Chapter 273: Family, Part 6

Richard

The following day, “Anything you should tell us?” I ask the nurse, “Before we go in?”

“We have lifted the sedation,” she says. “We’re still waiting for him to wake. Your friends are in there with him.”

The room is light and airy with a TV, air-con and fresh flowers. I made sure the Threesome were assigned one with a pleasant view. Nonetheless, there is no escaping the fact we are in a hospital.

A nurse is adjusting a drip. Cables run from under the blankets to various monitors and equipment and the steady bleep-bleep of the cardiograph blinks in the background.

In the room, the unconscious James appears unchanged. Charlotte and Michael are sitting together on a small settee. As he sees us, Michael stands, talking quietly with Elizabeth.

Charlotte, wearing jeans and a sweater from Elizabeth’s wardrobe, remains sitting by James, holding his hand. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail and her eyes, red-rimmed and swollen, look enormous in her pale, puffy face.