Troubled Souls // 5SOS

X ∞ Comatose

• Beth •

The second floor — the emergency unit — is quite a bit different than the psych ward right upstairs. The psych ward is actually pretty inviting and friendly; the fluorescent lights are surprisingly warm and comforting and it's usually full of people, visiting or waiting or going to therapy just like us. The emergency unit, however, is mostly empty, save for a few nurses traveling between rooms, and everything is cold and uninviting. The bright whiteness of the surroundings and the lights make me squint as I follow Jade to the front desk.

The woman at the desk looks up from her computer and stares at us over her rectangular glasses. "Can I help you?" She asks plainly.

"We're here to see Ashton Irwin," Jade replies, tilting the end of the sentence up as if it were a question.

"Do you happen to remember his room number?" The woman asks, adjusting her glasses and turning back to her computer.

"Room 225," Jade replies quickly, tugging nervously at one of her bracelets.

There's a pause filled with the nurse's typing before she says, "There's a nurse checking up on him right now, but you'll be able to see him soon. It should only take a few minutes."

"Thank you," Jade mutters. She turns back to me and shrugs her shoulder towards the row of waiting chairs next to the wall. I take a seat and she sits down next to me, wringing her hands together.

I feel like I should say something, but what can I possibly say? I'm sure I won't be the only person to ask her if she's alright, the only person who she would have to lie to and tell that she's "fine." I reach out my hand and place it on her wrist, stopping her jumpy movements.

A younger nurse comes out of one of the hallways and goes to speak to the woman at the front desk. They both glance at us momentarily before the younger woman approaches us.

"Are you two here to see Ashton Irwin?" She asks. Jade and I turn to look at each other before turning back to her and nodding. "He's ready for visitors now. Follow me."

Jade stands quickly out of her chair, almost tripping over her own feet in the process, and follows the nurse down the hallway she just came from. I'm a few steps behind them, barely able to keep up with Jade's swift pace.

The door to Ashton's room is slightly ajar, the sound of slow, steady beeps coming from inside. I would assume it's a heart monitor, but I can't be entirely sure. The light fixture on the ceiling dims and flickers before going back to normal as the nurse walks Jade and me inside. There's a white curtain separating the empty half of the room from the other, but I can see the shadows on the curtain. The nurse leads us around.

The first thing I see is Ashton lying on the hospital bed, halfway covered up with a blue blanket. His gray beanie still covers up his head and there are plastic tubes running through his nose and connecting to one of the various machines. The beeping noise is indeed coming from the heart monitor, which is connected to his chest with a bunch of wires. His right arm is hooked up to an IV drip of some unrecognizable fluid.

Sitting in the chair next to Ashton's bed is a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and tired eyes. I assume this is Ashton's mum. In a different chair, closer to the wall, a little boy with sandy blonde hair is curled up with his knees against his chest, sleeping soundly. A girl a few years older than the boy sits on the floor next to his chair, leaning back against the wall and twirling a strand of her brunette hair around her finger subconsciously. I'd heard Ashton talking about his siblings in therapy, but I couldn't remember if he'd ever said their names.