The Green Girl ✓

Waiting

Caden POV

Ten hours.

That is how long it’s been since Alice got shot, Morgan found her, called the ambulance and then me.

Just ten.

But they seemed like eternity to me and the others who eagerly awaited even a brief update from the medical staff.

We were the only ones in the waiting room right now. It was a recently built and relatively secluded premises as it was at the very end of one of the hospital corridors. It was so small that we took pretty much all the space there.

I looked at my companions: each expressed the same mix of anxiety and desperation that I felt. All of us – Keegan, Asher, Alice’s three aunts and I, came as soon as we could, arriving just after the girl was brought here. Morgan, who had traveled in the ambulance, narrated to us all she knew about what had happened… But there wasn’t much to tell. She had gone to the Greens’ house, found the front door wide open and went inside. Once she couldn’t locate anyone on the first floor, she’d gone upstairs.

And that was where she’d discovered Alice lying on the floor, bleeding.

I let out a shaky breath and let my head drop down again. I was currently sitting on one of the plastic chairs, my body slumped, my mind overtaken by grim thoughts.

What if Alice didn’t make it?

What if I lost her?

I didn’t know exactly what had happened but right now I didn’t care. All I could think was Alice’s current state and all I could do was pray.

And I wasn’t even religious.

“How is she?” Two laced with desperation voices rang as one, making me tilt my head up in search of their sources. The Miller twins rushed our way, panic written all over their faces. Asher met Beth halfway, pulling her into a tight embrace.

“Where’s Alice? How is she?” The girl’s cry came out muffled by her boyfriend’s chest.

“She is out of the ER now,” my friend replied, gently stroking his girlfriend’s back. “The doctors said she was stable but… The effects from the anesthetic should be gone by now, but she’s not awake yet.”

“What does that mean?” Skyler’s raised tone was cracking. “She’s gonna wake up, right? What does that mean?”

“We don’t know, man,” Keegan replied quietly, putting his hand on Sky’s shoulder.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” The other boy bellowed, roughly pushing Kee’s arm away. “How can you not know?”

“Nobody has told us anything yet, Skyler, just that… just…” Rose apprised, trying to sound calm.

“Just that she should wake up soon,” Flora continued her older sister’s sentence.

“And if she doesn’t?” Sky queried in a small voice.

None of us replied him.

None of us knew what to say.

“Oh, God!” Beth cried out and tears poured down her face. Asher did his best to sooth her, but he was a mess himself.

The sound of high heels reached our ears and all heads snapped in its direction.

A tall, slender woman at about my mother’s age hastily approached us. I’d never seen her before in my life, but I could tell straight away she was a Green. The features on her face seemed somewhat familiar; her hair, which was styled in a tight bun, was brown; her eyes were green, the same shade and shape as Alice’s, but cold and empty… I didn’t need an introduction to know who she was.