While I Was Away(29)

“I'm the guy who will break your face for cheating on his sister – that's who I am.”

Chaos broke out. Tabitha got in front of Charlie, begging Ocean not to hurt him. August was pulling at Ocean's arms, telling him to calm the fuck down. Zoey informed Charlie that really, he only had himself to blame – so in return, he threatened to pick her up and throw her out of the hospital.

They were all tangled up together, all shouting, all shoving, all stumbling into the hospital room, when suddenly a voice came in above the fray.

“HEY HEY HEY! What in the HELL do you people think you're doing!?”

Nurse Lund. Always popping up at the most inopportune moments. Ocean still had Charlie by the collar, his arm cocked back, ready to land a punch. Tabitha was pushing at Ocean's chest, trying to stop him, while August was at his brother's back, trying to pull him away. Zoey was yanking on Tabitha, trying to tug her out of the danger zone. At the sound of the nurse's voice, though, everyone froze.

“Do you have any idea how much noise you're making?” Nurse Lund demanded. “I could have you all arrested! I could ban you from the hospital! This girl is sick! She's in a coma, for christ's sake, and you're all fighting at her bedside! She is slipping further and further away, and before you know it, she's going to be gone, and then what are you all going to do, huh? What are you going to fight about then?”

No one could answer, though, because then something amazing happened.





15




“Just open your eyes.”

Jones' voice was still echoing around in Adele's head, but other than that, everything was quiet. The storm was gone. She couldn't feel the wind. She couldn't feel much of anything – her body seemed to be made of lead. It reminded her of the first time she'd woken up in the poppy field, when her limbs had felt weighted down, but now the sensation was times a thousand. Open your eyes, he'd told her. Easy to say back when her eyelids hadn't weighed a metric ton. Each.

“Just concentrate.”

And as simple as that, her eyes popped open.

A light was shining directly on her face and for a moment, she thought she was back on the endless ocean. Then she blinked and focused on the light. It wasn't the sun, she realized. It was a lamp. Like a desk lamp, tilted so it was shining in her eyes.

Where the hell am I?

“Jones.”

Her voice was so soft, it didn't even reach her own ears.

It was hard to breathe, her chest was so heavy. It was difficult to talk. She couldn't move her lips, and her tongue was was stuck to the floor of her mouth. She couldn't tilt her head. She couldn't even roll her eyes.

All she could see was the lamp, and beyond it, a white ceiling. More light was coming from her right – windows, maybe? To her left, at the edge of her peripheral, was something else entirely. It took her a couple moments to recognize it.

An IV. That's an IV bag standing right next to me.

“Jones.”

Her voice was more of a croak that time, finally loud enough for her to hear. Other sounds started filtering through, too, and she realized she could hear voices. People, a lot of them talking. Then someone yelling. Someone who was angry. Why were they angry?

What is going on?

With her last little bit of energy, Adele put everything she had into her voice.

“Jones.”

Not quite a shout. Not very loud, at all. But it was enough. There was silence, then someone shouted. There was a crashing noise, then more yelling. She felt like she was gasping for air, and the light was just too bright. She wanted to close her eyes so badly. Her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, drooping their way down towards her cheeks. But before they could close all the way, a face leaned into her line of sight.

“Adele? Adele!”

Ocean. She recognized him. Could actually see his face. Brighter than any sun, more beautiful than a field of poppies. She wanted to scream his name, wanted to reach for him. Her big brother.

But then it was all too much and her eyes fell shut.





16




Nurse Lund's rant had barely ended when they all heard the noise. Something unintelligible coming from across the room. Coming from the bed. They'd all swiveled around and let out a collective gasp.

Adele had made a sound.

Adele had opened her eyes.

Everyone rushed forward at once. He felt ashamed about it later, but Ocean shoved Tabitha into the wardrobe during his dash across the room. They all crowded around the bed, shouting Adele's name, but he got there first. He almost cried when he saw her beautiful eyes. So big and violet. She wasn't looking at him, and she wasn't moving or saying anything.

But her eyes are open.

“Adele? Adele!” he practically screamed her name.

As quickly as the excitement had begun, it ended. Her eyes fell shut, and it was like it had never happened. It was like he'd been punched in the chest. He fell into a chair behind him, then felt a hand on his shoulder. A glance to his right showed Zoey next to him. She didn't say anything, just reached down and grabbed his hand. He fought back tears and squeezed her fingers.

“What's going on? Is she awake? What just happened?” Charlie was demanding. Nurse Lund was on the other side of the bed, leaning over Adele, pushing open her eyelids and swinging a pen light back and forth.