I do not mead to disrespect anybody who could have been influenced by these events. I'm still praying for the people whose lives have ever been effected by these horrible terrorist attacks.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All rights belong to Cassandra Clare.
His life was falling apart before his eyes. Belgium had been bombed. Clary was in in Belgium. She was in the airport. She could be dead. He would be dead.
She was fluent in Dutch. Yah, not a common language but her grandmother and grandfather only spoke Dutch so she learned it too. When it came time to take a language in high school, that's what she chose to do. She was fluent in the language but she couldn't read or write.
Third year students went out of the country to practice the language in it's natural environment. So she was in Belgium with three of her classmates on a five day trip.
Jace had been counting down the minutes the second she left. He face timed her everyday and had been when the bomb went off. Their flight had gotten delayed so she was waiting in the airport talking to Jace when everything blew up. Her phone flew through the air and broke causing Jace to lose signal.
This was two hours ago and we haven't heard word since. He was panicking and getting everybody's attention the second it had happened. He told Jocelyn over the phone and has been flipping through the news channels since it happened.
So far all they new was that the airport she was in had been bombed and there had been no information released about casualties. Jocelyn and Jon had come over immediately to talk to Jace, who refused to leave the tv for even a second. All of us where staring at our phones and watching the news, waiting for something to happen.
Jocelyn's phone rang 3 hours and 39 minutes after Jace lost contact with her. (Jace counted). Putting the phone on speaker, she answered it. A doctor's voice came through the phone speaking in Dutch. Jocelyn and Jon knew what he was saying and were becoming increasingly more white as he continued to talk. They conversed for a little before he hung up.
Clary had broken a rib that punctured her lung, had internal bleeding on her brain that they had performed surgery on an hour ago, and was suffering from a severe concussion. On the less serious side she also had a broken foot and was bruised everywhere. She had been touch and go for a while but they were confident that she would make a full recovery.
We were all torn between relief and grief. She was hurt but safe. She was okay but in a lot of pain. Alone so many miles away with no one to comfort her. And probably so worried about all of us over here. Especially Jace.
Jace had stopped crying during the phone call. Some of his color was back but he was still shaking uncontrollably. We sat there in silence for another hour before Jon started laughing and crying at the same time. He put his head in hands and let the emotion take over him. We all figured it was time to go now.
Later Jace had posted a picture on instagram. It was a picture of him and Clary on the beach. It was pretty much on their faces only but you could see the arm wrapped around her and could tell she was sitting in between his legs. They both looked so happy and gorgeous it brought a fresh new wave of tears to my eyes. His caption read 'today has been the scariest day of my life. Get better soon so you can come home.' So many people wondered what happened so I decided to post a picture myself.
We were in the pool, sharing a raft laughing our heads off at Jace, who was behind me the camera. I posted it with a caption. 'Pray for Belgium. Pray for Clary.'
Going back through Twitter and Instagram I saw many pictures with the same intent. Jon had tweeted 'My sister was in Belgium at the time of the attack. She has been injured and hospitalized over there. Her injuries, although serious, are not life threatening anymore. Come home soon. Pray for Belgium. Pray for Clary.' So many other people had tweeted Pray for Belgium. Pray for Clary. that it had become a tag. People on instagram posted their own photos of themselves and Clary including Alec and Simon whose were a lot more heart felt.
We wanted to make sure she new she wasn't really alone. That we were counting down the days before she got to come again, so we could never let her go again.
Clary came back one week after it happened. Her body was battered and bruised. Her leg in a cast. Her head bandaged still and her chest was wrapped.
She was happy though. A smile on her face and her eyes bright as she talked and hugged everyone. One of her hands were wrapped in Jace's and the other was squeezing Jon's.
Jon had been just as distraught as Jace. He had skipped almost every basketball practice and played like crap in the one game they had. He just couldn't focus. After failing a test on the Thursday after she was injured he went home and hadn't gone back.
Seeing his sister broken, I know broke him too. He looked in pain as he held her hand and I could see the overprotectiveness setting in. If her and Jace were ever to break up (highly unlikely) she would never be allowed to date again. She would never be going out of the county without him again. She would be under his watchful eye 24/7 and he was going to make sure nothing ever hurt his sister again.
Jace was just as bad. He never left her side either. In her first week back he left her only for school and bedtime. And even that wasn't everyday. I think she appreciated him spending the night because I could hear the screaming from my room. Followed by Jace's footsteps as he ran over there. She was scared. She had almost died. She had almost died alone.
She had confessed to me what happened in the airport. Crying into my shoulder as I visited her while Jace and Jon were at practice. One minute she had been laughing with Jace about something Alec had done that morning and than the next she was laying on the floor a few feet away. She could still hear the buzzing in her ears as her head smacked the ground and her leg twisted painfully underneath her. A bench had fallen on top of her, breaking one of her ribs and bruising her body. The worst part. Those were the burns.
Her torso now contained a huge burn mark from when a piece of the building that had been on fire hit her too. Luckily it hadn't still been burning because there was no way she would have been able to put it out.
For weeks she suffered nightmares as we all watched paralyzed from the sidelines. We couldn't do anything but coax her out of it and calm her down. Jace held her. Jon ran his hand up and down her back and through her hair. Jocelyn made her coffee (she didn't like tea) and Luke rubbed her feet.
When she was able to come back to school, one month after it happened, her foot was in a walking boot and dark bags hung from under her eyes. But she didn't have to go through it alone. Somebody was always there for her. Walking her to class. Helping her with homework. Driving her around.
She was positive through it all. Letting people help her and love her. But her art changed. She spent a lot of time alone in her room during that month when everyone was at school and work. Her themes were now darker and sometimes a little depressing. And they received a lot of attention when she had turned some in to make up for lost time in her art class. The teacher loved them. They were emotional and very good. Her talent was incomprehensible to me. And I was happy that she was able to let out some of her fear through her paintings.