I've just left the hospital, I need to take a shower and shave, and get my haircut too, it's getting too long now, I can't live in a hat forever.
"Zak wait up" Joe calls after me outside of the hospital.
"What's up? Is Charlie ok? Why aren't you with her?" I ask starting to panic a little.
"No everything is fine, you may want this, you never know if something will happen while you're out" He says handing me my phone.
"Oh right, yeah it might help if I have it on me, thanks Joe, I'll be back soon" I say and head off. I get into my car and drive home. I get something to eat quickly, a sandwich and take a shower, after my shower I shave my face to how I should look, I get rid of my sideburns and hairy cheeks. I put on some clean clothes and put my dirty clothes in the wash. I check my phone, no missed calls or texts from anyone which is good. Time to go get a haircut before I start looking like Harry Styles with long hair, eww! I don't wanna look anything like that dude! I grab my keys and my phone, I go to my car and drive to the barbers that do my hair. I park my car outside and go in.
"Hey Zak, haven't seen you for a while" My barber says.
"Yeah I know, I've had a lot on, had no time" I say.
"Well you are definitely needing a trim man" He says, I sit in the chair.
"I've been living in my hat the last few days" I say.
"I don't blame ya, the usual?" He asks as he preps me.
"Yeah, you know what to do bro" I say.
"So why has it been so long? Been away filming for a while?" He asks as he waters my hair down.
"Not exactly, I've been at the hospital, Charlie is in a bad way" I say, I've told him a lot about her, she's among what I talk about when I get my haircut, other than Ghost Adventures and the guys.
"Oh crap, what's happened? Is she ok? Or gonna be?" He asks.
"I hope so, she was kidnapped and had a lot of seizures, she's been in a coma for a month now" I say.
"I'm so sorry to hear that, I hope she pulls through man" He says as he cuts my hair.
"It's cool, she's a fighter, I'm just terrified that she won't wake up, I haven't left her side since she was taken in" I say.
"I'm praying for you all" He says.
"Thanks, but at least she's not deteriorating" I say.
"I think if that were happening then you wouldn't be here now" He says.
"That is true, I mean, I've only just shaved, I had a right beard happening, sideburns, hairy cheeks, the lot" I say chuckling.
"So who's the bastard that took her in the first place?" He asks.
"His name is Devon, he's a troubled guy, lied about his age and that, started Charlie's school as a 15 year old and it turned out he's 19 and killed his mother and sister, he got with Charlie before we knew this and took her out of town, said they were gonna marry and have kids in a few years and he was gonna do bad things to them, but at the same time as being psycho, he seemed to care about her, he took us to her when we found him and seemed sorry about everything, but he's been arrested now, I don't know what will happen to him" I explain.
"Damn, that's messed up" He says. "How long was she gone for?" He asks.
"4 days, which isn't long thankfully but it isn't good either" I say.
"But at least you did find her though" He says.
"Exactly, like I said I'm just terrified that she won't pull through" I say.
"I'm sure she will, I'll let you style your hair how you have it but it is fixed and looking great" He says putting some product into my hair. He un-preps me and I sort my hair out, I pay him and get back to my car. I decide to give Joe a call and see how things are.
"Hey Zak" He answers.
"Hey man, just quickly calling to see how things are" I say as I start the engine but I don't start driving.
"Everything is the same as when you left Zak" He says.
"Ok, well I'm on my way back now, I've showered, shaved and had my hair cut, I'm no longer living in a hat anymore, for now" I say.
"Ok cool, I'll see you soon then" He says.
"Yep, will do man" I say and we hang up, I put my phone in it's holder on its blue-tooth just in case, and I drive back to the hospital. I get stuck in traffic, I see an ambulance, the cops and a fire engine drive past me, there must have been an accident up ahead, after about 45 minutes of waiting in the traffic, in the same spot, we start slowly moving again. Come on! I need to get back to Charlie. My phone starts ringing just as I stop again.
"Zak?" I hear as I answer.
"Hey dude" I answer.
"Where are you? You said you were on your way back nearly an hour ago" Joe says.
"I know, and I am, I'm just stuck in traffic, there's been an accident somewhere ahead of me" I say.
"Oh right, as long as you're ok, I just didn't know whether you were in trouble or asleep or something" He says.
"No I'm fine Joe, thanks though" I say. "Is there an update on Charlie?" I ask.
"No, just the docs come in and check on her, the usual, Caleb popped in on his break and said he'll be back after his shift cause he got a call" He says.
"Fair enough, just keep an eye on her man, I'm gonna take a shortcut away from this accident, I'll hopefully be there soon" I say.
"Ok, see you soon then, bye" He says and we hang up. God dammit! Do I know a shortcut? Yes I do, but I need to get a little further down the road. After another 6 minute wait, I move far enough to get to the shortcut road away from the accident. I continue driving until I get to the hospital, I go back up to Charlie and find Joe sat where I usually sit.
"Hey Joe, finally here" I say and glance at Charlie.
"That's great, you look like Zak Bagans again with your haircut and facial hair put right" He says.
"Thanks, I feel like me again, but I won't be complete until this one wakes up" I say looking at Charlie, still in a coma with a tube down her throat.
"She will Zak, it's just the waiting game" He says.
"But what if she doesn't?" I ask.
"You can't think like that, she wouldn't want you to" He says.
"I know, but I just can't help think it" I say.
"I know what you mean, but try not to think about it too much, it'll only put you down even more than you are" He says. I take a seat and hold Charlie's hand.
"I'm here Charlie, I'm not leaving you for this long again, I just went to clean myself up, haircut, beard trim and a shower" I say to her, I get up and kiss her on the forehead.
"I'm gonna go to the toilet, I'll be back shortly" Joe says and goes. I just continue to watch Charlie while holding her hand, praying to god that she'll wake up soon, it's been a month now.
"Hey Zak, how's she doing?" Caleb asks as he enters.
"No change yet bro" I say.
"I've just got back from an RTC" He says sitting where Joe was.
"Oh right, everyone ok?" I ask.
"Well, most were just in shock, but the driver of a car had to be cut out, he's critical" He says.
"Did that accident cause a traffic jam?" I ask.
"Yeah, quite bad traffic" He says.
"I was sat in that traffic for an hour, then I took a shortcut" I say.
"Oh right, well, it involved a lorry so, it was gonna take a while" He says. "Anyway, you're looking better, haircut and whatnot" He says.
"Thanks" I say. Suddenly Charlie's heart monitor starts beeping. "Why is that happening?" I ask.
"I'm not sure" He says and gets up, he checks her pulse. "She's tachy" He says.
"Is that a good thing?" I ask. And then the monitor flat lines. He checks her pulse again. "Caleb what's going on?" I ask panicking.
"Zak, she's arrested" He says and drops her bed down, he presses a button on the wall and starts CPR.
"Please Caleb, get her back" I say as my eyes start watering, please Charlie, come back to us, don't die now!
"I NEED SOME HELP IN HERE PLEASE!" Caleb shouts as he does CPR on her. Two doctors come running in.
"Caleb, let me take over" The female doctor says.
"No, I'm fine, I've got this" He says as he keeps going.
"Caleb, please" I say as I put my hands through my hair and keep them at the bad of my head as tear fall down my cheeks.
"Sir, you're going to have to leave" The female doctor says.
"No way! I am not leaving my daughter, she needs me, just do what you can to help her" I say.
"Sir!" She says in a demanding tone.
"He stays" Caleb says as he continues CPR.
"Ok fine, but if she doesn't make it-" She says.
"You can't say that, he's still doing compressions on her" I point out as I get frustrated with her. They get the defibrillator out and ready.
"Zak, we're going to try and shock her heart to beat again" Caleb says as he does CPR.
"Ok, clear" The lady says. Caleb stops. "And shocking" She says and Charlie jolts.
"Continuing CPR" Caleb says as he carries on. They shock her two more times nefore they give up using the defibrillator.
"Caleb, maybe we should call it" The lady says.
"No, keep going, please Caleb, don't give up on her" I say with tears going down my cheeks.
"It's Zak's call and he's said to keep going" Caleb says as he nods at me and continues compressions.
"What's going on? What happened?" Joe asks as he enters.
"She arrested Joe, we're trying to get her back" I say.
"Please don't give up on her, she's my sister, and a very much loved girl, she has so much to do and see before it's her time" Joe says.
"Zak's already said not to give up on her, so I will keep going" Caleb says. "Come on Charlie, come on sweetie, come back to us, it's not your time yet, your dad and brother are here for you right now, come on" He says as he keeps going.
"Caleb, if you stop now, you won't be giving up on her, you'll have done your best for her, you've been doing compressions for 10 minutes straight" The lady says.
"Please no, no, please don't please" I say as I cry. Caleb stops compressions and looks a little worn out, he has that look on his face of failure and guilt and he looks at me, trying to get his breath back, he slowly walks over to me.
"I'm sorry Zak, I'm so sorry" He says.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Is this the end for Charlie? Caleb couldn't save her..
What will Zak do?
How will he cope?
How will carry more guilt, Caleb or Zak?
Sorry that I didn't update last week, I had a busy weekend so i didn't get a chance to update anything.. I hope you 'like' this, please let me know what you think of the chapter!
It has literally taken me hours to type this, I started at 4pm, it's now 21:38pm, although I haven't been typing the whole time, I had my dinner and stuff but yeah haha.
I shall do my best to update this next weekend and not the weekend after!! Thank you so much for reading this and being patient for each chapter! You guys are amazing!! IF YOU DON'T ALREADY, FOLLOW MY INSTAGRAMS, GAOBSSESSED AND SARAH_ROGERS_NCIS_GA, FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE ME ON EITHER OF THEM! I POST ON THEM PRETTY MUCH EVERYDAY AND IT'S ALL GHOST ADVENTURES RELATED, OTHER THAN MY MAIN ACCOUNT (THE SECOND ACCOUNT LISTED) WHICH HAS EVERYTHING ON IT, TO GA, NCIS, AND MY PERSONAL LIFE!
Stay well and healthy, stay safe, and I'll hopefully have another update next weekend! Bye for now! :)