What Happened

At first, Lucus didn't notice her waking up. She didn't move all that much and all she did was begin to adjust to the room's lighting. Not until she attempted to sit up did Lucus realize. Allicia was weak. Anyone could tell that. As soon as she propped herself up with her arms, they gave way and she fell back down to the cushions. Her voice was raspy and dry.

"Where, where am I? I'm, I'm going to miss Lucus's speech. It's so important. I," She coughed. "I need to go." The world was foggy. Lucus placed his hand on her shoulder and helped her to settle back into the pillows. This was all he could do. Lucus was too shocked to speak. "Lucus? Oh no. Did I miss it? What happened? Did I ruin something again? No no no no no. Not again. Not again" She began to grow louder, forgetting her sorry state. Allicia curled up into a little ball and began rocking herself back and forth grasping at her hair. She clasped her hands around her head like some phantom ghost was haunting her. It grew to a state where she was actively thrashing around with Lucus attempting to pin her down. She was stronger than Lucus had anticipated. Even in this weakness. Thankfully, Ben entered the room. Lucus knew it was him and called over. The curtain was still closed from Ben's point of view, but he could still hear the shouts from the doorway.

"Ben! Please. Something's wrong with Allicia! Get help!" Lucus clenched his teeth and continued to try and pin Allicia down. She was hysterical. Ben immediately broke out in a run to grab some doctors and nurses. Eventually, a few came into the room, and managed to insert a sedative in a joint effort. Lucus placed a hand on hers and breathed a deep sigh of relief. She seemed so calm and ethereal, it was hard to believe he had not two minutes ago been pinning her down to a hospital bed with her screaming hysterically. One of the doctor's pulled them aside.

"Look, we can't contact her parents, you know that. So I'm going to tell you guys the report. At first we were holding out on you for confidentiality reasons but I hear you are her brother?" The doctor pointed to Lucus and Lucus nodded, assuming he had. I guess this guy didn't care if two supposed siblings looked at all alike. When the doctor received his confirmation, he continued. "Sorry this took so long. This hospital is super overcrowded, and frankly, a mess due to the recent shutdown of the other two hospitals. Well, pass this onto your parents, will you?" Lucus nodded once more, his throat too dry with worry to speak, even for a small word. "Good boy. Well, she seems to have a concussion. We scanned her and you already know she has a broken bone. Frankly, the fact she was able to move was astounding. Waking up seemed out of the question, at least for a few weeks." He paused, and checked a few more pages in his clipboard. "The concussion is pretty bad. She won't lose any memory and we don't think she will lose any control over her body, but she will be in an extremely fragile state. Bright lights and loud noises will be extremely hard for her, and she will be falling in and out of consciousness. We believe she will make a full recovery." He glanced over at the sleeping Allicia. "She's very strong. A fighter. She does need to stay in the hospital for now."

"What about now? After this hysteria, is she still going to be okay?" Surprisingly enough, this was Ben, now speaking out. He clenched his fists worriedly. "Don't keep us in the dark."

"Well…" the doctor started, caught off guard. "She will still make a full recovery, we hope, but she is going to be slightly emotionally unstable."

"Slightly." murmured Lucus under his breath, scoffing.

"But" continued the doctor. " She might have to stay here for a bit longer." He said this part slowly, as if he was scared of the response.

"How much longer?" This sounded less like a question, than a threat. "How much longer will she be here for?"

"We… we don't know." The doctor looked defeated. Ben, no

w looking closer, realized he had dark circles and eyebags. His posture was low, and hanging with each breath feeling forced. The doctor's hair was disheveled greatly, but not in an organized manner that he had put on purpose. Instead, it looked as though it had been run through with sweaty fingers time and time again due to stress. Ben backed down.

"Sorry, it's, it's just that we're tired. We shouldn't have lashed out like that. I bet you're under a lot of pressure right now too." Ben pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, thinking. He never did have the knack for knowing what to say like Lucus did. "I guess we're all tired. We gotta get some rest. Sorry, again." Lucus cocked his head to the side and faced Ben's general direction. Ben elbowed him.

"Yeah, sorry. I'll, make sure to tell mom and dad. Thanks for the help." Lucus recovered, understanding. "You don't need to stay here. I think we're fine." Lucus smiled a small smile and Ben opened the door for the doctor to leave. He stepped out grateful for the break, shutting the door rather quickly behind him. Lucus could hear his sigh of relief from behind the door afterwards, though.

The other employees had already left prior to the doctor, so now it was just them three again. They mostly sat and played a game with the new bag of popcorn and continued to try and shoot them into each other's mouths. This continued for an hour, but the aura wasn't really the same as before. It was an empty silence with anxious glances over to Allicia. Eventually Ben got a text that he had to leave the hospital. This left only Lucus, who slowly fell asleep in an uncomfortable hospital chair next to Allicia. All the while, he sang a somber song. One of whom he didn't know the writer.