Everybody sat silently in the hospital waiting room as they waited for news on Ben.
Lisa finally broke the silence. "I wish they'd hurry up and let us know if he's OK!" she cried. "If nobody comes soon, I'm going in there to find out,".
Christian put his arm around Lisa and gave her a hug. "I'll come with you," he said. They walked down the corridor to the reception desk.
Hallo," Chris said to the receptionist. "Kan du hjelpe meg?". He explained the situation with Ben. "Når kommer legen?" he asked, which meant 'when is the doctor coming?'.
"Så snart som mulig," the receptionist replied, before picking up the phone to call the doctor.
"She said as soon as possible," Chris said, holding Lisa's hand.
A few minutes later, a doctor came to meet Chris and Lisa. "Hello," he said, luckily he could speak English. "I'll take you to see Ben,".
Chris and Lisa followed him down the corridor, feeling nervous. "How is he?" Lisa asked.
The doctor turned to her with a serious face. "Not good I'm afraid,". He opened a door and they walked into a small private room.
Lisa tried hard not to cry as she saw Ben lying on the bed, wired up to numerous machines.
"Sit down," the doctor offered, pointing to two chairs at the side of the room. "Unfortunately, the accident was quite serious. You two and the other passenger had a lucky escape,".
"Is he going to die?" Lisa asked.
"I'm afraid... it looks likely he will," the doctor said with a serious expression. "I'm sorry,".
"There must be something you can do!" Chris said. He wasn't going to let Ben die!
"We are doing everything we can," the doctor explained.
Lisa stood up and walked over to the bed. She looked down at Ben and could help crying. "Don't die Ben," she whispered. "Please don't die!".
Meanwhile, the others were in a nearby cafe having some dinner. "We better get back to the hospital soon to find out how Ben is," Mark said.
"What actually happened?" Debbie asked Lucy. "You were driving through the forest...".
"Yeah, we were driving through the forest," Lucy recalled. "Ben was driving.... and it started raining. We drove up a steep hill but on the way down the car went out of control and crashed into a tree,".
"Oh no," Heather whispered. "You had a lucky escape then. But Ben..."
Mark put his head in his hands. "I'm worried, what if he dies?".
Debbie put an arm around him. "We don't know how seriously hurt he is so don't think like that!".
Mark managed a weak smile. That was the first time Debbie had talked to him in ages. On the way out of the cafe, Mark pulled her aside. "Look Debbie, I'm really sorry about... you know,".
Debbie looked down at the ground. "So you should be!".
"I mean it, I'm really sorry. But can we give it another try? Please?".
Debbie looked up and their eyes met. She couldn't refuse. "Yes," she smiled, before giving him a big hug.
Paul was watching and he smiled to himself. "Good for them," he said. "Now if only I could have Sam back..."
"You two still not talking?" Nic asked.
Paul frowned. "Yeah... the argument was so stupid, it was all over me not going on holiday with her,".
"Well book a holiday for you two as a way of making up," Nic suggested.
"Hmmm... good idea!".
Lisa and Chris were in the hospital waiting room phoning Ben's family as the others returned.
"How is he?" Mark asked.
Chris and Lisa exchanged glances.
"Oh no, it's bad news isn't it," Paul said, sitting down.
"Everybody sit down," Chris said.
Lisa looked up at everyone and sighed. "It's bad news,".
"He's in a coma and the doctors don't know if he will make it," Chris announced.
Nobody knew what to say. Everybody was silent, shocked by the news.
.