The Disappearance of Taylor

Chapter 13

Cole waited alone silently in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for news of his injured friend Taylor. Some hours went by and still, nothing was heard. The doctor had promised him that she'd alert him once they got results from the tests on her. Cole sighed. He needed to leave if the doctor was not going to keep her word. Slowly, he stood up and it was then that he saw the doctor come around the corner.

"How is she?" he asked immediately.

"She's woken up, but she's in a lot of pain. Pain meds aren't working, but we'll keep looking to see if something's wrong with her. In the meantime, she can barely talk or move or even breathe, but she's somehow asked to see you. Come with me."

Cole followed the doctor down a long hallway to a door that was labeled 'Room 166.'

The doctor opened the door and motioned for him to go inside. Cole entered the room and the doctor closed the door behind him.

"Oh, Taylor," he murmured.

His friend was lying stiffly on the hospital bed with her eyes wide in pain. Cole could see deep stitches on her side and on the other places that she had been hurt. She tried to turn her head when Cole approached her, but Cole could clearly see that the movement was hurting her.

"Cole," she croaked as if her throat had been torn out by vicious claws.

"Taylor." He sat down on the bed.

"Cole." She struggled to breathe for a moment. Cole sucked in a breath.

"I- I-"

"Cole, it's fine."

Taylor took another struggled breath.

"You... do know I will... never be fully healed, right?"

Cole's heart tightened when he realized the doctor had never told him that. He glanced at the doctor hopefully, but the nod she gave him told him more than he needed. "No..."

"Not never." The doctor quickly corrected herself. "But she won't be able to leave the hospital for at least for a few years."

"Years?!?!" Cole couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Shh, you'll disturb other patients in the hospital."

"Sorry. Oh my God, Taylor." Cole knelt down next to Taylor's bed and put one hand on hers. "I'll come visit you every day."

"Except on the days we need to do the tests."

"What tests, Taylor?"

"There are tests that they do to me to make sure I can still hold my own once a week. It might seem scary to you."

Cole shook his head. "I'll come every day of I can."

For the first time since her incident, Taylor smiled.

"Oh." Cole couldn't bear to look at her smiling face. So beautiful, but barely alive.

"I'll be alright, Cole," she whispered as he started to leave. "And Cole?"

He turned around. "Yeah?"

Taylor swallowed uncomfortably. "The doctor said that there is a chance that I might not survive this. But, I want you to know that... I love you, Cole."

Cole stared at her as she leaned back and sighed as she closed her eyes. He left the hospital, but stared back at it wistfully as he went up to the Animarium.