Yellow

twenty

Josh

I sat there for an eternity without news. Tyler and Jenna consoled me, telling me it would be okay, but it wasn't. All I had that let me know she was still alive was this horrible color that sat in my vision pridefully against the greys. I hated it. I hated the color red.
"Anyone here for Miss Montillo?" An older doctor spoke, flipping through a clipboard.
I immediately popped up with Tyler and Jenna not following. "How is she?" I asked desperately.
"Alive." He answered. "There were a lot of complications during surgery with the blood loss but she survived."
"Can we see her now?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"But what!" I shouted. Tyler placed his arm on my shoulder to calm me down.
"She had a lot of damage done to her brain from the impact. In attempts to heal itself, her brain put her body into a coma and she's now living in life support. We're going to need to contact immediate family and ask if they would like to continue the life support."
"A coma?"
"Yes sir, a coma." He confirmed. "Do you have any way we can contact any immediate family?"
"No I-" everything was hitting me so fast, "Maybe her cellphone?"
"Okay thank you, we will figure it out. Her room is 238 on the second floor of you would like to see her." He spoke before walking off.
I rushed straight to the stairs knowing I'd be faster than the elevator in the crowded hospital. Once I made it to the second floor I found room 238 as fast as I could and let out a deep breath as I stood outside the door.
I don't know what I was expecting to see when I opened the door, but it wasn't what I got. Aster laid there deathly pale, needles and wired were poked into her arms along with a tube shoved down her throat. Her chest rose and fell slowly but her breaths sounded rickety. The blood had been cleaned from her body and her cuts and scrapes were either stitched or bandaged up. One of her legs was put into a cast and was elevated in the air.
I just wanted her to sit up and rip the wires and tubes from her body and have all the color fade back into her face as she smiled at me or made a sarcastic comment, but that's not what I got. The only color anywhere was the red at the seams of her stitches or the dried blood on my hands. I walked over to a sink in the room and scrubbed angrily at my palms, watching as the rusty red water flowed down the drain. I hate red. I hate it and everything that it stands for.
How could people affiliate red with love and passion when it's so full of death and anger. It's a disgusting color, the color of blood and fire with meanings like rage, anger, danger, malice, wrath and stress; yet I was stuck with this ugly color. This color was my only beacon of hope, as long as it remained against the hues of greys around me, it meant that Aster was still alive. Then, I started to regret washing my hands.
I finally decided to take a breath and sat down in an uncomfortable chair next to Aster's bed. Hesitantly, I reached for her hand, feeling it's coldness. Her hands were usually cold, but this was different, it was as if there was no life flowing through her at all; and I wasn't sure there ever would be again.
~
Days went by and Aster still didn't wake up. I only left her side when I was forced to by the hospital staff or Tyler and Jenna telling me I needed to sleep or eat or shower. It was just another day where I sat with my hand gripping onto Aster's tightly and my head resting on the edge of her bed, just waiting for any indication that she was waking up.
The door swung open and the loud clicking of annoying heels snapped me from my trance. I stared at the unfamiliar lady through my bloodshot eyes not even attempting to speak knowing that my voice would come out hoarse and raspy.
"Who is this man with my daughter?" The woman glared at me before turning to the doctor who had just entered the room.
"I'm her boyfriend." I butted in before the doctor could answer for me.
Ms. Montillo gave a disapproving look before walking to the other side of Aster's bed, looking down at her almost emotionlessly. "What a shame, if only her boyfriend had actually protected her." I bit down on the inside of my cheeks and gripped onto Aster's hand so that I wouldn't go off on her mom, I knew it wasn't what she would want.
The doctor cleared his throat, bringing attention back to him. "So Ms. Montillo, again about the life support. Are you completely positive you want to stop it?"