A/N: this takes place about 4 days later. Lizzie and Miranda are recovering, but neither of them has woken up yet since the crash.
LIZZIE
My eyes fluttered open. Where was I? What happened?
"Wha…"
"Shh," someone said. "Go back to sleep."
"What happened?" I asked slowly, almost painfully.
"You were in a car accident. Someone slammed into you from the right side. He'd been drinking. Your friend Daniel is showing amazing progress. We estimated about a month for him to stay here, but if he keeps this up he'll be able to go home in a week."
"Daniel?"
"Oh, excuse me. David."
"Gordo!"
The nurse blinked. "I suppose."
I was glad to hear the good news. Gordo was doing well; he'd be up in a week. What about Miranda? Where was she?
"Miranda…?" I asked, almost unable to say more than one word at a time. It hurt too much, and took too much energy to talk.
"She's in this same room. She's been unconscious since the crash, and so have you until now. It's been 4 days."
4 days?? I'd been unconscious for 4 days?!
"Wow…" was all I felt like saying.
She smiled. "It's good you're awake, Elizabeth."
"Lizzie," I said.
"All right, Lizzie. I haven't told your parents yet, but your chances of… well, living are in danger. And your friend Miranda."
I was dying? Now? But I was awake! I'd pulled through! I couldn't die… not now!
"Living?"
"You have a 40/60 chance. The odds aren't in your favor."
For some reason I couldn't believe her. It seemed wrong. I couldn't die… I was in high school! People don't die until they were in their 80s! I was still a teenager. I couldn't die…
I realized then how weak I felt. I couldn't even lift a finger I was so beat. Even blinking seemed like a little bit of work.
"Now… I'm going to give you something to put you back to sleep. You'll wake up in a few hours and then I'll let your family in."
Was she going to let them in to say a few last words before I died? They could be here with me during my last moments?
Don't be crazy, I told myself. If you were really doomed, she wouldn't bother putting you to sleep. Seconds later, I was dreaming.
~*~
"There's nothing else we can do!"
"Yes there is! Give me that!"
"Doctor, just let her parents in, for God's sake! Let them see her one last time."
"We can't have them in here while we're trying to work."
"There's no point to working, she's practically dead!"
"Listen to me, nurse!"
"Just let them in!"
Horrified, I listened to the yelling going on in my room. I was dying!
I opened my eyes. I didn't see a doctor and a nurse around me. I turned my head and saw Miranda lying still and a doctor and a nurse standing near her.
Miranda!
The doctor sighed. "Go out and get them. Tell them she'll be gone within 3 minutes."
The nurse rushed out.
I wanted to cry. Miranda was going to die! But… just yesterday we were tanning at the beach. Gordo was squirting her with a squirt gun and she was laughing and telling him to stop.
No, not yesterday. 4 days ago. I remembered the nurse telling me that I'd been unconscious for a few days.
But her liveliness only days before didn't change the reality that was happening in the bed next to me. One of my best friends that I'd ever had, Miranda Sanchez, was dying. And she would be dead within 3 minutes.
I wanted to say goodbye. I wanted to let her know how much I appreciated her during the years that we'd been inseparable, but I couldn't because I was too weak to talk. I couldn't even cry. I was too weak to sob.
Miranda's parents hurried in. "Miranda, honey?" her mom asked. "Can you hear me?"
"We love you, Miranda," Mr. Sanchez said. "We always have."
I heard her mom start crying hysterically. "Don't leave us, honey! Don't leave us!"
I tried to block out the rest of her screams and cries and Mr. Sanchez trying to comfort her, and both of them talking to Miranda telling her how much they loved her. I didn't want to listen. It would only make me more sorrowful.
Then, the dreaded words came from the doctor. "She's gone."
Mrs. Sanchez cried out again and the nurse escorted her and her husband out of the room.
At that minute, my heart literally stopped at hearing that she was dead. The doctor ran over to my monitor and got worried, but then it came back. I suppose he was able to guess why my heart stopped, because he said, "I'm sorry about your friend."
"Where's Gordo?" I asked.
"Gordo?"
"David Gordon."
"In his room, why?"
"Can… can I tell him?"
The doctor smiled faintly. "Yes, if you want to. I'll send for him. Stay here and rest." He left.
No more than a minute later, Gordo was in a wheelchair being pushed over to me by a nurse.
"Hey, Lizzie," he said.
"You're… doing good," I said, still finding talking an enormous effort.
"Yeah. But my nurse is a tyrant. All she ever does is call me Daniel and tell me to sleep. They say I can hopefully get out of here soon."
"M-Miranda," I said. Gordo snapped to attention. Maybe he guessed what had happened. "Sh-she…" I couldn't say it. It was hard enough to talk as it was, and what I was planning to say didn't make it any easier. I couldn't say this, mentally or physically. "She's dead," I finally said. My voice cracked.
"Miranda?" he asked.
I wanted to nod, but I couldn't. So I said, "Yeah."
Gordo's head dropped. "They told me she didn't have a good chance, but I never thought…" He sighed and looked at me. "It just seems like we're indestructible, y'know? We're 17, so nothing can hurt us… or kill us."
I sniffed. "C'mere."
Gordo wheeled himself over to the side of my bed and slowly, gently hugged me as if we were both fragile and he didn't want to break either one of us. His tears fell on my neck and I wished I could cry with him, but I couldn't. It hurt too much.
