In Another Life

196 Colby's POV

I heard a lot of commotion coming through the sliding glass doors that was the entrance to the emergency room. I recognized those voices. Denise and I both glanced over and saw Sarah and Kenzie enter, talking loudly, followed by Sam and Brennen. I loved my friends more than ever in this moment, knowing that they were here with me. I stood so I could give Brennen a hug. His fist tightened in the back of my shirt when his arms came around me. "How do you do brother?" "I'll be better when they tell us something," I replied, pulling back from him and looking at Sam. He nodded at me, then took the seat next to where I had been sitting. He knew I needed him close during this. "You okay?" he asked quietly, when I took my seat next to him. I nodded. "Yeah ... no. I don't know man. She ' s gotta be okay Sam, "I said, turning and holding his gaze." She's just gotta be. "He nodded, patting me on the shoulder." Terra is strong brother. She'll be okay. She'll make it through this and come out laughing about how she literally kicked life's ass. Don't worry until there's something to worry about, okay? "I nodded again, but what the fuck was that? I knew he was just trying to help by spewing his inspirational crap at me, but I couldn't appreciate it right Now, don't worry until there was something to worry about? She was in fucking surgery fighting for her life! I'm pretty sure that was something to worry about. He was here for me and I loved him for it. I pulled my phone out after about an hour of waiting, just to give myself something to do, to try and take my mind off of things. It didn't really work because I ended up on Terra's personal page, scrolling way back to the very beginning to her first post. I smiled at the photos of her and her friends, scrolled past the ones of her with some guy looking like she was plastered, let my mind travel back to the PlayList when we first met. I closed my eyes and let myself drift back to that moment, when she first fell into my arms, literally. I must have fallen asleep because next thing I knew, Sam was shaking me awake. "Colby, wake up. Denise said you could go see her." I stood up fast, almost knocking Sam out of the way. "Wait brother, there's more. She said that Justin is in the room too. Doesn't look like he's leaving any time soon but she wanted you to know that he was back there." I nodded. I didn't give a shit if he was in the room or not. I needed to see her with my own eyes, to know that she was okay. That she was alive. Sam gave me the room number and pointed me in the right direction, before handing me my phone. I looked at him in confusion and he shrugged. "You were asleep and it wouldn't stop going off so I checked to see who was texting you. It's a good thing I did, because it was Denise. Now go see your girl." I hugged him quickly, shoved my phone in my pocket and took off jogging down the hallway to the elevator. I swear it felt like the longest elevator ride in my life, as it took me to the seventh floor. As soon as the doors opened, I pushed past the people that were waiting to get on, and jogged to the room number that Sam had given me. The door was closed so I knocked lightly, then pushed it open. Denise met me at the door. "Hey, she's still asleep. The doctor just left. He said she's stable and they were able to stop the bleeding in her head, but they also had to set her wrist, because it was broken. Other than that, he said she's very lucky. Colby, I saw the car and-" She broke off, silent sobs racking her body. I hugged her close to me, and took a deep steadying breath. Denise pulled back and wiped her eyes. "Thanks." I nodded, and gave her a small smile, then followed her to the foot of Terra's bed. I gasped when I saw her. Her head was wrapped in thick white gauze, and her nose had a splint on it, while both of her eyes were blacked. Tubes and wires were coming from different areas, hooked up to different machines. Her right wrist was in a cast, resting gently by her side. I felt the tears spring to my eyes, and I choked back a sob. This wasn't how she was supposed to be. Not my strong, determined, loving Terra. "What are YOU doing here?" My head snapped up, and I met Justin's hateful gaze. "I called him J," Denise replied. "He deserves to know." "Deserves?! Denise, how could you? He doesn't deserve to know! I'm her boyfriend, not HIM!" The way his fist flexed while he was staring at me, had me pushing Denise gently out from in between us. If he decided to do something stupid, she couldn't be caught in the crossfires. "You need to leave NOW," he basically growled at me. I just raised my eyebrows and shook my head gently. "I'm not going anywhere," I replied softly, keeping my voice down. He clenched his jaw, and the overwhelming urge I had to connect my fist to it had me shoving my hands into my pockets. "Leave before I make you leave," he replied, his voice hard and demanding. I shook my head again, and looked back to Terra. I wasn't here for him. I was here for her. Her feet moved a little, and I jerked my eyes up to her face. Her face looked like she was in pain, or trying really hard to do something. Then I heard the most wonderful sound ever. "Stay," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Stay. She wanted me to stay. I would've jumped up and down right then, and yelled to the stars, if we hadn't been in a hospital. I think it pissed Justin off even more.