CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

There are so many questions and no one to answer them, I’m scared and I just want Colby back.

Wait a second, Hayley gave me her number but it's in Colby’s jacket, will the nurse Carla get it for me if I ask her?

I got up and walked over to the woman's desk; she was writing something on a clipboard before she looked up.

“Can I help you?” She asked, looking while standing in front of her.

“Um, I was wondering if you can get something for me,” I say slowly.

“Alright what would that be?” She asked.

She wrote down something on the clipboard again.

“My fiance, they took him in about fifteen minutes ago, in his jacket there’s a note with my friend's number on it, she's the only contact I have, I was wondering if there was a way I could get it and use a phone,” I say rubbing my tear-dried eyes.

“Let me see what I can do, you can go sit over there,” She pointed to where I was previously sitting.

“Okay,” I sniffled.

I went and sat back down as she picked up the phone and began dialing.

I closed my eyes and placed my head in my hands, and I started falling asleep.

Fifteen minutes later I felt a tap on my shoulder, I looked up and it was the nurse Carla.

“Here you go,” She says passing me the blood-stained paper

“Thank you,” I said gratefully.

“Phone is behind the desk, press nine to call out,” She says with a sigh before walking away through the doors where Colby disappeared.

I walked toward Carla’s desk and picked up the receiver and placed it against my ear before I dialed, with every button I pressed it made a beep sound, once the number was dialed it started ringing.




Ring…

Ring….




“Hello?” An exasperated woman on the other line spoke.

“Hello, is Hayley there?” I asked, hoping she was.

“This is Hayley, who is this?” Hayley questioned.

“It’s Chloe,” I say, tears threatening to spill over.

“Hey, Chloe, is everything okay?” When I heard those words I began to cry.

“No, I don’t know where I am and Colby got shot and I’m alone in a hospital and I don’t know what to do,” I cried over the phone.

“What, oh my god okay you need to ask the staff what hospital that is and I’ll be on my way,” Hayley says worried, I sniffled and agreed.

I looked around to see if Carla or Kelly was around, and Kelly came out of an office.

“Excuse me, Kelly?” I sniffled.

“Yes, dear?” She says zippering up her sweater.

“What hospital is this?” I asked, wiping away more tears.

“We're in Greenville general,” She says with a small smile.

“Thank you,” I repeated to Hayley what Kelly said.

“Alright, that will take me about four hours to get there, you just sit tight and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Hayley says over the line.

“Okay,” I said as more tears fell.

“I’ll see you soon,” -and she hung up.

I placed the phone down and went back to my seat. I'm tired, hungry and my face hurts from crying.

We should have stayed where we were, at least Colby would have been safe.

I rolled in a ball and laid my head back and I guess I fell asleep.

I was standing on a cliff and I slipped, falling off the highest point, but someone caught my wrist. I looked up to see Hayley holding onto me, but she had a sinister smile on her face. I tried to hold on tighter and told her to help me up but she just stood there watching me struggle.

“Help me,” I screamed at her but she slowly took one finger away.

“No please, please don’t let me fall,” I begged and she took away another.

“Hayley please don’t do this, please don’t let me die,” I cried and she let go.

I was falling, I’m going to die.

I bolted up awake and I realized it was only a dream. I wrapped my arms around my legs and buried my face into my knees and cried more.

The front door opened and Hayley came in looking around I stood up and she noticed me, she walked towards me and hugged me. “Okay tell me everything,” She says, taking a seat.

I sat down and held the bag close to me, and sniffled before I spoke. “When you left last night Colby and I had a picnic on the beach and then we went home, but his dad was drunk and angry. So he tried to put me back in the basement, but Colby took me up to his room and I fell asleep. Then he woke me up saying that we were leaving and we met up with his friend Lucey, she drove us up here.

She started kissing him and telling me to leave, but Colby got mad at her and yelled, 

then Lucey shot him and then she got back to her car and left.” I explained rubbing my eyes again.

“What the fuck?” She sat surprised.

“What do I do?” I asked about crying again.

“We are going to sit here and wait for the doctor to come back with good news and then I’m taking you home,” She explained with a sigh.

I stared at her, it was like the dream that she would watch me die.

“Take me home?” I got up angry.

“Oh shit, I meant to my house,” She says, shaking her head.

“Oh,” I calmed down, it’s been a long three weeks and at this point, I don’t know if I want to give up on life or just sleep for three days.

As if on cue a man with a white lab jacket came out of the doors where everyone keeps disappearing. 

Hayley and I both stood up as he walked over to us. “I have good news and bad news which do you want to hear first?” The man asked to take off a medical mask as he spoke.

“Can I hear the good news first?” I asked as something hard came up my throat.

“The good news is that right now he’s stable, the bad news is that he’s in a coma, the bullet missed his heart by a couple of inches; he’s a lucky man.

Hayley gasped when he said coma, and I didn’t understand what that meant.

“What does ‘coma’ mean,” I asked clueless.

“It means he’s in a very long sleep that he might not wake up from,” The doctor explained.

My heart stopped, everything was spinning and the more he talked the more I felt I was going to pass out.

I wanted no need to see him, to hold him, to kiss him.

“Can we see him?” I asked a sob coming from my lips and he nodded holding open the doors.

We walked through a very white hallway; white walls with inspirational quotes framed on them, and white tiled floors.

We followed the doctor to a room on the door that read ‘201’, I opened the door and he was hooked onto a bunch of machines; ones that make beeping noises and another that has a mask over his face.

He had a needle in his arm, I carefully walked to him and held his hand in mine. I fell to my knees and broke down again cradling his arm.