28. Chapter 27
Chapter 27
SHYLOH
Thrilled didn’t begin to describe the slight crumb that Becca left me. Spending time with her in everyday life sounded like perfection. I’d grieved my prior life and now… now I wanted to help Becca move forward with hers.
We both desired to find happiness—true happiness. We deserved it, despite feeling like we were undeserving of joy and love.
Watching her lead us back into our lives, knowing that in one way or another she had touched our lives… that was what led her back here every time. It was knowing that she could take care of someone else in their darkest hour.
But she needed to know that someone was there for her, too.
And that person was me .
I felt the vibration before I saw what was coming. Rocks—no, boulders—were barreling down the side of the mountain towards us. Becca was directly in the path of the largest one. Without thinking, I ran as quickly as I could toward her, and she turned to me. Her eyes were filled with absolute fear and I’m sure mine were too.
“Becca!” I screamed, gripping her hand to pull her close to me when we were both hit by a boulder. I moved to cover her, but it was a direct hit to her head.
“No, no, no,” I whispered.
Traces of blood poured down the corners of Becca’s face as everyone around us stood and moved to push the dirt and pieces of rock that lodged themselves in the side of the path.
The sting of pain shot through my arm. It was broken, but I didn’t care one bit.
“Oh my God! Shyloh, is she okay? Is she gonna be okay?” Donna shouted from behind me as Josh started to dial 911.
I held Becca’s face in my hands, terrified to move her. I didn’t want to cause any more damage than she already had sustained. She had a pulse, but she was unconscious.
“They’re sending a local crew here, but a medical helicopter is coming. They will take her to Las Vegas Medical Center, it’s the closest emergency hospital,” Josh shared, pulling his hair away from his face. He was stressed. We all were.
I took off my shirt to cover the bleeding on her head, but it wasn’t enough. It just kept coming and the tug on my heart started to burn. It was as if this invisible string between us was being burned, stripped apart, and I wanted to fight it. I wanted to fight every single thing that stood in our way.
The medics made it and were able to put her into the stretcher and meet with the flight medics. I followed behind them as did the rest of our group. When we made it to the clearing, we were met with the helicopter, and I didn’t want to let her go.
“You gotta let go, man,” the medic said to me, and I blinked a few tears from my eyes before releasing Becca’s hand. I watched as she was loaded into the helicopter, the wind from the blades sweeping dust and leaves into our eyes as they lifted into the sky.
Donna buried her head into my shoulder, and I held her as she cried. I had to go. I had to get to Becca. I couldn’t let her be alone.
“Everyone get in the van, we’re going to the hospital,” I announced.
No one opposed and no conversations were had. Only action. We loaded into the van and drove. I don’t even remember the drive. All I could think about was Becca. If she woke up, would she be scared? What if she needs surgery? What if—
What if—
A warm hand woke me from my daydream, and when I turned my head, I was greeted with a soft smile. “She’s going to be okay, Shy. She is a strong and stubborn woman,” Donna assured.
I sighed. “Donna, how do you know?”
She patted my hand. “Because I know Becca Dawson. She’s a fighter.”
** *
I nearly took out the fire hydrant as we pulled into the emergency parking lot. I left everyone behind and ran in with one of Josh’s shirts, replacing the one I used for Becca’s head. I ran past nurses and security, all the way to the double doors of the emergency room.
“Sir! You can’t go back there,” a nurse shouted.
I banged on the door. “Let me in! I need to see her!”
“Sir! Sir!”
I kept banging on it when a security guard grabbed my shoulder. “Sir! You can’t go back there,” the guard informed. “You haven’t been checked in as a visitor.”
I wiped the tear from my cheek. “Then check me in. I need to see Becca Dawson. It’s urgent.”
His brow furrowed. “Are you Shyloh Mendoza?”
I nodded. “Yes, and the love of my life is back there, and I need to see her.”
The security guard stood there for a moment looking at me and leaned over to his walkie-talkie to say something. Magically, the doors opened. “Becca Dawson is in room 307, she is stable.”
Smiling, I grabbed the big security guard and hugged him. “Thank you, thank you!” I gave him a big kiss on the cheek before running through the doors to my beautiful girl.
Blood was pounding through my ears as I approached her room. Opening the door, I didn’t know what to expect, but there lay my sweet Becca with her eyes closed, a bandage wrapped around her head, and IVs in her arms .
I sat on the edge of her bed, reaching over to grab her hand, soft and cold. Her features were relaxed, but she wasn’t present. She was exactly what she’d always wanted to be since the accident in high school—a shell.
“Becca, if you can hear me, I need you to know that I’m here, even if you don’t want me to be. I won’t leave your side. I promise.”
TWO WEEKS LATER
“Mr. Mendoza, you can’t sleep in the bed with her,” the nurse scolded me.
I grinned. “I do what I want.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Five minutes, and then you need to get out of the bed and let her rest without being up her ass, got it?”
“Ay, ay, captain.”
The door clicked behind her. I had become acquainted with the nurses and staff here at the hospital. Becca was in a coma; the bleeding on her brain was so severe that they couldn’t even see how much damage had occurred because of it. They warned me that she might not be the same, or that she might not ever wake up.
I wouldn’t take that as an answer, so I stayed with her. Waiting, praying, talking, annoying the crap out of her like I would on any regular day because I needed her to stay. I needed her like the breath in my lungs .
Five minutes passed by, and I still didn’t get out of bed. I’d get fussed at again, but that was okay with me as long as I got to be by her.
My arm being in a sling was an annoyance in comparison to the hurt I had in my heart watching her breath using the ventilator. I had one day left to wear the sling, and then I could wrap my arms around Becca with no remorse for breaking the rules.