Day in and day out, the couple found themselves sitting in their daughter's hospital room. Praying that she would wake up, that she would just magically be okay.
Maya's anxiety had gotten bad again, she was blaming herself for everything. For not finding her daughter sooner, it was her job she was trained to get the victims out but yet still her daughter managed to get severely damaged and is now suffering life threatening injuries that she might never recover from. She's blaming herself for not being able to help her, it's like she would do anything possible to make her daughter feel better but not a single thing could make it wake her up.
Carina tried to help Maya at the same time as she was trying not to fall apart herself. Her Bambina laying on that hospital bed everyday for the past month, not showing any signs of waking up or having any changes in her body that is signs of recovery.
Both of the mother's feeling helpless, helpless that they can't do anything in their power to keep their daughter alive. She's breathing because of a ventilator, not being able to breath on her own.
Samuel had visited his girlfriend almost everyday, bringing flowers every once in a while because he thought it might help her in some kind of way. He felt angry at himself for not being able to help her that day at school, mostly because they were having a fight and that's why Casey was in that particular place in the school. It felt like it was his fault, if they hadn't had a fight that day she wouldn't have been in that part of the school and she wouldn't have gotten hurt. He felt guilt for not telling Maya and Carina and he felt shame for himself for being such a coward. But mostly he was just sad and angry with himself.
[Carina's POV]
Hand in hand Maya and I walked in to Casey's room once again. Hoping that she would lay there awake waiting for us. We reached her room and found Samuel sitting on the other side of her bed, crying. He didn't notice us at first but when he did he quickly wiped his tears away and looked down on the floor.
"Are you okay, Samuel?" I asked, taking a seat next to him.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay" he nodded, clenching his fists.
"If you want to talk, Maya and I are here for you too. I understand how close you and Casey are" I emphasized.
"We- we had a fight" he whispered, not looking at me.
"Okay, was it about something particular?" I asked, wanting him to open up to me.
"It was silly but Uhm, we avoided each other that day at school and- and that's why she was in that part of the building. She didn't want to be with me and- it was my fault. If we hadn't been upset with each other she wouldn't have been there and she wouldn't have been hurt" he explained, tears running down his face.
I pulled him in for a hug, wanting him to calm down a little bit before I could start talking.
"It wasn't your fault Samuel, you can not blame yourself for something like this. You didn't know that she would be in that room and you never knew there was going to be a fire that would cause the whole room to collapse" I reminded him.
"Casey wouldn't want you to blame yourself for this, I can promise you that" I reassured him.
"Why won't she wake up?" He asked, stroking the palm of Casey's hand.
"Her brain was damaged after the seizure she had, her body is trying to heal but it takes time. Sometimes it takes months for the body to recover" I explained.
"I love her so much, I don't want her to be hurt" he said.
"All we can do is hope that she will find the strength to wake up again. She's still getting help breathing but when she can breath on her own again I'm sure that she will heal a lot better" Maya said, stroking Casey's brown hair.
After a while, Samuel had to go to school. Leaving Maya and I sitting on each side of the bed holding hands.
"Good morning, I'm here to check her vitals" the doctor announced, looking at her chart.
"When she wakes up, how bad will it be? How bad will it have affected her brain?" I asked.
"It depends on what part of her brain is damaged, that is very hard to tell now. But the normal things is speech difficulties, sensory problems for example being sensitive to loud noises and lights, also emotional like having mood swings or being depressed" the doctor said.
"There's still a chance that she will wake up" I told myself.
The day passed, neither of us wanted to leave the hospital. Maya had taken the day off of work and I didn't have to be at school so we stayed through the night.
Just as I was about to grab a bottle of water and release the grip I had on Casey's hand, I could swear I felt her squeeze my fingers.
"Casey?"
"Mmm" she mumbled, trying to open her eyes but closing them immediately again since the light was too bright for her.
I dimmed the lights, calling a doctor inside the room.
"I'm going to gently take this tube out, so you can breath" he explained to her.
Once the tube was out I felt relieved, that she could breath on her own.
"M- mama" she whispered, her voice raspy.
"I'm here Bambina, I'm here" I reassured her, sitting down next to her again while the doctor ran some tests.
"I am surprised of how well you're doing already, I am going to take you up to CT to make sure everything is alright" he said.
Tears welled up in her eyes, trying to reach for Maya's hand as the doctor started moving her out of the room.
"Mom" she whimpered.
"It's okay sweetheart, mama and I will be right here waiting" she reassured her.
The CT took about half an hour, Maya and I leaning against each other while we waited for Casey to come back. Both of us being relived but also scared that something would happen again.
"The CT is clear, we will start Casey on PT as soon as her body will allow it, she will have to stay here at the hospital for at least another week" he said.
"Thank you"
"No problem, just hit the red button if you need any help" he said, closing the door on his way out.
"I- I heard you talking to me" Casey admitted.
"We stayed here as much as we could, you were so strong" I said.
"I can't hug you" she pointed out, getting frustrated with her body since she couldn't move.
"Hey, it's okay love, your body is not healed so you still need to rest" Maya reminded her.
Maya and I carefully leaned over the bed so we could hug her, feeling bad that Casey was so miserable and not being able to move on her own.
"What's that noise?" She flinched.
"What noise?" I asked, not hearing.
"It hurts my head" she whined, closing her eyes.
Maya turned her phone off, having barely even heard her phone ringing, but it was obvious that it was bothering Casey.
"It's off now Bambina, I'm sorry" I said, placing my hand on hers.
She pulled away slightly, having to take a minute to calm herself down before she opened her eyes again and let me hold her hand.
