Shattered Glass & Broken Hearts

Emily’s hospital room was eerily silent as Max sat in the chair positioned at the end of her bed, hands folded across his lap and eyes half-closed as he listened to the semi-constant beep…beep…beep of her heart rate monitor. After he’d left the hospital the night before, his parents and the doctors had signed the final paperwork that put his sister—his own flesh and blood—into a medical coma. It wasn’t something he was happy with but in the end, he’d realized that no matter how he felt about it, he needed to be there for her. Emily needed him right now, needed to know that she was still cared for and loved even if that jackass of a boyfriend of hers had skipped town already.

Max didn’t understand what Ronnie, one of his best friends, had been thinking when he’d driven the car drunk in the first place. It was true that Ronnie wasn’t one to make brilliant decisions, but he’d never been stupid enough to drive drunk before, and especially not with Emily. As much as Max had never liked the fact that his sister and best friend were dating, he had always been able to say that at least Ronnie loved Emily enough to act safely around her.

That had all gone out the goddamn door on Halloween, though, and there was no denying the anger and betrayal that Max felt. To say he felt like he’d been stabbed in the back wasn’t nearly enough.

Max had trusted Ronnie with Emily. He’d given his okay, even though he’d known it wasn’t necessary or even really worth anything since Ronnie had problems with authority. But he’d been willing, for Emily’s sake, to try and be okay with their relationship. And Ronnie had promised Max—he’d fucking promised—to take care of Emily. It was all Max had ever asked and what had happened?

Emily’s almost dead. That’s what, the thought formed darkly in his mind before he narrowed his eyes when he saw movement at the door of her hospital room. He turned his head just enough to see that it was a nurse glancing in, making sure Emily’s vitals were alright before she flitted her way to the next room.

“Em, I’m so sorry,” Max whispered as he looked at his sister once again.

She looked almost peaceful, with her eyes closed. The black eyes were still pretty bad, but they seemed to be slowly healing. Either that, or it was just the freak fluorescent light in the room. And the doctors said her brain activity was normal, too. It appeared that though she’d gone through significant trauma to her brain, she wasn’t going to be challenged mentally or anything once she finally pulled through. That, at least, was a relief to Max. He’d been so terrified that she wouldn’t be the sister she had always been to him. Knowing the doctors thought she was going to make it out alright was definitely something that eased his mind about the coma.

“Max?”

He looked up when he heard a familiar voice. It was a friend of his, Robert. They were in a band together, and Ronnie was in on it too. Or at least, he had been before Halloween night. As far as Max was concerned, there was no fucking way that Ronnie was going to be in the band now. Not after what he’d done to Emily.

Max didn’t say anything, just turned his head to look back at Emily. He felt as if she was going to fade away into death if he didn’t keep constant vigil on her now, and he’d be damned if he let that happen. He wasn’t about to lose Emily, not because of something that hadn’t been her fault.

“She’s gonna be okay, right?” Robert murmured quietly.

Max just shrugged. “They don’t know. The doctor said putting her in the coma would help, but that she’s going to have a permanent limp because of this and that she’s gonna have lots of scars. She’s just seventeen, Rob. Why…Why’d this have to happen to her? Why didn’t Ronnie fucking fly through the window?”

He knew he was coming off as vengeful and that blaming his best friend for this wasn’t the thing to do, but Max didn’t really give a good goddamn. If he had to choose between Ronnie and his own flesh and blood, Emily would certainly win. She was, after all, his sister. Nothing would ever change that.

“You don’t really mean that, do you?” Robert asked as he walked over, leaning up against the wall before he sighed. “I know Ronnie feels fucking terrible. You do too.”

“If he felt anything for her, he’d have stayed,” Max snapped, his eyes narrowing and hands clenching into tight fists.

“Guilt drives people to do crazy things sometimes,” Robert noted. “You should give him a chance to explain why he left and why he’s not planning on coming back. You know where he went, right?”

“Of course I do. He’s in fucking Pahrump. As if he doesn’t think I’d be able to find him and kick his ass or some shit,” Max snorted angrily.

Robert just sighed, not saying a word as he let Max have his temper tantrum. He didn’t know how he would be acting, so he figured it was best not to judge Max on his behavior. After all, this was his sister. Emily and Max had always been close, and anybody who knew the family realized that. It had to be difficult for Max to accept the fact that his sister’s life was now in jeopardy because of something his best friend had done.

“I’m not saying you gotta forgive him. I know that’ll be hard,” Robert finally said quietly. “But you’ve got to understand his perspective on this. Max, he almost killed her. How do you think he feels, huh? That’s his girlfriend.”

“Was,” Max hissed. “She was his girlfriend. Not anymore.”

Robert bit his tongue and then folded his arms across his chest, studying Emily’s body as she lay there in the hospital bed. It hardly looked like her, and if Max hadn’t been in the room, Robert would have thought he was in the wrong place. The Emily he’d always known as Max’s playful kid sister had never looked this bad before. Then again, Robert had never imagined a day where she might die, and that had happened only forty-eight hours ago.

“I got a call today,” Robert finally spoke again, clearing his voice. “The drop date for the album is gonna be in April.”

“We’re not releasing it. Not unless somebody else redoes the vocals,” Max shook his head. He’d be damned if he and Ronnie were both featured on the same album. It was true that they’d both created the band they, Robert, and a few other friends were in. It was true that they’d both worked hard on it, but as far as Max was concerned, Ronnie had thrown away his chance with the band as soon as he’d wrecked the car that had nearly taken Emily’s life.

“Max, that’s not a possibility and you fucking know it. Don’t get stupid about this,” Robert narrowed his own eyes. “We don’t have the money to redo the goddamn vocals. So he’s out of the band. Fine. I can go with that. We can find a new singer for whenever we do another album. But we’re not redoing the vocals on Dying.”

“Yes, we are,” Max told Robert as he moved to his feet. “I won’t fucking let Ronnie—”

“Ronnie has nothing to do with this,” Robert shook his head. “All this is is you having a temper tantrum. Ronnie’s vocals are gonna be on the album. He might have made a fucking stupid mistake but he worked just as hard on this as we did.”

Max said nothing, not wanting to say another word about it. He knew that Robert was right, but that didn’t mean that Max felt it was right that Ronnie was going to be on an album with a band that, as far as Max was concerned, he was no longer a part of.

“What the fuck ever,” Max growled before he started walking towards the door to the hospital room. “Can you keep an eye on Emily? I’m going to the cafeteria to see if they have any good shit.”

He didn’t say another word as he left, feeling his heart sinking. He didn’t know how to deal with any of this. All he could think to himself was that everything he’d loved was going down the drain. Emily was borderline dead, and the one band he was part of that he thought stood a chance to make it was possibly going to disintegrate because of the car accident. It wasn’t fair, Max thought to himself. But then again, life was never fair, was it?