Endless || Jonah Marais ✓

♪ THIRTEEN ♪

The entire drive to the hospital was a blur, with Jonah driving too fast for it to be considered legal. Zach sits next to him in the passenger seat, tears streaming down his face as he stares out the window. Aurora sits between Corbyn and Daniel in the backseat, her head burrowed into the blond's should. Callie and Jack follow closely behind them in Callie's Jeep.

Aurora tunes out all of Corbyn's words of comfort, her cries breaking the silence as she desperately tries to reason with herself as to why Mark hadn't been moving earlier.

Maybe he had been rendered unconscious. Maybe he was simply stuck in a position to where he couldn't move. Maybe he was in shock and that's why he didn't answer Carmen.

Unfortunately, after seeing so many episodes of Grey's Anatomy, she was also already assuming the worst had happened. The least she was hoping for was a faint pulse when they arrive.

"Aurora," Daniel says tentatively, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "It's going to-"

"DON'T," she snaps, shrugging away. "Please just don't."

Jonah pulls into a parking space at the hospital, hitting the brakes with slightly too much force as Callie parks next to them.

Zach and Aurora are the first ones out of the car - the girl having clambered over Corbyn - sprinting to the doors as the others follow behind.

She nearly slams into the front desk in her hurry, her hair flying wildly out of her messy ponytail.

"I need inforMATION ON MARK WOODS!" Aurora shouts, startling the nurse as Zach demands information on Carmen as well.

The nurse gives them a pitying look, not questioning if they were related to the patients, before typing something into her computer. Jonah and the others reach their sides a few seconds later.

"Carmen Elliot is currently in the OR but will be transferred to the Intensive Care Unit on the fourth floor immediately after. No visitors other than her parents will be allowed to see her for quite a while but you're more than welcome to stay in the waiting area."

"What about Mark?" Aurora pleads, causing several people to stare.

Instead of reprimanding her for yelling, the nurse's gaze softens drastically as she looks over at the brunette. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. He was pronounced dead thirteen minutes ago."

The hospital bustle around Aurora disappears as her legs give out completely. Collapsing into Jonah's arms, an anguished wail escapes her lips.

In a matter of seconds, her world had been taken from her. Her best friend, her brother, was dead, and she couldn't survive without him.

- - - -

To say that Aurora was a mess would be an understatement. She was in hysterics, with Callie and Jonah trying to comfort her. But after hearing her best friend and his girlfriend we're dead, along with her other best friend being on the verge of dying, it sent her into a traumatical state that she couldn't get out of.

In Aurora's eyes, it was her fault. She had been the one to distract Mark while he was driving, having sent the text that killed him moments before Carmen called Zach. Guilt consumed the girl and she had no idea how to deal with it.

None of the boys took it easily, especially Jonah and Zach. Jonah, as he had grown fond of Carmen, Mark, and Elle, and he couldn't stand seeing Aurora in such a state.

Zach was just as bad as - if not worse than - Aurora. His face was buried in his hands and he wouldn't talk to anyone. Much like the oldest girl, he blamed himself. He should have been there to protect Carmen, to make sure nothing happened to her.

To Callie, the situation hadn't quite settled in. She didn't seem to believe that Elle and Mark were gone, let alone that Carmen wasn't far from joining them. She had turned to Jack for comfort, of which she then began to cry for her three friends.

Daniel couldn't process it either. In fact, he was the first of the boys to cry. He had seen Carmen before she left; she couldn't be in the hospital. She was fine. Corbyn says beside him, awestruck. He couldn't cry, he couldn't feel anything. The boy was in denial, to say the least.

And now, Carmen wouldn't wake up. She had four shattered ribs, a critical concussion, a broken arm, and a fractured collar bone. She currently resided in the ICU, with her mother not leaving her side anytime soon.

Jonah wraps an arm around Aurora's shaking waist as Callie turns to Zach, taking his hands in her's.

"Zach," she murmurs quietly.

He continues to stare down at the tiled floor, too lost in his own thoughts.

"Zach," Callie repeats, firmer this time. He looks up at her, his eyes filled with nothing but sadness. Her heart tore in two for him as she examines his state. "It's going to be okay. Carmen can fight this, she can make it."

"What if she can't?" He whispers in reply, barely audible. "Who knows if she is even going to make it to morn-"

Zach stops abruptly, holding his cheek where a red mark begins to form and stares at Callie in shock. The blonde, with tears streaming heavily down her face, scowls.

"Don't you say that!" She growls. "Don't you dare say that! Don't you dare lose hope! There is a girl in there, scared and alone. You - we have to stay strong for her."

She hesitates as she looks down at the floor, not noticing Jack standing on the other side of Jonah. Aurora's cries echo throughout the room, the girl unaware of the heated discussion happening in front of her.

"I- I went through something very similar, multiple times with family members," Callie stutters. "Back then, I didn't have anyone left to comfort me. I had no one to tell me it was going to be okay. I had lost all hope when my brother died. He was- he was my rock. But I did have someone."

She pauses, looking into Zach's eyes fiercely.

"I had one person to help me through it because neither of my parents cared about me or my brother. I had friends. I had Alex, my best friend, to help me through. I had Alex take the medicine bottle out of my hands numerous times. I had Alex talk me out of something very dark that I don't want you to go into."

She grabs Zach's face in her hands.

"So don't you dare lose hope, Herron. You aren't alone like I was. You have me, Jack, and all of these people who also care about Carmen. So stay strong. Never lose hope."

"Our hope, our selves," she pauses taking in a shuddering breath. "Might be the only reason Carmen is fighting."