Promised To Lynch // r.s.l.♡

32

I sighed, raking a hand through my hair walking away from the pubs into a quieter road.

Ross left around 10, I left the house looking for him at 1:30am. It was now coming up to 2am.

I grabbed my phone to call Stormie, who will probably hate me for waking her up. "Hello?"

"Hi honey" she sounded well awake, and not as happy as usual. I instantly frowned.

"I'm sorry I called so late"

"It's alright, I've been wide awake since I got the news" she sighed.

"But, I had an argument with Ross which ended with him walking out and I can't find him anywhere" I tapped my feet intensely.

"H-Have you not got the news yet?" She sounded surprised.

"Why, what happened?-" my phone began to beep. "I'll call you right back, I have an incoming call"

Private number. "Hello?"

"Hi is this Miss Brown?" A female voice spoke.

"Yeah"

"We're calling from the hospital downtown. Unfortunately, Mr Lynch was involved in a car accident & you are down as his next of kin. Although his mother is here, it's a law requirement we tell you; could you possibly make it down here?"

I froze for a second, allowing goosebumps all over my body to develop & the hairs at the back of my neck to stand on end. "Yes, yes of course, I'll be there as soon as possible"

Once I hung up, I hopped into Über cab and quickly arrived at the reception. When they showed me the way towards the ICU, I had to physically bite my hand to not start screaming hysterically.

This is all my fault. I should have learnt with 'Looking For Alaska', you don't allow angry, upset or drunk people drive because this may happen. I blinked to contain tears and placed my hand under an alcohol hand rub dispenser and continued my way, not daring to look inside any room.

I assume all cases are pretty bad here, some maybe so bad the windows are covered. I sighed for the umpteenth time, Stormie coming into view. She was sat at a chair, one beside her. Each room had two chairs outside of it, possibly the limit of visitors.

The moment she looked at me, I broke down crying. She rushed to bring me into a hug. "This is all my fault, I kept irritating him, I've never felt like this before"

"Calm down, honey" she smiled weakly. "He's critical, but out of danger of you get my drift. They're just worrying he'll have any complications like he apparently did on the way here. But don't worry, he's a fighter"

"I'm so scared" we sat down.

"Do you want to hear a little story?" Stormie said and I nodded. "Something like this has happened before, in Colorado he got hit by a car 20 years ago. He cracked his head open but he was laughing about it the next day. I'm sure Ross will do great"

"How long have you been here?"

"A while, he was in surgery from 11 to 1 for his knee, and ever since they have been in and out checking on him. Apparently he may wake up soon, because he's strangely wearing off the anaesthetic really fast" Stormie giggled. "He'll pull through"

"Let's all hope so" I looked to the side, a doctor walking past. He smiled to us briefly and walked in. Not even a full minute, he was back out.

"Ah I see the fiancée has arrived" the doctor's badge read Mr Peters. "Ross is...okay. I'll be brutally honest, we didn't have very much hope for him when he arrived but he's recovering slowly but steadily"

"thank god"

"He's actually 'awake', awake as in, he can see and hear but it's likely he won't interact back" Mr Peters said. "You can go in"

I looked to Stormie who was already encouraging me to go. With a nimble lunge, I stood up and walked inside.

The sight was enough to bright tears to my eyes.

Whatever machine in a ICU room- you name it- was connected to him. They all beeped, buzzed and hissed rhythmically. Finally, he had an IV on his left hand, just after the trail of cuts and bruises on his arms.

I neared him and noticed his eyes were slightly open, lips also slightly parted to allow the ventilator in. "Hey, asshole"

Up until now, he hadn't noticed my presence. His eyes looked down and to the side, towards me. I reached for his hand, squeezing his fingers in my hand.

No feeling could compare to how I felt right now. If it wasn't for me, we could both be at home cuddled up and fast asleep. Not in the ICU, one of us more over to the other side than here.

I noticed I was cuddling his hand, tears already down my face. Suddenly, his hand shifted and I released it, allowing it to interlace it's fingers with mine. His thumb, very slowly began to draw circles on my hand. Slowly, he shut his eyes and exhaled, continuing the motion on my hand.

It wasn't anything new, he would always do this when I'm not myself (usually having an off day) and for some reason it comforted me.

I knew it wasn't much, but that little gesture made me cry like a baby.