You've Made Your Bed

Charlie sat there in silence, she was hoping Dan would forget about his questions and just leave her alone for a while but he had to keep pushing the subject didn’t he? “Why Charlie?” Dan repeated.

“Because he was upset!”

“So he was upset and you decided to go and fuck him to cheer him up?” Dan snapped, Charlie sighed loudly, she hadn’t meant to put it in that context. It was at all like she had made it sound.

“No calm down Dan. Josh was upset, obviously Lauren had just gone into a coma, he was worried and I was worried, you were worried about your parents divorce and you were basically ignoring me. You didn’t care about me Dan” Charlie whimpered.

“Are you being serious Charlie?! I was going through a rough time for fuck sake! When i’m going through a rough spot I want you to be there for me, the last thing I want is you going off and fucking my friends”

“Dan. You said we could move on, you said you wouldn’t keep bringing this up!” Charlie argued, Dan let out a sour laugh and frowned at Charlie angrily. He raised from the bed and stormed over to the door.

“Yeah, I said that before I realised you cheated on me for a stupid reason” Dan said, with that he walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him. Charlie sat on the bed crying to herself, she really did love Dan – Josh said it would make Dan love her more, said Dan would forgive her instantly and apologise for neglecting her. He was wrong.

Lauren could hear everything that was going on, she could hear the conversations that the guys were having, she was just unable to move or respond. She wanted so badly to just open her eyes and happily leave the hospital so she could give Max a hug and tell him everything was fine.

She didn’t feel too much towards Josh right now.

She was pissed off.

She had listened in closely to Josh and Matts previous conversation and she was shocked at the way Josh had handled the situation. He was attention seeking and Lauren knew it, she just wanted so badly to stand up, give him a slap and tell him to grow up.

Matt and Max were currently in Matts room, they had just watched about a thousand DVDs and were waiting patiently for visiting hours at the hospital to start – today was going to be the day Max finally visited Lauren. Max wanted to get everything off his shoulders and he knew it was a good time to do it. He knew Lauren wasn’t getting better she only seemed to be getting worse, he knew that one day one of the hospital staff were going to tell them it was time to take her off life support.

When that day came, he wanted to know he was sending Lauren off with all the love in the world.

“We should probably leave then” Matt told Max, the younger boy nodded in response and pulled his shoes on. Max was nervous, he wasn’t sure why but he was. The pair got into Matt’s car and drove in silence to the hospital. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence either. Both of them needed silence to think about what was about to happen. “We’re here” Matt said, waking Max up from his thoughts, Max nodded and climbed out the door.

The two of them paced towards the hospital, they’d both been here before and therefore knew that Laurens room was straight down the corridor, up the first two flights of stairs, down the left corridor and then the last door on the right. They stopped outside the door as if fighting in their minds whether they should do this.

Eventually Matt pushed the door open and walked in with Max following him. Matt stood at the door staring at Laurens body while Max tip toed over to the bed and perched himself in the small black seat. “Lauren” Max breathed, his hand moved from his body to grab her smaller hand.

Matt shifted uncomfortably from the door, “Do you want me to wait outside while you speak to her?” Matt asked. Max turned around with a grateful smile on his face.

“Please”

“Call me in once you’re done. Good luck man” Matt smiled, Max muttered a small bye before turning back to the blonde on the bed. To Max, Lauren looked stunning and perfect in everyway, her hair hadn’t been straightened and was naturally curly, she wasn’t wearing any makeup but her face was so clear and beautiful. He wanted her to wakeup just so he could tell her how amazing she was.

“You’re beautiful Lauren” Max whispered, his eyes cast downwards. He started to run his thumb over Laurens palm, he wasn’t sure why he was doing it, but he felt that if he done it long enough Lauren would wake up and happily take him back.
Lauren smiled on the inside at that, not like she could smile on the outside.

“Well... Matt came and spoke to me earlier, he comforted me, he helped me” Max told Lauren, he wasn’t sure why he was telling her this, but he felt as though he had too, “He apologised for the way he was acting and said he’d been a bad friend”.
Lauren wanted so badly to get up and hug Max. And Matt.

Everytime Max told Lauren something he started to break down more and more on the inside. Just telling her things and not getting a reply back was becoming too much for him to handle. “Why won’t you wake up?” Max choked out, he was finally ready to get it all out, to tell Lauren how he felt. He thought she couldn’t hear him but she was listening to him the whole time.

“I wish you were here to tell me everything was going to be alright Lauren. I don’t think I can handle this anymore, I just want you back in my arms. I need to kiss you, to tell you I love you. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you” Max whispered, “I hope you’re fine and you pull through. Please pull through Lauren”.

Lauren listened to everything Max was saying. Them words had motivated her more then anything to try and make everything okay. She was desperately trying to make her body move or just breathe on its own. But nothing was working.

“Please wake up” Max cried, he was now sobbing harshly. Laurens heart was breaking more and more as she listened to Max finally tell her everything she’d wanted to hear for ages. After realising she wasn’t going to wake up Max stood from the bed and walked towards the door, he placed his hand on the door handle and then turned around once more to glance at Lauren, “I love you so much”.

Max walked out of the door and into Matts arms, he held on tightly while he cried harder and harder. Max wasn’t stupid, he knew Lauren wasn’t going to pull through this unless for some reason a miracle happened. Nothing ever went right for Max. “It’s going to be okay, she wouldn’t want you to be upset” Matt whispered, just then a doctor came walking down the hall with a clipboard in his hand, he was walking quickly and glancing at his clipboard every once in a while.

He slowed down when he reached Max and Matt, “Hello, I’m Dr. Carlson” the doctor introduced, he held his hand out to the two men so he could shake their hands. “As you’ve noticed there is no change in Laurens health, if any change, she’s getting worse” the doctor explained, the two boys nodded knowing where this was going. “We wanted to know whether you are ready to take her off life support or not”.

Max and Matt wanted to break down, but they knew it was selfish of them to keep Lauren on life support if there was no chance of her pulling through. “Okay” Max whispered weakly, Matt turned to look at him and nodded his head in agreement.

“Okay, we need you to phone her husband and bring him in so he’s able to sign the papers and give us permission” the doctor said, Max and Matt frowned at one another, they both knew Josh wouldn’t sign them papers.

“We’ll go phone him”

Max and Matt walked outside the hospital, Max pulled his phone out his pocket and called Josh’s number putting it on the speaker setting. “What?” Josh snapped, Max sighed heavily, he couldn’t be dealing with this right now.

“We need you to come to the hospital, we need to talk about something”

“Is Lauren okay?” Josh asked quickly, Matt muttered a yes in response. “I was on my way anyway, I’ll be there in a couple of seconds” Josh replied. Max hung up and a couple of minutes later Josh was pulling up outside the hospital, he got out his car and locked the door before walking over to the two of them, “What’s wrong?”.

“We need you to sign some papers” Matt said, he was trying to go around the actual subject of life support.

“For what?”

“We spoke to the doctors, they say there’s a small chance of Lauren pulling through” Max whispered, he took a deep breath before finishing, “we all think it’s time to take her off life support”. Josh frowned angrily at the two boys in front of him, he let out a sour laugh and then stormed inside the hospital and towards the front desk asking for a doctor to come out and speak to him. For the next hour the doctors, Matt and Max tried to convince Josh it was best for Lauren if she was finally taken off life support.

“FINE!” Josh screamed sick of everyone nagging at him, “You think it’s best for her? Hand the papers over and i’ll sign them, but don’t you dare mention her ever again”. Josh was holding all of his tears in, he was trying to appear strong on the outside, but inside he was crumbling to pieces. He was handed the papers, he quickly signed them and threw them in Matts face before leaving the hospital quickly.

Matt and Max followed the doctor to Laurens hospital room, as soon as Max laid eyes on her he wanted to change his mind, he didn’t care if he was being selfish, he couldn’t handle not seeing her face ever again. Matt had never wanted to take her off life support, the only thing allowing him to do it was Lauren, he didn’t want her stuck in bed any longer, he wanted her to be free.

The doctor started to mess around with the tubes before walking over to the machine next to Laurens hospital bed. “Are you ready?” the doctor asked, he made it sound like a ride.

“No” Max whispered quietly, the doctor pretending now to hear him and pulled the switch which slowly turned Laurens life support off. Her pulse gradually went down until she had no pulse, the machine let out a dull buzzing sound which pronounced Lauren as dead. “She’s gone” Max whispered, he slid down the wall and laid his head on his knees.

“Lauren” Matt cried, he crouched down next to the bed and ran his fingers through Laurens hair, “I don’t want to say goodbye”. Max crawled towards the bed and grasped the sheets using them to pull himself up so he was level with Lauren. Deciding quickly in his mind he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers one last time. Her lips were freezing which shocked him, but he still didn’t pull away. He cupped her cheeks in his palms and pushed a little harder. Once he pulled away he laid his forehead against hers.

“I love you so much. Rest in peace sweetheart” Max whispered, he ran his finger across her jaw before moving away from her completely. Max rid of his tears with the back of his sleeve before leaving the room, Matt turned to Lauren, he kissed his fingers and then pressed them to her lips.

“See you soon darling”