Page 93 of Fight for Me
“Sydney isn’t a quitter.”
“No, she’s not.”
She has to be okay. They both do.
Just then a doctor enters, and Sierra gets to her feet. We both watch for any sign from him, and when his eyes drop to the floor, my heart does as well.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Declan
There are moments in my life that I have felt helpless, but this brings a whole other meaning to that word. When my mother died, I thought my world would end. When my father caused the accident that changed my life, I knew nothing would be the same.
Hearing the doctor try to explain what is happening with Sydney has broken me.
“I don’t understand,” Sierra says as she clutches my arm, tears falling down her face.
“The surgery went well, and the tumor has been removed, but we’re having a hard time waking her from anesthesia. I’m not sure what is going on, but we’re running tests to see what is causing her to stay under.”
My breathing is short, trying to keep myself together and comprehend what the hell is happening. “So, she’s alive?” I ask.
“Yes, she’s alive and breathing on her own, but she isn’t waking or responding.”
“Were there any complications during the surgery?” I push for more clarification. “Can’t she just wake up? Is this normal?”
The doctor shakes his head. “No, it’s not normal, and we didn’t encounter anything we didn’t expect. She lost a little more blood than I would’ve liked, but nothing I was concerned over.”
“What about the baby?” My voice is strained, even to my own ears.
“The baby was monitored the entire time, and he’s doing great. Heart rate is still strong. I don’t want you to panic,” he says quickly. “It could be nothing, but we are keeping an eye on her anyway, and like I said, we are going to run some additional tests to make sure she isn’t having a reaction to the anesthesia. Know that we’re doing everything we can, and we’ll continue to keep her in ICU just so she has continuous care.”
“Can we see her?” Sierra’s voice cracks.
“Just one at a time.”
I turn to Sierra, and she wipes her face. “You should go first, I have to call … family and...go see her, Dec.”
This can’t be happening. I can’t lose her now. I just got her back. She’ll wake up, she just needs a reason to do it. I follow the doctor back to the room, not saying a word, wishing that, when I walk in there, she’ll be glaring at me and I can fall to my knees and beg her to understand.
I’ll tell her everything, prove to her that I love her and explain that I wasn’t away because I left her but because I wanted to give her something she cherished.
All of this will be cleared up, I know it. It has to because no god is cruel enough to take away the only thing I have left.
Sure, I have my brothers, but they aren’t Sydney.
They aren’t my reason for living.
The glass door to her room slides to the left, and time stops.
All the lies about this not being real prove true.
There she is.
Lying there, unmoving with her eyes closed as monitors beep all around her.
My Sydney, the girl who had more life in her tiny body than a thousand people, is still. Her laughter and smart comments aren’t filling the air.
Instead, it’s silent.
