sleeping beauty ♕ mnz • EDITING

three

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⠀⠀⠀maddie

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⠀⠀⠀Everything after that happened quickly; I was removed from the street, taken to the hospital, and immediately treated for all most of my injuries. It turned out that I had two broken ribs, a minor concussion, and I needed stitches in my head, leg, and arm.

⠀⠀⠀I was lying in the hospital bed, gauze and bandages enveloped around me, and a doctor came into the room, clipboard in hand.

⠀⠀⠀"Madison Ziegler?" He questioned.

⠀⠀⠀"That would be me," I said with a sigh.

⠀⠀⠀"You have some visitors, and some news," he informed me. My mom and boyfriend came bursting through the door, both with red, puffy eyes.

⠀⠀⠀"Maddie," Levi stood at the door frozen into place, just staring at me.

⠀⠀⠀"Maddie, I was worried sick! You need to keep your eyes on the road, or else this wouldn't have happened. But I'm so glad you're okay, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you and Kenzie weren't... I don't even want to say it." My mom babbled on, probably not even understanding half the things she said, while I looked at Levi.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to our date, I was kind of caught in traffic," I said with a laugh.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm so glad you're okay," he said. He unfroze, coming closer to me. I hugged him with my decent arm, and he gladly hugged back.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry to break this up, but there's some news," the doctor said. "Maddie, you're not completely off the hook."

⠀⠀⠀"What do you mean? I already know I have to stay for stitches and my head," I said.

⠀⠀⠀"We're going to have to perform a few surgeries on you," he informed me.

⠀⠀⠀Great. I could barely deal with the IV, shots, and stitches- now I was getting not only one surgery, but multiple.

⠀⠀⠀"Why?" I asked.

⠀⠀⠀"When you fell out of the car, you damaged your knee and your spine. We're going to have to perform surgery on your spinal cords to relieve the pain, and try to fix it so you don't become paralyzed. You damaged your ACL when you landed on your knee, and you'll need surgery if you want to return to any physical activities," he continued. "There's one more thing." The doctor looked at his clipboard.

⠀⠀⠀Kenzie.

⠀⠀⠀We had both been placed in the ICU at first, but I had been to drugged by the medicine to notice her. When they took care of my major injuries, they moved me out into my own hospital room. But they had never moved Kenzie- she must've been really hurt.

⠀⠀⠀"Mackenzie hit her head hard during the crash. We're guessing that since the truck more towards the side of the car she was sitting in, the impact hit her hard and she must've fallen out of the car. That's why she was so far away from the crash and we were able to get her before Madison," the doctor explained.

⠀⠀⠀"She flew out of the car?" My mom stared at the doctor. "I-is she ok?"

⠀⠀⠀The doctor continued. "Mackenzie hit her head when she landed, and it caused serious trauma to the brain. The hit caused the brain to swell, and the fluid pushed up against the skull."

⠀⠀⠀"But is she okay?" I asked.

⠀⠀⠀"The head trauma and fluids damaged her Reticular Activating System, which is the part of the brain responsible for arousal and awareness. This caused a coma. We're doing everything we can, but this injury isn't always reversible. She may be stuck like this for a while," he finished.

⠀⠀⠀"Mackenzie is in a coma?" I slowly asked.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm afraid so," he answered.

⠀⠀⠀That's when everything became clear. Mackenzie was going to be gone for days, weeks, maybe even months. My mom began to sob once again, and even Levi cried- he and Mackenzie had been close.

⠀⠀⠀"I have to see her," I whispered.

⠀⠀⠀Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't think that's a good idea. You're hooked up to an IV, and if you move it can severely damage your ribs, knee, or spine." the doctor tried stopping me.

⠀⠀⠀"I have to see her," I said again.

⠀⠀⠀"Maddie, you heard him- when you get better you can see her.

⠀⠀⠀"Mom! The last thing I said to her was I wish she had never been born. I need to fix this," I cried out.

⠀⠀⠀"Maddie, please just-" Levi began, but I cut him off.

⠀⠀⠀"I have to see her." I ripped the tape off of my hand, wincing as I pulled off the IV. Ripping the blankets off, I limped down the hall as fast as I could.

⠀⠀⠀"Madison Ziegler, get back here!" My mom yelled for me as I ran down the hall, getting lost in the sea of people.

⠀⠀⠀I ran around the hospital, asking passing people where the ICU was. By the time I reached it, I was in tears from the pain in my knee and back, and from losing Kenzie.

⠀⠀⠀"Mackenzie," I whispered, out of breath. I slowly limped to where she was laying. I got closer, realizing I could barely recognize her.

⠀⠀⠀There were so many cuts and bruises on her face that I could barely recognize it, and there was a bandage on her head soaked with blood. All over her body there were more cuts and gashes, some major and some as small as paper cuts. Her makeup from the night before had been removed in an attempt to clean her face, her hair was all ratty, and her party outfit had been replaced with a hospital gown. She was hooked up to countless IVs, feeding tubes, and machines. Medical gauze was wrapped around a majority of her body, and her left wrist was in a cast. She no longer looked like the annoying but lovable little girl I called my sister.