Never Let Go ✔️

Chapter 40

Date: Saturday, April 16th

Luke and Sierra rushed to the hospital. They met Michael, Calum, and Ashton in a conference room.

"Please tell me that my baby sister is alive and well?" Luke said as soon as they walked into the room.

Ashton was the first to say something, "Luke take a deep breath first and sit down."

"Sit down? You want me to sit down?" Luke said, chuckling a little, "No, just tell me what's going on with my sister."

Michael spoke up this time, "Luke, she stopped breathing and her heart stopped. It took me a few tries but I finally got her back but we haven't been able to wake her up."

"What? What do you mean you can't wake her up?" Luke said, raising his voice a little.

Sierra immediately grabbed Luke's hand and squeezed it to remind him that she was there for him.

"Luke calm down," Ashton said.

"Stop don't fucking tell me to calm down. Just go wake up my sister," Luke said, on the verge of tears.

"Luke," Calum started to say.

"No, Calum, go wake up my sister right now," Luke said with so much anger.

"Luke Listen" Michael yelled at him, "Sophia is in a coma. We don't know when or if she will ever wake up."

Luke felt dizzy. His heart was beating super fast and he was struggling to breathe. He was definitely having a panic attack.

All the guys and Sierra noticed that Luke was not looking well.

"Luke, honey, you need to take a deep breath," Sierra said, looking up at him with concern.

Luke couldn't hear anything though.

'Sophia is in a coma. We don't know when or if she will ever wake up' just kept repeating in his head.

His baby sister. The one that means the most to him. He promised his mom that he would take care of her. She is in a coma. She may never wake up again.

Then it hit him. He may never hear her voice again. He may never hear her laugh again. He may never see her smile again. He may never get to hug her again. He wasn't ready to lose his sister yet.

The guys and Sierra were worried. They have been trying to get Luke's attention for the past 5 minutes. He's just been staring off into space.

"Luke," Ashton yelled.

Luke started crying. His sister might not wake up ever again and the last conversation they had with each other was a fight. Sophia was upset with him. The last thing she said to him was, "Luke, we are no longer close siblings. We are just siblings who live together but no longer have a relationship."

That might be the last conversation they ever have with each other. The last thing Luke will ever hear from Sophia.

They haven't said I love you to each other in two weeks and they may never get to say it to each other again.

"Luke, listen to me," Ashton yelled again.

Luke finally snapped out of his trance but was still struggling to breathe.

"I need you to take deep breaths. Follow me," Ashton said, going into therapist mode.

Luke followed Ashton and took deep breaths with him.

"Good job, buddy, just like that, " Ashton said.

About two minutes later Luke didn't feel dizzy anymore and wasn't struggling to breathe.

Everyone else let go of the breath they were holding. They have never seen Luke have a panic attack like that before. Usually, he is calm even when something bad happens. It was quite scary to them to see Luke like that.

"Everything is going to be fine Luke," Ashton said, putting his hand on Luke's shoulder.

"How? My baby sister is in a coma and may never wake up again. Do you know what the last thing she said to me was? She said that we are no longer siblings that have a close relationship. You know what else? We haven't said I love you in what feels like weeks. She fucking hates me for what reason I don't know. If she dies, she will die with us being on bad terms. With her hating me. That hurts. That hurts so fucking much," Luke said with tears falling down his face.

Sierra's heart broke for her husband. She hated seeing him like this. She wished she could take away his pain.

Ashton knew it was time to tell Luke the truth. He looked over at Calum and Michael who nodded at him.

"Luke, I have something I need to tell you," Ashton said.

Luke looked up at him and said, "I'm scared but what is it?"

"Ok, so you know how Sophia came to talk to me the other day?"

Luke nodded.

"Well, she told me something that was quite shocking. I tried to get her to change her mind but she was dead set on continuing what she was doing," Ashton started off.

Ashton was honestly scared to tell Luke the truth. He didn't know how Luke was going to react.

"What? Ashton, please just spit it out," Luke said.

"Luke, she um she's been purposely trying to push you away and make you hate her," Ashton said.

"Why would she try to do that?" Luke said, confused.

"Um, how do I tell you? Ok so apparently after your mom died one night she heard you crying in your bedroom. She also noticed you weren't yourself for a while after that. So her reasoning for pushing you away and making you hate her was because she wants to save you from that pain when she dies," Ashton started.

"Oh my god," Luke said.

"That's not all. She said that pushing you away was the complete opposite of what she really wants. She is scared and wants her older brother but she thinks needing you is selfish and wants to do what is best for you," Ashton finished.

Luke looked at Michael, Calum, Sierra, and Ashton who all had sympathy in their eyes. Luke had to leave.

"Um, what room is she in?" Luke said which was very strange to everyone since they thought he would have something else to say.

"She is in treatment room 4 but we will be moving her up to the ICU in about an hour," Michael said.

Luke walked out and straight to her room.

His heart hurt. He felt broken. His sister, who is 15 years old, was pushing him, her older brother, who is 25 years old, away because she wanted to save him from the pain he experienced when their mom died which she should have ever even known about anyway. Sophia is a child. She should not be worrying about his feelings. She should be worrying about her own.

How would she think I would ever hate her? No matter what she does I would never hate her. I can't believe she would think needing me during the scariest part of her life would be selfish. I knew something was wrong with her acting the way she was. I shouldn't have let them tell me it was normal. I am her older brother. I know her better than them. I could have figured it out and would have been able to fix it and maybe we wouldn't be here in this position right now.