Suddenly he felt his cell phone vibrating in the pocket of his jeans. He stuck his hand into his pocket and got the phone out. The caller ID said it was Brian.
He looked at Kelly first, then back at the caller ID and then back at Kelly again. He then picked up and put his phone against his ear.
‘Alex? Are you there?’ he heard Brian asking.
‘B-brian. I… Kelly… she… I… Oh God, Brian! You gotta help me! Please!’ he was sobbing.
‘What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with Kelly? Tell me,’ Brian said, getting worried.
‘Come… please… Kelly… she… she’s… hurt… B-brian… help,’ he stuttered as more tears were streaming down.
‘I will be coming right away, Alex. Stay right where you are, ok?’ Brian tried to calm him down.
‘Y-yes,’ AJ nodded.
‘See you in twenty minutes,’ Brian said before hanging up.
‘Hurry!’ AJ yelled to the phone. Then he returned back to Kelly and caressed her bruised face.
‘It’s going to be ok, babe. Brian will help you. I p-promise,’ he sobbed.
While Brian was driving he had called an ambulance. He knew things got out of hand between AJ and Kelly. He knew there was something wrong. Terribly wrong.
He had told Leighanne to stay home and that he would call later.
He arrived at AJ and Kelly’s right when the ambulance was arriving.
‘Are you Brian Littrell?’ one of the paramedics asked.
‘Yes, we have to go into this house,’ he nodded and ran to the house and rang the door bell.
‘Alex! Open up! It’s Brian!’ he shouted while he kept knocking the door.
The door opened almost immediately as he saw AJ with red swollen eyes.
‘She… she…’ AJ muttered.
Four paramedics were running inside, two holding a brancard.
AJ collapsed into Brian’s arms.‘It’s going to be fine, man. The ambulance is here,’ Brian consoled him.
‘She… she…’ he kept on repeating.
‘Kelly is going to be ok,’ Brian said as he held AJ tighter.
Brian and AJ saw how the men took the brancard with Kelly on it to the ambulance.
‘Are any of you relatives? Brother, boyfriend or husband? Cousin, perhaps?’ One of them asked.
AJ couldn’t say anything, he was crying too hard.
‘I’m just her friend. He is her husband,’ Brian answered. ‘But he’s kind of drunk.’
‘Can you take care of him?’ the same man asked.
Brian nodded. ‘Sure.’
‘We will take her to the hospital. You can follow us, sir,’ the man asked.
Brian nodded again, closed the front door and led AJ into his car. Brian got behind the steering wheel and tried to keep up with the ambulance as much as he could.
When they arrived they could see the men taking Kelly into the hospital.
‘Come on,’ Brian said as he got AJ out of the car. AJ still had to lean a bit on Brian in case he would fall. When they both got into the main hall, one of the paramedics ran to them and said, ‘you have to wait here. One of the doctors will come if we know any more about her condition and her injuries.’
‘No! Kelly!’ AJ shouted. Brian stopped him and sat him down on a chair. ‘Alex, you can’t go. They will take care of her now. Kelly will be alright, do you hear me?’ Brian said as he knelt down in front of him.
‘No, no. She won’t be alright!’ AJ shouted.
‘Alex, look at me,’ Brian said. ‘Kelly will make it, ok? I know that what you’ve done to her was wrong, but she will be fine!’
AJ nodded slowly, not really convinced.
AJ and Brian waited for two hours before a doctor came inside the waiting room.
‘Brian Littrell?’ the doctor said.
Brian got up immediately. ‘That’s me, sir.’
‘And I suppose you are the husband?’ the doctor said, turning to AJ.
AJ got up and nodded, ‘yes.’
‘Your name, sir?’
‘Alex McLean. Can I see my wife?’ AJ said impatiently.
The doctor was quiet for a while. ‘Could you sit down?’ he said to Brian and AJ. They both sat down.
‘Do you have any news about Kelly?’ Brian asked.
‘Mr. McLean and Mr. Littrell, I am sorry to tell you this but… Mrs. McLean might not make it. She’s in a coma and we have no idea how long it will take before she will get out of that coma. She might not be able to wake up from it ever again. If she will, she might be having a heavy memory loss.’
‘What? She… you mean, that if she will not wake up from the coma that… she will die?’ Brian said with disbelief.
The doctor nodded apologetically.
Brian turned his head to AJ, who was looking expressionless in the distance.
‘Alex, say something,’ Brian said, trying to hold back the tears.
‘It’s my fault. All my fault. I killed her,’ he said quietly.
‘Look, you couldn’t help it! And she didn’t pass away! There is still a chance she will wake up from her coma!’ Brian said, shaking AJ’s shoulder. He knew AJ could help it, but it would be kind of harsh to say AJ is right.
‘You are allowed to go into the room and see her,’ the doctor said. ‘Could you follow me?’
Brian helped AJ getting up and they followed the doctor into a room. Brian let him get in first but stayed close behind him.
Kelly was lying on a hospital bed. Her face was pale but bruised. She looked terrible.
AJ collapsed next to her bed and held her hand. ‘Oh God, Kelly! I’m so sorry, babe! I’m so sorry! I will never forgive myself for this! I’ve been so stupid! Please, Kelly. I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Come back! Wake up!’ he shouted.
Brian laid his hands on AJ’s shoulders. AJ couldn’t stop crying. His shoulders were shaking heavily.
‘Kelly, I love you, I love you so much. Wake up, please. Just wake up. I will make it up to you, I promise. I promise! I don’t wanna lose you!’ he sobbed.
After half an hour, Brain’s phone went of. ‘It’s Leighanne,’ he muttered to AJ and left him alone in the room. When he got into the hall he picked up. ‘Leigh?’ he answered.
‘Hi hon, where are you?’ Leighanne answered back.
‘At the hospital with Alex, I..’
‘The hospital?! Why? What happened? Is everything alright?’ she interrupted him.
‘I don’t know exactly what happened but I think my speculations are correct. Could you come here?’ Brian asked.
‘Oh no! I knew it! I told you this would happen! I am coming right away! But… what about Baylee? Is it ok to bring him here when he sees Alex like that?’ Leighanne asked worried.
‘No, probably not. Can’t you bring him to Howie and Leigh?’
‘They might want to come there as well,’ Leighanne sighed.
‘I don’t know if it’s allowed to have many visitors here. And besides… Kelly won’t be much of talking anyway,’ Brian muttered.
‘Not talking? Is she unconscious?’ Leighanne’s voice turned worried again.
‘I will tell you once you’re here. Look, I will ask the doctor if they have some sort of nursery here so we can leave Baylee there, and so one of us can check on him every once in a while, ok?’ Brian proposed.
‘He needs his rest,’ Leighanne doubted.
‘Well, he can’t stay alone there, now can he?’ Brian said, getting a tad impatient.
‘Oh what the heck! Me and Baylee are on our way! He is awake now anyway. Well, bye love you!’ Leighanne said.
‘Love you too,’ Brian smiled and hung up.
He sighed deep and walked back into the room where he saw AJ with his head on the bed next to Kelly’s arm, caressing her hand. He stopped crying though but you could see his cheeks were still wet.
Brian took a chair and put it next to AJ and sat down. ‘How are you feeling now?’ Brian asked.
AJ just shrugged and didn’t answer.
‘I called Leighanne. She and Baylee are on their way, they will be here soon,’ he said.
AJ once again didn’t answer.
Brian sighed again. ‘Do you want something to drink?’
AJ shook his head and continued caressing Kelly’s hand.
Brian got up and went out of the room. A few minutes later he came back with a plastic cup filled with coffee for himself.
Twenty minutes later Leighanne came rushing inside. ‘Where is she?’
‘Did you already take Baylee to the nursery?’ Brian asked.
‘Yes, he’s playing there,’ she answered. When she saw Kelly on the bed, she gasped loudly. ‘Oh God! What happened to her?’ Leighanne said with her hand in front of her mouth. She slowly walked over to the other side of her and sat down.
‘It’s my fault,’ AJ suddenly said.
Leighanne looked with a questioning look at him.
‘I nearly killed her,’ he whispered.
‘What did you do?’ Leighanne said cautiously.
‘It’s all my fault. I hit her, I kicked her. I hurt her,’ he said, his voice breaking down while one tear rolled down his cheek.
‘I knew this would happen someday!’ Leighanne cried out.
‘Leighanne, don’t make him feel any worse,’ Brian said sternly.
‘I knew Kelly wasn’t completely telling the truth yesterday! I just knew it!’ she muttered.
‘Yeah, but that won’t help Kelly anything!’ AJ suddenly shouted.
Leighanne and Brian both looked surprised at him.
He leant his head back on the bed and kept staring at Kelly’s unmoving hand.
‘Look, Leighanne, what if we go to Baylee so Alex can be alone?’ Brian said.
Leighanne nodded, still a bit speechless from AJ’s shouting, and followed Brian out of the room.
Two weeks later Kelly was still in coma. In that time Brian, Leighanne, Baylee, Howie, Leigh and Nick visited Kelly a couple of times, as well as they visited AJ often.
AJ stayed sad and quiet. He didn’t say much. He was nothing like himself. And everybody around him noticed it.
If the others didn’t help him, he wouldn’t drink and eat at all. He didn’t sleep much either.
Every single day he visited Kelly. Sometimes he stayed the night at the hospital, afraid that he would lose her once he wouldn’t be there.
Another month passed by and still nothing had changed.
The fear of losing his wife inside of AJ was growing and growing. There wasn’t much left of his hope. Still he didn’t want to believe that she would never be able to wake up.
She had to win over the coma. She had to win this. They could win this altogether. As long as everybody kept hoping and kept praying for her, then she would be ok.
Right?
Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey peeps! Sorry for the delay but as you might understand I celebrated Christmas too. First Friday with my own family and last Saturday I was dragged to my boyfriend's family lol. Nah, I had a good time. So, now I finally have time again, here's a quick update! Hope you'll like it!
