Nyctophilia

32

Aaron's p.o.v.

"I'm going to get something in the vending machine. I'll be back in five minutes." I mumble to Clay and Oliver.

Today is Valentine's Day or February 14th. It's been two whole weeks since Lia has been in a coma and I can see the worried looks on the doctor's face that it's not good. The chances of having brain damages is growing with each day passing by without Lia waking up from her somber sleep. I think that I saw her flinching, though yesterday. Her eyebrows kind of frowned for a second. Maybe I hallucinated things, but it sure did give me hope.

I walk out of the room as I desperately need something to drink. My throat feels so dry. It's Sunday so Clay and Oliver arrived two hours ago at 8am to spend the day here. I don't really mind as I've been alone most of the days for the past weeks. It's starting to get lonely here, to be honest.

I walk for around 2 minutes until I spot the familiar vending machine that I've been using for the past few days. I punch in the number to get a fruit punch then put the money in. The juice falls in the machine and I quickly grab it just as my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out to see a text from Clay.

Clay: She's awake.

"Fuck!" I exclaim loudly. Really? The two fucking minutes that I'm fucking gone?!

I immediately sprint towards Lia's room, not hesitating one second. I arrive in seconds, but the loud shouting makes me come to a halt.

"NO! LET ME GO! DON'T... TOUCH ME!" I'd recognize this voice anywhere even though it sounds dry, empty yet shit scared.

I push the door open of the room to get in, only to see Doctor Conrad, two nurses, Clay and Oliver trying to calm Lia down as she kicks everyone around her that gets too close. I notice the needle in the nurse's hand. Fuck. They want to sedate her.

I rush in deeper in the room until I'm standing right behind the nurse. "I was supposed to die! Let me die in peace!" Lia keeps on shouting.

I wince at her state. I've never seen her so agitated. It breaks my heart even more to see her like this. Tears are streaming down her red cheeks as she seems to be panicking about danger that isn't even existent. She doesn't even totally look here. It's as if she is on a totally other planet and not in the same room as us. It seems like she feels like it's a nightmare and not the reality.

I need to do something. I can't let them sedate her; it won't do any good. She'll still wake up panicked and it'll just be the exact same situation.

I push the nurse away that has the needle as Clay and Eva try to keep Lia immobile by gripping both of her arms. I put my hand on Eva's shoulder to get her attention. "Let me do it." I tell her as she struggles to maintain her grip on Lia. She nods and steps away from Lia who's still shouting and cursing.

"Let me go! Leave me the fuck alone! I wanted to die! I was supposed to!" She yells in our ears.

I hurry up to think about how I'm going to calm her down. I could do the same as that one night when she had a nightmare. She was panicking and I wrapped my arms around her to restrain her from moving. She eventually calmed down when she couldn't move, perhaps it could work again...

I then put my plan to action. I grab the pillows that are behind Lia to throw them on the floor as she hits me on my shoulder. Once there's a little bit of space between her back and the wall of the bed, I take off my shoes to not hurt her and crawl behind her in the bed as she tries to push me away.

"STOP! DON'T TOUCH ME! I SWEAR TO GOD-" She shouts in my ear, but suddenly stops when she can't move anymore as my arms are restraining hers. Even her breathing stopped.