4Author's Note: Hey, readers :) This is one of my first stories so it's quite short. I felt like it completed everything with only five chapters. It's more of a short story for me. I'm writing a new story that I will publish after this that will be much longer.
Thanks for reading & please leave reviews so I know what you think!
"Hello, beautiful," Jason said as he walked into Lisa's room. He was carrying a bouquet of lilies, Lisa's favorite flower. He set it beside the other gifts he had brought for her each day he visited her, and sat down on the chair next to her bed. He took her hand into his and squeezed it.
"Come on, Lisa, squeeze my hand. You can do it." Jason waited a full two minutes before he gave up. He did this everyday, and each day he was hit with a new load of disappointment. He sat back in his seat, still holding Lisa's hand. His tear ducts had been flowing like a waterfall these past few days, and it didn't stop now. Everyday, when he did this daily routine, he always started crying.
Dr. Bennett had said to talk to Lisa as if she was awake, as if she was sitting there beside him, talking back to him. The sad thing was, she wasn't and he didn't know if she ever would again.
Lisa was in a state of oblivion. She couldn't move. She couldn't think properly. She was stuck, as if there was quicksand all around her. Where should she go? What should she do? She could hear something. A sound, but it was all tangled and too fuzzy for her to hear. She felt something in the room. Maybe that was where the sound was coming from. If only she could open her eyes. She couldn't open them, no matter what she did. It was as if they were glued shut. She needed to move, but she couldn't. Her arms were like stringy noodles and everytime she thought of picking them up, they just flopped back down. She felt claustrophobic, although she couldn't really feel anything at all. Everything was dark around her. Help me, someone. She thought, help me...
Seventeen days had gone by. Seventeen days of visiting Lisa in the hospital. Seventeen days of his heart being broken again and again. She wouldn't wake up no matter what he did. No matter what anyone did. Jason needed her to wake up, needed to hear her laugh again, needed to feel her again. He would never forgive himself if she died in that coma, and he still hadn't gotten her to forgive him yet. If she died, not only would her death be on his concience, but also the exile she had gotten from the entire school.
For shooting Lisa, Tom earned himself six months in jail, but after he graduated would he do his time. Six measly months for shooting an innocent girl in the back. Jason had to see his backstabbing ex-best friend in school everyday, and each day he was reminded of how badly Tom had betrayed him. Of how he had turned on him.
After school, Jason was retrieving his books from his locker, and getting ready to go to the hospital, when he saw someone walk towards him. Unfortunately it was Tom.
"Hey, Jason," Tom said, quietly. Jason said nothing. He slammed the door to his locker and started walking away.
"Jason, listen," Then, Tom put his hand on Jason's shoulder. Big mistake. Jason whirled around, and flew him into the wall, his hand around Tom's neck.
"Don't you dare touch me, you asshole," Jason growled.
"I-I'm sorry. All I w-w-ant is to talk," Tom said forcefully, seeing as he couldn't breathe.
"I don't care. Nothing you say will ever make anything better, so save your breath." He released Tom, and walked away, not looking back once. His good mood toward seeing Lisa, instantly vaporized.
Half an hour later, he walked into the hospital room to see a swarm of doctors surrounding Lisa. One nurse saw Jason and yelled for him to get out.
"What's happening? What's wrong with her?!" The nurse wouldn't answer him. She tried shoving him out the door but he was too strong for her.
"NO! Tell me what's wrong!"
The nurse seeing that she wasn't going to get anywhere, gave up and answered his question, "The doctors are trying to restart her heart. It just stopped beating a few minutes ago. Now will you please get out?" She finally managed to push him out of the way, partly because he had gone limp and lost all the starch in his spine, and closed the door. Jason's heart was in his stomach. He stood there watching the doctors try to bring Lisa back to life through the window. His worst fear was about to come true. She was about to die in her coma, without ever opening her eyes again.
A few minutes later, the door to her room opened.
"She's okay, kid. She's a strong one," The nurse said, smiling at him. He fell to the floor with relief, his shoulders sagging.
"Hey, you alright?" The nurse asked him, bending down. He nodded and smiled weakly at her.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just... relieved." She chuckled and helped him get up.
"When-" He broke off, knowing the answer was inevitable. "When will she wake up?"
"No idea, kid. I'm sorry. I wish I could give you better news, but it's-"
"Unpredictable, I know." Jason cut her off. "Thanks, anyway." He walked into her room, closing the door behind him, and sat down in his chair. He took her slender hand in his large, muscular one, tracing circles on the inside of her wrist. He did the same procedure that he did everyday, but again, nothing. His heart was still beating hard, and the one thing that usually calmed him was singing a song to himself. So he began singing one of his favorite songs. It helped soothe him, but he really hoped that Lisa heard him too.
What was that feeling? There was some sort of stinging in her chest. What was this feeling called? Lisa couldn't recall. It hurt though. Maybe that was it? The feeling was hurt? No, she knew it was something else. Her mind couldn't work, wouldn't work. It was hurting to even breath now. She could feel something in her room again. There were many things in her room a few minutes ago, but now there seemed to be only one. The sound was back also. It seemed as if this sound was coming from the thing in her room. The thing was making the sound again and again, going too fast for Lisa to understand anything, not that she could anyway. The sound was very soft and quiet though, so she liked it very much. She tried to understand what the sound was saying, but couldn't. Just trying to had made her awfully tired. She decided to give up. Maybe the sound would come back another day and she could try to understand it then. For now though, she drifted off to sleep.
He was exhausted. He barely slept anymore, every waking minute dedicated to Lisa. He felt it was unfair. Why should he get to sleep and wake up when God knew if Lisa would ever wake up again? Sometimes, he just didn't go to sleep at all and instead lay awake at night, staring at his ceiling, crying. He had never cried so much before in his whole entire life. It seemed like it was second nature to him now. One look at a photo of Lisa smiling or hugging him and the tears started flowing. And he was so tired of it. He just wanted her to wake up. He couldn't take this anymore. Scared to death at school, wondering if anything had happened at the daily heartbreak of Lisa not opening her eyes. He was also sick and tired of seeing Tom at school. He wanted the school year to be over already, so he could finally go to jail. But at the same time, he didn't. He wanted Lisa to go to prom and to graduate like any other normal 18 year old. He didn't want her to sleep through it. He wanted her to experience it with him. He wanted her to walk down the stairs, and give him a heart attack, because she had gone from her usual beautiful self, to the most gorgeous, sexiest woman he had ever known. He wanted her to dance in his arms and to kiss her under the moonlight.
The one thing he didn't want was her to waste away in a drabby hospital room.
Exactly one entire month had passed.
31 days of Lisa in a coma. 31 days without her and 31 days of disappointment.
On Saturday, the 32nd day, Jason bought her a box of Belgian chocolates, her favorite. Hopefully, she would wake up and would actually eat them. He sat down in his chair, which was starting to be like a second bed to him. He picked up Lisa's hand and squeezed. He waited for two minutes again, and when nothing happened, he repeated the procedure. After 4 minutes, he gave up. He placed his left arm on the side of Lisa's bed and lowered his head on to it, defeated. Lisa's hand lay limp in his. He was starting to feel hopeless, when suddenly, he felt the faintest movement on the palm of his hand. His head shot up. He stared down at their two hands. Nothing happened for an entire minute. He thought maybe it had been a figment of his imagination. But then he felt the tiniest of movement on his pam again. Could it be? Was Lisa really trying to squeeze his hand? He squeezed hers again lightly. She responded with a faint caress.
"Lisa?" Jason whispered. Lisa's eyelids fluttered. She was trying to open them but she couldn't. He could see her pupil moving back and forth.
Finally after a few more tries, she blinked. After an entire month, she finally blinked!
"Hi," He said, softly as he started crying. She opened her mouth and tried talking but nothing came out.
"It's okay, don't tire yourself. You can try talking later." Jason wiped away the tears with the back of his hand, still unable to believe that she was finally awake.
"I'm so glad your awake. I would have died myself if you never woke up," He said softly. The corners of her lips lifted in a somewhat smile. She couldn't do it properly because she was out of practice, but at least it was something. She warily looked around her room at all the presents.
"I kind of went over the top," He said sheepishly. She looked back at him and for the life of him, he couldn't look away. She had the most beautiful hazel eyes and it was the first time in a month he had seen them. His eyes started to blur again, but he wouldn't, couldn't look away. He was hers, and always would be. Nothing could tear them apart.
A month later..
"What is taking that girl so long?" Mr. Mevie groaned.
"Oh, stop it, Chris! She's getting ready for her prom. Of course it's going to take her a while." Mrs. Mevie said as she playfully slapped her husband on the arm. They were both waiting at the bottom of the stairs with Jason, camera in hand. Jason was clad in a black tuxedo, his corsage for Lisa in his hand.
Five more minutes passed when they finally heard a door opening. Lisa appeared at the top of the stairs. She looked as if she was glowing. She was wearing a beautiful, spaghetti strap dress in a royal ice blue colour. It went down her legs smoothly, with a slit from her calf to mid-thigh.
Just as Jason thought she would, she gave him a full-blown heart attack. She was.. beautiful. Yet, that didn't even seem to cover it. She was much more than that.
She walked down the stairs slowly, and when she finally reached the bottom, he sauntered up to her and kissed her.
"Mmm, Jason! I just put my makeup on!" Lisa squealed, even though she was laughing.
"So? You look great without it," He said softly.
"Thanks," She whispered.
"Alright you lovebirds, you can do this later too. Right now we need pictures!" Mrs. Mevie exclaimed.
"Aw, mom.." Lisa mumbled.
" Don't "aw, mom" me. We need memories of this night. Now get close." They did exactly that, and Mrs. Mevie proceeded in taking loads of pictures. Finally, she let them leave.
"Don't stay out too long!" Mrs. Mevie shreiked after them.
Before they got in the car though, Jason stopped her.
"Wait, I can't forget your corsage!" He took it out of the box and put it gingerly on her arm. When he looked at it closely, he groaned.
"Damn! I'm sorry! It doesn't even match your dress!" Jason said angrily.
"Jason, sweetie, it's okay. I love it anyway," Lisa said grinning. "It came from you and that's all that matters."
"I'm sorry," He mumbled again.
Instead of replying, she kissed him on the lips.
"Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?"
"Mmm, not yet. But it's okay. You've still got a couple more hours to go." Lisa winked at him.
"I love you," He whispered softly in her ear.
"Not as much as I love you," She replied.
Then, she kissed him again. Not caring about her makeup or anything else. She loved him with all her heart and she was so happy to be alive and here with him.
Nothing could ever take him away from her again.