Temporary

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^*Harper’s POV*^
As soon as I was knocked out, I expected everything to go black, but instead I was forced into a blinding white. It wasn’t light, it wasn’t a substance, it wasn’t anything, it was just blinding whiteness. I could move, I could walk, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was walking on. I wasn’t even in the elevator anymore; I was in something like a dream, but it was crystal clear.

“Harper, please don’t leave me.” I heard Zacky’s voice somewhere far off as it echoed around my head.

“Z-Zacky?” I called out, hoping someone would hear me; hoping anything would hear me. I spun around, in a circle as I felt as if someone was standing behind me. No one was there. “Zacky?!” I called a little louder, hoping that maybe his voice would come back and comfort me from whatever I was going through.

“I can’t believe she’s like this.” I heard Brian whisper from beside me. I snapped my head over, and the white faded into the walls of a hospital room, where Brian was sitting in a chair besides Zacky.

“Zacky.” I cried, and walked over to him to hug him, but he didn’t acknowledge me. It was like I wasn’t even there.

“She just…she can’t die, Brian, she can’t.” Zacky sobbed. “I don’t know what I’ll do w-without her. She’s my life.” He put his head in his hands, and Brian took a deep breath, clearing his throat and biting his lip.

“Sh-she’s a strong person, Zack, she’ll pull through and be back torturing us all in…in to time.” I could see tears welling in Brian’s eyes. I looked over to where he was looking in the hospital bed, and I realized what his and Zacky’s words meant. I was lying in the bed, beaten and scratched up. I looked back at Zacky as he freely cried, obviously not caring that Brian was in the room. Was I…was I in a coma?

“No.” I whispered in disbelief, shaking my head lightly. “Zacky,” I looked back at him. “I’m here, look!” I felt tears tugging at my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them out. “Zacky, I’m okay!” I willed him to hear me, I willed myself to scream louder. I grabbed his wrist, tugging a hand away from his face, but it wouldn’t budge. I didn’t have strength, I didn’t have any power of any kind of physical format. I felt something tugging me, nagging me in the back of my mind, and then I heard it, a flatline. I looked around to my body as Zacky and Brian shot up, and nurses rushed in, pushing them out of the room, and bringing out paddles. My hearing was fading, and someone yelled, ‘Clear’ and more things started to fade. ‘Clear’ I felt things rush towards me. ‘Clear’ all else faded away.

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^*Zacky’s POV*^
As I was pushed out of Harper’s room I could help but slam myself back against the wall, and prop my elbows on my knees as I grabbed my head, trying to get the spinning to stop. My world was in a down spiral, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. Parker was admitted maybe an hour ago. …She tried to kill herself, and I felt like I was going to try that next. Death seemed to be an easy option opposed to living on without Harper by my side. Especially with Matt being okay, since he wasn’t hurt hardly at all from the elevator crash that was now known all around Boston. There’s that damn counter weight again, sinking more and more into the black sludge of bad things; burying itself deeper and deeper inside my heart. Brian sat down next to me, it seemed he was in denial about Harper’s condition, but hell, everyone was besides me. Harper was already gone, somehow, I could feel it.

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^*Matt’s POV*^
I was barely conscious as I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling, Johnny was sitting over in the chair to keep me company. He was the only person that had even come in besides doctors and nurses.

“So she’s…she’s gone?” I asked, and Johnny sighed.

“Not exactly gone, she’s just in a coma.” His voice suddenly dropped. “One that she may not wake up from. Doctors say it will be a true miracle if she does wake up.” I could barely hear Johnny as he spoke. I felt my heart rip in two. I fucking felt it, the flesh tearing with each word, each sob and tear that threatened to rip through me. All of the stitches she had sewn in the elevator into my heart were snapping, one by one, leaving me a mess. Harper isn’t going to die. She just can’t. Not my Harper.

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^*Third Person’s POV*^
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^*APRIL*^
A month passed since Harper and Matt were in the elevator accident. Matt was allowed to be discharged from the hospital after two weeks of care. He was completely healed, except for the gaping hole in his heart. Zacky never left Harper’s bedside. He was scared, and worried, and he didn’t feel like living. Parker was okay, she was still in the hospital under suicide watch, but they allowed her to come up and see her sister whenever she liked. They told her she would be able to leave by the first of May. Though, no one was really leaving the hospital. No one could really continue living without their best friend.

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^*MAY*^
They tried to take Harper off of life support, the doctors were giving up on her ever waking, but Zacky threatened to kill them if they even thought about pulling the plug. He didn’t think she would wake up, but he had to keep some hope that maybe she would. Matt continued keeping check on Harper at night when Zacky would finally fall asleep, his feelings for her only growing stronger with the thought that she could slip away at any moment. Jimmy left every afternoon to go home and get some rest as Parker told him, but she never did. Parks stayed at the hospital, awaiting the news that Harper had woke up. Slowly, the thought that she would come to was leaving her mind. It was leaving everyone’s minds.

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^*JUNE*^
Things were looking down. Brian, Jimmy, Johnny, and Parker were beginning to return to what they assumed to be normal. Going about their daily activities while Harper still invaded their minds. Matt stayed at home, going into another one of his swings, where he never left except if he ran out of beer. Zacky was still waiting. Parker would bring him clean clothes every other day, and help him out the best she could, but he was still thinking she would wake up. He just knew she would, for him, at least. Dr. Watts was becoming more serious about taking Harper off of life support. To him she was nothing more than a corpse taking up a bed, but what he didn’t know was that to Zacky she wasn’t a corpse; she was his life support. He literally couldn’t go on and live without her.

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^*JULY*^
This was it. Month four, Parker convinced Zacky to leave. He didn’t want to, but he had to move on. It was what Harper would have wanted. So he left. Things began to return to more than normal. But it still wasn’t the same. Then, finally, with Parker’s consent, Dr. Watts took Harper off of life support. She was gone, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. But soon their worlds would be turned upside down. As a nurse wheeled Harper’s lifeless body down towards the morgue, suddenly the male nurse noticed something. Something under the sheet. He stopped in the quiet, nearly abandoned hallway, and stared at the moving corpse. The body under the sheet rose, and fell silently. She was breathing. The nurse hesitated before picking up Harper’s wrist, and faintly, but surely, under his fingers was a small heartbeat. She was still alive. Rushing as fast as he could, he paged Dr. Watts.

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“I don’t get it.” Dr. Watts stared at Harper O’Klimin as her breathing returned to normal as a nurse hooked her back up to heart monitors, and IVs. “She was dead, I was sure of it, she punctured a lung, and there’s no way in this world she could have breathed on her own.” He just stared in complete disbelief, having been paged from home and sped down here as fast as possible. He was still in his pajamas, only having been able to throw on his coat at the news.

“I thought she had the virus, but she doesn’t. If she did, she wouldn’t have had a heartbeat. I just…I’m just…” The male nurse Gavin just trailed off, recalling the moment in the hallway.

“Call Zachary, now, have him come up here.” Dr. Watts instructed the young man.

“But it’s nearly three AM he-”

“I don’t care, just get him up here now, along with her sister!” Dr. Watts demanded and Gavin nodded before darting out of the room. Watts sat down in one of the two chairs beside Harper’s bed, running a shaky hand through his graying hair. “There was just no way in the world she could’ve made such a recovery.” He breathed, and the nurse gave him a small smile as she finished setting the heart monitor.

“Maybe it wasn’t something in this world.” She said. “Maybe it was someone in another world. Maybe this was the answer to a prayer, maybe she wasn’t ready to go.”

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^*Zacky’s POV*^
I was woken up by the phone ringing.

“I fucking swear to god, Johnny, I am not going to kill another fucking spider for you.” Zacky growled into the phone.

“Mr. Baker, this is Gavin with Boston Medical Center,” I sat up straight at the news, already flinging cover off of me. “I’m sorry to disturb you at this hour, but Ms. O’Klimin has…come back.”

“I’m on my way right now.” I said quickly.

“Thank you.” He hung up. I was already at my closet, pulling on a pair of pants and a shirt, trying to button and zip my pants and not fall down the stairs. I slipped on an old pair sandals and ran out the door, sprinting over the lawn and to the car, only being able to button up a few buttons of my shirt before I sped off down the road, tires squealing, surely to wake up neighbors, but I didn’t care about them at the moment. Harper was alive, and okay. I couldn’t keep the grin off of my face. My world was spinning again, in the right direction now.

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Morning came, and I had been informed that she would wake up. Which sent me into hours of grinning like a fool. Parker had come and she was sitting beside me, giddy as fuck, grinning just like me. Our lives would return to complete normality again. Not we had begun to call normal, but our old normal. But maybe even better than that. I heard the door squeak open and I looked over to see Matt stepping into the room. We had…somewhat gotten closer to each other. I still didn’t forgive him for what he did to Harper, but I did realize that one, he was drunk off his ass, and second, he really would never hurt Harper intentionally.

“How is she?” He asked, leaning against the wall.

“The doctor said she should wake up anytime now.” Parker answered with a small smile.

“Are Brian and Johnny still out there?” I asked him, and he nodded.

“Johnny fell back asleep and Brian snuck him under the sink in the women’s restroom. So they’re fine.” Matt said, and I couldn’t help but smile at the thought. So if we hear a scream we shouldn’t worry. “Oh, and Parker, Jimmy just got here with Kellin.” Matt said, and Parker looked over at Harper, but then got up.

“I’ll be back in a few.” She said, looking at me, and I nodded as she walked past Matt and out of the room.

“I’ll be out in the waiting room if you need me.” Matt said, and I smiled a little and nodded as he turned and walked out. I looked over at Harper, and with each beep of the heart monitor I felt my heart lift some, and the weight on my shoulders disappear.

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Hours passed, but still Harper was unconscious, the doctor said it may take some time, since she her heartbeat was weak, and her body has been put through so much these past few months, so I waited by her bedside like I had for the past five months, still hoping that she’ll be okay.

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^*Matt’s POV*^
I lounged over two chairs in the waiting room, the darkness from outside filling the room since I had turned off the lights. Brian was still here, so was Parker. Jimmy had gone home to take care of Kellin, and Johnny had caught a ride with him, because he came with Brian, and Brian had fallen asleep, and wasn’t about to wake up just to drive short shit home. Parker and Brian were asleep on the other side of the room, and Brian had unconsciously wrapped his arm around Parker’s shoulder, and she had curled into his side. I could only imagine how Jimmy would react to the sight. I really missed Harper. I missed those nice little moments when she’d curl up in my side, wrapping her arms around me, and kissing my cheek. Those were the little moments I cherished the most with her, those little things that would mean nothing to most people, but meant everything to me. I had been without her for so long. But she forgave me in the elevator, and she…she said she loved me. For the first time since we got out of that Target Harper told me she loved me. I could only hope that it was true. She sounded sincere when she said it; like she really did mean it. She knows I love her, I tell her every chance I get, and it makes my heart flutter to know that she loves me too. I had waited for those words for much too long.

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^*Harper’s POV*^
I felt like I had been underwater, drowning without a chance of returning to the surface. I could hear words, for so long I could hear when Matt had come into my room, when everything was silent, and beg me to wake up, and tell me he loves me. I could hear when Zacky would whisper words in my ear, and I could feel his hand, gripping mine, and willing me to wake up, to give him some sign I was still here. I could hear when Parker finally convinced Zacky to get on with his life, and stop waiting around for me. Even though it hurt her, she told him that I would’ve wanted them to move on. But I wasn’t gone; I was here, more alive than I ever had been before. I couldn’t open my eyes, I couldn’t see, or move. It was like I was paralyzed, like something was holding me down to the bed. It hurt when Parker finally gave the doctor consent to take me off life support. But I had never even noticed I was breathing. I was here mentally, but not exactly physically. I blacked out at times, not being able to hear anything, but then a little while later it would come back. For months this went on until one day, I couldn’t hear anymore. Nothing at all, and my hearing stayed away for longer than ever, until finally, I could feel more than I had in a while, and I could open my eyes, and the first person they went to was Zacky. Taking time to adjust to the dark room, I could see him, over in the chair closet to my bed, curled up asleep.

“Z-Zacky.” I whispered, and reached my hand over to him, and I rested it on his hand. I felt weak, like every move that I made was draining more and more energy. “Zacky.” I continued, and then his eyes slowly cracked open, and the smile on his face was one that could light up a room.

“Harper.” He got up, and grabbed my hand, holding it tightly as a tear trailed down his cheek. “Oh god you’re okay. You’re awake.” He stated through a thick voice. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Everything’s going to be okay now.” He smiled, and I leaned back into my bed, and he hesitantly let go of my hand. “I’ll go get Dr. Watts, I’ll be right back.” He said, and I nodded as he ran out. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, and just as I was nearly slipping back asleep, I heard someone come in. I assumed it was Just Dr. Watts, so I didn’t stir, I just tried to get the tired feeling out of my body.

“Great…Zacky really is losing his fucking mind now. He’s seeing shit.” I heard a familiar voice mutter, and I looked over just as someone started to walk out.

“Zacky’s not gone that crazy yet.” I said, and the person stopped, their muscular frame almost blocking out all of the light from the hallway.

“Fuck, now I’m hearing shit.”

“Matt, get your ass over here and hug me.” I said, and Matt turned a smile growing on his face as he saw me. He walked over, and gently wrapped his arms around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder. “You didn’t give up on me.” I whispered.

“I never will give up on you. I’m just happy to see that you’re actually alive.” Matt pulled away and kissed my cheek.

“You seem to have made it out okay.” I said, and he looked at me strangely.

“You remember the crash?” He asked.

“Not exactly all of it. I didn’t hit my head that hard, Matt.” I said, and he nodded straightening up.

“Do you…do you remember what you said to me, when we were falling?” He asked, and I dug around in my head and remembered what I said. I smiled lightly when I did. I told him something that had been on my tongue for a while. They words that I would never take back, because no matter how badly I didn’t want them to be, they were true.

“I love you.” I said, and he smiled, and kissed my lips softly.

“I love you too.” He quickly pulled away as footsteps came towards the room, and sat down in the chair farthest away from my bed to give the doctor and nurses some room. As they came in, Zacky immediately went to my side, and held my hand as Dr. Watts checked my vitals, and then just shook his head, a look of disbelief on his face.

“It doesn’t make sense.” He stated, taking my chart from the nurse and looking over everything. “You felt through an elevator shaft, g-forces crushing the elevator, but somehow, Mr. Sanders survived, and you fell into a coma. But we took you off of life support, and you continued to breathe on your own, and somehow miraculously came out of the coma and…and…” He just trailed off as he talked almost silently to himself. “I don’t know how you made it, Ms. O’Klimin, but you did.” He said, and I looked over at Zacky and smiled. I knew what had kept me alive. It wasn’t the mechanical things hooked up to me to ‘keep me alive’, it was Zacky. I knew that for a fact. His words of comfort, and wills for me to wake up and live, and the thoughts in my head about what we can be, that’s what kept me alive. All I ever needed to stay alive was right beside me, loving me and caring for me every moment I was here, waiting patiently for me to wake up, and spring to life. All I ever needed anymore was Zacky, take away everything I have, just leave me with him, and I would be content. It’s amazing how the simplest things in life can do so much for a person.