and then we picked up where we had left off yesterday on the waiting game, only this time, I was not as nervous. Josh went to change into the clothes and said he had texted Mom about us being here, but she still hadn't come out. 

I sat beside Eva, and though she was better, I could still tell how much she was struggling. All last night I had thought about the fact that though Eva had no intention of something so drastic happening, a lot of the blame fell on her for what had happened. She had deliberately disobeyed Dad and lied to all of us about where she was going, which is something I knew none of us took lightly. She had caused so much stress and fear amongst us and simply because she did not do what she was told, this situation had to occur. I was not sure how Dad would react when he saw her, of course, he would be happy to see her safe, as we all were, but I knew he would be disappointed.

We sat for a long time, hours, and we still had no word from Mom. I tried my best to assume no news was good news. Uncle Josh was asleep, I was sure he had barely slept all night but the rest of us did nothing. We weren't on our phones or anything, other than a quick check to be sure Mom hadn't texted.

"I'm going to go get some coffee, does anybody want anything?" Josh asked us.

"You should go home, you've been here all night," Austin said. "I just got a text, Owen is in an Uber on his way here."

"I want to stay, but thank you, Austin," he appreciated and went outside to go get some coffee.

We waited and waited. The clock felt like it was going as slow as a turtle.

3:00 PM

I heard the hospital doors open and I looked up. It was our mom, finally. The three of us raced up to hug her. She looked dead exhausted, but she still managed a smile. She let go and hugged her dad and brother. 

"How is he?" I asked right away.

"He's okay. Very sore. I'm sorry it took so long, but the doctors didn't want him to be under any type of stress with everything going on, so we took a while to just talk about everything," Mom explained.

"What took that long to talk about?" Austin asked and my mom rubbed her head.

"This was a scary situation, I'm sure your parents just had to figure out what exactly went wrong and how to ensure nothing like it ever happens again," Grandpa interjected and my mom nodded.

"He's ready to see you all now. Just to prepare you, he looks pretty rough. He has a breathing tube and tons of IVs, but you can see how drained he is. Let's just try and keep this happy and positive," she said.

"Of course," Eva said, and I could tell she was nervous. I couldn't imagine how she felt. I would never say anything because of how awful what she went through was, but her actions caused all of this. I took her hand as she inhaled deeply.

"It's going to be okay," I said softly and she nodded. My mom started to lead the five of us to Dad's room. Looking through the doors at all the sick patients hurt. I knew my dad was one of them.

As we reached our dad's room, Eva squeezed my hand. I didn't know quite what to expect. But, the second the door opened and we saw his familiar toothless grin, the three of us did not hesitate to run into his arms. He hugged Austin first and I could see the joy on both of their faces. I knew how worried Austin was. As soon as they finished, I went into his arms and I never wanted to let go.

"I'm sorry, Dad," I whispered.

"Could you guys give us a minute?" my dad asked everyone as we retreated from our hug.

"Of course, we'll be in the hall," Mom agreed, leading everyone outside. I could see that Eva was sad, but I needed this time with him.

"Now, what on earth are you sorry for?" he asked after the room was cleared.

"I should've been with you.  This may not have happened if both of us were there, I could have helped you and Eva get out quicker. None of this would have happened," I expressed.

"Colton, if you would have been there, you could have been shot too. The Emersons wanted revenge on your mother and me and you being there would have just given them another opportunity for it. You did exactly the right thing. If you would have been with me, the police would not have come and we may not be sitting here today," he pleaded.

"I just feel so guilty. Like I should have done something to stop it," I admitted.

"Look at me, you did exactly what I asked. My only regret is going into that room. When I saw Eva I should have just gone back to you and waited for the police. I had no idea what I was walking into," he told me.

"She's your daughter, I would have done the same thing," I said.

"No. You wouldn't. And you better not have. What I did was stupid, I know what those people are capable of. They kidnapped your mom and gave me up for adoption just because I wasn't eligible for their stupid experiments," he said and I looked down. He touched my cheek. "Thank you, Colton."

"For what?" I asked.

"For being you. The way you care about others is not something that can be taught, it's a gift. Never lose that, you hear me?" he said and I nodded.

"I love you, Dad," I said.

"I love you too, son," he replied. "Why don't you go get everyone, it's probably time for me to talk to your sister." I nodded, giving him one last smile before I opened the door. Eva went in first, and walked over to him, slowly. Dad grabbed her hands and looked deeply into her eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine. I promise," she said, holding tighter onto his hand. "Are you?"

"I'll be okay," he said, pulling her into a hug. 

"I'm so sorry, Dad," I heard her whisper. At least she knew she was partially to blame, she hadn't really brought much of it up.

"We aren't going to talk about that now, okay?" he said as we retreated and I nodded. It wasn't quite the reaction I expected. Uncle Josh and Grandpa went over to greet him as Eva came over to me. I could tell she was disappointed by his reaction as well.

"Maggie and your parents are on their way over," my mom told him and he nodded.

"When can you come home?" I asked him.

"Hopefully tomorrow or the day after that," he said.

"You scared us, Dad," Austin said, rubbing his shoulder.

"I was scared too. But, I'm okay. You don't have to worry anymore," he said and I nodded. "I love you guys, and I'm more grateful than ever for all of you."