Saturday couldn't come quick enough, I'm really nervous about going to see Nate today. I've not visited him since what happened to him, to be honest I've chickened out every time we planned to go.
I wonder if Sally or Thomas visited him since we all went out different ways.
My bag was almost packed and ready, my keys, purse, my phone and pens. I don't know why pens, but they can come in handy.
I got into Louis's car he let me borrow and reversed out from the driveway. As I started to arrive at Thomas's house, he was standing outside waiting for me.
"Howdy," he greeted as he got into the car.
"Hey," I responded, not sounding very enthusiastic.
"Come on, cheer up. It will do you good, I have faith in him." he said, trying to lighten up my mood.
After about ten minutes of driving we finally arrived at our destination, the hospital. I parked the car in a very busy car park – after spending fifteen minutes looking for a space I finally found one. Thomas jumped out to get a ticket from the machine.
Thomas and I walked through the entrance, passing patients as we go inside. We checked the board to see what section Nate would be.
Can you guess where we are yet?
Yeah that's right, the hospital.
We took the lift to the third floor and entered the ward; we carried on walking until we found the room. We stopped outside the door and I took in a deep breath. Thomas opened the door and stepped inside followed by me slowly.
I saw him, Nate.
He had tubes attached to his nose and into the machine next to him; monitoring his heartbeat. The sound made me nervous.
Nate has been in a coma ever since that relay we won nine years ago. We've all been childhood friends, Thomas, Me, Nate and Sally – we were also part of the athletics club together, always known as the fastest group.
After a few years Nate told us something just before the relay. Sally was heartbroken the moment he told us; he had hyperthermia. He said that he had to be careful because it could get worse, but Sally took it out on him for pulling out at the last minute. Even I had a go at him for being selfish for pulling out from the race, but he wanted to prove us wrong and raced with us anyway.
We won that relay, just as people expected and we all received gold medals. But Nate started to look pale and unwell – he later collapsed that night when we celebrated our win.
He's been in a coma ever since.
His family blamed us for illness, blamed us for making him take part in the relay. Sally and I felt responsible for what we said – after that she disappeared. I quit athletics and Thomas carried on.
Our families were at war with each other too, stopping us all from seeing each other. It was really hard to cope with to start off with but we all ended up going our own ways.
That's when I decided to do English at university, turn my life around and find a new hobby. My mind was constantly full of Nate and the relay, and I needed something new to focus on.
"Lia," Thomas whispered.
"Mm," I glanced over to Thomas. All my memories of the relay came flooding back and seeing Nate like this made me feel weak.
"I know what you're thinking,"
"I wasn't thinking of anything," I said as I sat in the seat next to Nate's bedside.
