Page 54 of Light It Up Red
When we land in Vancouver, there are three SUVs waiting for us. Alessandro and my cousin Enzo climb into one with me. The rest of my cousins fill the other two; they’re headed to a rental property while we go straight to the hospital.
My hands shake. I’m so cold, but I can’t seem to get warm. I dig my phone out of my pocket again and call Gray’s number. He should have contacted me by now. The fact that he hasn’t only increases my worry.
“Lil, you land?” he asks after the second ring.
“I’m on my way to the hospital. Is he…?” I swallow down the rest of my words. I can’t voice them.
“They just rolled him out of the operating room. They’ve induced a coma,” Gray says, and I continue to sob into the phone. “Lil, he’s a tough one. He’ll pull through. He just needs a little time to heal.”
“What if he doesn’t?” I ask. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Let’s not talk about what ifs and focus on the facts. He’s out of surgery. He’s fighting, and trust me when I say that guy is not going to give you up so easily.”
“I’ll see you soon.” I choke down the rest of my tears and hang up. Then I take a deep breath and look over at my brother and cousin. “He’s out of surgery and in an induced coma.”
“Okay, that’s good. He’s out of surgery,” Alessandro says. “And an induced coma is different from a regular coma. It means that the doctors can wake him up when they think he’s ready.”
“I know.” I wipe at my cheeks. I need to pull myself together. I really hope everyone is right. I need him to be okay. I can’t fathom a world without him in it. I can’t think of Travis not being here.
I also can’t get my head around why this is happening. My brother is adamant that it wasn’t our father, but I just can’t think of anyone else who would want to kill Travis. He’s not from our world. He doesn’t have enemies lurking in every corner. And the only threats he’s faced came directly from my family.
Did my announcement that I was moving in with Travis push my father to his breaking point?
I knew he wouldn’t like it. And I knew he would be over the top about letting me go. But, at the end of the day, I really thought he would be able to put my happiness above anything else. I thought he would let me have this. I was wrong. My whole life has been scripted. Controlled. He’s used to dictating where I can go, who I can be friends with, and who I have to avoid…
Why would that be different now?
The SUV stops at the entrance to the hospital, and Alessandro grips my hand in his as we walk in a few seconds later. Everything is a blur as my brother leads me through the winding halls. He stops to speak to someone and then we’re guided to a room.
The lights are too bright, the sounds of machines beeping deafening, and the smell…
Why do hospitals have to smell so bad?
I drop Alessandro’s hand and step closer to the bed. Closer to Travis. People are talking but I don’t know what they’re saying. It’s all background noise as I stare down at the love of my life lying lifeless in the bed. A bunch of tubes and wires attached to his body. And the room starts to close in on me.
I hear my brother yelling before my knees give out, and I start falling. Blackness creeps in as someone’s hands grab at me.
“Travis.” I sit up with a jolt.
“Shit, Lil, slow down,” Alessandro says, grabbing my arms.
“What happened?” I look around the room. Enzo and Gray are both staring at me with concern on their faces. “What happened? Where is he?” I ask again, while trying to push out of my brother’s hold so I can stand.
“Liliana, you passed out. Travis is fine. He’s right there. You need to sit down,” Alessandro says.
“He’s okay?” I whisper.
“He’s fine. He’s right there. I spoke with his doctors. He’s going to be fine, Lil,” my brother assures me.
“Promise?”
The moment he hesitates, I know my brother is talking out of his ass. If he believed it, he’d tell me as much. But I know he won’t make me a promise he can’t keep.
“Lil, I promise the doctors are confident that he’s going to be okay.” Alessandro chooses his words carefully.
The door bursts open, and Travis’s parents rush into the room. I take one look at his mother and guilt consumes me. “I’m so sorry,” I choke out, the tears streaming down my face all over again.
“Oh, sweetheart, this is not your fault,” Frances says as she tugs me into her arms. She’s comforting me when I should be the one comforting her. Her lips press to the center of my forehead. “He’s going to be okay.”
