A shorter chapter, to be accurate, but I promised a quick update, so here it is! This is mainly just a filler chapter anyways, but I like it XD

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The hospital machine beeped frequently, but steadily, signifying the pulse rate of the unconscious patient. The sanitized room bore no visitors—they had left hours ago, promising to return the next morning. Small breaths disturbed the silence as the patient, whose entire head was wrapped firmly in bandages, slept on. Outside the door nurses and doctors bustled around without pause—they were not paid to take elongated breaks. Murmured conversations occurred behind locked doors, but did little to disrupt the overall quiet peace of the facility. Cars and buses and trucks rumbled by the building noisily while simultaneously polluting the night-time air. They drove past cinemas and malls, houses and apartment buildings, forests and lakes, occasionally stopping for a red light or stop sign. Critters of all sorts roamed in the dark, hiding from predators or searching for prey. The rooted trees stretched and reached high into the sky, twisting, winding and bending as they grew. The tiny stars twinkled above them where the vast galaxy extended for light-years; never ceasing to exist.

And still the patient slept on.

Yolei rubbed her tired eyes and yawned, heading over to the coffee machine in the hospital waiting room. It was a weak and disgusting beverage, but much more enjoyable than falling asleep in those uncomfortable, stiff chairs. Other patients and citizens were scattered in the dreaded place of wait with Yolei, but none were who she so desperately wanted to see.

The young girl scowled abruptly. Her hand clenched tightly around the Styrofoam cup in anger. The awful feeling of uselessness overwhelmed her, just as it had the other day when the incident had transpired. Thus far, she had been unable to help anyone, unable to do anything but sit and wait impatiently for a sign that everything would be okay. The clenching sensation in her chest brought a few tears to her eyes—in frustration and sadness—but she was relatively used to it by now. A half-empty box of Kleenex rested beside her chair and she reached for it instinctively.

The other two were supposed to show up soon, she remarked, glancing at the clock. They promised to wait with her for as long as it took, but she knew they were stalling. It was their fault, after all. Their fault she was stuck here, looking up hopefully every time a doctor passed by, and it was their fault she had nothing to eat and drink except crappy coffee and stale vending machine food.

Yolei gulped down the rest of the flavourless drink, recalling exactly why she was putting up with all of this.

Flashback

Yolei waited in line for the snacks she was getting. The people in front of her were taking an exceptionally long time, and they couldn't seem to make up their minds on whether they wanted extra cheese or extra salsa with their nachos. Yolei scoffed and tapped her foot impatiently. This was getting ridiculous. Extra salsa was obviously the way to go.

Loud, angry voices caught her attention suddenly, and she turned to the rink to see what was going on. She rolled her eyes when she saw Kari and TK sniping at each other once again, Ken trying to pacify the situation, like he always did. Kari appeared to be on the verge of tears and TK looked ready to strike her down. Yolei frowned as the argument got more and more heated—surely they should have calmed down a bit by now?

Without warning, TK lunged forward, fist flying out from his side as he directed his aim at Kari. Yolei saw her friend's face grow shocked in disbelief as she tried to move out of the way to dodge the attack.

Yolei then screamed shrilly, "NO!!" as Ken moved swiftly in front of Kari, taking the hit full-on. TK's punch knocked him onto the ground and ice. Yolei watched as her stupid, stupid boyfriend fell, fell, all the way to the floor, hitting his head with a CRACK! He lay still for a moment before Yolei forgot all about the indecisive people lined up in front of her and what kind of snacks she was supposed to be getting. As the blood started to seep onto the ice, staining it red, the tears began falling from her dazed eyes. Her sluggish body moved its way over to Ken's unmoving corpse, and her salty tears mingled with his blood.

She stayed by his side, not noticing the frantic phone call for an ambulance, or the stricken faces of Kari and TK. She could barely recall anything besides Ken's pale, cold face, remnants of an unhappy frown lingering there. Yolei was the one to ride in the ambulance with him—holding his hand the whole way there—and she was the first one in to see him after his condition was finally stabilized.

The doctors said everything was going to be fine—he would make it with no major problems or damage—but Yolei wouldn't forget. She doubted she'd ever be able to forget that horrid day when Ken was almost taken, ripped away from her like that. The image still haunted her, which caused a severe lack of sleep (hence the copious amounts of caffeine) but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Not until she could hold him in her arms again.

Not until everything was okay.

End Flashback

Sighing, Yolei scanned the area for signs of TK and Kari. Their intense guilt was making them late once more, and she huffed heatedly. If they weren't going to show up when they said they were going to, then what was the point in even coming? She could handle things by herself here—they could go wallow in their self-pity all by themselves for all she cared.

They were certainly going to have to do more than just apologise in order for her to forgive them. As far as Yolei was concerned, they didn't deserve to even be near Ken after this latest ordeal. All they'd accomplished so far was stressing him out and hurting him; after all he'd done for them. They asked for his help—he lent them a hand—and this was how they repaid his endless kindness.

By putting him in a hospital bed, hooked up to beeping machines and wrapped in gauze.

Some friends they were.

Yolei's vision blurred yet again as tiredness plagued her senses. She yawned widely and struggled to fight it off as much as she could. Ken was counting on her, one way or another, and she wasn't going to let a silly little thing like sleep disrupt her goal of staying awake and alert for when he regained consciousness.

Stretching out and grabbing a magazine from her purse, Yolei equipped herself for the long wait ahead.

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