I nodded my head at Jason’s words. I really want to see my dad, and creating an uproar will only make things worse. Now my dad is more important than anything else.
I gave Jason the address as he drove us to the hospital. Within minutes, he parked in the hospital parking lot.
Standing in the hospital foyer, unaware of what to do as my mind went blank, I stared at the lobby where people are coming and going, unaware of my situation. It felt like all my senses suddenly stopped working altogether. With my body trembling, I couldn’t even find myself to form a single word from my mouth. What is happening to me?
I felt a hand over my shoulder. I looked up and saw Jason with his gun wrapped around my shoulder. “Shhh,… I’m here with you,” said Jason as he walked us towards the front desk to find out in which room my dad’s in and made our way to his room.
I stared at Jason’s stern face, and his arm wrapped around my shoulder, holding me. I can’t understand why he’s helping me. But no matter what the reason, I’m thankful he’s here with me. I have no idea what I’m going to do without him.
We stopped at the ICU, and I am terrified to think about my dad’s condition as a doctor comes out of the room in his blue scrubs.
“How is he,” I asked the doctor hastily.
“Sorry you’re…,” The doctor questioned in confusion.
” I’m Kiera Stewart, Gabriel Stewart’s daughter… How is he, doctor?”
The doctor signed before replying to the question, ” Ms. Stewart, your father has some severe internal brain injury from the accident. He is lucky to be alive after such a tragic accident.”
I stood there silently, not knowing what to say. ” Then he is okay now, that’s what you want to say,” Jason asked the doctor in my place with his hand still wrapped around me.
The doctor just shook his head at Jason’s words. ” Ms. Stewart, the thing is, your father’s head injury was so tragic that he is in a coma now.”
Just listening, these words made my legs noodle with my body so brittle that it is incapable of holding its weight.
I felt two arms, wrapped around my body, holding me and supporting me from falling.
“Shh, it’s okay, I’m here with you,” Jason mumbled, drying my eyes with the back of his hand.
” Look into my eyes and just breathe” Looking into them, I tried to do as he instructed and hugged him tightly, not knowing what to know.
After a few minutes, as I calmed a bit, Jason asked the doctor’s permission to see my father. He said yes, but we have to wait for them to shift him to another room, which might take a few days. But he said we can watch my dad now by the glass on the ICU room door.
I nodded to the doctor’s word and walked through the door to see my father. Seeing him this way made me cry harder than before.
Closed eyes, lying all silent and frail in bed with his body wrapped in bandages. Tubes of IV are injected into veins, with his body attached to all different medical machines and They make all the different sounds that remind us, he is still alive and even with his body that does not work and that he is in a coma but with us.
I sensed Jason standing beside me and wrapped his arms around my body, taking us by the bench where he made me sit on his lap. Jason held me in his arms, comforting me, and remained there with him with his head on his shoulder and my arms around his back, crying my heart out.
I don’t even know how time has passed with us sitting like this. But my mind and heart at once tired of today’s tragic incident don’t want to complain, and it’s nice to have a little comfort in Jason’s benevolent arms.
******
I wake up feeling somebody caressing my hair. As I opened my eyes, I saw Jason with his eyes closed and his arm wrapped around my body, and my head over his shoulder. I see we’re both stretched out in Jason’s bed in his room.
How do we end up here? If I remember right, I was at the hospital?
So how did we end up in Jason’s bed? I tried to remove myself from Jason’s grasp. The movement caused him to sway his body and open his eyes.
“Hey,” said Jason, rubbing one another’s eyes with the back of his right hand, yawning.
I just looked at him, disturbed by his sudden shift in behavior.
Jason never shared a bed with me ever, then why now. “Why are we together in bed?”
Jason smiled at my question by pulling my hand, putting me on his lap. “You were sad and crying and asked me to be here with you last night.”
“Not possible…,” I said, bewildered, not trusting his answer.
“Trust me, you did… Okay, let’s not talk about it now,” Jason stopped between them with words, staring at me with anxious eyes.
” How are you?” He asked me while caressing my cheek with the back of his hand.
“What happened to you, and why you suddenly care about me,” I uttered, acting strong.
Jason just stared at me for seconds, moving his thumb on my cheek, wiping away the tears I hadn’t even noticed were falling out of my eyes.
I don’t like my sentiment of being vulnerable, but I can’t control my emotions.
Maybe it’s because of my father’s accident or Jason being kind and supporting me.
“Why are you suddenly nice…, isn’t that what you wanted,” I can’t help but ask. That has been wandering in my mind since my accident.
“What do you mean?”
“Jason, you hate my dad. That’s why you destroyed us and married me…” I said, sighing. “You must be happy to see my father in a coma.”
“If that’s what you think, then you’re wrong… I do hate your dad__ but I never meant for anyone to be hurt or dead,” said Jason, looking into my eyes. ” I know how death can ruin the life and happiness of one’s loved ones….”
“What do you mean, Jason?” I have a question.
“Don’t worry everything, will be okay.” he said, pinching my nose lightly. “You think your father will enjoy watching his daughter cry like a baby.”
I don’t know why he’s all sweet and caring suddenly, but I like Jason a lot more than Jason he used to be before. And since dad’s accident, Jason has been so good to me for whatever reason, but it would be awesome if Jason has been like this from the beginning. All sweet and caring.
I was about to leave the bed when Jason stopped me by holding my hand. “Wait….. Kiera,”
“Wait,” I said, turning my face to him, staring at him.
“I talked to your father’s doctor while you were sleeping, and he said, you can see your dad. But…….”
“Oh my God…, really,” I asked Jason enthusiastically.
“But only for ten minutes.”
I nodded my head, beaming a little by the news, wrapping my arms around Jason as tightly as I could. Ten minutes isn’t much, but because Dad’s in a coma, we can’t take any chances with him.
“Jason…..” I called. Jason purred at my word, rising from the bed, yawning. “Why are you suddenly being all sweet and caring with me?”
“I don’t want to talk about it now…., wake up, don’t want to see your dad,” Jason said, lending me his hand, pulling me up from the bed.
In half an hour, we both got ready and in-car with Jason driving us to the hospital. I can finally see my dad. It has been a week since dad’s accident, but the doctor never allowed us to see him. The doctor said his condition was very critical, and it’s not good for any of us to disturb him.
Yet I visited the hospital every day, seeing my father near the glass on the ICU door. And just by looking at him makes me believe that he is fine, even in a coma. That one day, he will completely recover.
” Kiera, we are here,” Jason said with his hand on my shoulder, deflecting me from my thoughts. Glancing around, I see we are at the hospital parking lot, with Jason coming open the car door for me.
” Come,” Jason said, holding his hand out to me.
Both I and Jason entered the hospital hand in hand. We went to my father’s doctor, Mr. Singh, who let me, and I alone, into my father’s room. But not before covering my body in an isolation gown, my hands covered with gloves, my face covered with a face mask, and even my shoes.
And after I was wrapped and covered, the doctor permitted me to enter my father’s room. Entering the room, I see my dad lying lifeless on a hospital bed, and only the beeping of the machines and the movement of his chest while breathing makes him seem alive.
“Hey dad, it’s Kiera…” I announced myself as I entered. Mr. Singh said it helps patients’ coma to recover fast when you talk to them.
I control the urge to cry by looking at him like this. As I took his left hand in my hand, caressing it. And sit by his side talking, all the moments we shared, about our best-shared times spent and lived together. I talked and talked as much as I could until the doctor said ten minutes are over and that I can no longer stay here with dad, or it will affect his health. So I left, but not before giving my dad a light hug.