Author's Note: As a disclaimer, this chapter is a little short and a bit sad, so I apologize in advance.

Chapter Thirteen: Flashbacks, Echoes, and Reminiscences

That day, I went over to see if I could visit Spencer. On this first day, the receptionist at the hospital told me that I couldn't see her without the approval of a family member. I, of course, didn't know Spencer's parents, so it wasn't like I could just ask them to approve me seeing their daughter. The next day when I showed up the hospital staff let me see her, but warned me that she would look brutal and would most certainly not be awake to speak to me. I told them that was fine; I'd take what I could get.

When I walked in the room and saw Spencer, my stomach dropped. She had a cast on her right arm and she looked completely bruised. I could see some stitches on the side of her face past her dark hair. Her legs were propped carefully on pillows. I thought Hanna had told me that Spencer had to get surgery on her legs or something like that. I didn't want any more details, so I could only guess what she needed the surgery for. Either way, she looked brutal.

"Oh, Spencer."

I quickly sat down next to her. There was a modest bunch of flowers on her bedside table—not that she could see them. I assumed they were from one of her friends, but I didn't bother to look at the card.

I read a billion times that people in comas could hear people speaking.

"Hey, Spencer."

I felt like a little part of me expected her to answer, but of course she didn't. I paused before continuing. "Your friends and I are all worried about you. We all really hope you get better." I sort of wished Hanna was there, too; she seemed like the kind of person who always knew what to say. "I really hope you get better…" I repeated. I stayed there for a while just looking at her and keeping her company. It might have sounded creepy, but I sort of liked watching her sleep. I reluctantly pushed back a stray lock of her dark hair. She just looked so peaceful now.

It became sort of routine. I would come visit Spencer after classes and talk to her as though she could really hear me. I really wanted to believe that she could actually hear me even if she was in the coma. I told her all about what we were learning in our shared classes. I kept her posted on what was happening with her friends.

Hanna and I had become frequent correspondents following Spencer's accident. She always wanted to know what was happening with Spencer. I had to talk her out of coming to New Haven a few times. She promised me, however, that she would come as soon as she had a vacation. She said she might bring another one of their friends, Aria. I asked her one day if Spencer's boyfriend knew about Spencer being in the hospital…

I realized as I asked her that I hate the fact that she still had a boyfriend. I knew I couldn't really hold her boyfriend accountable for anything and therefore I couldn't really hate him—as far as I knew, he was always good to her and he was generally a nice guy—but I still hated that he got to call her his girlfriend. I had never felt jealous like that before.

"Do you want Toby to come visit you?"

I half expected her to answer. Of course, she didn't. I continued pacing around the room. He had been pretty adamant about sending her flowers. Why hadn't he shown up already?

I also realized that her parents hadn't visited. In fact, I was the only one to come see her in the hospital. It made me sort of angry that Spencer's parents didn't even bother to come see her.

Sometimes I sat in her room late at night on Fridays and Saturdays and did my homework. The nurses never really commented on it. Some of them definitely thought I was weird. A few gave me sympathetic smiles or had sad eyes when they thought I wasn't looking.

Sometimes I got very caught up in my surroundings—too much to even do any homework. I started writing down thoughts and observations. There were times when I noticed the moonlight shone in through the window and hit the side of Spencer's face. The contours of her face seemed emphasized and she just looked hauntingly beautiful. There were other times when the eerie sound of her heart monitor mixed with the faint buzzing sound of all the hospital lights sent shivers up my spine and chilled me to the bone.

I called Rachel the next day on Skype.

"Did you go visit Spencer today?" was the first thing Rachel asked. I nodded. "Are you okay?"

I shrugged. "I'm just really worried about her."

She stared at me for a moment. "You look like you've lost weight since she went in the hospital."

I stared at my arms and body for a moment. I had lost about five pounds since she'd gone to the hospital almost two weeks ago. As I put my hand on my shoulder, I noticed that my collarbones were more defined and I had less weight on my arms and stomach. My shirt was looser than it had been two months ago when I got it.

"I know," I responded bleakly. "I haven't really been eating as much ever since it happened," I admitted.

She looked at me sadly. "Quinn, she's going to get better."

"I know that but if you saw her…she looks so delicate. She almost looks like a broken doll in that hospital bed," I explained as I thought to how Spencer looked that day when I visited her. "I'm just afraid something will happen unexpectedly and that I'll never see her again." I had barely even thought about what it would be like if Spencer didn't make it. I didn't want to think about it, I realized.

Rachel stayed silent as she stared at me. "You just have to pray, Quinn. She's going to get better." I nodded but didn't respond. There was silence between both of us before she said something else. "You know, I'm really sorry about what I said about you and Spencer. I can see now that you really do love her."

I looked at her nervously. Love her? I hadn't even thought that far. I loved her like a friend, sure, but…was there something more.

"Really?" I asked weakly.

She nodded. "I mean…if visiting someone in the hospital every day even though they can't see you or talk to you isn't love, then I don't know what is. Spencer is really lucky to have you."

I just smiled, but on the inside, I felt almost troubled by Rachel calling it love.

thewriterinme: Thank you very much! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

theorangegirlx: I hope you liked it! Thanks for letting me know :)

Again, thank you, everyone who is still reading this. I really do apologize for the brevity of this chapter. -Kayson