2nd February 1986
Jon's POV
A familiar deafening scream echoes through the room, drawing everyone's attention. My eyes widen with horror to see the atmosphere was plunged into complete chaos, people were running around and screaming, there were men fighting and in the dim I see Snake carrying Chrissie in his arms, her lifeless arm dangling down by her side. "SHE'S BLEEDING..... QUICKLY CALL 911!!!!" Snake shouts over to us, his expression is one of worry and panic. "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED??? YOU WERE ONLY GONE FIVE MINUTES!!" I can feel the anger rising up in my throat, he only had one job and that was to look out for her and this happened. "There was a fight.... she got hit with a bottle" He gently places her down on our table. My hand swipes the mess of curly locks from her face to see it's smeared in blood, It's just a none stop waterfall running down her face "Oh my god.... there's so much blood". "I'll call 911!" Richie pats my shoulder before running off to make the call.
In an attempt to find the source of the bleeding, I brush her hair around when at the top of her head, are multiple deep gashes with a slice of glass sticking out "Holy shit!!! what do we do? do we pull it out?". My fingers were grasping the glass when Dave finally speaks up with a panicked raised voice "DON'T FUCKIN TOUCH THAT GLASS!! SHE'LL BLEED OUT AND DIE!!". I do often forget that he was studying to be a doctor at college and he was actually doing really well before he left to join the band. "What do I do Dave???" My eyes desperately searching his for answers. "Move out the fuckin way" Pushing me out the way and taking charge. He pulls his shirt from his back and rolls it into a ball and applies it to the gash on her head, making sure not to touch the glass "Check her pulse". My fingers slide onto her neck, fiddling around until I feel a weak thumping against my fingers "Yeah... but It's slow". "I need you to open her eyes... see if her pupils react to the light" I do as he says and carefully lift the lid of each eye, her pupil constricts as soon as the light glares in "Yeah... what does that mean?". "It means she's alive Jon" Richie comes sprinting back over looking grey in complexion from all the blood "They're on there way... should be here any minute".
"Jon..." A weak, faint voice draws our attention "Babe... try not to talk alright" Caressing her cheek as soft as I can. "Am I..... dying?" My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach seeing the pained look in her eyes "No... you're not dying baby... That's not gonna happen". "I can see her..." She looks straight passed me and glances up at the ceiling, which worries us "See who babe?". "Mom.... she's here" I can't bring myself to utter a single word, panic growing out of control with each passing moment "Just hold on baby... just hold on" My voice cracks under the amount of emotions. Her eyes fall shut once more, losing consciousness.
Before we know it, we're on our way to the hospital, me in the ambulance with Chrissie while the others grab a cab. I feel bad for leaving them there but my concern right now is Chrissie. The paramedics throw a multitude of questions at me while we race to the hospital. Thankfully Chrissie doesn't know we're going to the hospital or she'd lose it, she's terrified of hospitals, can't even look at one in passing, she just cringes and looks away. I guess I'm not surprised after what she'd been through in the past.
When we get to the hospital, the guys are all waiting there for us, how they got here before us, I will never know. They all trail along behind us as they wheel her into the hospital as fast as lightening. Unfortunately, the bumpy ride into the hospital jolted her awake, a look of panic in her eyes "Where are we?". I bite my lip, not wanting to tell her we're in the very place she's afraid of, but I certainly can't lie to her "Babe.... Everything is gonna be alright.... we're in the hospital". Her eyes widen with horror, she starts gasping with fear "NO....NO.... GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!". She attempts to climb off the bed but the paramedics quickly push her back down, making her panic even more. "Babe... just relax... I'm right here----" She ignores my words and starts screaming and screeching, desperately trying to escape their clutch. Tears start to roll down my face as I watch her in scream and panic, I've never seen her like this before, so It's all new to me. "Chrissie... I'm here..." I whimper out my words, the weight of my emotions crushing my voice. She takes no notice of my words of comfort and continues to scream, her body wriggling with desperation. They get to a set of double doors and we are all stopped by a nurse "Please.... let us help her". "JONNY PLEASE DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!!!!" She pleads with me one last time before the doors close over. I glance through the window to see them holding her down and plunging a needle into her, not a second later, her head collapses onto the bed. "Jon.... you okay?" Richie places his hand on my shoulder, prompting me to spin round and collapse into his chest, sobbing my heart out all over him.
The minutes tick by into an hour, when finally a doctor comes walking towards us "Uhhmm Jon?". I jump out of my seat so fast, it made him step back away from me "Yeah". "Is there any family we can contact?" My brows knit together with confusion and frustration from not getting the news I hoped for "Uhhh.... Her dad is in New York... we called him but He won't be here for another 2 hours.... the rest of her family is dead..... But that's..... she lives with me.... I am her emergency contact.... Jon Bongiovi.... we live together.... she's my girlfriend". "Okay well we'll have to check all that out before we can let you see her" I growl under my breath and take a step towards him, clenching my fist. Richie places his hand on my shoulder, halting my steps "Thanks doc". The doctor gives us a slight nod then disappears through the same set of double doors they pushed her through earlier. "Listen Jon you really need to calm down" Ushering me back into my seat like a child "I'm not a fuckin bystander Rich.... I NEED TO SEE HER!!!" I jump out of my seat and kick the coffee table back a few feet, drawing attention from everyone in the room. "Calm down..... or they won't let you see her kidd.... you understand me? keep a lid on it" His words hit me like a brick wall, he's right, they won't let me anywhere near her if I'm angry.
Another hour later and the doctor finally makes another appearance. By this point I've tried every little thing to distract myself, humming tunes to myself, reading magazines, watching Dave nod off, watching Richie and Dave argue over who gets the sofa, but nothing was working, she never left my thoughts. "Jon?" I'm ripped from my thoughts when the doctor looms over me like a dark cloud "Yeah her dads an hour away" My snide comment doesn't fail to draw attention, forcing Richie to slap me in the arm. "We've actually checked it all out.... I'm sorry about that... It's policy" I let out a deep sigh and stand up, allowing myself to listen to what he has to say "How is she? Can I see her?". "She's stable.... took a while but we stopped the bleeding, stitched up the wounds... but she's far from out the woods yet" He's just about to continue but I quickly cut him off "Wounds? we only saw one?". "Yes there was the very large main wound where the glass bottle hit her... at the top of her head... and there was also another wound at the side of her head... she must have hit her head really hard on something when she collapsed" I immediately look at Snake for answers, seeing as he only told me about the bottle "I think she hit the bar on the way down".
".... She's had a CT scan.... just to check if there's any injury to her brain... " He trails off into silence, leaving us all itching for more "Yeah.... And? is there?". "We are concerned that there is moderate injury to her frontal lobe and temporal lobe" His words come as a jumbled up mess, not understanding a single thing he said "What does that mean?". "We're going to keep an eye on her... see if anything shows up in the next 24 hours... if it does... then there might be some changes to her behaviour... minor changes" The panic once again starts to rise up in my throat in the form of lumps "Wha---What kind of changes? will it be permanent?". "Well if injuries do show up in those areas of the brain then you might expect some minor changes to her behaviour.... emotional changes, short term memory loss.... she might even have difficulty recognizing people... even people she sees all the time.... she'll get confused.... whether this is permanent or not.... we can't tell this early on... but we'll continue to monitor her and keep an eye on her and you will definitely have to note down any changes.... good and bad" My head starts to spin and swirl with the amount of information pumping through it. I stumble back against Richie when the floor starts to spin "Shit.... Jon are you okay?". The doctor quickly grabs some water for me while Richie sits me down "Listen... I know it's a lot to process... honestly she might come out of this perfectly fine... even if there are any brain injuries... they'll be very minor....". "Can I see her yet?" Swallowing the last drop of water as I trail off "Of course... follow me... I'll take you to her".
"Listen.... you might get abit of a shock... just take a few deep breaths" I do as he says and inhale some of the deepest breaths I've ever taken in my life. He swings open the door at an achingly slow pace, leading me into a dimly lit room with only one bed and two chairs inside. All the breaths I took on the way in come bursting out my mouth, as if all the air from my lungs is being sucked out. My hand clamps across my mouth in an attempt to keep any sobs at bay. The sight of her is so heart-breaking, I can only imagine what her dad felt like when he seen her after the car accident. There's tubes running into her nose and hand and her arms are flayed out by her sides, there are various scrapes on her forehead and cheek and the side of her head is shaved. I stumble my way over to the side of her bed, gasping and sobbing as I gently pick up her lifeless hand "Chrissie?". The side of her head is swollen and bandaged up, her complexion is pale and sickly. "There's no telling when she'll wake up... could be in a few hours or a few days... but no more than that though...." I sniffle up my tears and continue to softly caress her cheek "She was in a car accident 6 years ago now.... it was the last time she was in hospital.... ever since then she's been so scared of them". " her previous traumatic brain injury from the accident increases her risks... That's why we're keeping a closer eye on her" I slump myself down on the chair, keeping my hand latched to hers "She's a fighter".
The next hour seemed to fly by and before I know it, her dad comes bounding into the room. I hadn't left her side the entire time, fearing she might wake up and I won't be here. "Oh my god... is she okay? How is she?" He glides over to the other side of her bed, stroking her forehead. I told him everything the doctor told me and he takes it all in with ease, seeing as he's been through it all before. "The last time.... it took her 2 weeks to wake up... but I never lost hope.." , "The doc said that the brain injury from the car accident increased her risks of having further injury" His expression turns solemn and melancholy, as if he's holding back a secret. "The doctor at the time told me that..... she would never fully recover from it.... and the more time that went on after the accident.... the more clear it became..... she would have terrible anxiety... she would shake and the nightmares didn't help.... she started to become more sensitive... getting upset easily... over little things...." My gaze switches between him and Chrissie with shock "She told me about the nightmares but I had no idea about the anxiety". We continued to talk all night until my eyes slowly closed over, my head softly resting on Chrissie's hand.
3rd February
My body flinches when a hand shakes my arm "Jon" A deep masculine voice prompting my eyes to creak open. I jolt up into a sitting position when I see her dad hovering over me "What is it?". "The doctor ran some more tests.... he said there are minor injuries to her brain.... but they should heal" My head drops into my hands, a feeling of deep dread rising up in my body in the form of quiet sobs "How am I gonna do it Leo.... she's the strong one, not me...". "You'll do it because you love her... loving her makes you fight... makes you work harder... wake up earlier.... shave when you can't be bothered to.... makes you look at yourself and want to change" I sniffle up my tears and lift my head to look at him, he has such a way with words, he's right, I can do it for her, will do it for her.
I asked her dad to go out and tell the guys what's been happening, they've been back and forth from home, but I've only left her room to use the bathroom. I sandwich her hand between mine, holding it for dear life "I don't know.... if you can hear me....". "I know you can get through this.... you can get through anything.... and I'm not leaving your side.... ever... I'm yours and I love you" I lean in and plant a delicate peck on her cheek and I could have sworn I felt her fingers twitch but her eyes remained closed. "I don't know what trouble I'd be in if I never met you.... you're my guardian angel..." My fingers entangle with her, finding something to distract themselves with while I chat away to Chrissie. "I remember.... we had been goin out for 6 months and this one time I let you drive my car... just that once and you lost my keys.... we got into a stupid argument over it... so just to get away from me... you climbed in the back seat... but that only made me follow you.... and we both know how that night ended.... turns out the keys were in your pocket the whole time" Chuckling and snickering as I think back to that night. "We had the best sex that night, right in the back seat.... I can still remember what you said 'fuck me under the stars Jonny'".
"Please..... Please wake up.... please get through this.... there's still so much we have to do.... so many places to go..... cmon baby.... I only just got you back" My head gently rests on her chest, hoping it will comfort me. I close my eyes and focus all my hearing on the sound of her heart beating and thumping away, such a beautiful sound, just like the sound of the waves crashing against each other, so peaceful, calming. The rhythmic thumping of her heart sends me to sleep, curled up in a deep slumber on her chest, my hand intertwined with hers.
4th February
I have no idea how long I've been asleep for, but by the time I come round again, the sun is rising up in the sky outside and her dad is sitting in the chair opposite, reading a magazine "Oh you're awake?". I wouldn't actually call it sleeping, I slept for a whole 20 minutes then spent the rest of the time just listening to her heart beat and staring at her hands "Chrissie?". "Still no change... but you never know kidd.... today could be the day... today feels like a good day" I tried my best to bite my tongue and let it go but that didn't work out "How'd you figure that one?". He tosses the magazine down on the beside drawers, and turns his attention to me "Because..... 6 years ago... this very day.... she woke up from the accident.... 4th February 1980". Before I even have a chance to process the information, he jumps out of his seat "Tell ya what... I'll get us some coffee". I find myself intensely watching her face, appreciating each curve and line, even with all the scrapes and bandages, she still looks so beautiful. Her weak fingers twitch between mine but I quickly shrug it off, seeing as she's done it a few times the past couple of days. A minute later, her fingers wiggle ever so slightly, catching my attention straight away, It's something she's never done before. Her dry cracked lips smack together and the beeping of the heart monitor starts to sky rocket. That's when I see it, the lone tear sliding down her pale cheek "Chrissie...... I'm here" Gripping her hand tighter, hoping it will help calm her down. "Jon?"