It wasn't meant to be you

Chapter twenty-three

After our conversation we talked a bit more about what had happened while she was gone, and I would just say

"I missed you so much" I couldn't believe that she had woken up, and it was the biggest gift anyone could ever give me.

"I'm here now, okay? And I don't plan on leaving you again"

"You are so amazing, do you know that? And I am so lucky to love you" I saw her cheeks turn a light shade of red and her lips form a sweet smile as a response. I couldn't resist any longer so I kissed her, she was surprised, but after a second she started kissing me back.

The moment couldn't last long because in that moment her mom and dad came through the door, when I heard someone coming in, I slowly and painfully pulled away to see who had come in.

"Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith" I said formally

"Hey mom! Dad. Is something wrong?"

"It's your grandma... she's had a heart attack... she's gone honey" Emma was speechless,she didn't say a word back, she just cried, her mom was crying too, but she was trying to be strong for her daughter, "the funeral service is in a few days, your father and I will already be there organizing thing since early in the morning, so find someone to take you there" her voice turned from sweet, to cold in an instant, and she suddenly didn't care about her daughter's feelings.

"I'll take her" I immediately said and then I turned to her and hugged her tightly. We kept hugging for the rest of the day, until Susan came in and told me it was time for me to go

"I've got to go Emma" I said to her, and when she heard this I saw the sadness in her eyes, but she was still shocked and she didn't say anything back "I'll come back tomorrow in the morning okay?" At this she nodded and said "okay" really softly. After we were out of the hospital room, I talked to Susan about her recovery, but first we moved a little further away from her room, so that she couldn't hear us talking,

"How long does it take to recover from a coma?"

"It depends on how long the person was in a coma"

"I mean Emma, how long will it take for her to be able to walk again, to do everything normally, like she used to"

"I'm not so sure Chris, maybe one month? I will ask the doctors and then come back at you tomorrow okay? Now you really need to get some sleep" I drove home and I couldn't stop thinking about her, I kept hoping and praying that it wasn't all a dream, that tomorrow I would wake up and it wasn't all gone.

"Hey Susan, any information?" I asked her, and it felt like I was a drug dealer or something

"Yes, listen carefully, this is what the doctors told me: 'most comas don't last more than two to four weeks, the recovery is typically gradual, with patients gaining awareness over time.' That's all they said" she shrugged and walked away before I even had the chance to thank her.

Okay, so the recovery was gradual and from what I knew she probably needed physical therapy to recover from being in a bed for 7 weeks, they didn't really answer my question of HOW long it took, they basically explained to me the way she recovers, and "over time" yeah, how much time. They hadn't let her go back home yet since she needed a little more time to be fully conscious.

I visited her the next day at the hospital - it had become something like a routine to me - she was sitting with her legs crossed in her unmade bed, her eyes were lost, and as soon as I walked in I could see that she wasn't feeling so good, although I tried to figure out if it was a not feeling well in emotion, or not feeling well as in feeling sick. I guess I was about to figure it out.

"Hey" I said cautiously, "Everything okay?" I asked, but she seemed to have drifted away, it seemed as if she was in a completely different planet, even though I had adressed her directly -and seeing that it was her room and that I was the only one there besides her- she seemed completely oblivious to my presence. I then realized that I had missed an enormous factor when trying to find the reason she didn't feel good. Her grandma. They had told her that she had passed away just two days ago, and I was so busy thinking about her recovery ans what Susan had told me that I had forgotten about her grandma.

It had been lucky that she was in another world because that gave me a chance to retrieve my steps and start the conversation again, although I wasn't really very sure what to say. I mean, what do you say to someone who has just lost her grandma -who she was very close to- the same day she woke up from a seven week coma? Exactly. I stepped outside of the room, in the odd chance she came back to Earth and saw me standing there like an idiot, to think of what to say to her when I walked back inside. I put some deep thought into this, and after about half an hour of tghinking of what to say, I settled on "good morning, beautiful" this time she did notice me, and a nervous and a little sad smile spread across her face, I couln't help but smile back at her, don't get me wrong, I willed myself not to because I mean she was going through a hard time, it really wasn't the time for smiling, but I also knew that sometimes a smile is everything you need, so I decided I could smile, and smiling is way better than not caring at all anyway.

"Are you okay?" I leaned in and gave her a hig before sitting down beside her, she wasn't okay obviousky and I felt so stupid for asking such a ridiculous and obvious question.

"As good as I can be during this weird time" She said, it surprised me that her voice wasn't sad like I had exoected, it was actually matter-of-factly and kind of teenagery, I even sensed a hint of sarcasm.

"The funeral is in two days, I'll drive you there and I will be there to supporty you and hold you, okay?" The first part sounded more cold than sweet -what I was trying to reach- at the end it turned more supportive and friendly, I just hoped she'd care about the second part more, she needed to understand that I was there for her, and I was always going to be there for here, especially in the hardest and thoughest times.