Why Us? [Percy Jackson]

Part 6

Chapter 6

Sally P.O.V

Three hours.

That’s how long Sally had been sitting in the bland room for. Surrounded by white walls, floors and furniture, her hand squeezing tightly into Paul’s, grasping for any form of comfort. She was in a daze; had been since they arrived. She wanted to see Percy; she wanted to see her baby, to make sure he was okay. Annabeth’s parents had been notified of the situation as soon as the hospital had gotten their number from Paul, and were now rushing to the airport to support their daughter.

Slowly, Sally’s eyes began to droop. It had been such a long day, filled with stress and shock; maybe she could just rest here for a little while…-

Sally snapped awake when the door opened and nurses started to wheel a bed in. Sally let out a sob as she caught sight of her comatose son. Paul wrapped a strong arm around her waist before she could collapse to the floor. The nurses started to attach tubes and needles to Percy’s form. Some consisted of painkillers and morphine, whilst other held blood. A ventilator was also threaded down his throat and he was hocked up to a heart monitor that was helping his heart beat.

One of the nurses detached herself from the others and walked over to Paul and Sally.

“Hello, I’m nurse Trixie,” She told them.

Paul, noticing that Sally was still quite shocked, took the lead, “Hi, I’m Paul, Percy’s step-dad, and this is his mother Sally,”

Trixie smiled sadly at Sally, “Perhaps we should talk outside, and let Percy rest, hmm?”

Sally nodded, dazed, and walked out into the hospital hallway. She crossed the corridor and sat down in a plush chair on the other side. Trixie followed Paul out and closed the door to Percy’s room behind her. She stood in front of Sally and Paul, whose hand was resting on her shoulder, and pulled out a clipboard and started flipping through.

“Percy has obtained quite sever injuries,” Trixie began. That was it; Sally was already starting to hyperventilate. Trixie continued, “He has a lot of deep-level lacerations, not to mention surface level cuts. Most of the lacerations are located on his legs and can be treated. The bonnet of the car also has crushed his legs. He just had surgery to get the bones relocated back into their original positions, but they may not ever fully heal,” At this Sally started to swoon to the side. Percy, her baby, might never be able to walk again. Trixie saw her face and asked if she was okay. Sally just nodded and gestured for her to continue. Trixie did so, but all the while keeping a watchful eye on Sally, “Percy has also received a large laceration to his forehead, which will more than likely lead to a traumatic brain injury. We performed a Computerized Tomography, or CT scan, to search for signs of swelling and bleeding, and if it comes back with these, we may have to perform neurosurgery to remove the blood clots,” Trixie flipped the page on her clipboard then continued, “He also only scored a 6 on the Glascow Coma Sclae,”

Paul frowned, “What’s the Glascow Coma Scale?”

“It’s the scale of response from an unconscious victim,” Trixie explained, “It helps us to determine the depth of the coma the patient is in. It rates from 3 to 15, 15 being awake and 3 being deceased,”

Sally visibly paled at that. Her son was pretty much dead… She grabbed onto Paul’s hand and he pulled her up into a hug, comforting her with words about how strong Percy was and how he would get through this. Trixie told them that they were free to re-enter Percy’s room when they pleased, then left them to their thoughts.

Slowly, Sally untangled herself from Paul’s embrace, keeping a firm grip on his hand though, and walked back into Percy’s room. All the nurses were gone now, and it was eerily quiet in the room, the only sounds being Percy’s heart rate and his ragged breathing. Sally lowered herself down into a plush chair next to her son’s bed while Paul grabbed another chair and sat down next to her.

That is when she allowed herself to break.

With Percy lying barely alive, wrapped in bandages and covered in wires in front of her, Sally Jackson sobbed into her husband’s shoulder.