the Reckless and the Brave (Sequel to Scream, to be Heard)

Comatose

ALEX'S POV

"No," I said. "No. She can't be in a coma. She was fine. There was nothing wrong with her." I refused to believe that. She was sleeping. There couldn't be anything wrong with her.

"We'll find out for sure in a few minutes. I'll call for a gurney to take her up to a room where we can run the tests," the nurse said. She pushed a button and in record time, a gurney appeared at our side. I carefully set her down in the gurney, pulling the hair out of her face as her head rolled to the side naturally. We got onto the staff elevator with the nurse, and I felt Rian's hand tighten on my shoulder. While they were getting her an IV and everything Rian patted my back.

"I'm going to call the guys. They'll want to be here too. Want me to call your parents?" He said, taking his phone from his pocket.

"Call the guys. Mom and Dad don't want to see this," I replied, sitting in the chair next to her and running my fingers through my hair, taking out the earphones on my phone to drown out the noises of the doctors trying to fix her.

I don't wanna live this life without you... Good Charlotte bursted through my ears, and I agreed with everything that was being sung. I eventually just turned it to Weezer, afraid of crying. I was a man. I was 25. I was not a little kid. Therefore, I couldn't cry at a freaking song. Instead, as Island in the Sun was playing, I looked over at the doctor, who was taking some blood from her forearm.

"Does she self-harm?" He asked. The question caught me by surprise, and I nodded.

"Yeah. The last time she did it was about two or three months ago," I replied.

"You her brother?" He asked. I nodded. "Well you must know why. If she is doing this, and she does wake up as expected, then there are a few programs you could put her in to help with it." I shook my head.

"Our other brother committed suicide. She just broke and turned to cutting. I've tried to stop it. I've tried everything, but she won't stop. She'll stop completely for a couple of months and then something bad happens and she decides to hurt herself again," I explained. "How long do you think it'll be before she wakes up?" He shrugged.

"It could be in ten minutes. It could be in a year. We have no way of knowing, but it shouldn't be as long as most adults are in comas as she's not an adult yet so her brain isn't fully developed. It could also be longer. Comas are a very hard thing to predict, if you can at all," he replied. Rian came back into the room, sitting down in the second armchair.

"Zack's on his way with Jack. Matt, Greico, and Keith should be along later since they're in a meeting," he said. I nodded, looking at her again. My eyes turned to the life support machine, which was beeping as it should. "She'll be fine," he finished as my eyes drifted back to her. I nodded, looking down at my feet.

Pretty soon Zack and Jack showed up, worried looks on their faces that reflected heartbreak. They surrounded the bed, looking at the support machine. "Alex," Jack started, his voice breaking with rage and sadness. "Is she really...?" I nodded.

"She'll be okay," I lied to myself, and to him.

"How long was she out before you brought her here?" Zack asked.

"About two hours. Then the trip took about ten minutes. Not long," I replied. Wake up, Princess, I told her in my mind. I need you. Everyone needs you.

"Well we talked with Matt on the way here. He said that if she doesn't wake up when the string of hometown shows are, he can cancel them so you can stay here," Zack said. I shook my head.

"No, we can just get someone to stay with her. She's not going to wake up during a show, and we can come here right after," I replied. "It's fine." I signaled the end of the discussion by getting up and walking over to her. Rian cleared his throat.