Darling, What Is Going On?

***Back at Annabelle's, 6pm***

Mr. Radke, Max, and my mom and I all sat in the family room, watching the 6 o' clock news, waiting for a report on Ronnie's missing. It wasn't until 10 minutes after the news started, that the report finally came up.

But it wasn't stating that he was missing.

"A teenage boy was found unconscious just now in North Las Vegas by a city diner by an elderly couple. He is being rushed to the North Vista Hospital as we speak. He has long black hair, was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and had a large tattoo on his neck. No word on his condition yet."

"OH MY GOD!" Mr. Radke exclaimed, grabbing his car keys off the coffee table in front of us and started putting his shoes on. Max and I gasped and ran out to Mr. Radke's car, along with my mom. We both got in the backseat while Mr. Radke and my mom got in the front, and we were soon racing to the hospital.

I looked up at Max and saw him silently crying, looking out the window and away from me. I wrapped my arms around him the best I could and hugged him gently. He sniffled and looked down at me, smiling slightly and hugged me back, kissing the top of my head.

"He'll be fine, I promise." I whispered in his ear, nuzzling my face into his neck.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, babe." He whispered back, making me look up.

"I can almost guarantee he'll be fine, he's a fighter, I know it." I whispered reassuringly, and smiled when he smiled slightly at me.

We pulled into a parking spot at the hospital and rushed inside, Mr. Radke going straight to the reception desk. He talked to the lady at the desk, and she told us what room he was in. We walked to the room and saw that the door was closed, but through the little window in the door we saw that 4 doctors were hovering over him. He looked deathly pale, and had a few things hooked up to him. It was enough to make me start crying, though.

"This is all my fault!" I wailed, sitting in one of the chairs outside the room and crying in my hands. Max sat next to me and wrapped an arm around me, hugging me and trying to shush me.

"Dear, it's not your fault...." Mr. Radke started again, but I shook my head and sobbed.

"He's in there because of me!" I cried, with no stopping in sight anytime soon.

"Excuse me, but could you keep it down?!" One doctor whisper-yelled as she came out of Ronnie's room, glaring at me. I glared right back at the bitch and stood up.

"I'm sorry, it's just that my friend is in that room right now and I don't fucking know if he's alive or not!!" I whisper-yelled back to her, tears flowing down my cheeks. Max wrapped his arms around my waist and gently pulled me back down.

"Okay, what are you all to him in there?" The doctor asked.

"I'm his father, look, I just need to know what's going on with my son!" Mr. Radke said desperately. The doctor sighed and looked at her clipboard.

"Well, it appears your son is in a drug-induced coma, as you can see the doctors pumping his stomach right now. We honestly don't know his chances of survival yet..." She said, writing something down on the clipboard.

Mr. Radke looked absolutely heartbroken when the doc said, "drug-induced coma". He simply nodded and sat back down.

"Now, who are you guys to him?" The doctor asked.

"We're both his best friends, and she's my mom......she just cares a lot about Ronnie in there..." I said, and the doctor nodded, writing some more information down. Then she asked Mr. Radke for information about Ronnie, so we all just sat there and stared off.

"Okay, well in a little while we'll tell you guys how Ronnie's doing. It'll probably take a little less then 2 hours to find out what his survival rate is, so under two hours for all of the information." The doctor said. We thanked her and she walked back into Ronnie's room, leaving us sitting there, waiting to hear what was going to be Ronnie's chances.

***

*2 hours later*

"Mr. Radke?" Another doctor, this one a guy, said stepping out of Ronnie's room. We saw them pump Ronnie's stomach, inject things into his arms, all sorts of stuff.

"Yes?" Mr. Radke said, his head looking up at the doctor.

"You're son has, I'm sorry to say, a 50/50 chance of survival. We honestly can say that we don't know if he will make it or not; it depends on how the injections we gave him work and if we pumped the drugs out of his stomach in time." He said sadly. I heard Max whisper, "No" to himself a few times, and it felt like someone was stomping on my heart.

"Okay..." Mr. Radke said quietly.

"You can go in there and see him if you'd like; he's still in the coma, of course. Oh, and only two people at a time." The doctor said. We thanked him and he walked off.

"Okay, so who's going in?" Max asked quietly. I stood up, along with Mr. Radke, and mom and Max nodded.

"Ronnie..." I whispered as we walked in. I walked up to Ronnie's painfully still body slowly, my heart racing. I felt more tears slip down my cheeks as I sat in the chair next to his body, and his dad did the same on the other side of him.

"Why, son? Why drugs?" He asked quietly, looking at his baby boy laying on a hospital bed, hooked up to two different machines and as pale as a ghost. I let Mr. Radke just talk to Ronnie while I looked at him, wishing his eyes would flutter open and he would be alright. But wishes don't always come true, as we all know.

"I'll let you talk to him alone for a few......" Mr. Radke whispered, getting up. I quietly thanked him, and he nodded, smiling sadly at me before walking out and closing the door behind him. I sighed, looking down at Ronnie's perfect, beautiful face; sure, maybe it wasn't perfect in someone else's eyes, but to me, it was most certainly perfect.

"Ronnie Radke, you are making me cry more then ever today." I said quietly, laughing a little as I ran my fingers through his hair. "And when was the last time you washed your hair?" I giggled, leaning down and kissing his forehead over and over again. I kissed all over his face; his cheeks, his nose, his chin, everywhere but his lips.

"Please wake up, Ronnie. No matter how annoying you are sometimes, or how nasty of a mind you have, I miss you more then anything. I wanna hear your voice again, I wanna see your eyes again, I just want you....to be okay, Ronnie." I choked up at the end, kissing the tip of his nose again. I sat there, just running my fingers through his hair for a few minutes before I decided to stop hogging Ronnie and let the others have some time with him as well. I stood up and grabbed Ronnie's hand, holding it in mine. His hand was cold, while mind was warm.

"Ronnie, I know we haven't known each other for very long.....hell, not even more than a week, but..........I love you, Ronnie. And it's not just because of the situation at hand right now; I love you. I'm willing to give us a chance when you wake up..." I wanted to keep myself thinking positive; there was no way I would've said, "if".

"I'm willing to be your girlfriend, Ronnie. I really am. But what I want is for you to just wake up, and feel better. That, and I want you to know that I, Annabelle Julienne Barone, love you Ronald Joseph Radke. I honestly love you."

I leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his icy cold, dry lips, wishing they were the warm, soft ones I had kissed yesterday. I pulled away and sighed when I saw that his eyes were still closed, a stray tear sliding down my cheek. I laid his hand to his side after kissing it too, and walked out of the hospital room and into the waiting room. Mr. Radke and Max walked in, leaving me and my mom together. She immediately wrapped her arms around me in a hug and I started crying.

"I heard what you said to Ronnie, sweetie......" She said, sounding like she was smiling. I looked up and she was, and I sniffled, smiling slightly myself.

"I just wish he'd wake up so maybe I could hear him say it back to me......" I said quietly, and cried harder when she hugged me tighter.

All I wanted was for Ronnie to wake up...

I don't know if I'd ever get that wish granted, though.