The Weight of Her

Shaun ran through the hospital frantically, nearly mauling down two nurses in the process. Good thing they were in a hospital. He only stopped dead in the front of Madison. He doubled over placing his hands on his knees for support as he tried to regain his breath. He then looked back up at Madison, still breathing out, but managing to pant out, “What happened? Where is she?”

Madison looked down at him, trying to remain calm herself. She could tell he had been sleeping; hair disheveled, sweat pants, a jacket thrown over his naked chest. In his disarray he didn’t think about what he was wearing. He just grabbed his jacket and keys and sped down to the hospital trying not to get arrested for being a maniac. “You look like a mess.” Madison stated, bending down to tie his shoes before they had another accident to deal with.

He glared down at her. She cleared her throat after tying his shoe and stood up, rubbing her hands against one another nervously. A trait both her and her sister, Kennadi, had in common. But right now Shaun wasn’t worried about his untied shoes, his concern lay with his girlfriend, Kennadi, who was somewhere in the hospital in critical condition or worse. He didn’t want to think of the worse. He pushed himself and looked at Madison. “Madison,” he said sternly, though the look in his eyes were sad and pleading.

Madison sighed. “She--” Madison’s voice cracked. “She was hit by a drunk driver and--” The tears began to well up in her eyes. “Oh god, I don’t even know, Shaun.” She began to sob. The tears began to glide down her cheeks as she put her hands over her face. Shaun hugged her, trying to provide some comfort for her. Madison pulled away after awhile. “The doctor says that she’s fractured her skull and that the bone pressed into the brain. She-she went into emergency surgery, but…” she trailed off with her voice cracking again.

“Madison,” He held her shoulders firmly, pleading with her to tell him her condition. “Is she okay?”

Madison shook her head slowly, with more tears falling. “She hasn’t woken up yet,” She took a shaky breath, willing herself to continue. “The doctors are worried she might have slipped into a coma.”

“Might have?” Shaun said, color draining from his face.

“They won’t know for sure unless she wakes up soon.” Madison looked at him. He fell into a nearby chair, not being able to support himself any longer. He rubbed his face, which still held the shocked expression.

This wasn’t suppose to happen. He had just won the Olympic gold medal for his country. Kennadi had been right beside his family cheering him on. Everything was perfect then. He had flown on to Japan afterwards, with Kennadi opting to stay behind. When he got in town again, he dreamt of spending most of his off time with her. And his flight had just landed a couple hours ago. He would go home, unpack and catch some much needed Z’s before going out to dinner with Kennadi. Now here he was at the hospital, with so many emotions running through his body.

Madison lightly touched his shoulders, interrupting his thoughts. He snapped his head up at her. Her face was tear-stricken, but she had stopped crying now. “She’s in that room,” she pointed to a door in the corner, secluded from the others. “303. Only one visitor at a time.”

“You should go see her,” Shaun said, barely audible, but she could still hear him.

“Go,” Madison protested, as Shaun shook his head. “I’ve already been in there. Go.”

Shaun looked from the door to Madison before nodding and walking to the door. He put his hand on the knob, hesitating to turn it. He turned to look at Madison who tried to give a small smile, but faltered. He took another shaky breath, and turned the knob to open the door.

He closed the door behind him quietly before looking at what laid in front of him. It didn’t make sense to him. Just a week ago, they had been laying in bed together, laughing about something stupid nonetheless. She had been so vibrant and full of life then. Now she was just the opposite.

She laid motionless in the generic hospital bed. The top of her head was heavily wrapped in bandages from where they had performed the surgery. The rest of her body was covered in either contusions or cleaned lacerations. The sight almost made him sick to his stomach.

He heaved a big breath and walked over to her. He pulled the chair by the bed up as close as he could get. He grabbed her cold hand and held in his calloused, warm hands with a small glimmer of hope that something would happen. But the beeping of the heart monitor stayed in his rhythmic motion. He looked at her beautiful face, but her eyes remained close. Finally he couldn’t hold it in any longer and he began to cry.