Until she wins

17-hospitals

I got into Daniel's car and he clambered in the other side. Tears were still streaming down my face as I was still terrified of what would happen to Max. 

"Hey... look at me" Daniel placed his hand on mine, trying to calm me down. "he'll be ok"

I nodded, not really believing him. I wanted to believe that Max would be ok, but I had seen and heard of so many times when drivers lives were destroyed by accidents. 

The car started and we pulled out of the parking lot, towards the hospital. The sounds of sirens grew louder as we got closer and I could just make out flashing lights in the distance. Eventually we pulled up outside the hospital. As soon as the car stopped, I immediately jumped out and sprinted to the front desk.

"MAX VERSTAPPEN, WHERE IS HE ?! I NEED TO SEE HIM! IS HE OK?!" I shouted at the receptionist.

"Ok, I'm going to need you to calm miss. Unfortunately I can't give that information out to you I'm afraid" she replied blandly. 

Her calmness was annoying me even more. "PLEASE I NEED TO KNOW THAT HE'S OK!"

By this time, Daniel had caught up to me. "We're here about Max Verstappen. She's his sister and I'm his friend... can we at least wait here, just until you have more information on his condition."

The receptionist paused and gave me a glare. "Fine" she nodded. "He's in the intensive care unit, room 27" she pointed towards a corridor packed with nurses and doctors. 

I ran towards the corridor, pushing past all the people, with Daniel jogging to catch up. I looked at all the doors around me until I reached number 27. I peered through the window to try and see the condition Max was in. 

He was lying on a hospital bed, still unconscious, with lots of wires and tubes connecting him to machines. He didn't look good. 

"Is he ok...?" I asked Daniel nervously once he had caught up. 

"I don't know yet... we just need to wait until there's more information." 

We sat down on some chairs in the corridor, outside Max's room and waited. I lent my head against Daniel's shoulder and sat there thinking the worst. We waited for what seemed like hours until eventually a nurse came out to speak to us. 

"Sorry to keep you both waiting... but I'm afraid I have some bad news"

My heart skipped a beat as I waited for her to continue.

"The crash was severe and he hit his head quite hard, resulting in a brain injury..."

My heart sank and I waited in fear of what was to come.

"I'm so sorry... but he's in a coma"

I didn't think my heart could sink any lower, but somehow it did. My brain didn't even want to compute the information it had just been given. It was like I was in denial.

"No... he can't be..." I said quietly as tears started to form in my eyes.

"Listen, I know this is hard to hear but we're still hopeful, alright." the nurse said, failing to calm me down. "I'll give you both some space.."

The nurse had left so it was just me and Daniel outside Max's room. I turned to face Daniel as the tears began silently falling out my eyes. My biggest fear had come true... Daniel wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug and rubbed my back in an effort to comfort me. He was trying to be strong for me, but I could see his eyes were glossy from holding back tears.

—

It was now an hour later. We were still sitting down outside Max's room. It was around 1:30 in the morning and I hadn't slept since 5 yesterday morning. It was like the fear and sadness were preventing me from resting. I leaned my head against Daniel's shoulder feeling exhausted. 

"Why don't you go home now kiddo? Get some rest." He said noticing how tired I was.

"No I'm staying here. I'm not leaving Max" I shook my head. 

Daniel sighed, accepting that I wasn't going anywhere. I pulled my legs up onto the bench and shut my eyes. I wanted to fall asleep, wake up and realise that it was all a bad dream. But no, this was all happening. After another hour or so I eventually fell asleep, leaning against Daniel..,

— 

The nurse came back out into the corridor and walked towards us.

"I'm afraid he's not much better than earlier, however we can let you go in and see him if you'd like." She said.

I nodded, desperately wanting to see my brother. We got up and I pushed open the door. The window I had looked in from the corridor seemed to have disguised how bad it really was. 

Max's eyes were shut and there was a bandage wrapped around his head. A large purple bruise was also present on his cheek and there were tons of monitors around, all bleeping. The sight of my brother looking so helpless made the tears start to fill my eyes again. 

I walked slowly over to his bedside before turning back to the nurse. "Can he hear me?" 

The nurse nodded. I didn't know how much Max was aware of at the moment, but at least I could talk to him.

"Max... it's Abi..." the tears were now threatening to spill. I suddenly felt a wave of guilt as I realised I was usually the one in the hospital bed, and Max would be worrying about me.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry for everything I've put you through. I'm sorry for always pissing you off and getting into trouble at school." My voice was shaking. "Now I guess it's my turn to be there for you.... You're gonna get through this... you're gonna wake up... you have to... for me..."