Muse - Fighting Fate #1 (24 page)

Chapter 39

Mia

Darkness.

I was surrounded by it.

It was thick and cold. It made my head feel foggy.

Somewhere in the distance I could
hear a muffled kind of beeping.

And voices.

Those too were muffled. It was like I had cotton wool shoved in my ears.

There was a pounding in my head. It throbbed.

I tried to cry, but nothing came out.

I felt lost. Like I was searching for something but I couldn’t remember what.

All I knew was that I wouldn’t be okay until I found it. Or them…

Chapter 40

Jace

Waiting.

It was fucking agonizing. I’d never known such torment. Ever.

The waiting room was packed, almost all of it filled with students from our school. I’d heard a couple of the guys that’d been in the fight had been brought in to be checked over for broken bones, but apparently most of everyone were there for Mia. She had no idea how much people actually liked her.

A lump formed in my throat. God, I hoped she was okay. I needed to hold her. I needed to look into her eyes and see she was still mine. I couldn’t stand this fucking sitting around and fucking waiting!

I pushed myself to my feet and roughly ran my hands through my hair as I paced the length of the floor. What the fuck were they doing? Why was it taking so fucking long?

I looked over to where Lillian sat with Aiden, the both of them hunched over and despairing with their hands clasped together in unity.
Kaeli sat a few chairs down from them, an older woman I assumed was her mom holding her as she softly cried.

All of us had tried to get some type of information out of the staff, but
we all got the same answer: She was in the OR and someone would be out to talk to us as soon as they knew what was going on.

T
hat had been two fucking hours ago. The fact that it was taking so long scared the absolute fucking shit out of me. I had no fucking idea what they could possibly be operating on. I tried to brace myself for the worst but it was too fucking painful. She had to be okay. She just had to.

The doors beyond the triage desk opened and a doctor wearing scrubs appeared. His eyes widened when he saw the waiting room and he paused, eyes scanning the seats. Lillian and Aiden jumped to their feet and I joined them in rushing over to him, Kaeli fast on my heels.

“Mrs. Campbell?” he said wearily.

“Yes?” Lillian answered, her voice wavering on the small word.

The doctor’s eyes flashed back to the expectant waiting room. “Can I speak to you in private?”

His words were like knives being thrust straight into my gut. If she was okay, he’d have told us in the waiting room, wouldn’t he?

Lillian looked back at the three of us, determination blaring in each of our eyes. “Yes, but these three need to be with me.” I was so fucking thankful she said that, I wanted to cry.

He threw a brief glance our way and nodded. “If you could come this way…”

We followed behind him at a fast pace. I was fucking glad he seemed to be in a hurry, because I was seriously going to lose my shit if I didn’t find out what was going on this second.

He took us into a private consultation room and closed the door behind us. No one bothered to sit. He turned to face Lillian, choosing to speak to her directly.

“Mrs. Campbell,” he said seriously. “My name is Dr. Sanders. I’m the attending neurosurgeon here at Mercy. I was called in to help the emergency staff stabilize your daughter’s condition when she arrived.” He shifted and lowered the chart he was holding to look at her more intently.

“
Mrs. Campbell, Mia has sustained a very serious head injury which has resulted in some minor swelling around her brain. The fact that she hasn’t regained consciousness since the fall is a real concern to me. There has been some signs of responsiveness, which is a positive thing, but I won’t really know what I’m dealing with until the swelling goes down.”

My brain started shutting down with his words. I just couldn’t seem to get my thoughts in any semblance of order. I tried to focus as he continued, but a fear like I’d never known had gripped me from the inside and was refusing to let go.

“My biggest concern at the moment is the buildup of pressure the swelling is causing. If it becomes too much, we run a risk of oxygen being restricted to the brain. The CT scans proved there isn’t any excess fluids around her brain, so I’m hopeful the swelling will start to go down soon, but as a precaution, I’ve had to insert a device called an intracranial pressure monitor to keep an eye on the pressure inside her skull. If it shows it’s becoming too much, I may have to operate to relieve it.”

His lips turned down as he watched Lillian digest his words.

“I’m afraid all we can do at this stage is wait to see which way it goes. Until that time, I’ve decided to keep her in an induced coma to help her brain rest and give her the best chance at healing.”

I sunk down onto a chair, dropping my head into my hands. A coma. How could she be in a fucking coma? The word just sounded so
fucking ominous.

Lillian tried to clear her throat, but her voice was
still thick with emotion. “How long will it take for the swelling to go down?”

“It can be anywhere from twenty-four to seventy-two hours. We’ll
also be monitoring her with CT scans and MRI’s during that time, but Mrs. Campbell, you should know, although Mia’s responses were positive, her heartbeat still hasn’t regulated, which can indicate some form of brain damage. We’re hoping there’ll be a significant improvement with her responsiveness over the next twelve hours.”

“Can we see her?” she said, her voice almost a whisper.

The doctor looked uncomfortable. “Only immediate family.”

I closed my eyes against the pain
. I needed to see her.

Lillian nodded
. “I understand, but we’re all she has doctor. Mia’s a very private person, and besides her twin here, these two people are her lifeline. I would appreciate it if they were allowed to see her too.”

The cracks spread even further
hearing Lillian’s words. She had it backwards though. Mia was
my
lifeline. Without her, I had no life.

The doctor nodded
. “I’ll see what I can do. There’s only one visitor allowed at a time though, so if you’d like to see her now, I can take you up.”

Lillian nodded
. “Yes, please.”

Aiden and Kaeli both returned to their seats when we got back to the waiting room, Kaeli
immediately whispering in a low voice to her mom, and Aiden dropping his head into his hands. Dean and Matt sat beside him, a quiet presence of solidarity.

I knew I should join them, but I just couldn’t
. I didn’t want to fucking sit calmly and wait, and I certainly didn’t want to fucking talk to anyone. Instead, I resumed pacing the floor like a caged tiger, a slow desperation building inside me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“Jace?”

My eyes flashed open at the sound of Mom’s voice. The worry in her eyes almost broke me. God, what was it about mothers that could make you revert to the fucking sta
te of a child just by saying your name?

“
Mark raced home as soon as he could. What happened?”

She came to stand right
before me, gently resting her hand on my arm, her fingers moving in reassuring swipes. I swallowed. “I really don’t know. There was some sort of fight in the gym at school. Somehow Mia ended up in the middle of it and got knocked over and hit her head.”

Her hand tightened on my arm, her eyes clearly showing her distress. “Is she okay?” She whispered the words, afraid.

I blinked slowly, willing the tears to stay away. I didn’t want to break down in the waiting room for all to see. “Apparently she has some swelling on her brain, so they’ve put her in a coma until it goes down.” I drew in an unsteady breath, my voice only a whisper when I spoke again. “There was so much blood, Mom. That’s all I see when I close my eyes.” I met her gaze, scared. “I can’t lose her…”

She pulled me into her arms, holding me in a way I hadn’t needed in years. “You have to stay positive
, sweetie.” Pulling back, she took my face in her hands and gave me a hard stare. “She’s tough right? She’ll get through this.”

I nodded and clenched my jaw hard. That was a lot easier said than done.

Movement over Mom’s shoulder caught my eye and I looked over to see one of the Grunge Guys walking in. From what I’d heard, they’d been the ones responsible for the fight breaking out, going on some fucking spree of destruction in the gym. I was instantly filled with fury.

Without another thought, I broke away from Mom and charged straight for him, grabbing him by his shirt and shoving him hard against the wall. “You
motherfucking piece of shit scum! It should be you and your fucking loser friends in a coma. You and your waste of space friends just don’t give a fuck about anyone but yourselves, do you?!”

The fucking loser just smirked at me, his eyebrow twitching with amusement. I was going to fucking kill him.

A set of hands clutched onto my shoulders, and another came to press against my chest, trying to push me back. “Come on, man,” Dean’s voice rasped in my ear. “Don’t do this here. If they throw you out, you won’t get to see Mia.”

I felt scuffling beside me as more bodies surrounded me. The scum’s smirk grew wider. “Yeah
, Jace…walk away.”

That did it. I was going to punch him. I leaned back, ready to give him one, but then a hand reached over my shoulder and grabbed the loser by the neck. “
You fucking asshole!” Aiden’s voice was full of hate.

More shoving came from behind me as the guys tried to move Aiden back, but his desire to flatten the scum bag only urged me on. I could hear Mom’s voice somewhere behind me begging me to stop. I wanted to listen to her, but my fury was too much to contain.

Swinging my elbow around, I smashed it into the side of his jaw. The jostling became more forceful, pulling me back away from him, but I resisted, shoving harder, my thirst for revenge turning me into a fucking animal. I wanted him to pay for what happened to Mia.

Mr. Thomas was beside me then, forcing his way between me and the scum of the earth, his voice loud and commanding. “Jace, stop! This isn’t the way to fix things.”

I growled. “Yeah, but it’ll make me fucking feel better.”

“Walk away!” He barked.

Giving in, I surrendered to their shoving and let them guide me to the far side of the room. Aiden shook Matt off and stalked off back to his seat. I watched him rub his hand over his face, his expression empty.

Moving over to sink
down beside him, I leant forward and rested my forearms on my knees, my breath coming fast with adrenalin. We sat in silence for a little while, the both of us staring at nothing on ground, trying to calm down.

“I’m glad you at least got one good hit in,” he said quietly.

I grunted. “Wasn’t enough.”

He nodded in agreement.

“Do you feel anything?” I asked, not knowing if I really wanted the answer.

His jaw clenched slightly before he slowly shook his head. “Nothing.” He swallowed hard
, fighting the emotion like I was. “I just feel lost – kind of empty…”

My
heart contracted painfully. Mia had told me their twintuition thing was scary accurate. I hoped to fucking god what Aiden was feeling wasn’t what Mia was feeling.

Chapter 41

Jace

As soon as I stepped into Mia’s room I knew my chances of holding myself together were slim to none.

I literally could not fucking breathe as I took in all the monitors, tubes and wires. I’d been told putting her into a coma more or less shut her brain down, so
I knew the machines were necessary to keep her alive, but seeing the tube down her throat like that, rhythmically pumping air into her lungs, almost crippled me.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, I cautiousl
y moved to the side of the bed and looked down at her.

With her eyes softly closed
like that, she almost looked like she could be asleep. She appeared so incredibly peaceful and serene. Her hair had been pulled to one side and plaited, leaving it trailing over her shoulder and breast like a long, black rope. Her skin color looked better than when I’d seen her back in the gym too.

Those little things gave me hope. They gave me something to focus on and cling to.
Drawing the chair closer to her bedside, I lowered myself down and gently reached for her hand. Again, the warmth I felt gave me the relief I was seeking.

I tried to look past the
tubes and the thick, bulky bandage wrapped around her head, but with the sound of the beeping monitors and the whooshing of the air compressing machine, it was futile.

“Mia? Baby? I need you to wake up…”
I exhaled slowly. “Fuck. I don’t know what I’m saying. I don’t know what I’m doing. I just…I need you to be okay. Please be okay, baby. I only just found you…you can’t leave me yet…”

I pressed
the back of her hand to my forehead and squeezed my eyes shut. As I uttered those words, I felt the final cracks spread deep within me, and I broke. A sob escaped me, and this time I didn’t try to stop it.

***

It was well after midnight and sleep was the furthest thing from my mind. I sat on my bed with my guitar on my lap, and a notepad and pen strewn out before me.

After we’d all had a visit with Mia, the doctor had
suggested we go home and get some rest. It felt wrong to leave her there. I even refused to go at first, but Mom had convinced me it was best. Logically, I knew she was right. The doctor wasn’t even considering waking her up until all comprehensive tests had been done, but the thought of her being alone made me feel sick.

It didn’t help that my mind was suddenly being flooded by music and lyrics. It
was the only way I could expel all the emotion that had built up inside me over the past twelve hours. Even though it was heartbreaking, it felt good to pour everything I felt out like that.

The song I ended up with wasn’t like anything I’d ever written before. It was love. It was heartache. It was longing. It was a little piece of my soul.

And it belonged to Mia.

Just after two o’clock, I finally put my guitar down and went to sleep.