Maggie's eyes fluttered open by quickly closed again. Her head was pounding and every inch of her body seemed to ache with every breathe she took. She was wondering where she was at and when she had gotten there when everything came flooding back to her.
Dallas, gun, 2 shots, crying, and Jim. She curled herself into a ball and rested her head on her knees. She didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to come back to reality. She could hear constant beeping a little ways from her and it gave her a little comfort.
"Hey," she heard a distant voice. "She's awake." Maggie shook her head to herself. She didn't want to be awake. She never wanted to be awake.
"Maggie." she could hear a voice say just before hand touched her hand. She slowly fluttered her eyes open and got adjusted to the light to see Steve standing in front of her. She looked up at him.
"Its ok." he started to comfort. Maggie drew her arm away quickly, rage building inside of her.
"No!" she screamed. "Its not ok! It'll never be ok!"
"I'm here, its going to be ok." he persisted. Maggie drew away from him again.
"I don't want you!" she yelled as she scooted to one side of the bed. "I WANT DALLAS!"
"I want Dallas." she said again, barely above a whisper as she broke down into sobs again. She didn't care if her body ached. She didn't care about anything anymore. She just wanted Dallas. Maggie picked up a near by plastic cup and hurled it at the wall, still sobbing.
"Well, if you let me touch you we can go see him!" Steve snapped angrily and banged his fist on the railing on the side of the bed. Maggie looked over at him quickly. Go see him? But Dallas was dead, how could she go see him?
"But," Maggie said, "he's dead."
"No he's not!" a new voice yelled. Maggie looked up too see Johnny rush into the room. "He's not dead, Maggie. It'll be ok." he said as he nodded his head, worry and fear in his eyes. Maggie swung her arms around Johnny's neck. At that moment she felt like the closest thing she could have to Dallas was Johnnycake.
"I wanna see him!" Maggie said urgently when she was done hugging Johnny. Johnny nodded and Steve leaned over to help her up.
"Grab her machine, Johnny." Steve ordered and pointed to the IV drip that was attached to Maggie's arm. Johnny nodded and wheeled the IV machine behind Maggie as she walked.
"Think you can make it?" Steve asked when they were about half way to Dally's room. Maggie nodded, not caring about all the aches and pains in her body. She just wanted to see Dallas!
Steve lead her to a silent, eerie corridor of the hospital. It seemed like everything in this corridor was dark and eerie and creepy. It was so silent that even Maggie didn't want to disturb it. Steve led her a few rooms down and stopped in front of a door way. Maggie took a deep breathe and walked in slowly, Johnny still trailing behind her. She gasped when she saw Dallas. His whole room was dark but she could make out his emotionless pain figure on a hospital bed. She walked closer and leaned against his bed, suddenly light headed. She stared back down at Dallas. He had so many tubes coming out of his throat and nose it was hard to tell what was what. He was paler than ever and his hair was matted to his forehead by what looked like water. Maggie reached up and dried it off before looking at all the tubes. She looked at the machines recognizing the one that pumped air into and out of his lungs. She was light headed again. Dally was in a coma. Her Dally was in a coma. This couldn't be happening!
She listened to the beeping on the side of his bed, it was slow and steady just like it should be but it wasn't right. He wasn't really alive. The only thing keeping him alive was a bunch of machines, but she wasn't about to turn them off either. Johnny walked up beside her and held her hand, tears in his eyes.
"The docs said he could wake up from it. He could wake up now or maybe 10 years from now. They just don't know." Maggie squeezed Johnny's hand. She knew he was going through this too, it wasn't just her.
"Let's leave her alone, Johnny." Steve whispered from the door. She felt Johnny nod and then his hand was no longer locked in hers. She watched as they left and then slowly got in the bed with Dally, making sure not to cut of his tubes. She rested her head on his chest that was slowly moving up and down. She wondered if he could feel her, hear her, if he knew that she was there. She slowly looked up at his face and kissed him on the cheek.
"Dally..." she trailed off when tears stung her eyes. She whipped them away and continued talk to him. "I miss you. You're my brother Dally, seeing you like this i-it kills me, Dally." she said softly. "You, big tough Dally. You were untouchable, and because of me and who knew me, your laying here with a machine keeping you alive." she wanted so much for Dally to wake up and tell her that everything was ok that he was ok. But it didn't happen, so she went on talking.
"If it hadn't been for Jim we'd all be back at the Curtis partying and playing poker, celebrating our victory. You know Dally, deep down inside it made me happy all those times you got made at me for dating Curly. But if you only knew who I was dating now." Maggie smiled a little when she pictured what Dally would do if he found out about her and Tim. Her smile quickly faded when she remembered that Tim had said it was a mistake. She had no one left now. No one in the world, no one to take care of her like Dally or Tim could. This was it, she was on her own.
"There was so much you could have taught me, Dally. So much you could have done with me. We could have gone to New York, we could have done anything you wanted to do." thinking of everything they wouldn't do together was what really got Maggie chocked up. The thought of him never being there again chocked her up even more. She closed her eyes slowly, not wanting to feel the pain anymore, and fell asleep listening to the sound of the machines beeping, telling her that Dallas was still alive.
She woke up quickly at the feel of movement and snapped her eyes open, hope that Dally was awake flowed through her body until she realized that it was only a nurse checking all of Dally's machines.
"You should really be in you own bed, honey." she told Maggie as she checked them and wrote something down on a paper. Maggie shook her head.
"I'm not going anywhere." she stated stubbornly.
"Well, then, should I just send all the visitors for you down to this room?" the nurse asked, her voice kind and caring. Maggie nodded slowly.
"Thank you." she replied but didn't smile, she didn't think she could ever smile again.
A few minutes later someone knocked on the door. Maggie looked up wearily to find Tim standing in the doorway, looking out of place. Maggie motioned for him to come in and made sure her hospital gown was closed.
"You should really go back to your own room, the doctors need to tell you something important." Tim told her as he walked in, only glancing at Dally before looking away.
"What's so important that I should leave him for?" she asked sharply as she leaned up. He shrugged.
"They wouldn't tell me." she nodded again, satisfied with his answer. She was staying right there no matter what.
"How you feeling?" Tim asked suddenly.
"Fine. Tired." Tim only nodded.
"I just thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing. I guess I'll be on my way again."
"You do that." Maggie said coldly as she layed back down with Dally. Tim was about to leave when a doctor stepped in his way.
"There you are!" the doctor shouted. Maggie rolled her eyes and watched as the doctor, and Tim, and closer to the bed. "I've been looking for you everywhere, should of known you were in here with your friend." he went silent for a while before starting to talk again.
"We did some tests while you were unconscious and we were informed that you have urinary reflux. We did some more tests to check your kidneys and what we found isn't good. You right kidney is so scared and damaged that its not working properly. You left kidney is starting to get over worked with having to handle all the work."
"English please!" Maggie snapped.
"Your right kidney isn't working at all, which means its useless. You left one which is scared and damaged too is having to take on the work. We're predicting that in a few weeks maybe even days your going to suffer from kidney failure."
Maggie took a while to take it all in. The doctor had told her about this when she first found out about her disease. If her kidneys failed she was going to have to have a transplant!
"Are they going to fail for definite?" she asked quietly, her heart pounding.
"Yes. They are." the doctor said slowly, his voice was cold and Maggie had to wonder if he had any feelings at all.
"What happens until the transplant?"
"We'll put you on the waiting list for a kidney. We'll also give you treatments called hemodialysis. This treatment works by hooking you up to a machine that cleans and gets ride of your excess water mechanically. It takes about 2 to 4 hours hours. You can do anything while the treatment takes place. You can sit and talk, read, watch t.v. Once you get a kidney it will be transferred to your body immediately."
"So I will only need one?"
"Yes. As long as you have one good working kidney that isn't scared or damaged you should be fine."
Maggie nodded again. This was so much at once. Dally in a coma and her about to have kidney failure.
"There's something else." the doctor said more coldly. Maggie looked up wondering what it could be this time.
"Its seems you have no registered guardian or parent, which means you are a ward of the state as of now. You will be kept here to get your treatments and to be given proper care. But once and if you get better you will be transferred to a state home immediately." Maggie sat there shocked. She knew that Darry wasn't her guardian but they couldn't let her stay with him? Not at all? Before she knew it the doctor was gone and she was in a room with Tim alone again. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes again. He looked as shocked as she was but quickly hid it.
"I have to go." he said suddenly and rushed out the door. Maggie broke down in tears once again and feel against Dally. She clutched his emotionless body and wished with all her might that he would just wake up and hold her. He would comfort her and tell her he'd always bet there for her. But he didn't, he just lied there, emotionless and she was left alone. She cried there for hours, clutching on to Dally and just lieing there. Until finally she cried herself to sleep.
When Maggie woke up again it was dark outside. She instantly listened for the sound of Dally's beeping sound and found that it was still there. She relaxed but only for a few seconds before she rushed to her feet to the bathroom. She leaned over the toilet and dry heaved a bit. Her stomach felt awful and her legs felt weak. Everything seemed to be aching still and she just didn't feel right. She dry heaved until she finally threw up what little was in her stomach, but that still didn't make her feel better. She coughed and spit the yucky taste out of her mouth before dragging herself back up, flushing the toilet and taking some water from the sink into her mouth. She spit it out slowly and dragged herself to the bed next to Dally's. Her hands and feet and legs were shaky and she still felt sick to her stomach. After a few minutes she started to get awful cramps in her stomach and abs. She started to somehow make herself believe that she was just about to start her period.
She layed like that until it got light outside again, the cramps as bad as ever and the nausea still there and a headache was added to the list shortly after she had thrown up. She just lied there the whole time, shaky and moaning from her cramps. Finally the nurse came in around 6:30 and noticed her immediately. She got on a walkie talkie she had and radio the nearest doctor who came right away.
"Definaitly kidney failure." the doctor said. He looked to be about 25. "Go get the machine." her ordered the nurse. Maggie let out a little whimper, she wasn't planning on this to happen for another couple of weeks.
"Its gonna be ok." he comforted her as he brushed her sweaty hair out of her face. This guy had good bed side manner!
"Can you push my bed to his bed?" Maggie asked hopefully, she really wanted to be next to Dally while they did this so called procedure. He nodded.
"Anything to make you more comfortable." he told her as he walked to the other side of her bed. He moved to the other side of her bed and unplugged her IV machine before pushing her bed sideways against Dally's. Maggie reached out and grabbed Dally's hand to hold, hoping he could feel it. She watched as a nurse brought in a big machine.
"Now, we're going to have to stick two needles in your arms. Ok? So we can get the blood out and put it back in." Maggie nodded slowly closed her eyes. She could feel 2 picks in her arms and twitched a little. She listened as they hook up the tubes to the needles and turned on the machine. She opened her eyes again and looked over to Dally, noticing that the nurse and doctor had gone again.
"Look at this, Dally," she said with a small sad smile on her face, "we're both dieing. Isn't it ironic?" she sighed a little and closed her eyes, listening to the beeping sound again.
"Maggie?" she heard a small voice say. She looked up to see Johnny and the rest of the gang standing behind him.
"Hey, guys." Maggie said, her voice weak.
"Sorry we haven't been to visit, we thought you needed some time alone." Darry said as they all walked into the room. Maggie nodded.
"Thanks guys. The doctor tell you whats going on?" Maggie asked. Darry nodded.
"Yeah, he told us. We all just got tested to see if we're matches. They said if we are a match then we might be able to give you a kidney."
"None of you are going to give me a kidney." Maggie said coldly. "I can get my own kidney. I'm not going to take one of you guys' away so I can live."
"Its not up for discussion, Maggie." Darry said sternly as he sat next to her and looked a the machine next to her.
"What are you gentleman doing in here?" the nurse asked as she walked in to the room to check Maggie. "Its after visiting hours and this young lady needs her rest." Maggie was about to protest but Darry cut in.
"She's right, Mags. We'll just stop by tomorrow." Maggie nodded to all of them and gave them a quick good bye before closing her eyes. So much was happening she didn't even know what to do. This was not how she planned it.
If only Dally could wake up!