Wanting to Remember,Trying to Forget(19)
“Hello.”
“Hello. Is this Mister Shepard?”
“Yes,” Max replied warily.
“Mister Shepard, I’m afraid I have bad news.”
His blood ran cold, his hand tightening around the phone. “What happened?”
“There’s been an accident.”
* * *
Max sat in the waiting room of the ICU ward, tapping his foot incessantly. The chairs were hard and allowed for little maneuverability but his discomfort was his last concern. He had raced down there only to be told that Danny was in a critical condition and there was not much to report at this stage. All he knew was that she was hit by a car travelling at high speed and with no other information to set his mind at ease, he was envisaging the worst possible outcomes.
He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and looked up. “Lauren.”
Somehow seeing her made him feel a little better. He stood up and she pulled him into a tight hug. Max stayed in her embrace for a long while, allowing her gentleness to soothe him.
When he finally pulled away, she looked at him with worried eyes. “How is she doing?”
“I don’t know,” he replied, feeling his throat clog up. “No-one’s told me anything but she’s in ICU, Lauren…She must be hurt…What if—”
“We must not allow ourselves to think like that. Danielle is a fighter.”
Although Lauren was trying to be positive, Max could tell by her tone that she also had her doubts. They sat down and a short while later Amber arrived. She gave Max a quick hug before Lauren filled her in on the limited details.
Max found himself staring at the clock on the wall, watching the seconds tick by. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to hours. Amber seemed to hassle every nurse that walked by for information but no-one could report on Danny’s condition. Max was grateful to have them around. Lauren had taken over answering calls from his anxious family members and Amber did coffee runs every hour or so.
It was just a little after 1 a.m. when the doctor finally came through the glass doors. “I’m Doctor Coleman,” he announced. “I have been seeing to Danielle Peterson.”
Max stood up immediately.
“Are you Maximillian Shepard? He’s listed as the emergency contact on her medical records.”
“Yeah, that’s me. How is she, Doc?”
Lauren and Amber also crowded around him to hear the news.
“She’s stable but still unconscious,” he said. “I’m afraid Danielle has suffered severe head trauma. She also had several lacerations across her chest and back. One was quite deep and caused minor damage to her lungs so she is on a respirator.”
“Doc, what are you saying? Is she going to be okay or not?”
“Mister Shepard, I can’t answer you at this stage. Until she wakes up, we have no way of knowing the extent of the damage and because she isn’t breathing on her own I can’t make an assessment as to whether her brain is functioning normally. Folks, I’m afraid all you can do at this stage is wait…and pray.”
Max felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. His throat felt tight. His body felt lame. “Can we see her?” he asked softly.
“We only allow immediate family to see our ICU patients.”
“She doesn’t have any family,” Max shouted. “We’re all she’s got.”
“Max is her fiancé,” Amber said quickly. She exchanged looks with Max before she went on. “They’re not married yet, but that’s gotta count for something.”
The doctor looked at them with suspicious eyes but did not argue. “You can go in,” he said to Max. “But ten minutes and that’s it.”
Max nodded and followed Doctor Coleman to room 307 of the ICU ward. “Ten minutes,” he repeated before he turned and walked away.
Max slowly walked into the room, feeling his chest closing in on him. Danny lay in the bed, looking so helpless. Her face was bruised and swollen. They had shaved the side of her head to stitch the wound and there was now a thick white bandage wrapped around her head. The plastic tube in her mouth and the shooshing sound in the background reminded Max that she was not breathing on her own.
How could this have happened? She was perfectly fine this morning and now she was just lying there. All he felt was guilt. It was his fault that she was there now. If he had not upset her so much, if he had made more of an effort to stop her, this would not have happened. Even if she had gone out with Richard and done what she had planned to do, it still would have been better than this.
He slowly moved towards the bed and took her hand in his. “Danny, I’m so sorry.” The tears he had kept at bay for so many hours came rolling down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”
He sat there for what seemed like an eternity, listening to the rhythmic sound of the respirator and the heart monitor but he realized it had only been ten minutes when he heard Doctor Coleman call him from the doorway. He stood up, kissed her forehead and lethargically made his way back to the waiting area.
Lauren took one look at him and tears welled in her eyes. “She will be alright,” she said, wrapping Max in a tight hug. “She is going to be just fine.”
Max felt his body becoming lame. His knees gave in. He dropped down on the chair and Lauren sat beside him, holding him tighter. “I can’t lose her, Lauren.” He held onto her as if he would never let go. “She looked so…I can’t lose her.”
He did not move from his chair for a few more hours, but when the faint rays of sunlight began peeping through the windows, Amber yawned and stood up.
She stretched her arms and looked at Lauren. “I have to get to the office. I’ll pop in at lunch time and come back after work.” She turned her attention to Max. “I know it’s probably not the right time or the right thing to say but…happy birthday, Max.”
He gave a weak smile and with that she left. Lauren also stood up a few minutes later. “You should go home and get some rest,” she said. “I am sure they will call you if anything changes.”
Max nodded but made no attempt to move from his spot. He watched Lauren leave and decided to make himself comfortable. As the doctor said, all he could do now was wait…and pray.
* * *
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”
Max awoke to see Charlie hovering above him.
“You look awful, dude. Worse than yesterday. You need a shave…and a proper shower…and a clean set of clothes. Give me your keys and I’ll pick up some of your stuff.”
Max tried to sit up but his body ached everywhere. The hospital chairs were indeed the most uncomfortable thing to sleep on. He should be used to it by now. It had been twelve days since Danny was admitted and he still had not left, fearing that something might happen while he was away.
The nurses seemed to be fine with him taking up permanent residence there and were very accommodating. They brought him lunch when they served their patients and allowed him to use their bathrooms when he needed to freshen up. Rosie, in particular was a real gem. Despite the fact that Doctor Coleman had strictly said no visits for longer than thirty minutes, she snuck him into Danny’s room every night and snuck him out again before she changed shifts in the morning.
“So how is she doing?” Charlie asked, handing him a cup of coffee. Charlie came to see him every evening and that was always his first question.
“She’s off the respirator.” He gave a tired smile. “So she’s breathing on her own now. The swelling has gone down and the bruises don’t look so bad. They removed the stitches yesterday but she still hasn’t moved once. It’s not a good sign. What if she’s permanently brain damaged? What if she never wakes up?”
“She will. Just give it a few more days and she’s going to wake up and go back to her old devil self again.”
Max smiled, hoping that what Charlie said was true. “How are things at work?” he asked to distract himself.
“Okay, I guess. It’s work. The boss is getting a bit agro though. He says you can have the rest of this week but he wants you back next Monday.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “I kinda expected that.”
Max stood up and walked with Charlie down the corridor to the hospital canteen. They ate dinner together and Max had to admit that his friend always had a way of lifting his spirits. Even though Lauren and Amber came by every day, Charlie was the one he looked forward to seeing. He was a welcomed distraction to the worry and anxiety, but eventually Charlie went home and Max returned to his spot on the hospital chair.
His phone buzzed in his pocket as he sat down.
Jordan: How’s Danny?
Max: Still unconscious
Jordan: How are you?
Max: Worried
Max: I feel so lost without her, Jo-jo
Jordan: Let’s not make this awkward by getting emotional. We both know that neither of us are good at comforting in a time of crisis.
Jordan: Legend has it that if you share too much of your feelings, your dick will fall off.
Jordan: And then you’ll start listening to boy bands because inevitably that’s what happens when your dick falls off. And I don’t want that for you.
Max: Never heard of that legend, but it’s too risky to take a chance so I’m gonna drink a cup of cement right now and harden the fuck up