Zac sat paralized by his own fear of losing his best friend. Everybody else had gone to the cafeteria or was wandering around the hospital mindlessly trying to figure out how to console themselves. Melissa had gone to call some of Carter's friends and let them know what was going on, and that it really wouldn't do much good to come to the hospital. Nobody was letting them in to see her.
Zac was angry. He was angry that nobody would let him be with her. He knew that if he was sitting with her, maybe she would at least know he was there. Maybe she wouldn't be as scared.
"Hi."
Zac didn't even hear the voice.
"Are you sick, too?"
Zac looked up from his shoes to see a girl in a wheel chair. She had long brown hair to the middle of her back and brown eyes. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a baggy blue t-shirt. Zac shook his head at her question. "No."
"Then why are you here?" She asked, staring into his eyes.
"My friend is hurt, and they don't know if she's going to be ok."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
Zac took a deep breath and smiled slightly at her. "What's your name?"
"Sara."
"I'm Zac."
She smiled at him and stood up from her wheel chair, surprising him that she was able to walk. Then she sat down in the chair next to him. "What's your friend's name?"
"Carter. She fell and got hurt really bad."
"Oh." She looked at the nurses wandering around the ICU. "I bet she is your girlfriend."
"How do you know?"
"Because of the way you said her name. You're scared she isn't going to live."
Zac nodded and looked down.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so blunt. What's Carter like?"
Zac took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "She's the most amazing person in the world. She's one of those people that would cut out her own heart and give to to you if you needed it."
Sara frowned and nodded. "I guess we need more people like that around here. I bet she's really pretty."
Zac nodded.
"Guys like you always have pretty girlfriends." She blushed.
Zac smiled. "So why are you here? Are you sick?"
She nodded and shrugged. "I need a heart transplant. But they don't think I'll be able to get it in time. I just have to wait."
Zac suddenly felt horrible about the comment he'd made about the heart. "Oh. I'm sorry." He was amazed at how much this girl didn't even seem sad or angry at what was happening to her. He would be furious.
"You should pray for Carter."
Zac shook his head. "I don't feel much like praying right now."
"I know."
"What do you mean?"
"Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I don't feel like praying either. You're mad that God did this and you don't want to ask him for help."
"I guess I just feel..."
"Like if you can't help her, and if God did this to her, why would he help?"
Zac nodded. "How old are you?"
She smiled. "I'll be 15 in 19 days."
Zac was amazed. This girl was younger than him but she had more poise, dignity, and courage than he had ever had. She reminded him of Carter in a way. "I'm 15. Carter is 18."
"If you want to, I'll go with you to the chapel. Sometimes it's easier to pray if you have somebody there with you."
Zac was about to agree to this when the doctor with the long blonde braid appeared. "You're here for Carter Porter?" She looked frighteningly serious.
Zac jumped up. "Yes."
"Are you family?"
He frowned. "I'm uhm..."
The doctor smiled. "I understand. Well, we're not really supposed to let anybody in except family but in this instance I think it would be good for Carter to have visitors. Would you like to see her?"
Zac nodded furiously and turned to Sara. "Would you like to come? She probably needs a lot of stimulation and I don't know where everybody else is."
Sara twirled the small diamond pendant that hung around her neck. It was held in place by a thin platinum chain. Zac never noticed it before but it hit the light perfectly and made a brilliant sparkle on her collarbone. "Sure." She replied since she had nowhere else to be at that moment.
Zac slowly led Sara to the room that Carter was in. He almost cried when he saw her. The skin surrounding her left eye was darkened and there were tiny cuts and scraps covering her cheeks and arms. He figured they were from the bushes she fell into. Her left arm was covered in a bandage and there was a huge bruise surrounding it. To Zac, she looked like she was in a huge amount of pain and his heart felt like it was going to split into two.
"She's beautiful." Sara whispered, peering down at her.
"I know." Zac nodded, surprised that Sara seemed to see through the bandages, scraps, and the life support machine that was keeping her with them until she woke up.
Sara twirled the diamond pendant again and bit her lip. "Zac... can I give her something?"
Zac didn't really hear her. He was holding onto Carter's hand and staring at her. "Sure."
Sara took off her diamond pendant and walked to Carter. Carefully, she slid it around Carter's neck and fastened it.
"What is that for?"
Sara shrugged. "I've had it since I was a baby. It's always brought me luck. But I want your girlfriend to have it now. I think she needs the luck more than I do."
Zac shook his head. "But you've had it forever and... I don't mean to be rude but I think you need some good luck just as much as she does."
Sara smiled. "Luck isn't going to bring me what I need. But when Carter wakes up, just let her know where she got the necklace ok?"
Zac nodded. "She'll like you. I can't wait for you to meet her and see how great she is."
She smiled again. "I'm sure she's a great friend. Don't give up on her. She looks really strong. She'll get through this."
"I know she will. Thanks."
Sara nodded and left the room to leave Zac with Carter.
He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her bed, holding her hand in his own. It looked so tiny and helpless. Her hand alone almost made him cry. More cuts, more bruises. Then he realized that her head was wrapped. He didn't know why he didn't notice it before. Melissa said that her head had been bleeding.
"Hey Carter." He smiled down at her. "What's up?" He had no idea what to say. He thought he should be the one to talk to her like a normal person and not like she was a small child who didn't speak english. He never understood that. He also never understood why people cried on tv. The last thing Carter needed was to know how badly hurt she was. "There's a lot of people here dying to talk to you. You have no idea how popular you are." He laughed. "I know you never wanted to be popular, but hey, we all make mistakes right? Your dad is really proud of you for pushing Melissa out of the way. You have no idea how much you're like your mom. She would have done the exact same thing."
It took all the strength he had to fight back his tears. He had to be strong for her. "As soon as you wake up I have to introduce you to somebody. Her name is Sara and she's been in the hospital for a while. She's really nice. I think you'd like her. I don't know if you could feel it but she gave her her necklace. It's really pretty. You'll like it." He sighed thinking to himself, when you wake up. "And I'm going to stay here as long as I can. I know my mom will make me go home to sleep because... well you know her. I'll just have to convince her that I have to stay here. I don't want to leave you here alone. I know you hate hospitals."
Zac looked at his watch. "But sweetie I have to go find everybody else and let them know they can come see you now. I promise you I won't be gone for very long." He reached into his pocket and pulled out Carter's picture of her mother. The paramedics found it on the road and gave it to him when he came to the hospital. He placed it in her hand. "Your mom is here too. Don't worry, nobody is leaving you here. I love you." He leaned over and kissed the one spot on her forehead that wasn't scraped. Then he went to find everybody.
He ran into Taylor and Melissa first. They were sitting in chairs, not speaking to eachother. Taylor looked terrified and Melissa looked... pissed. She looked generally angry at what had happened to her sister. "You guys can go in and see her now." Zac grabbed Melissa's hand and pulled her up. She looked like she needed some help just moving.
Melissa looked back at Taylor. "You coming?"
Taylor shook his head and closed his eyes.
"What? Why?!" She asked, growing angrier at him by the minute.
"I can't go in there." He shook his head. "It's the room I was in..."
"So what?" Zac asked.
"I can't go in there. I can barely sit here. I hate this hospital. I almost died here..." He paused... "A year ago." He thought back to when he missed his own birthday. Luckily he hadn't missed it this year, and Carter hadn't missed hers. They had small parties on the same day for the both of them. "I can't go in there." He repeated.
Melissa glared at him. "You HAVE to. You can't leave her in there alone."
"She has you guys."
"Taylor. How stupid are you? When you were in that room a year ago, Carter sat in there with you day and night. She didn't sleep for two days. You were all she thought about. She missed her own birthday sitting there waiting for your sorry ass to wake up. You ARE giong in there to see her. And if you don't do it on your own I'll drag you in there by your hair."
Zac's eyes widened at Melissa. "Whoa." He whispered. "Well, I'm gonna go find your dad and Isaac. I'll let you sort this out."
Zac left and Melissa turned back to Taylor. "So what's the verdict."
"Fine." Taylor pulled himself together and followed Melissa reluctantly to Carter's ICU room. When he saw her, tears began to stream down his eyes. Meli was right, Carter stayed with him day and night and she hated hospitals more than him. Melissa held onto her sister's hand and smiled down at her.
"Hey girl. You look great." She lied. Then she looked at Taylor who seemed to be having trouble breathing. She motioned for him to come over.
Again, reluctantly, he walked to Carter's bed and put his hand on her arm. "Hey... Sorry it took me so long to come in here. I just... it's really hard to see you like this and it hurts... and..." His tears fell faster and Meli had never seen him cry like that before. "I hope you understand but I can't sit here and watch you in this kind of pain... I wouldn't leave if I didn't think you'd be taken care of... But..." He leaned down and kissed her cheek. "I love you. You're one of the best friends I've ever had and even though we argue all the time, you still mean the world to me, and everybody else. So you have to get better. I'll be here when you do, I just... I can't do this..." He wiped his left cheek and left abruptly leaving Meli spechless.