Lilac

chapter twenty

Nate's pov

I wake up from a shake on my arm. I open my eyes and see Cleo standing in front of me. I look around and see that I'm still sitting by Lilac's bed. She's still out. Her beautiful eyes still hidden away from me. 

"Nate, Gary and the Director are here. They want a moment." she says.

The Director? What is he doing here? I understand he wants to know about the mission but why would he come to check on Lilac? I get out of my thoughts and nod. I grab my jacket before getting up. I follow Cleo out of the room and see Gary and the Director waiting outside of the door. 

"Director." I say while nodding at him.

"Nate, Cleo." he responds without emotion. 

Gary looks like he saw a ghost and doesn't look up. He walks past us, into Lilac's room. The Director waits a second until Mary shows up and they go in as well. Cleo and I walk towards the rest. They're still in the waiting room. We take a seat at the chairs and receive some food from Avian. 

"Does anyone know why the Director is here?" Liam asks, breaking the silence.

We all shake our heads in response. 

"But it seems like Mary does know." Cody points out. 

"I'll ask her about it later." Avian says and we fall silent again. 

Last night keeps on repeating in my head. She looked so ready to go and yet like she wanted to stay. I should have helped her out. But I knew she wanted to finish him off herself, and I respected that. I just wish I could've protected her a little better. 

We have been sitting here in silence for about two hours. Not saying a word to each other. Cody and Cleo occasionally exchange a few words. But nothing else. I look around for about the millionth time and see a nurse making her way towards us. I straighten in my seat. 

"The Director has requested your presence in Lilac's room." she says before walking away again.

I don't hesitate to get up. I quickly follow the nurse to Lilac's room. When I walk in, I see the Director, Gary and Mary talking to each other in the corner of the room. Mary notices me and signals to Director and Gary. They turn around and walk over to me. I look over my shoulder and see the rest is here as well. 

"You wanted to see us, Director." Cleo speaks up.

"Yes. There has been a discovery about Lilac's situation." he says casually.

"Like what?" I ask, eager to know what they've figured out.

"She wanted to keep this a secret but it's crucial to explain the situation." the Director starts. "When she was captured, this doctor Luis, experimented on her and her teammates. Most of them didn't make it because of those experiments. Others died because of their wounds. The last one or two days, the experiment on her worked out. Her senses were exposed to everything around them, making them overflow. She learned how to control it. I'm sure you all know her record in the Simulation. That is because of her senses. She can sense who is in the room, gender, number. Or what objects there are, furniture or weapons. Because of the experiment on her senses, her body has been exposed to so much pain it decided that a coma was what is needed for her to survive. We know the cause for her coma, but we don't know how to get her back. Mary talked with the doctors and they said that talking might be a solution. People in comas hear everything. That is why, we want everyone to have a conversation with her. Try and get her to wake up. I understand this is a lot to take in, so take your time. We had our turn already." he finishes. 

I can't believe it. She kept all this to herself for years. That sick man of a doctor experimented on her. Now I understand why she wanted to kill him as well. This explains so much. All her weird reactions, her attack on Liam that first day, her skills, her knowledge, her tactics. She has improved herself by ten times with these 'senses'. If that doctor wasn't already dead, I would have killed him right now. 

"If you don't mind asking me, sir, what are you doing here?" Cleo asks. 

He smiles a little to herself. "I don't know if you guys knew, but I am Jess' father. Jess and Lilac have been inseparable since they were young. Lilac's parents were my best friends. When they were killed, I took Lilac in as my own. I see her as my daughter, she is my daughter. That's why I'm here, because I will not let another one of my daughter get killed by Alejandro." he explains. 

He's her father? Their father? How come we didn't know? I have so many questions for Lilac. I need an explanation. 

"I'll talk to her first. My humour will wake her." Liam says, trying to lighten the mood. 

"Sure. I'm pretty sure she'd turn around if she heard your voice." Avian says while slapping Liam on the back of his head. Liam turns to Avian with a hurt expression. 

"She would not!" he exclaims. 

Avian just rolls his eyes. 

"Alright, we'll let you get to it." Cleo says while ushering the rest of us to leave. 

I ignore everyone else and make my way back to my seat. I don't know what to tell her. 'Hey, you killed Alejandro but now your body has decided to go into a coma. How are you?' I can't do that. I'm going over every single thing I could say to her, and before I know it Cleo ushers me to go in to talk. I take a deep breath to calm down and make my way to Lilac's room. I stand in front of her door. I'm not sure what to do, or what to say. I take another deep breath before going in. It's silent in the room. The only sound is the beeping coming from monitors. I walk to her bed and take a seat like I did last night. I sigh.

"You're really fucking testing us. Shouldn't have expected any less from you, though." I say to her. Her eyes stay closed.

"Lilac, you're a fighter about every aspect in life, be a fighter about this too. We're not ready to let you go. We need you. I need you. I really do. Do you know how much I've been holding back since that closet incident in Alejandro's suite? It's fucking eating me alive. I received a letter from Jess. She knew, Lilac. She knew I'd fall for you. She wrote, and I quote, I know you'll fall for her. Who wouldn't? She's my sister and an amazing person. Don't hold back for me. If you do, I'll come back just to punch you in the face. Don't think I won't. She was a crazy one." I say, finishing with a sigh. "Please just... wake up."