Fan Fiction ❯ Runaway ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Taylor played the chords of "Save Me" flawlessly. It was probably a very good thing that he had played it so many times, because his mind was far from the song he was currently singing. His mind drifted towards the hospital where Angel should have gotten out of surgery half an hour ago. His eyes darted over to the security guard off stage who carried the precious cell phone. Before Taylor had left the hospital, he had made the doctor promise to call him to let him know when Angel was awake, and how she was feeling.

His eyes looked towards the guard for about the hundredth time that night, but the scene had changed this time. This time the phone was pressed to the guard's ear, and he was heading cautiously out onto the stage.

Taylor stopped playing immediately, and ran to the guard.

"Is it the doctor?" He screamed into the man's ear.

With a nod, the guard handed over the phone.

Taylor pressed the phone to one ear, and then plugged his other ear with his free hand.

"Hello?" He said into the phone.

"This is Doctor Rosenberg."

"How is she?"

There was a long pause, and Taylor's heart leapt into his throat.

"What is it, what's wrong?"

"The surgery itself went fine, and we were easily able to reduce the swelling. However, Ms. Richardson had a reaction to the anesthesia, and is in a coma.

Taylor's breath stopped in his throat.

"Will she be okay?" He managed to choke out.

The doctor was silent.

"Please, you've got to tell me!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hanson, but there is only a slight possibility that she will come out of it..."

The doctor was saying something reassuring, but Taylor was not listening. All he could think of was the unfairness of everything. First he had lost his best friend, and now he might lose his only love. In a sudden fit of anger, he threw the cell phone, which smashed into a nearby wall.

By this time, the theater was almost quiet. Everyone was looking at Taylor, wondering who he was talking about, and why he was looking so worried.

A collective gasp rang out through the crowd as the lead singer of their favorite band fell to his knees in front of them, holding his head in his shaking hands in an attempt to hide his tears.

Isaac and Zac were by his side in a flash.

"What's wrong?"

"What's going on?" Isaac and Zac said at the same time.

"Angel... coma... ," was all that they could make out.

Isaac and Zac looked at each other in horror. They too had grown close to Angel, but they knew they were nowhere near to being as connected to her as Taylor was.

Together, they got Taylor to stand up, and Zac lead him off the stage, Taylor leaning against him for support the whole way. Isaac spoke to the audience.

"I'm sorry, folks, but we'll have to cut the concert short. Save your ticket stubs, maybe we can get you in again to make up for this. Have a nice night," and with that, Isaac left the audience to the confusion of the night.

Angel slowly opened her eyes to find herself in a dull gray room. She was sitting up, and she felt perfectly fine, better than she ever had before.

She looked around. There seemed to be two long benches full of people, facing each other. Some people were looking around as she was, but most were deep in thought, almost as if they were listening to something far away.

As she watched one little old lady, she saw the lady smile, and then, in a flash of white light, she was gone, only to be replaced by a new comer. After watching several people disappear; some went in a flash of white light, some went in a flash of red, and still others just faded from view, she finally figured out where she was. She was in Purgatory.

As soon as she had figured it out, she began to hear whispers in the back of her head. She recognized both sets of Grandparents telling her to go home, that it was not her time to join them yet. She heard long dead aunts, uncles and cousins saying the same thing. The only voice that she did not hear was Kari's.

The voices faded away, and she was left in silence, to think.

She thought of how good it would be to see her dead relatives again, but then she thought of the obvious absence of Kari's voice. Maybe Kari did not want to talk to her, or maybe she could not talk to her for some reason, but whatever it was, it hurt her to have her best friend absent from this "deadly" talk.

More whispers were starting, so Angel sat back and listened.

First it was an unfamiliar voice that identified himself as her doctor. He told her that it was up to her whether she wanted to live, but that he hoped that she would chose life.

Her mother and father talked to her in teary voices, begging her to come back to them.

After they left, she was alone once again. She felt that she would have to make her decision soon, but she just could not yet. She knew that her parents loved her, but that was honestly not enough. She had to know if those that she loved as friends loved her back, and if the one that she loved with all of her heart, felt the same way.

And then they began to talk, one-by-one.

First it was Isaac, telling her that he loved her, and that he hoped that she chose to come back to them. He told her that she was his best friend, his confidant, his "love doctor", and he would not know what to do without her. He left with a kiss to her hand that she could dimly feel.

Then it was Zac, saying that he loved her, and that he would not know what to do without his cheesehead to laugh with, to talk with, to play games with. He too left with a kiss to her hand.

And then Taylor came in. She could feel him holding her hand for a long while before he began to talk. He told her about the concert, and how he had reacted. He told her that he considered her his best friend. He told her about how worried he had been about her the whole time he had known her. And then he told her his true feelings for her... he told her that he loved her with all his heart, and he would love her forever: happiness or pain, life or death, she would always be in his heart. He left with a soft kiss to her lips that seared into her, even in Purgatory.

After Taylor left her, Angel easily came to her decision, and so, with a smile, she gently faded from view.