On The Devil, We Ride

13

A/N - So I struggled a little with this chapter, as having never dealt with devastation such as this I struggled a little getting into the mind set of someone who has been through something like this. I hope that I've portrayed this right, and I'm open to suggestions if it's not quite right, Thanks for reading, hope you like it so far!

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I spent the next week pretty much living at the hospital. I spent every moment she was awake with my mom, and the rest of the time I'd learnt to make sleeping on the hospital chairs as comfy as possible. I hadn't seen or heard from Jace since our last fight, and a large part of me missed him. I'd grown used to being around him again, and although we were nowhere near what we used to be, we had slowly been slipping back into old routines. Axel was around a lot more and his resentment towards me had died right down, especially after a few strong words from my mother.

"When I'm gone, you're all eachother has left. I want you to promise me that you'll act like family." She'd said, eyeballing us both. Apparently she could still be sassy even on her deathbed. Since then, Axel and I had grown closer while watching over mom. We even shared a few jokes here and there.

"Honey, do you think you could go grab me some juice or something? I'm sick of water, and they won't let me have any god damn caffeine." My mom said weakly. Her condition had deteriorated even more over the past week, so much so that she couldn't even sit up by herself anymore.

"Sure, I'll see what I can find." I smiled at her, giving her hand a quick squeeze before climbing to my feet and heading towards the hospital shop. I browsed the fridge for a while before settling on some ice tea. The assistant behind the counter kindly gave me a soda cup and straw to put it in to make it easier for mom to drink, as she was struggling with cups. I handed the assistant the empty bottle, then made my way back to the ward. I frowned as I looked around, noticing it was emptier than normal. Rounding the corner, I saw that the door to my mom's room was open. There appeared to be several people inside, and the closer that I got the more I noticed. The CPR machine, the nurses and the doctor all crowded around my mom's bed. The cup slipped from my fingers with a thud, sticky orange liquid spilling out all over the floor.

"Mom?" I called out, my pace getting faster as I walked towards the room.

"Mom!" I screamed, seeing the tube down her throat and the doctor performing compressions on her chest. Axel appeared in the doorway and grasped my shoulders, stopping me from entering.

"Let me go! Mom!" I screamed, struggling in his arms.

"Brooke, stop. You need to let them do their job." Axel held me into his chest, ignoring my struggles. He pulled me off to the side out of the way and stroked my hair as I clung to him, my body shaking with sobs.

"Shh." He whispered, holding me tight and continuing to stroke my hair soothingly.

"I'm sorry but we need you to wait in the waiting room. We're doing everything we can." One of the nurses informed Axel. I felt him nod, then he pulled me with him down the hall, keeping his arm around me. We sat in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, my head on his shoulder while his arm wrapped around my shoulders. I cried until all I could do was hiccup and sniff. A kind of numbness settled over me, and I felt as if I were in a dream; light and in a daze. I vaguely heard Axel say something and move from beside me, but I couldn't tell what he'd said. I sat alone in the waiting room for a few moments before pulling my phone out. I scrolled through my contacts, letting my thumb hover over the call button for a moment before taking a breath and pressing down. The phone rang for a while before it was answered.