Life Goes On (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 2 of the Hardships Saga)

Chapter Forty-Seven

❝disaster (pronounced dɪˈzɑːstə or dih-zah-ster), noun
a sudden event, which causes calamity.❞

It was two weeks since they had visited the Lockhart family home. Elle was only getting sicker, and now Hunter was beginning to constantly find bruises all over her body. He didn't want to think about what that meant. He knew perfectly well, but he couldn't think about it. He couldn't. He just couldn't.

Elle was bedridden again for the fifth time in ten days, and her fever was high. Hunter hadn't been to the studio in days, and Ryan too had been looking after Elle day and night. The shadows under Hunter's eyes only got darker and darker.

They heard shuffling. Elle appeared, and just like the past few days, she was quiet.

Too quiet.

"Ellie, honey, is everything okay?" asked Hunter gently.

"I feel sick, Papa."

Ryan looked at her, then frowned, taking her arm. "Hunt, look."

Hunter examined her arm worriedly. "More bruises. And I think you have a fever. Maybe we should go to the doctors."

The fact that Elle didn't immediately complain about the idea of going to the doctors made Hunter even more worried. "Maybe we should... oh, I don't know. I've given her Tylenol. Her antibiotics are finished."

"Maybe give her some more? Just to lower the fever?"

"Overdosing will just make it worse." He sighed. "Oh, Ellie. I wish she'd just tell me-"

Elle's breathing suddenly hitched, and both Hunter's and Ryan's heads snapped to look at her. She looked like she was in pain. "My head."

"What?" said Hunter.

"My head. My head! Papa! It hurts!" She fell to the floor, screaming.

"Elle!" he yelled, rushing down to her level and lifting her head so that she was lying in his lap. "Call an ambulance!" he yelled at Ryan. "Now!"

Ryan ran into the kitchen, Elle still screaming. "Come on, come on!" she whispered desperately.

"911, what's your-"

"Ambulance! Ambulance, I need an ambulance!"

"What's the address, ma'am?" asked the operator, noticing the desperation in her voice.

She told her the address quickly, and someone else was on the line. "What's your emergency?"

"My daughter, she's six and she's screaming that her head's hurting, she's got a fever of about 100, she's had bruises all over her body for days," rambled Ryan desperately. Suddenly, she heard a cry of horror.

"No- NO! ELLE! WAKE UP! NO!"

"She's passed out," said Ryan desperately. "Please, what do we do?!"

"I want you to get her lying down somewhere comfortable and just calm her down as much as you can," said the woman on the other end. "Pack some clothes, she may need to be there a while."

"Be... at the hospital?"

"Exactly."

"Okay. Do you need to stay on the line?"

"Yes, just in case she worsens before the ambulance can get to her."

Ryan went back into the room. Hunter's face was tearstained, and he kept kissing all over Elle's face, begging her to wake up. "Hunt, I need you to pack Elle's things. We might need to stay in the hospital a little while."