Wake Me Up

Chapter 11

I sprint through the sliding glass doors, heart pounding. I head straight for the nurse sitting down at her desk, looking quite uninterested.

"Name?", she asks in a monotone voice without glancing away from the magazine she is currently ensued in.

"Greg Wallace", I tell her out of breath. She closes the magazine with a heavy sigh and types slowly into the computer.

What seems like minutes later she finally says, "he's in surgery in the ICU, and isn't able to have visitors until the doctors are sure he's stable," she tells me, actually looking at me for the first time I walked-well ran-in the hospital. "I'm not sure how long you have to wait before you're updated about his status, but you can sit over there until then," she says, nodding in the direction of the waiting room.

Mind racing, I mumble a thanks and head over to sit in a chair before I fall over for being lightheaded from crying the whole drive here. I crumble onto the chair, holding my head in my hands I begin to leak tears, again.

What if he doesn't make it? They said it was really bad, that odds weren't in his favor? What if he makes it but has permanent damage? What if he was already dead upon arrival? I don't think I'll make it through if he doesnt make it. So many scenarios run through my head.

"Meg?" my head snaps up toward the direction the voice came from. Archer steps forward and puts a hand on my shoulder, sending bolts of electricity through my body. I furrow my eyebrows together in confusion.

"Archer?", my voice comes out shakidly, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the game?" I interrogate, completely dumbfounded. he's all sweaty and still in his uniform.

"I heard about dad and came right here to check on you." he says with genuine concern lacing through each word he spoke.

"He...he, um- was in, uh" I try yo say without crying but to no prevail. Archer wraps me in his strong arms and pulls me into his chest. I grab pistfuls of his shirt as I sob, no doubt soaking it. He rubs a comforting hand across my back, drawing random shapes which instantly soothes me. I calm down enough and reluctantly pull away, lokking down sheepishly.

"Sorry, God, I'm a mess," I awkwardly laugh.

"It's fine," he offers a small smile. "Everythings gonna be fine, okay? I promise," Archer tries to rerasure me. I give a slight nod as a response. He uses his thumbs to wipe away the tear stains across my cheeks then places a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose.

"Thanks," I mumble, barley audible.

"No need, I'll always be there for you, you know that. No matter the-" Archer is cut off when a doctor walks through the white double doors and calls out my fathers name. I shot up and I'm at his side in less then two seconds.

"Are you Mr. Wallace's daughter?" the docor asks me while pulling his face mask off his mouth to rest around his neck. I only nod in response. I'm so tense and nervous, it's getting hard to breath. The docors face is unreadable, so I try to prepare myself for the best or the worst news he could give me.

Archer comes up besides me and places a comforting hand on the small of my back, taking away some stress.

"I'm Dr. Nichols," he introduces, grabbing my hand for a firm handshake.

"Megan," I reply after I swallow the lump in the back of my throat.

"Well, you're father was in critical condition when he arrived. His ribs were broken during the crash and punctured his lungs and heart," Was? Why was he talking in the past tense? My heart sped up even more if it was possible, "which caused major eternal bleeding and prevented his other organs to receive enough blood," I'm pretty sure the doctor and Archer could hear it beating. My lips start trembling, and tears threaten to spill over. Dr. Nichols continues, "by the time he got to the hospital, most of his organs, including his brain, had failed. We tried our best to save him, we did. But unfortunately, there was nothing we could do," He takes a deep breath and then looks me directly in the eyes, showing the sorrow, which were probobly reflecting mine, "I'm sorry, he's gone," he finishes.