#Chapter 88: The Hospital
Nina
“Nina… Taylor is in the hospital.”
I felt my heart drop as I registered what my mother just told me over the phone. Everything, from the Half- Moon Tournament to the Mad Wolf serum to Luke’s sudden transformation, seemed like nothing now.
“I’ll be there as soon as possible,” I said hastily, hanging up as a knot formed in my stomach.
“Nina? Is everything okay?” Enzo asked from behind. I turned around to see him still standing by the fire, looking at me with a concerned expression on his face. Luke was pulling on a pair of jeans behind him, but was also looking at me as he did so. It felt odd to see Luke with an actual expression on his face, and for there tobe meat and flesh on his bones, but right now it hardly registered to me.
“I-I have to go,” I said, taking a few steps backwards. “It’s my brother. He’s in the hospital.”
Both Enzo’s and Luke’s eyes widened. Enzo jogged toward me. “I’ll take you on the motorcycle,” he said.
“No,” I replied. “I’ll borrow Lori’s car I’ll keep you updated, though. Just focus on Edward and the Half-Moon tournament.”
Enzo nodded, and before either of them said anything else, I turned on my heel and ran back toward the campus. Lori was thankfully still awake when I got home, playing a video game on the TV
“Can I borrow your car for the night?” I asked breathlessly as I ran through to my room and began stuffing clothes and toiletries in my backpack.
Lori paused her game and turned around on the couch to face me. “Uh… Sure, I guess?” she responded. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s my brother,” I replied, running out of my room with my bag haphazardly packed already. “He’s in the hospital.”
Lori jumped up and grabbed her keys out of her purse, her face drawn with worry. “Here,” she said, tossing them to me. “Be careful, okay? And keep me updated.”
“I will,” I responded, giving my roommate a quick hug before sprinting out of the dorm and out to her car.
It was two o’clock in the morning when I arrived at the hospital where Taylor was staying. I was certain I had broken several traffic laws on the way, but thankfully there was no one on the roads with it being so late, so I managed to make it without getting into an accident or getting a ticket.
My mother was sitting in the waiting room and jumped up when I burst in through the double doors.
For the first time in my life, my mother’s usually-cold face was full of worry. I, however, was just angry with her for not getting Taylor the help he needed and for letting it get to this point. I was mad at myself, too, for not being there for him.
“Where is he?” I asked.
My mother called a nurse over, who led us to the hospital room where Taylor was staying.
When I entered, my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach like a ball of lead.
My brother was hooked up to so many machines. There was a breathing tube down his throat, his eyes were closed, and his body was pale, thin, and very limp.
“Oh, Taylor,” I whispered, dropping my bag on the floor and running over to the side of his bed. I gripped the bed rail with one hand and squeezed his arm with the other as tears welled up in my eyes
“I’m very sorry,” the nurse said quietly “His symptoms were so severe that the doctor had to put him under a medically-induced coma.”
“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” I asked.
The nurse shook her head. “We’re running a blood panel as we speak. His x -rays came back inconclusive. As far as we’re aware, he doesn’t seem to have any sort of tumor or anything like that I furrowed my brow as I continued to stare down at my brother. The tears in my eyes turned him into a shapeless blob.
The nurse muttered another word of apology before leaving, shutting the sliding door behind her to give us privacy. Once we were alone, I felt my mother’s hand on my back. I shrugged her off and whipped my head up, glaring at her
“I can’t believe you’d let it come to this,” I growled, feeling rage bubble up inside of me. “He’s been telling you for years that he’s been in pain, and you did nothing.”
“I did what I could, Nina,” my mother responded, walking around the hospital bed and sitting in the folding chair across from it as the methodical beeping of the machines and the hum of the fluorescent lights filled the silence.
“You did nothing,” I repeated. I realized that my grip was tightening on Taylor’s wrist and I let go before I hurt him, my hands shaking. “You did nothing and now he’s in a coma.”
“Nina, listen to me,” my mother whispered. There were tears in her own eyes and her lower lip was quivering.” It’s not that simple…”
“What is it, then?” I asked. “What’s so difficult about getting your son the medical help he needs before it devolves into something like this?”
My mother didn’t answer. I felt a sob catch in my throat as I looked at her and I quickly looked away, back down at my brother. He was so much thinner than he had been the last time I saw him. His cheeks were gaunt and his eyes were sunken in. As I reached out again to take his hand and stroke it with my thumb, I could feel the bones protruding in his fingers and wrists.
The boy who I had grown up with, who had once climbed trees and played cowboys and bandits and given me piggy back rides when we were little, now looked as though he wouldn’t even be able to support his own bodyweight.
I was quiet for some time as I held my brother’s hand and silently cried, cursing myself inwardly for not taking him away from my mother, for not taking the initiative to get him help. Even if I couldn’t afford his medical care, I would’ve found a way…
“Ungh…”
Both my mother and I jerked our heads up as we heard something that sounded like a groan escape Taylor’s mouth, through the breathing tube.
I watched in shock as I felt his hand twitch in mine, and his eyes started to move beneath his eyelids.
Without a moment of hesitation, my mother jumped up and flung the door open, calling for a nurse.
Taylor was awake.
The doctor told us that Taylor’s condition seemed to have vastly improved all of a sudden. While he was still mostly unconscious, they were able to remove the breathing tube and informed us that he would be able to go home by the end of the week.
My mother and I stayed in the hospital overnight, neither of us sleeping as we sat in the dark hospital room and stared at Taylor as he slept. I kept my hand on his for the rest of the night, somehow, I knew that my touch was keeping him alive… I thought back to the night that I kept Ronan from dying, and what Enzo had told me. If I could just stay with Taylor, and keep holding his hand, I knew deep down that he would recover.
My mother noticed.
“Nina,” she said in a whisper after a couple of hours of silence. The clock was already showing 4:30 in the morning.
“What?” I responded, not lifting my gaze from Taylor. I was still furious with her for not getting him help sooner, and wasn’t sure if I would ever forgive her
Her next words, however, shocked me enough to look away from my brother.
“Are you showing werewolf abilities?”
