15 Days Locked In (Mashton)

Please, may him be okay - Calum

As Michael and I enter the waiting room, a doctor pats Luke's shoulder and left. I can instantly tell by the younger' broken expression that this is no happy news. In a heartbeat Michael runs to the singer asking what the professional told him. The blond shakes his head and look at the both of us.

"They've been able to stabilised him and he's out of surgery but he's lost to much blood. Some of his organs has shut down for a brief moment before blood started to irrigate them again which means they don't know if they'll keep functioning as they should. Apparently he shouldn't suffer of brain damages but we never know. Hum... they put him in coma, to put his organs at rest for a bit. They would like Cal and I to run a blood test to see if we could be a match and could donate to Ash."

Luke's voice is shaky and sometimes it's hard to understand what he says because of the sobs escaping his mouth. Nevertheless, he succeeds at telling us the whole thing, making the three of us cry even harder. He could be fine, but he could die as well. Basically what the doctor told Luke is that for now, he wasn't dead but there's no garantee Ash will make it. I sit on a chair and put my head in my hand, crying. I wish I could turn back in time. I wish I could rewind to when we were 4 happy boys. I don't think we ever done anything wrong to deserve this, so why does it have to happen to us? To Ash?

I turn my look to Michael, expecting him to be right by my side but he's not. Instead I spot him running to the restroom. Without thinking I stand up and run after him. I may be broken over Ashton, but I can't let Michael be hospitalised as well. It doesn't take me long to find the older, kneeled in front of the toilet, hands clunching his stomach, emptying himself. He's shaking and crying and coughing. I enter the stall he is in - since he hasn't had the time to close it before being sick - and start rubbing his back. As he slowly calms himself and stop heaving, I take him in my arms.

"It's okay Mike, everything will be okay. Ash will make it. You will push through this illness. It's all gonna be okay." I whisper.

He turns around, getting even closer to me and cry in my neck. I try to soothe him. I try to get him to know that this is gonna be okay. But no matter what I tell him, he doesn't listen, doesn't believe me. It breaks my heart to see my friend in so much pain. I wish Life could give him some kind of break, but it's not. It's being a bitch. So I do the only thing left that I can do. I hold him tight and let him cry as much as he needs to. I try not to focus on the fact that I should be with Luke getting our blood test done, or on the fact that Ashton is nor dead nor alive. I just try to focus on Michael, and being here for him.

"I'm sorry." His voice isn't much above a whisper and I wouldn't even be sure I heard him well if I hadn't felt his lips moving against my chest.

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Yes, I have! Everything happening here is my fault! If I hadn't freaked out we wouldn't had to go to the house. If I hadn't lied, we wouldn't had to stay longer in there. If I hadn't been an asshole, he wouldn't be in the hospital. If I wasn't fucking anorexic, I could get my blood tested just like you and Luke, and I could help him if I ever was a match! But no, instead I am too fucking ill and weak to even donate some of my blood to him. I'm the one who sent him here and I can't even help him! I can't save him!"

By the end of his rambling, he is yelling and fully sobbing again. I don't know what to say, or do. I don't know which part of what he's just said I should react to. Should I tell him that it's not his fault? Should I try to confort him? Should I just do nothing? I don't know, but one thing is sure, this outburst can only help him. It's the first time he has ever acknowleged the fact that he is anorexic. That's the part I probably should acting on.

"Listen, he is here, in a coma, and you're right there is nothing you can do about it. There is nothing you can do to help him, save him. But think a moment, do you believe he would be happy to learn that you're dead while he was in the coma because you didn't eat but still throw up?" I pause for a second "I know the answer, and it is no. He would be devastated. He would be heartbroken. So while the doctors take care of him, while they save him, while Luke and I get this test done, you're going to eat something. Then you, Luke, dr. Kalye and I, we will do everything to help you and make you healthy again. Get it?"