TOO GOOD ━ SUGG. ✓

chapter twenty-five

"Joe, it means do not resuscitate. That means the next time she crashes-" he started to continue in but I'd heard enough. I got up as fast as I could, wiping off the rest of the tears that were on my face with my sleeve. Alfie and Zoë were right behind me as I marched right back into the hospital and into Alyssa's room. As soon as I opened the door, I saw Alyssa's parents and a doctor standing a few meters back from the bed. He had a clipboard in his hand and a pen in the other.

"How could you even consider something like this?" I asked Ben and Cassandra, who looked rather startled at my entrance. Ben sighed and then he looked at me carefully.

"We're trying to do what's in the best interest for our daughter."

"You call practically killing her the next time she crashes, in her best interests?" I asked, my voice slightly louder than before. At this point, I was the only one fighting to keep her alive. Zoë and Alfie were too scared to say anything and Ben and Cassandra, well they were basically considering to kill their daughter. I was the only one that wanted her alive, no matter what.

"Doctor Anderson, you told us that every time she crashes, it's taking a physical toll on her body, right?" Cassandra asked the doctor--whose name I now knew--who just nodded his head in response.

"So you're telling me that you want to sign these papers because she's in pain? Don't you think that she deserves to live?" At this point, I didn't give a shit about what I was saying. I didn't care that I was talking to Alyssa's parents or the fact that I sounded awfully rude. It was almost as if they were giving up on her.

"Joe, we don't even know if she's going to wake up," I heard Zoë say quietly from behind me.

"She's still fighting for her life, Zoë! It's like all you're doing is throwing her life away!"

"Joe, do you really want her to be in this physical pain?" Ben asked, reaching out to touch my arm, but I flinched away from his touch.

"No, but I-"

"You don't want her to die?" Dr. Anderson suggested as I nodded grimly.

"Joe, as I said before, there's a very high chance that Alyssa won't wake up. I understand that you don't want her to die, for your own reasons, but as a doctor, I don't think she should be in physical pain every time she crashes and we manage to bring her back. We're trying to do the best that we can, but I think it's best that you accept it. Let Ben and Cassandra sign the DNR papers."

"Aren't you supposed to be trying to save Alyssa, instead of persuading something that's going to kill her, isn't that your job, to save people?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at Dr. Anderson.

"It's my job to make action, in the best interests of my patient. If Alyssa was here right now, what do you think she would say?"

"Don't you dare bring her into this," I growled, my voice suddenly becoming quiet. "She would want to live."

"I'm not here to fight with you, I told you my opinion, and I suggest that you stick with it because when she wakes up, she'll be in a lot of pain both emotionally and physically." After he said that, he placed the clipboard on a small table in the corner of the room. Putting the pen beside it, he nodded to all of us and then left the room.

The room was eerily quiet as we all stared at the clipboard, each having different thoughts. I couldn't help but wonder what was going through Zoë and Alfie's my mind as they made eye contact with me.