Walker: Secrets

Chapter 56

Three days passed by, Maddie slowly but steadily began to show signs of improvement. Though she still had the ventilator in, they had begun to wean her off that as her body once more became strong enough to take over her breathing. The doctors were hopeful that she would continue to improve and were pleased with how she was progressing.

Those days though were some of the longest Maddie had ever had.

The night she had woken up had been the worst and she was thankful that her father had been there with her when she'd woken. Everything was still a little foggy and blurry to her, Cordell having explained to her what had happened. She'd been in a coma for over a week, it was now two weeks since she had gone in for surgery to remove the brain tumor. It felt like only yesterday that she had gone under, though her memories of that morning were foggy at best. Having him walk her through what had happened helped make things a little easier as she understood and processed what she was going through but it still wasn't a walk in a park.

It was like being trapped in a living hell.

She couldn't talk or communicate in any way other than blinking or managing a couple words written into someone's hand. Her mind was active though still a little foggy but the worst part was being completely helpless, unable to do anything.

Her family all came in to see her the next morning and she could read clearly how relieved they were to see her awake. There were tears shed all round as they greeted her, Maddie wishing she could speak to them. Though her mind was still catching up on what had happened she could see that they had been through one hell of a time, especially if how her Dad looked was anything to go by. 

Mika was the first person other than her family to come in and see her, the two of them both shedding tears as they reunited. Though it tired her to do so, she managed to speak with her for a short while by tracing on her hand. Mika showed her photos of her horses, Hope was over two weeks old now and thriving under her care. Maddie was relieved to know that her horses were doing well and it was a huge burden off her mind knowing they were being looked after. 

It was in the quiet moments though at night when everyone was gone and when Cordell was asleep that Maddie's thoughts took over her. Though no one had said it directly, she had the feeling that she was lucky to be alive.

Slowly, things had begun to sort themselves out in her mind and vaguely, she could recall hearing her family speaking to her while she had been in the coma. Though it was foggy and she couldn't recall everything, she felt like she had been somewhere else, watching on.

She could remember her mother being there and while she couldn't remember it all, she felt at peace with the loss of her mother for the first time in her life. It was almost like she had been given the chance to say a proper goodbye to her in her dreams, weird as that was to think about. It had to have been a dream but it had felt so real...

She had seen her family coming to say goodbye and had heard them say their goodbyes to her. Colton... She remembered Colton being there to see her. 

He still cared for her.

For now though, her only concern was for her family.

Though what they'd been through had been rough, Maddie had a feeling that the days ahead were going to prove to be twice as hard.

~~~~~~~

On the fifth day after Maddie had woken from her coma she was finally strong enough to breath on her own and the doctors took her off the ventilator. She was so glad to have the tube out of her throat but though it was out she still couldn't talk. They said it would take her time to be able to speak again and not being able to communicate was really frustrating her. She couldn't use a pen and paper to write, so weakened that she couldn't hold a pen. The doctors told her she needed to have patience but she was getting annoyed with her limitations.