traumatized minds, luke hemmings

coma.

The morning was the most unexpected thing you could've ever thought of.

Charlotte woke up to over a hundred text messages from varying people. She had nearly 50 texts from each guy at her house, all except Luke, 20 texts from Sierra and 10 each from Mary and Oliver.

All of this was discovered after Aiden had woken up to 10 missed calls from Oliver.

"What is going on?" Charlie asked as they rushed out of the house, Aiden looking like he was running a marathon. "Why won't you tell me?"

"I don't know, honey," Aiden said as he opened the passenger door for her. "I don't know, I'm trying to find out."

The drive to Oliver's house was long. Charlotte could feel her nerves bubbling over the surface as no one told her what was going on.

Upon arriving at Oliver's house, she got out of the car and instantly knocked on the front door. Mary opened the door, and she looked like she'd been through a lot that morning. Mary instantly brought Charlotte into a bone-crushing hug.

"What's going on?" Charlotte asked as she was released out of the hug. "Why is no one telling me what's going on?"

"Charlotte," Oliver said as he entered the foyer. Aiden came up behind Charlotte. "Ashton is on his way to pick you up. I can't tell you anything, not right now, It's not my place."

Charlotte's eyes darted between her family around her. She was about to open her mouth when Oliver got a call, and his eyes darted down to where his phone was. He picked it up and walked away, saying, "Hello, Calum, any updates?"

Charlotte looked up at Mary, who sent her a sympathetic look.

Inside, Charlotte was becoming a bit frustrated. She was confused why no one was telling her anything—What could possibly be this serious that she had over 100 missed calls? Why was everyone on God's green earth trying to contact her?

Aiden put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder, biting his lip.

15 minutes later, Charlotte was sitting in the kitchen with a bottle of water in front of her when the door opened, revealing a red eyed Ashton.

He rushed into the kitchen, instantly taking Charlotte in a hug, trying to cover her ears.

Charlotte just wanted to hug him.

"She doesn't know, right?" Ashton spoke as he held Charlotte's head and one arm around her body.

"Yeah." Oliver confirmed. "She doesn't know. But she's been trying to ask. You should tell her."

"I'll tell her when I figure more out," Ashton said quickly, pulling away to cup Charlotte's face. "How are you doing, sweetheart? Did you sleep okay?"

"I'm fine— what's going on?" Charlotte answered, scanning Ashton's eyes. "Were you crying?"

Ashton only responded by bringing Charlotte into another hug and looking at Mary. "I'm going to take her home, pack a bag, and then tell her."

"What the fuck is going on?" Charlotte snapped slightly, pulling away. "Why is no one telling me what's going on?"

Ashton bit his lip, looking up before smiling slightly. "Thank you for taking care of her, Aiden. I'll be in contact."

Ashton and Charlotte left after and Ashton drove her home. When they arrived at home, no one was there. Ashton brought Charlotte inside, helping her pack a bag despite her demanding to know why.

Around an hour later, Ashton and Charlotte sat outside in the car.

"Can you please tell me what's going on, Ashton?" Charlotte begged, holding her phone in her hand.

"Last night," Ashton began. "Around 3 am, Luke was coming home from work after a long surgery and he was really tired. But he was driving responsibly, to keep your mind at ease. But when he was going through a green light, a drunk driver ran their red one."

Charlotte's eyes widened slightly.

"The drunk driver hit Luke in the passenger side, but it had Luke's car slamming into the one next to it. He hit his head on his driver's door, and he was rushed to the hospital around 3:30 am and was rushed to surgery."

"Was?" Charlotte asked, tears beginning to stream down her face. "Is he–"

"No," Ashton quickly said. "No, no. He's alive, honey."

Charlotte let out a long breath of relief.

"But after the surgery, he fell into a coma. His brain is active, and he's recovering but he's not awake yet. Keep in mind, honey, that he will wake up."

Charlotte nodded, wiping the tears streaming down her face. "Is he okay?"

"He's alright, honey. For now, though, let's go see him."