:: S E V E N T E E N ::
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“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Luke sobbed, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
Ashton sighed and ran a hand through his messy, shaggy curls trying to come up with something soothing to say. So far he had nothing because instead he was breaking, probably more than Luke. Ellie was like a little sister to him and he seeing her lying there almost lifeless was too much to bear. But he had to be strong for Luke, he just had to.
“I know,” He faked a smile and patted Luke’s leg. He heard footsteps and looked behind him to see a wrecked looking Calum walk towards them with his head hanging down. His eyebrows were scrunched together and his lips were set in a frown.
He reached Luke’s bed and said, “Hey, Luke,” his voice sounding unusually throaty. Luke acknowledged him with a nod, his hands still covering his face as he tried to console himself. Calum turned to Ashton and bent down to hug him. An understanding passed through them.
“Did you see her?” Ashton whispered into Calum’s ear to avoid Luke overhearing while he hugged Calum.
Calum nodded and sighed. “I just, I just couldn’t bear to see her, Ashton. The doctors have tried to clean up all the blood but it is still all over her skin.” He whispered it all in a rush before letting go and looking over at Luke who had fallen asleep, tears staining his cheeks.
“He must be feeling awful,” Calum said, nodding in the direction of the sleeping boy. “First his mum and now he was right there when this accident happened.”
“He keeps blaming himself,” Ashton sighed. “I just hope that he doesn’t go into the phase he was, or worse, which is why the doctors won’t have him visiting her.”
They were quietly talking between themselves when a loud, sharp gasp echoed making Calum and Ashton whip their heads around to see Ellie’s mother standing behind them with a fear stricken expression. She approached them slowly with a glum Jake and John, Ellie’s father, trailing behind her as if each step they took would get them closer to their demise.
“Wh- where is she?” Jane whispered, holding a handkerchief close to her quivering lips.
Ashton stood up from the chair he had been sitting on since five in the morning and offered it to her. She collapsed onto it. One look at Luke’s pale face was all she needed to erupt in tears and from her already swollen, red eyes it seemed to be the second time she started crying.
“She’s on the floor above, Mrs. Hawthorn,” Ashton said softly.
Calum reached over and hugged Jake, giving him a reassuring pat on his back before letting go. Ashton walked over to John and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Hawthorn.”
John looked at him with tears pooling in his eyes and said, “It isn’t your fault, son,” he smiled ever so slightly. “Neither is it his,” he said as he nodded in Luke’s direction. “So don’t let him put the blame on himself. The driver of the truck was apparently very drunk yet not a scratch on that man.
He apologized of course but what good will that do? Anyway,” he said turning towards Jane, “honey shall we go to Elaine and talk to the doctors as well?” Jane nodded and followed him after bidding the boys goodbye.
Calum and Ashton fell into a long silence, both of them too caught up in their own thoughts, but they were both thinking the same thing, how did we even end up here?
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Two days later, Luke’s health was improving and he was regaining strength in himself. He could sit up straight and could walk with the help of crutches. He asked to change into some of his own clothes and, once allowed, he changed into a pair of black shorts and a black muscle t-shirt, throwing away the pale hospital gown he had to wear for the past few days.
He sat down on his bed, which was assigned to him until he was allowed to leave, and ran a hand through his blonde hair which felt like a greasy, tangled mess from not having washed it. His insides were still frazzled but overwrought with nerves as well. He wanted to see Ellie, he needed to see her or he would spontaneously combust.
He kept biting on his nails nervously, trying to come up with something he could say to the doctor in charge so that he would be allowed to go see Ellie. I love her. I have to see her, please. Sounds good in my head. He thought.
With that settled he got down from the bed, his bare feet almost recoiling from its contact with the cold, marble tiles. Without so much of a thought on wearing the slippers right next to him, he walked down the halls to where his doctor in charge, Dr. Claire Abernathy’s, office was.
He knocked on the door timidly and was responded with a ‘Come in’. He turned the door handle with a shaky hand and opened the door to reveal a fifty year old, short, grey haired lady with a pair of round-rimmed spectacles perched high up on her nose. She glanced up and back down at her papers which she was working on before taking a double take and smiling warmly.
“Luke, my dear, come on in and take a seat,” She said sweetly and Luke nodded before smiling politely and sitting down on one of the two brown, cushioned chairs set in front of the doctor’s table. She offered him biscuits from a dark blue tin placed next to her and he declined. “Oh come on now, a little biscuit won’t hurt anyone,” She said as she pushed the tin towards him and he accepted it awkwardly, placing the tin on his lap.
“Thank you,” he said as he grabbed a light brown, sugar coated biscuit from the tin and bit into it, the buttery delight creating fireworks in his mouth after all the tasteless hospital food he had to eat the past few days.
“So you obviously didn’t come to just see me,” Dr. Claire said, her hands interlaced in front of her, with a meaningful look on her face that suggested she knew exactly why Luke was in her office. “And you know what I’m going to respond with as well so I don’t see why you decided to try again.”
“I knew you’d say that,” Luke sighed. “But I have to see her Dr. Claire. She is the only one who can make me feel better, the only one who was there for me when no one else was. Before she came along it was just me and my brother Jack. I was at the lowest point of my life and she helped me out of it. I miss her,” he whispered with tears in his eyes.
“I miss her smile, I miss her laugh. I miss the way she would play with my hair, the messing about and the random things we would talk the next minute as if we weren’t just caking her brother’s feet in mud as he slept out on the lawn,” he chuckled and looked up to see Dr. Claire smiling at him sympathetically. “Please, just let me see her,” he pleaded.
“You know all that won’t change my mind,” she said with a sad look in her hazel eyes.
“I know,” Luke said quietly with his head hanging down, not looking the doctor in the eyes as he bit down on his lip to stop any sobs that were threatening to escape his chapped lips.
He heard a sigh followed by rustling and looked up to see Dr. Claire standing up and smoothing down her white coat. She took off her glasses and placed them inside her pocket.
“I’ll take you to see her,” she said as she made her way around the desk. “But you have to promise that you won’t break down, that you’ll keep it together.”
“I promise,” Luke said enthusiastically, nodding as he stood up, brushing off the biscuit crumbs on his black t-shirt, and followed the doctor out the door.
The bright, white interior almost blinded him after spending fifteen minutes inside the doctor’s warm, welcoming office. The nurse who had taken care of him since he regained his consciousness, smiled at him with a small boy at her side holding onto her hand tightly. She had introduced him as one of her three sons to Luke. The oldest being Luke’s age yet in another school and the middle one in year eight.
He waved at the pair before exiting and both of them waved back. He then got onto the elevator with Dr. Claire and went to the floor above.
Once they reached the floor and got out of the elevator, Dr. Claire showed Luke to where Ellie was and when he reached her closed room door, he looked at the doctor behind him who smiled supportively with a shrug of her shoulders.
He nodded before taking a deep breath and twisting the door knob. He let the door open wide before letting his eyes scan the room looking for Ellie. And when his eyes landed on her he couldn’t help but let out a loud gasp.
A/N: Okay so I know this update is late and I just wanted to let you guys know that my updates will be slow until mid June by when i'll be done with my A Level exams!
- But I hope you guys will bear with me, please do! and thank you so much for all the reads, votes and comments. they really make my day so THANK YOU! xx
- oh and i started a new Michael a.u and it'd be amazing if you guys could check it out! ^_^
- Pooji