Suicide, Skittles and Skates [✓]

Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

"And then we'll carry out an assessment using the GCS like my colleague explained to you ma'am but you should note that over 90% of patients with head injuries are perfectly fine within 48 hours and–,"

Alex wasn't paying attention to the doctor droning on, in fact he wasn't paying attention to anything around him other than Kalila lying on the bed in front of him; her face pale, eyes closed and a bandage around the back of her head. It was almost evening and she still hadn't woken.

He had been in his English class when Melissa had burst through the door, her eyes wide in fear and her hands red causing everyone to look up from the test they were doing. "Alex!" She panted, having run from the other side of the school. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I – it was an accident I swear! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she rambled, guilt evident on her face.

Realizing it was blood that was streaked on her hands, he had yelped and jumped up. "What happened?!"

Her face had paled even more and when she'd muttered Kalila's name, he felt his heart sink as he ran out of the door to find her. She was being carried out in an ambulance and all he could feel was the twist of his gut in fear but he managed to control himself enough to force a paramedic to let him go with her. 'She'll be okay, she'll be okay,' he had chanted to himself the entire journey.

He'd almost thrown up from the sheer panic of being in a hospital again but had managed to hold it together somehow. The last time he'd been in one, it was as a patient after the car accident and the memories wouldn't stop swirling in his mind.

"My sister," I managed to croak out when I gained consciousness and realized where I was from the white ceiling. "Where's my sister?"

The nurse winced a little as she cleaned all the cuts on my side made by the shattered windshield but stayed silent. She didn't need to say anything though, the answer was in her the way she kept her eyes of my face.

"The doctor will come to see you soon," she said as she stood up and picked up the blood pressure kit and walked away. Before she left, she turned around and looked me straight at me. Her eyes were a green-grey colour, light and full of empathy. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she left me all alone.

Alone.

Alex was thinking back to the day he woke to find his sister was dead and hadn't really been listening properly to the doctor talking to Kalila's mum. He did however, manage to catch some of what she was saying. "What's the GCS?" he asked, his eyes not once leaving his girlfriend.

The doctor – a frazzled looking Indian woman – pursed her mouth at being cut off but explained. "The Glasgow Coma Scale is a scale from 3 to 15 that the NHS uses to identify any brain injuries, with 3 being the most severe and 15 the least. Once Kalila here wakes up, we'll check her verbal responses, physical reflexes and how difficult it is for her to open her eyes and then–,"

Alex couldn't help tuning out. It was rather warm in the ward, a nice change from the usual harsh winter weather, and his body felt tense. He tugged on his shirt sticking to his body and kicked his school bag under the chair he was seated on. He had shoved everything in his bag as he was running out of his lesson and hadn't thought about it since then. It had been about eight hours and he was exhausted so he closed his eyes for a minute.

The doctor was interrupted again but this time from a small sigh as Alex curled up on the chair and fell asleep.

---

Everything was dark.

There weren't even any shadows or a hint of light; only pure blankness and a throbbing. She tried to call out and run but found she couldn't move anything. Kalila tried to remember what had happened but her mind was a fog, she felt as though she was spinning in circles and couldn't bear the fact that she couldn't see.