Chapter
16: A New Day.
Clare woke up with a start as
her alarm beeped at her. JC was lay beside her, he'd put her to bed when
she'd fell asleep in his arms after hours of crying and he'd stayed in
case she needed him in the night. She sat up and looked at her clock radio,
7:00 time to get up.
She had a lot of work to try
and get through for the fan club but she wanted to stop by the hospital
first to see Libby.
Clare stood in the shower,
the water splashed on her face, she felt a little better for the crying
she'd done for most of the night but it still didn't take away her pain.
Her best friend was lay in a coma and no one knew when or if she was going
to come out of it. She had hit her head pretty bad and Dr. Greene had said
that if they couldn't successfully remove the blood clot on her brain she
was going to die in days. Libby was to have the operation later that day
and Clare wanted to keep her mind occupied until she was out of the theatre
so she wouldn't think of the worst scenario. Justin had agreed to call
her at the office when Libby went into theatre so she could make her way
to the hospital in time to see her come out.
Once Clare was dressed she
looked over to JC. He was still fast asleep; lay on the bed so she didn't
want to wake him. She picked up her keys, headed out of the apartment and
made her way to the hospital.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Clare walked into Libby's room
to overhear Christine, Libby's mother, crying and talking to her daughter.
"… Wake up Elizabeth. Please. Everyone is so worried about you. Jamie and
Neil wanted to fly over but I told them I'd call with any news. I told
them you were a fighter. They've been calling every hour, they want to
make sure their little sister is gonna be all right."
Clare made her way inside
the room quietly she didn't want to disturb Christine from pouring out
her aching heart to her only daughter.
"Oh, hi Clare." Christine
greeted her as she wiped her eyes.
"Hi." Clare said looking at
the elder woman unsure what to say next.
Christine was in her 50's,
she had short brown hair, brown eyes and was quite short in height. She
and Libby didn't really look alike but you could tell they were mother
and daughter just by the way they were together. Libby's parents had split
when she was quite young so the two were like best friends.
"I'm so sorry I let this happen."
Clare said out of the blue. "You trusted me to take care of her and I let
this happen, some guardian I am!"
"This is no one's fault. I've
been asking myself 'what if?' all morning but it's not gonna help… it's
happened we've just got to pull together and help her past this. Placing
blame isn't gonna help her or take back what has already been done."
"It still doesn't stop me
feeling responsible."
There was a short pause between
the two women.
"Where's Justin?" Clare asked
breaking the silence.
"I sent him home." Christine
replied.
Clare looked down at her friend,
"So how you feeling today Libby? The doctor said you'd be going down to
theatre around one so I'll be here to see you come out. Everyone else said
they'd pop by about three, except Justin, he can't seem to stay away. So
with everyone here you'll be able to make a dramatic entrance and open
your eyes for us, eh? Be kinda nice to see that smile of yours again… and
I'm missing you around the flat too. There's no sarcasm or slamming of
doors without you there so I'd appreciate it if you'd wake up." she was
trying to be brave but she could feel a lump forming in her throat. "Lisa
wants to come in to see you but you know her and hospitals, she's almost
as bad you. Sara is panicking like mad about the tour…"
The nurse walked in a checked
Libby's chart and monitor before she left again.
"Well I'm gonna go into work
for a while," Clare said turning to Christine.
The elder woman nodded, "I'll
call you if there's any change."
~~~~~*~~~~~
As Clare walked through the entrance
she saw Justin walking toward her.
"What you doin' here? You
only left here a couple of hours ago, you should be at home sleeping."
She said to him as he stood before her.
"Couldn't sleep." He replied
wearily.
She could tell he hadn't slept
and that he'd been crying his bright blue eyes weren't so bright any more,
they were red and swollen. "You need to get some sleep. You won't be any
use to anyone if you have a break-down."
"It's not like I'm any use
to anyone anyway. Libby is lay up there in a coma and there's not a damn
thing I can do for her." He spat back in frustration.
"You being there and talking
to her is enough Justin."
"I hope so 'coz it's all I
can do for her right now."
Clare pulled the taller and
younger man into a hug; she had noticed a change in him. He'd always been
so level headed before. But since he had seen Libby in hospital he'd been
distant. He was scared of losing her, but it seemed like more than that,
it was as though he was losing his one true love. Clare could see it in
his eyes now, he loved Libby not just as a friend, he wanted something
more and she knew he feared it was too late to tell her.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Once Justin had said goodbye to
Clare he made his way up to see Libby. He was worn out by all the crying
he'd done in the last couple of hours but sleeping hadn't been an option
for him. Everytime he closed his eyes he saw her lying in the hospital
bed, he couldn't shake the image from his head.
As he stood in the elevator,
he remembered back to the day he realised how he felt about Libby.
~~~~~FLASHBACK~~~~~
It was summer and they'd all
been in the pool at the fan club relaxing and taking in the sun. Libby
had appeared wearing a purple cropped bikini with a sarong wrapped her
waist. As he looked up at her from the pool, he had to stop himself from
drooling. She looked beautiful, her hair shining in the sun and her bronze
coloured skin bringing out the colour of her eyes. She sat on the poolside
after removing her wrap around and dipped her feet in the pool. She swung
her legs around causing the water to gently massage her calves and smiled
sweetly at him as he stared at her. He knew then that he wanted to be with
this girl for the rest of his life but always had bad timing when it came
to telling her.
~~~~~~END OF FLASHBACK~~~~~~
He walked into the room and
looked at Libby. She looked just as helpless and drained as she had the
night before.
"It's time to quit playin
now," he said to her with a small smile as he sat on her bed, "I know you
can hear me so just open your eyes and look at me… please."
"I've been trying that one
all morning." He heard a voice saying from behind him, "Maybe she's not
ready."
He turned to see Christine
walking in the room with a vase full of flowers.
"I remember when she phoned
to tell me about you," she continued placing the vase on Libby's bedside,
"She was so excited that she'd met you and I remember her saying 'Mom,
he's even better looking in the flesh'. I'd have to agree with her. She
always had good taste in men, she just always picked the one's to date."
Justin smiled.
"You've made her so happy,"
she continued, "She's always calling to tell me the things you've been
up to."
~~~~~*~~~~~
Clare sat in her office thinking
up questions about the group for the month's competition, she needed a
question about each of them and she'd only come up with the one for Joey.
Libby usually helped her with this kind of thing. She looked down at the
piece of paper in front of her and her mind went blank. She glanced up
at the clock; just two hours left before Libby went into surgery. It was
no good she couldn't concentrate. She stood up and stretched trying to
relieve her aching back. She turned on the radio and was startled by Lisa
as she walked in.
"Hi ya." She said as she stood
before Clare. "How was she this morning?"
Clare shook her head, "No
change. Are you gonna be okay to come in with me?"
Lisa nodded, "I gotta see
her."
~~~~~*~~~~~
Everyone was there waiting in
the family room. Lance, JC, Chris and Clare were stood up and Jenny, Sara,
Jamie, Justin and Libby's mother were sat down. They all sat impatiently
waiting for some news. Libby had been on the operating table for two hours,
it was 3:30 and they still weren't done.
Justin wondered if he would
ever see her alive again. They would wheel her out with a sheet draped
over her face, he kept thinking, the blood soaked through the material.
They would tell everyone with sad faces that they had done everything they
could. He'd probably become hostile and they'd give him something to calm
him down and make him sleep. He would stare at the ceiling all night, like
he had the night before, and wish he'd taken all the opportunity's to tell
her how he felt.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Everyone stood to attention as
Dr. Greene appeared with an older man.
"Everyone, this is Dr. Martin.
He performed the operation on Libby." Dr. Greene said introducing the surgeon.
He was short. He hadn't changed out of his green operating scrubs and there
were specks of blood on them still. He looked exhausted. He asked Libby's
mother if she wanted everyone to hear the news.
She nodded good or bad she
wanted her friends to be there.
"It was touch and go there
for a while but we removed the clot successfully and, although there is
some tissue damage from the blast, the operation was successful. There
was no damage to the brain itself so all we can do now is wait for her
to come out of the coma and take it from there." Dr. Martin explained.
"So will she be okay?" Christine
asked hopefully.
"We don't know for sure, not
until she comes out of the coma. We don't know what affect the tissue damage,
nor the damage to her spine will have on the young woman. She may not be
able to control one half or all of her body. It's really hard to say at
the moment."
The prognosis stabbed at something
inside Justin, killing him, putting him deeper into misery. He felt suddenly
cut off from his surrounding's, from his body even. He drifted into a grey
void. The doctor continued to talk, but he couldn't understand what he
was saying. Time took on a strange quality - moving both fast and slow
at the same time. Finally both doctors turned and walked away.
Clare put her arm around Justin
and shook him gently, bringing him out of his stupor.
"Do you want to see her?"
she asked.
"What?" he mumbled.
"The doctor said we could
see her."
Christine, Clare, Lisa and
Justin walked into the dim lit room and made their way over to the bed.
The air smelled strongly of blood and medicine. Lisa wondered if she should
stay outside, she was weak when it came to hospitals, and seeing one of
her close friends in one when she was helpless to her didn't make her any
fonder of the place.
The bandages around Libby's
head were already soaked red. A thin white sheet covered her, and there
were so many tubes and needles going into her body that Justin cringed
at how tenuous her hold on life must be. A pump hissed up and down beside
her head. She was still being artificially ventilated. Her colour shocked
him. She had none. She was bone-white. Clare turned to look at Justin,
the room was in near darkness but she could see traces of tears on his
cheeks. She walked over and put her arms around him, "Hey she's over the
worst," she said softly as he rested his head on hers, "You heard the Doc,
the op went fine."
"I can't see her like this!"
Justin said before he fled from the room.
Clare followed after him,
"Justin. Justin!" she called but he wouldn't stop.
When she finally caught up
with him she found him stood outside in the gardens facing away from her,
hands stuffed in his jean pockets and his head bowed down. She walked up
to him and touched his arm.
"Why can't I just turn back
time? She wouldn't be going through this then. I would've gone with her."
He asked angrily as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
"No one knew this was gonna
happen. If I hadn't told her to take off she wouldn't have gone climbing
to start with." Clare said blaming herself.
"You can both stop blaming
yourselves." A voice said from behind them.
They both turned to see JC
approaching, "It was an accident. No one knows why they happen, they just
do."
As JC stopped next to him
Justin wiped his eyes, "I just need to hear her voice, for her to say she's
gonna be okay."
There was a short silence
before JC let out a short laugh.
"What?" Clare asked him.
"She hates hospitals… when
she took Justin in to have his broken thumb treated she had to stand outside
because…" JC said before he and Clare chorused, "She hates the smell inside."
They all laughed at the memory
for a while.
"She's gotta wake up soon,"
Justin said on a serious note, "I don't know how much longer I can handle
seeing her like this."
"It's difficult for us all."
Clare said her face straightening.
Chapter
17: Tearin' Up My Heart.
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