When Faults Collide (Faultlines #1) (25 page)

This couldn’t be real. I was literally in a state of frantic shock. I was completely hysterical and the one thing that could bring me down was the one thing causing the hysteria.

Suddenly I heard a cough.

A cough! A glorious cough!

I searched his face frantically. There had been a cough.

The EMTs were still holding me back so that I couldn’t hold him, but could at least stay next to him.

I didn’t see the second ambulance arrive because I was too busy staring at him, repeating his name and begging for another cough.

His eyes fluttered just slightly, opening and looking around frantically before meeting mine.

We connected in that spiritual way that we had, his eyes meeting mine, the terror evident in our stare.

Then his eyes rolled back and he drifted away again.

Apparently I started screaming. I can’t be for sure exactly what happened in the next few minutes, the next thing I cognitively recall is Blake being lifted onto a cart to be rolled into the ambulance, the EMTs surrounding him.

One EMT was with me, trying to get me to calm down.

I pushed him out of the way, rushing towards the ambulance. “I’m going,” I said while climbing in.

None of them attempted to question that decision.

I sat right there holding his hand while the EMTs fluttered around him. I didn’t even hear them. Literally, the only thing in my mind was Blake and watching the
beep beep beep
of the machine plugged in next to him.

I was no doctor, but I knew that the lines going up and down and the
beep beep beeping
sounds were good. Well, as in- he was alive. And right then, in that moment, that was good enough.

It took three nurses, and finally a security officer, to pull me off of him when we arrived at the hospital. The threat of removing me from the grounds was enough for me to calm down enough to sit.

I sat in that waiting room chair and tried to remember my breathing. I had no clue where my cell phone was, so I finally walked up to the nurses’ station and asked to use the phone.

I called Katherine first, who promised that she was on her way to stay with me, and then I called Amy. I tried to remain calm through Amy’s questions but she ended the call rather quickly once she figured out what had happened and where we were.

A triage nurse came out for me and had me come to the back to be checked out. I complied and let her check my vitals and give me a look over. I kept telling her I was fine but she made me go back to see a doctor anyway.

The doctor came in after a while and looked me over, finally giving me a clean bill so I was able to return to the waiting room to await news of Blake. When I made it to the waiting area, Katherine and Amy had already arrived.

They both hugged me, Amy barely keeping herself composed.

We sat and I told them what happened, or what I remembered.

Then we just sat in silence. Katherine held one hand, Amy held the other. Occasionally Amy would sniff, but overall we sat in total silence.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, a doctor came into the waiting room to talk to us.

“Family of Blake Daley?” he asked.

“Yes,” both Amy and I answered at the same time.

She held my hand as we walked over to the doctor; Katherine stood behind me.

“Alright...he is doing okay. He had a skull fracture and a lot of swelling in the brain. We have put him in a drug induced coma to give his brain enough time to heal.”

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked, tears brimming in my eyes.

“We won’t know until he wakes up. He could be totally fine, or he could have temporary or permanent damage. At this point he is stable and we just have to wait and see,” he explained.

“Can we see him now?” Amy demanded.

“Yes, that’s fine. A nurse can direct you to him,” he answered.

We shook the doctor’s hand, thanked him, and made our way towards the ICU. Katherine followed us, not speaking, but staying near me in the event that I couldn’t handle it. She, as always, knew exactly what I needed at that moment.

A nurse led us into his room and I gasped when I saw him laying in the bed. Amy squeezed my hand tighter and then pulled me towards him.

Blake was lying in the hospital bed and connected to a ventilator, a bunch of wires and tubes hooked up to and coming out of him. He looked so...not Blake.

It was terrifying. I started to shake and Katherine came up and held my other hand.

“Asha, he’s okay. I know it’s scary, but it’s still Blake. He’s just sleeping,” she said reassuringly.

Amy released my hand and reached over to hold one of Blake’s hands.

“My sweet boy,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

I walked around the bed and sat in the chair next to him and held his other hand.

“I’m here, Blake. I don’t know if you can hear me, but you better wake up,” I said, tears pouring down my cheeks.

“That’s right, baby. That’s an order,” Amy told him.

Suddenly I burst into sobs. Katherine came and put her arm around me, as I laid my head on Blake and sobbed.

“Shhh,” she said soothingly.

“It’s my fault. I tempted fate,” I cried.

“What, dear?” Katherine asked.

“Yes, what are you talking about?” Amy demanded.

I lifted my head up and sniffed. “It was too good to be true. I told Blake that it felt too easy. It’s my fault. This is all my fault.”

I laid my head back down and cried hysterically.

Katherine put her hand on my shoulder and pushed me back gently but firmly, so that I was sitting up again.

“You listen to me, Asha. You did not do a thing wrong. He did not do a thing wrong. You, of all people, know that sometimes bad things just happen. Those things are not anyone’s fault. It’s just the reality of humankind. Bad things happen,” Katherine scolded.

“Asha, Blake was successful, and had risen above many things. But let me tell you, he was miserable before you came along. I have never seen my son as happy as I have seen him with you. There is no way possible that this is your fault. You want to place blame? Place it on the asshole who ran a red light and hit you. This is
his
burden to carry. Don’t you dare blame yourself. Do you understand me?” Amy stated firmly.

I nodded, my bottom lip trembling as tears continued cascading down my face, and laid my head back onto Blake.

“Come back to me, baby,” I begged him.

Chapter Thirty Two

      
Four days. For four days the love of my life has been in a coma. Two days ago the doctors said the swelling had subsided and that they were taking him off of the medication that was keeping him in a coma. For two days he’s still been out of it. The doctors said that this happens, and that he’s stable and his brain is showing normal levels of activity, but that we won’t know anything until he wakes up. Amy (Blake’s mom) and I haven’t left his side, and I won’t. My friend Beatrice brought me clothes to change into and tried to convince me to go home and shower. It’s not happening. I will not leave this room until he is leaving with me. The police came to question me about the accident, and it looks like the driver is being charged with vehicular assault. I shouldn’t be happy, but I am. Maybe that makes me a bad person. Maybe it’s because in my life justice has rarely been served, so if it can finally be given, I’ll take it. My therapist comes by every day to check on me and keeps bringing me things. Today she brought me my laptop so I could blog. So here I am, blogging to
you all, while my boyfriend lays in a hospital bed refusing to come back to me. I alternate between utter anguish and anger. Time doesn’t exist. The only time that matters is the time between breaths and the time it takes him to come back. Four days
.

xoxo, Asha


I closed my laptop and sighed deeply.

“I’m going to run down and get some food, what do you want Asha?” Amy asked me, slipping her shoes on.

“Nothing. But since I know you’re going to make me eat, I’ll take a turkey sub,” I muttered.

Amy smiled an understanding smile and walked out of the room. At this point I wasn’t sure if she was staying for Blake or for me. She had been mothering me the entire four days we had been there.

Maybe I needed her. I needed something.

What I needed was Blake. I held his hand as I set my laptop on the floor.

“Baby, the nurses said that maybe you can hear us. If you can hear me, please come back. I can’t do this without you. Life is meaningless and nothing without you,” I said, sobs working their way up again.

They had taken him off the ventilator the day they stopped giving him meds for the coma and he was breathing on his own. I laid my head on his lap and listened to his breathing.

“I survived without you, but I didn’t live. I existed, just trying to make it through the day. Babe, I didn’t even realize what I was missing until you. Please, please,
please
come back,” I continued to profess through my cries.

Suddenly I felt a hand on the top of my head. I jerked up and looked up to find Blake’s eyes watching me.

“Oh my God! Blake! Oh my God!” I screamed, pressing the nurse’s button and reaching up to put his face in my hands. Tears poured freely down my face.

“Hi, gorgeous girl,” he whispered.

“Blake, I—I thought I was losing you! Oh my God,” I said, before leaning down and kissing his cheek.

“Never, babe. Water?” he rasped.

“Yes, oh my God, yes.” I said, pouring him a cup and grabbing a straw. I hesitated, not sure if I was allowed to give it to him.

The nurse came in and looked him over and looked at his stats and said she was going to go page the doctor. She gave me permission to give him the water, so I let him take sips from the straw while I held the cup up for him.

“They were out of turkey, Asha, so I got you ham. I hope that’s—
oh my God!”
Amy exclaimed, coming through the door. She dropped the bags in her hands and ran to Blake’s side.

“Baby boy! Oh my sweet baby boy!” she said while stroking his hair.

“You were both here? How long have I been out of it?” he asked, his voice sounding better after drinking the water.

“Yes, we were both here,” I said softly.

“Asha never left your side,” Amy told him.

“You’ve been out of it for four days,” I added.

His eyes widened. “Four days? Oh shit, babe. Are you okay?”

“Me? I’m fine. Are
you
okay?” I demanded, looking at him.

“Never better,” He joked.

Amy slapped his arm. “No time for jokes, young man.”

The doctor came in, checked him out, had him do a few things like squeeze his hand, and asked him a bunch of questions. He said they had to do some blood work and have him sent down for a CT
scan, but he didn’t see anything to cause concern at this time.

It took several days to get Blake up and able to walk around, but every test came back clear and finally he was able to be released. He had to follow up with neurology in a month, but they expected him to be cleared at that time.

It was a miracle. For the kind of injury he had, he very well could have had permanent damage, so walking out of the hospital with him only slightly weaker, but mostly himself, was something I didn’t take for granted.

Just like our lives and the timing of our relationship, fate had worked its magic and made everything the way that it should be.

Chapter Thirty Three

“We’re almost there, babe.” Blake said, reaching for my hand.

“Okay, but you know you owe me big for this,” I said, huffing and puffing for air.

Hiking.

For some reason Blake thought that since he was finally healed from the accident, it would be awesome to go on a flipping hike.

I thought I was in shape. Yeah...until the Blue Ridge Trail handed me my ass. This was exhausting.

We made our way towards a clearing in front of us and when Blake helped pull me up the final step I gasped.

It was breathtaking; a full panoramic view of the mountains. Early signs of spring were showing so the landscape was littered with green.

Suddenly I heard We The Kings’
Sad Song
playing and turned to see Blake setting his phone and a small speaker down.