Pictures Of You

Chapter 17

Karma felt as though everything was moving in slow motion. She walked into the hospital, hysterically looking for anyone who could take her to Amy. After what felt like an eternity, Karma found Farrah standing by a row of chairs, crying.

"Oh Karma." Farrah cried, as she gave Karma a hug.

Karma barely hugged Farrah back, desperate to see Amy. Karma followed Shane's gaze to the room directly in front of them. Through the small mirror in the door, Karma saw Amy lying on a bed with an oxygen mask on her face.

Karma couldn't understand any of what was going on, she just looked around, confused, helpless, hurting. She didn't even realize when Shane started talking to her.

"It happened when she and Regan were coming back from dinner at Amy's dad's house. They collided with a truck. Regan's in the other room, getting stitched up." Shane said.

Karma nodded, barely understanding what Shane had just said to her. Karma felt as though her whole world was collapsing around her. She couldn't get the picture of Amy lying on that bed, out of her head.

After a couple of moments, as Karma began to regain some control of her senses, she turned to Shane.

"What did the doctor say?" Karma asked, tears rapidly falling down her face.

Shane took a deep breath. "Amy's in a coma. She suffered severe damage to her head."

"When will she wake up?" Karma asked, a load forming on her chest.

"They don't know." Shane said.

"How can they not know? She's going to wake up right?" Karma asked going hysterical.

Shane didn't say anything; he just put his arm around Karma. Karma put her head on Shane's shoulder and cried, she didn't know what else to do. Her best friend was in a coma and no one knew if she was going to wake up. How was Karma supposed to react to that? Karma felt as though she herself had gone into a coma, hoping somehow that this wasn't reality.

Regan walked out of the examination room after about half an hour. She looked like hell, her mascara had spread all over her face from all the crying she'd been doing. There were stiches on her forehead and she'd fractured her left arm.

Karma didn't notice Regan, until she came and sat down next to her.

"I'm so sorry. I just.. I looked away for a second." Regan said, turning to look at Karma, somehow feeling like she owed Karma an explanation.

"This is your fault!" Karma said, turning to look at Regan.

"Karma!" Shane said, trying to stop Karma from saying anything more.

"No, it is. If she'd just looked at the road, the way she was suppose to, Amy would've been fine." Karma said.

"Karma! This is no one's fault." Shane said.

"No Shane, she's right. It's my fault. It's my fault that we got into that accident and it's my fault that Amy's not okay." Regan said, tears falling down her cheeks.

"No, it's not. It was an accident, this could've happened to anyone." Shane said.

Regan got up left, not saying a word to anyone. She needed some air, some time to process all that had happened.

"I know you're scared and hurt, we all are but putting the blame on her isn't going to help. She's scared too, Amy's someone to her too." Shane said to Karma, once Regan had left.

"No one understands, none of this was suppose to happen. Amy was supposed to just come back home. She was supposed to call me and vent about that dinner. That was all that was suppose to happen." Karma said, starting to cry again.

"Amy is going to be okay." Shane said, putting an arm around Karma.

"We don't know that, what if she's not. What if she never wakes up?" Karma said, putting her head on Shane's shoulder.

"Don't think like that, she's going to be okay. She has to be." Shane said, a lump forming in his throat.

Shane and Karma stayed like that for a while, until Farrah came to see them.

"Karma?" Farrah said.

"Yeah." Karma said, lifting her head from Shane's shoulder.

"Do you want to go see her?" Farrah asked, between sobs.

"Yeah." Karma said, fresh tears falling from her eyes.

Farrah led Karma to Amy's room. Karma stood outside the door for a couple of moments, just looking at Amy from the outside. She couldn't deal with this, any of this. This is what her worst nightmares were made of.

Karma slowly opened the door and took a seat next to Amy. Seeing Amy up close like that, made Karma cry even more.

Karma slowly reached for Amy's hand.

"Hey. I know that you were worried about the dinner but it couldn't have been that bad. And I know that you're dying to tell me all about it, so why don't you just wake up now and we can talk about it over some ice cream." Karma said, through the tears.

Karma stared at Amy for a couple of moments.

"Come on Amy, please wake up. I can't do this without you, okay? I just can't. You need to be okay because we all need you. I need you." Karma said, holding Amy's hand.

Karma just stayed there for as long as she could, holding Amy's hand, waiting for something, anything to tell her that Amy was still here.

Karma came out of the room to find only Regan sitting outside.

"Lauren and Farrah are getting us some coffees and everyone else went home to get some sleep." Regan said.

Karma didn't say anything for a moment and took a seat next to Regan.

"I'm sorry." Karma said, looking over at Regan.

"I know." Regan said.

"I'm just so scared that she won't wake up." Karma said.

"I know, I am too. I just keep pushing that thought away because it just feels too horrible." Regan said, tears falling down her cheeks.

"I want you to know that this, in no way is your fault." Karma said, holding Regan's hand.

Karma and Regan exchanged a reassuring look, tears falling down both their cheeks as they waited for their Amy to come back to them.