Fearless

102

Colby's POV

When I got outside everyone was standing around nervously, "hey." I breathed out and closed the door. "What's going on?" Kat asked nervously as I closed my eyes against the tears forming.

"Um...something happened while you guys were at the concert." I said and looked down, trying to keep my composure. "I'm not sure what exactly happened but Cora hit her head and she's having a hard time remembering things. She has short term memory loss....and we don't know for how long." I said and started to cry as everyone looked at me with disbelief. "Wait...what? Like how short are we talking?" Tara asked and hugged herself, "every couple minutes. She doesn't remember anything past a certain point and every few minutes that resets." I said as Devyn came up and hugged me. I hugged her back and swallowed hard, trying to keep myself together.

"How did it happen??" Sam asked as Kat hid her face into his shoulder. "Stephanie hurt her. I don't know how but they were alone when Cora yelled for us..and when we got into the room she was unconscious." I said and looked down. "I'm gonna kill her." Kevin said through gritted teeth. "She's already gone. Michelle sent her home. I wish I knew what happened." I said and rubbed my face with my hands, "huh I know what happened, that bitch hurt her to get to you." Corey said and clenched his jaw.

"God damnit!" Kat yelled suddenly, and walked away from everyone with her hands over her eyes. "Kat.." I said as she just sobbed into her hands, "what if this is permanent? What if she never gets to actually experience life again? What if she doesn't get to watch Mia grow up? I can't believe this is fucking happening!" She yelled and collapsed onto the pavement as tears trickled down her cheeks.

I shook my head and went over to sit next to her on the driveway. "Colby what the fuck is going to happen if she doesn't bounce back from this?" She wailed as I wrapped my arms around her, "I don't know." I whispered and held her.

"Guys stop it!" Tara yelled and clapped once, "this is Cora we are talking about! That girl is the queen of bouncing back faster than we think is possible. She's not going to be stuck like this forever so stop putting that shit into the universe. She's going to be okay." She said as Devyn nodded, "I agree with Tara here..we all know how tough she is. We just have to be there for her during it." She said quietly, "yeah, plus she doesn't even know what's going on so this is going to be much more painful for us to watch than it is for her to experience." Sam said and leaned down to rub Kat's back as I unwrapped my arms from her.

"You're right I just don't know how to navigate this." I said and tucked my knees into my chest. "We navigate it together. All of us are here with you." Aryia said and patted my back as the front door opened.

Cora stood there and scanned the crowd of her friends, "what are you guys doing here? I thought you were at the concert?" She asked quietly as I stood up. "They came back early, it didn't feel right staying when you weren't there." I said and looked at our friends. Most of them had sad expressions but Sam plastered a smile onto his face, "yeah, we couldn't have fun without you Cora." He said and she smiled, "you guys are nice." She said with that beautiful smile as her gaze fell back onto me, "have you seen Stephanie, I seriously have to apologize." She said and I shook my head, "she's not here. You should get some rest though." I said and turned her towards the house again.

"I'm not tired...my head hurts a little though." She said and stopped in her tracks then turned slightly, looking at Kat and Sam, "hey! When did you guys get back?" She asked and Kat burst into tears. "Kat! Are you okay?" She asked and ran up to her, giving her a long hug. "I'm okay, I just...I'm okay." Kat said and hugged Cora tightly, "good. I thought you guys were at the concert still though." She said and Sam just smiled, "we couldn't have fun without you so we came back." He said and she nodded,

"That's really nice of you guys. You didn't have to do that." She said and turned to everyone, "we love you." Jake said with a smile as she turned back to me, I tried to smile at her but I know for a fact that it didn't reach my eyes, "why are you sad?" She asked and brought her hand to my cheek. "I'm not, come on, let's get to bed." I said and turned her to the door again. "I...I have to fix things with dad before I go to bed." She said and frowned.

I hated seeing her so upset, "he forgave you already baby, you're so tired you forgot." I said trying to convince her to go to sleep. "I did?" She asked and I nodded, "oh....okay." She said and smiled up at me, "let's go to bed." I repeated and she nodded. She went to turn towards our friends but I stopped her so she wouldn't ask them when they got here.

I wasn't getting annoyed by any means, but I wanted her to go to bed, and she never would if she kept having the same conversations with people. "Don't you think we should wait until my dad and them come back from the concert?" She asked but continued to go up the stairs, "no, I talked to him baby girl, he wanted you to rest." I said and she nodded, "okay, I should check on Mia first" She said and pointed to the nursery, "she's okay, I just checked on her." I said and led her back to the bed.

"You're acting strange." She said and frowned at me, "I'm just tired, come on, let's get to sleep." I said and helped her get into the bed again. I couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was even when she was so utterly confused, she caught my eye as I smirked at her, "what?" She asked and I shrugged, "you're beautiful." I said causing her to blush, "stop it." She said then looked around, confused again.

It broke my heart to see her switch so fast like that.

As soon as I got her settled into bed I sent a text to Meghan asking her if giving her a sedative would mess up her brain.

When she was diagnosed with PTSD her therapist prescribed her with a low grade sedative in case she had an episode so bad that she absolutely couldn't break through it, we only had to use it once so I knew it worked. I just didn't want to risk messing up her brain anymore than it already was.

I looked down at my phone to see a text from Meghan saying it was alright and that it probably wouldn't effect her injury.

I waited until she sat up again, asking for her dad. "He's asleep, here I got you this for your head, you said it hurt," I said and handed her the pill with a glass of water, "thanks baby. Will you lay with me?" She asked quietly as I stood next to the bed.

"Of course." I said with a small smile as she downed the pill then turned to me.

I laid down next to her and pulled her in so her head would lay on my chest. I hummed to her and traced circles along her back as I held her close. She would ask the same questions every couple minutes until she started to dose off, bringing me a small sense of comfort.

I hoped she would be back to normal when she woke up.