Chapter 6: Confessions of the heart
Steve was pacing anxiously inside the waiting room when the door suddenly opened. A man in a scrub suit entered the room.
"Mr. and Mrs. Stevens?" he asked.
Eileen, who was seated beside Donnie, immediately stood up. "How are they? What took them so long?"
The man raised up his hand. "Please, have a seat." He signaled them towards the small couch. "My name is Dr. Bergen. Uh, would you like some coffee?"
This time, it was Steve who spoke up. "No thank you, doctor." He heaved a sigh. "Please, tell us the condition of our children."
"Okay," he answered. "Well, aside from that sprained arm and a minor contusion, he sustained no more further serious injuries. Mostly it was cuts and bruises, and some minor gashes."
"So what you're saying is that he's okay, right?" Donnie suddenly asked. The three adults turned their heads towards him.
"Yes, your brother is fine. We have to keep him overnight though, he did sustain a minor contusion." The doctor clarified.
A huge smile crept across Donnie's face. "Well, what about my sister, Ren? I mean, she's going to be okay too, right? I mean, we saw them saved her." he looked expectantly at him. Steve and Eileen did the same.
It took a few beats before the doctor answered. "Well, uh, Ren sustained more serious injuries." He said quietly.
Everybody's face fell. "How serious?" Eileen asked, her voice quivering.
"She sustained a dislocated right arm and a hairline fracture on her wrist too. The fourth and fifth rib was broken, and her left lung was punctured. There were some internal bleeding, but we were able to repair them." Again, he paused. "But, she also sustained a head trauma. We did some tests, and results showed that her brain might have sustained some bruising."
"Well, what does that mean? Doctor, will she be alright?" Steve asked impatiently.
"She slipped into coma," he answered.
Eileen could not believe what she just heard. "C-coma?" Tears began forming on her eyes.
"I assure you, Mrs. Stevens, a lot of people recover from these kind of injuries." He smiled at them, trying to reassure the distraught parents.
"Yeah, but for how long?" Steve angrily retorted.
"Please sir, calm down. Usually, patients who sustained head trauma such as hers recover from coma within days."
"Can we see them?" Eileen asked.
The doctor glanced at his watch. "Well, visiting time is almost over, but I'll talk to the head nurse to give you a couple of minutes more." Steve and Eileen stood up. "They already transferred your daughter on a private room with a private nurse on the eighth floor. I've also made arrangements for your son to be in the room next to hers. If you would just follow me, I'll take you to them."
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Louis pretended to sleep as soon as he heard voices outside his room. Quietly, his mother, father and Donnie entered. A few moments later, he felt someone stroking his head. A silent sob can also be heard.
"Shh," Steve said in a hushed voice. "You'll wake him up."
"Don't worry mom, Louis will be fine. The doctor said it himself." Donnie assured his mother.
"I know, but Ren-"
"Ren… will be fine. We just… have to wait." Steve put his arms around his wife. "Nobody in the Stevens family is a quitter. She'll come out of it, you'll see."
Louis tried hard not to react to their conversation. A feeling of dread is slowly spreading him.
"I just don't understand," Eileen said, shaking her head. "How could this have happened?"
"I'm sure this was nothing but an accident. There's really no one to blame here." He reminded his wife. "The kids have always been aware of the responsibilities of driving."
Responsibilities. The word struck Louis hard like a knife. If the car crash didn't kill him, he might as well die of guilt.
A small knock sounded on the door and a nurse peeked inside. "I'm sorry, but it's already fifteen minutes past the visiting hours. I've talked to Dr. Bergen, and it was arranged that you could come visit an hour earlier that the usual visiting hours."
As soon as they left, Louis opened his eyes wide and stared at the ceiling. The word seemed to echo in his mind over and over. Finally, he stood up from his bed and fixed his hospital gown. He took a peek outside, and when the coast is clear, sneaked inside her sister's room.
What he saw broke his heart into pieces. Ren, his dear sister, lying there on the bed with different tubes sticking from her arm. Her head was wrapped in a bandage, right arm on a sling and a cast around her wrist. Beside her bed was a heart monitor, sounding like an ominous warning.
He took a seat beside her bed and rested his chin beside her arm. Gently, he cupped her face in his had, delicately caressing her smooth skin. Until now, he never realized how beautiful her sister was, even in her current state. Tears were flowing freely from his eyes, but he made no move of wiping it.
"Have I ever told you how beautiful and great you are?" he whispered. "No? Well, you are. You're probably the greatest most beautiful sister there has ever been." He continued to touch her face. "How about 'I love you?' Have I ever told you that? Well then, I do, I really do. I love you, Ren, and I'm sorry for teasing you, and doing those mean jokes on you. I'm sorry for making fun of you and not taking you seriously. I'm so sorry for hurting you like this…" he choked. "This never would have happened if I just listened to you; if I had just acted responsible, like you always said." He laid down his head on the bed. Then, he gingerly lifted her hand and placed it on his cheek.
Never, in his life, has he ever felt this awful. His emotions threaten to overwhelm him: confusion, remorse, anger, dread, distraught… but most of all, guilt. It was the feeling that hurts him the most, like an acid slowly eating him from inside out. "I'm so sorry," again he whispered, before finally drifting into sleep.
The next day, Steve and Eileen were very surprised to see Louis sleeping peacefully beside his sister.
"Your son gave us quite a scare last night," the nurse said as she entered the room. "Some nurse entered his room to check on him, but instead she found his bed empty. Fortunately, the other nurse found him in deep slumber beside his sister." She narrated as she checked for vital signs and replaced Ren's IV. "Nobody wanted to wake him up because he looked so peaceful."
Steve and Eileen smiled at each other. "Well, he must be really worried about her," he said. "Well even though they fight a lot, we know Louis loves his sister so much. I guess he just hasn't realized it until now."
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"Louis, we came in as soon as we got off at school, how are you?" Tawny asked as she and Twitty came barging into the room.
A look of shock registered on both their faces as soon as they caught sight of Ren. "Oh-oh my god," she breathed.
Louis, who was sitting beside Ren's bed like a guard dog, greeted them. "Hi guys," he said quietly.
Twitty and Tawny inched their way towards him. "Louis, what happened?" Twitty asked.
Louis just shook his head in response. "I'd rather not talk about it right now."
"How's Ren? Is she going to be alright?" Tawny quietly asked.
He nodded his head slowly. "Doctors said that she'd wake up one of these days. They're just not sure when."
"What about you, are you alright?" looking directly at him.
Louis took a moment before answering. "Yeah, I'm alright. Nothing but a sprained arm and some big bruises."
Tawny's looked as if she was about to say something but changed her mind. Her stare lingered for a moment before breaking it off.
"Hey, have a seat. Mom and dad just went home to get some things. Donnie will be here too in a couple of hours." he said to his friends. The two willingly obliged.
Twitty broke the awkward silence and snapped his fingers. "Dude, I just remembered, some of the teachers wanted me to give you a copy of the assignments they gave." He reached into his backpack to get some papers, but he caught Tawny's eyes and she shot him some dagger looks. "Uh, unless of course you're still not ready for it. You know, 'coz you're still in the hospital, and all." He smiled at him nervously.
"It's okay, Twitty," he answered as he reached for the papers. "The doctor discharged me three hours ago. I'll do it when I get home tonight."
Twitty stole a quick glance at Tawny and saw the puzzled look on her face. "Louis, are you sure you're up to it?" Tawny suddenly asked. "I mean, you've just been in an accident, you should at least take some rest. I'm sure the teachers will understand."
"No Tawny, it's nothing really, I'll do these homework tonight, for a change." Louis assured her. Yes, for a change, he told himself. Some things in life just have to change. Actually for him, everything has got to change. That he was sure of.
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