And you've set | Rafe Cameron

C H A P T E R 25

HOSPITAL

The nurse finally arrived after they both had waited for over an hour in the waiting room. It had been the longest hour of her life, since Cooper had kept quiet the whole time, and all she could think of was her shitty life.

"Mr Sanders?" she asked, and Cooper got up followed by Callie.

"I'm here," he replied getting closer.

"I'm here for the news," she said softly, but deadpanned. "Your uncle has currently a severe low blood pressure and respiratory depression"

"Can you be more specific?" Cooper asked, obviously worried.

"It means he's not completely stable. He is in a critical life condition. The doctors asked me to tell you he might not make it," she concluded, still using a very soft voice.

"Is he dead?" asked Callie out of nowhere.

"No, he's not. I'm not promising anything, seen how bad he is. We saw in the analysis he was allergic to codeine and apparently took some. Did he know about this allergy?"

"Yes he did, it already happened once. I was sure we didn't have codeine at home"

But Callie.

Oh that's when she understood.

She understood it was all her fault. She remembered having codeine for he own needs but hiding it in the bathroom.

She also remember taking some the day before, after getting hit and not putting it away.

He probably didn't pay attention to the box, sure there was no more codeine inside the house and accidentally took some.

Callie stayed silent, not listening to what the nurse said anymore. Her gaze was blurry, blurry because of the tears. Yeah sure it wasn't directly her fault but she felt like it was.

Cooper and her went back to their seats, waiting for news. Cooper saw his little sister's tearful eyes.

Before sitting down he pulled her in for a hug. "He's gonna make it, look, she didn't say he was dead. There's still hope," he reassured her.

"I guess we'll just have to wait"

-
-

The same nurse came back about two hours later. Callie had been sleeping, her head on her brother's lap. "Hey let's get up, we've got some news apparently"

Callie got quickly up, followed her brother getting closer to the woman. That time she wasn't deadpanned anymore.

"So your uncle's state degraded. We tried to help him breathing I promise. But it became too low, just as his blood pressure"

"What does it mean?" asked Cooper, not daring to imagine the sequel.

"I'm really sorry. Your uncle left us"

These words echoed inside her head. Her heart pounded inside her ears, she felt like fainting then sweating, she couldn't tell how she felt anymore. Part of her thought it was her fault, another one believed she couldn't have planned it.

That's when she saw him. Hardly because of the tears, but she saw his silhouette almost running in the hallway.

Rafe ran at her, and she broke down against him. She held him tight, as he also hugged her, and left out the sobs she had kept inside her for what felt like years.

He rubbed her back and gave her a few head kisses. "Rafe he didn't make it-"

"I know Cal, I know," he squeezed her tightly against him. "I'm here for you, it'll be fine"

"How am I gonna do?" she sobbed, hugged by her ex-boyfriend.

"Shh my love you're okay I'm here and I won't leave you" he spoke and she frowned, because he couldn't call her this after their break up.

It reminded her everything was falling apart, her relationship, her family, so many things she needed.

She left out a few more sobs. "Rafe, it doesn't mean we're back together"

She felt the need to let him know, because of course she needed him but felt bad for giving him fake hopes. She felt like using him and hated it.

She had always been there for him before and he knew he couldn't give up on her. Not now even if they weren't together anymore.

He knew her by heart, knew how to calm her down, how to please and comfort her.

And she hated him with everything she had, but she felt okay around him, at that moment.

"Sure Cal, sure, it means nothing about us, I know. I just wanna help you"

She walked a bit away from him and smiled at him shyly. "Thanks"

"Just know that I will always care about you. Please let me help you carrying the pain. You know I didn't mean to-"

"Rafe I'll be okay, just, give me time okay?"

He nodded and the two of them walked towards Cooper who was talking to a nurse. She was talking about the process, the papers they would have to fill and how they would make it without a legal guardian.

"Your little sister turned eighteen recently so just like you, she's legally allowed to live on her own. It's not up to me telling you what will happen, but she will for sure have to answer questions from the police, making sure she's doing okay living on her own"

"Why would I have to answer questions? I mean I live with my brother, they know he's responsible and I wouldn't live on my own"

"Cal it's just the process, they won't tear you apart from home," Cooper reassured.

She saw on his face he had cried a lot too, and it hit her. To her eyes, he was a tough guy, the responsible big brother, never showing feelings in front of his little sister.

Well today he was as hurt as her, maybe even more. He didn't know the abusive side of James. He didn't know anything about Callie being hit constantly, even if it was pretty obvious. She had always hid it from him, by fear they would have to leave the house.

"Can anyone drive you home?" asked the nurse, looking at Callie then at Cooper.

"I'm on charge," said Rafe, looking at the siblings one by one.

"No it's fine. I'm driving us home" Cooper contradicted, looking at Callie.

"Please let me drive you home I-"

"Rafe please. Just.. please go home, we'll be fine. That's very kind of you offering," Callie said, exhausted and tired.

Facing a death and a breakup made it too complicated. Too complicated for her to be with Rafe much more.

"Bro, just call me if you need anything," Rafe said, walking away from them.

"Same goes for you Sanders," he added pointing Callie with his finger.

She nodded and a tear fell down her cheek again. She wondered what did she do wrong.

James had always taught her everything happened for a reason. If she was going through so much, it had to be her fault.