When You Love Someone

Lanie Gaskarth had been simply speeding. There was no question about it. She knew the speed limit, and she simply didn't care as her foot pressed down harder on the gas pedal as tears continued to leak down her eyes.

She was lonely, that was all. She had been cooped up in her and her husbands house for months, looking after their seven year old son Colton, and their one year old son James. Meanwhile Alex was off getting drunk with the guys. He said that he was off at Jack's writing, but the one time he had actually answered his phone when his wife called, his voice was slurred and there were a ton of voices in the background.

She was sick and tired of him acting this way. He had a family to be at home with and yet, he was rarely ever there. So Lanie dropped her children off at her foster mothers and called her best friend Matt, making plans for the two of them to spend the night together, going out to a club. If Alex could go out with his friends, Lanie could too.

The 25 year old was wiping at her eyes when she stopped at a stop light. She hadn't even seen it coming. It was so sudden, the impact didn't even hurt her, even though it should have. The next thing she knew, it was as if she was staring from up above. She saw herself, her crumpled, bloodied body laying below on the street, pieces of her mangled car laying around her. She saw the paramedics working over her, pumping at her chest to keep her heart going, though Lanie felt none of this, it was as if it were happening to someone else, she was just an observer. They soon hauled her into an ambulance and drove off, their lights and sirens blaring as they rushed to the hospital.

Meanwhile Alex Gaskarth stumbled up his driveway, shaking his head to clear it a little before he had to face his most likely angry wife. As soon as he opened the door, he straightened up, even in his sober mind he felt that something was wrong. The house was quiet. The lamp beside the couch was on but that was it. The 30 year old made his way towards his sons rooms, finding them both empty, and his wife no where around.

"Lanie? Baby?" He called, checking around the rest of the house. He stood in the center of the living room, running a hand through his hair when he suddenly heart a phone ringing, making him jump. He found his wifes purse beside the door, her cell phone ringing. He then noticed that her car keys were gone. Her car must be gone from the driveway as well, he hadn't even noticed.

He pulled out the still ringing device to see "Matty flashing across the screen. Alex grumbled but pressed the green button anyway, figuring Matt would know the whereabouts of his wife.

"Lanie?" Matt questioned.

"No, this is Alex. Where is Lanie?" Alex questioned, not slurring as the disappearance of his wife sobered him up.

"She was supposed to be here with me but she never showed. She was supposed to be here like half an hour ago." Alex sighed and simply hung up the phone before grabbing his keys and rushing from the house towards his car. He began to drive in the direction of Matt's house, hoping to find her along the way. Maybe she had pulled over or turned around to go get her purse and phone.

What he found along the way instead was a black car blocking the road. It's drivers side was bashed in by a pick up truck that had run through the red light. Alex shuddered, not wanting to think of how bad of a condition the driver of the black car was surely to be in. That's when he saw it. The familiar All Time Low sticker in the back window and the small heart stickers that had been placed around the Honda symbol on the trunk by none other than his wife.

Alex was out of his car in seconds, running up to the emergency team that was starting to clear up the wrecked cars.

"Where is she?! Where is my wife?!" Alex screeched, looking around for anyone, anything that would indicate that his wife was okay.

"Sir?" One of the workers asked. "Who is your wife?"

"The driver of this car! WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?!" His voice cracked as he screamed as loudly as he could, his hands gripping at his hair. "Lanie..." He whimpered. "Dear lord. Please. Fuck! Where is she?!"

"Mercy General Hospital." The man said, making Alex quickly run back to his car. His tires screeched as he burned out, speeding around the wreck. His right hand fumbled with his phone as he drove. He opened up a new message and typed quickly, sending the message to three people.

Recipients: Jack; Matt; Kara
Lanie has been in a wreck. Mercy General.

Was all the message said and he turned his phone off, not wanting to see or hear anything else from anyone right now. He pulled up to the hospital and parked quickly, before he ran towards the emergency room exit. It was empty apart from the nurse sitting at the desk who stared up at him in alarm as he ran through the doors, his hair running wile from running his hands through it so much.

"Lanie Gaskarth. Where the fuck is she?" He questioned the stunned women.

"Sir. Who are you? Are you related to Mrs. Gaskarth?"

"I am her husband. Please... I need her. Just tell me... is she alive?" His voice was strained, tears welling up in his eyes. "Please." He stared into the nurses concerned brown eyes, which softened and he seemed to find his answer in them. He felt faint, he saw nothing but white; his head spinning. He collapsed to his knees making the nurse gasp and rush around her desk to kneel beside him.

"Sir. Mr. Gaskarth." The nurse called, making him look up at her. "I will take you back to her. She has not passed yet." Alex's breath stopped. She wasn't dead. Yet.

Alex stood up and shakily followed the nurse down a long and very bright hallway. His head was pounding and his face was wet with tears that he made no move to stop. He felt dread gripping at his heart, making each beat ache.

"In here." The nurse stopped in front of a closed door, turning to Alex to smile softly, her eyes full of compassion. She rubbed his arm before passing him and going back the way they came. Alex stared at the door for a few seconds, taking in a few deep breaths before pushing the door open.

He froze in his tracks, his breath catching in his throat. Before him was what once his wife. Her usual clean and perfectly kept blonde hair was matted and dark with blood, hanging in her face in dark tangles. Her face was bruised and covered in bruises. She had a white tube down her throat, making her chest move up and down with every breath. Her paper gown was spattered with blood. Every inch of skin Alex could see was black and purple, cuts and scrapes littered her skin, spatters of dried blood could be seen here and there. Her right wrist was in a white cast. Her right leg was elevated, a cast around it. The part of her left leg that stuck out from under the blanket was covered in a blood stained bandage.

Alex brought his hand up to his mouth as tears flowed from his eyes, a sob making its way past his lips. His wife was broken, truly and utterly broken. He made his way over slowly. He stared down into her closed eyes, willing them to open so he could look into her blue eyes but they didn't open, they didn't even twitch. Even as he gently took her left hand in his, she made no move to show that she even knew he was there.

The door behind him opened, making him turn, wiping at the tears as a doctor in a white lab coat walked in, his face crumpled into sympathy as he placed his eyes on Alex.

"You must be Mr. Gaskarth?" Alex nodded.

"My wife.... please..." Alex trailed off, more tears leaking from his eyes.

"She is in rough condition. I will be completely blunt with you right now, Mr Gaskarth... I don't think that she will make it through the night.. She has got four broken ribs, a severe concussion, a large laceration on her skull, a fractured femur, a fractured ulna, a very large laceration on her left calf, and she had some internal bleeding, which we were thankfully able to stop... for now. It does not look promising for her." The doctor explained. Alex felt himself shudder.

"She can't die.... We've been together for almost ten years.... I need her. Please. Do something. Anything. I don't care what the cost. Make her live." The doctor sighed and moved forward to place a comforting hand on Alex's shoulder.

"She is in a coma right now. We have done what we can for her injuries. Now it is just about her waking up. Which-"

"You don't think she will." Alex cut him off, looking back down at Lanie's bruised and battered face.

"No, Sir, I don't. It would be a miracle."

"Lanie and I have overcome so much, we make miracles happen. She will wake up... She has to." Alex whispered, rubbing Lanie's uninjured wrist.

"You are more than welcome to stay in here with her, Mr. Gaskarth. We will bring in a cot for you. If she does wake up, press the red button there," The doctor pointed to the red button above Lanie's bed, making Alex nod. "immediately. Our prayers are with her, sir." He gave Alex's shoulder one more pat before making his way towards the door. "I will be back in a few hours to check in." Alex just nodded as the doctor left, leaving him alone with Lanie.

Alex stared down at Lanie, feeling more tears rushing down his cheeks. He fell to his knees, burying his forehead into Lanie's wrist.

"Baby... if you can hear me... please.... wake up. You have to... You can't leave me... I know that I haven't been the best lately. I am sorry about that but please.... I'm so in love with you. I need you. Colton needs you. James needs you. We all need you. Wake up... please." Alex looked up back at her face, but she hadn't moved at all, made no recognition that she had heard him.

Again, Lanie was watching from above. She could hear and see everything happening to 'her' down below. It was such a strange sensation. She could see people touching her, but she felt none of it.

Am I dead? Am I ghost?

She asked herself. She couldn't be. She would have passed onto heaven, or whatever was after death. What if this was it though? What if this was the after world? Floating around in the world, never seen or heard by anyone, able to watch down on the ones you love.

As she heard Alex speak to her, she felt her eyes burn but no tears leaked out. She wasn't sure she could even cry, wasn't sure that was even possible.

She wanted to wake up. She wanted to comfort him. She saw him holding her hand, she concentrated all that she could on squeezing his hand back but the hand below that belonged to her never moved and Alex made no sign to show that she had changed at all.

Was this it? Was she stuck up here until the body down below died as well? Was this her soul floating around, already departed from the world? Already gone from Alex?