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"GCS?" Cole asks

"Glasgow Coma Scale," I answer quickly

"Nice job Are you in the medical field?" Dr Graham questions

"Not anyasp E Pre-med

"We need to run a fewto pain" When I flinch, he hastily adds, "That’s a good sign We’ll make sure he doesn’t have any additional disco his brain activity I just want you guys to prepare yourselves Even though a coma simply means he’s unconscious, he could be like this for a few oes further than that, we’ll re-evaluate our options "

When no one says anything else, Dr Graha pupillary responses to light Give hih hopes for him From what I heard of the fall, it could have been e to his spinal cord We’ll take this one day at a ti care of yourselves"

He leans over to shake o see Jax I sink to floor beneath the weight of his words and cover my face with my hands My brother is in a coma Unconscious Comatose

- Sixteen -

AUDREY -

My heart breaks as I watch Jace’s body gradually slide down the wall His brother is beyond his best friend, he’s spent al as I’ve spent htly care about ine what even a fraction of his sadnessto see why Em tried to push people away from her You can’t miss what you never had

I make my way toward Jace slowly and sink down next to hie me at all I know I shouldn’t be hurt by his coldness toward h, I would have hoped he’d let h and he flinches but doesn’the’ll knohat I mean and that I’m here for him That I’ll help him any way I can He doesn’t respond, instead he just lays his head on his knees and breathes in roughly

The roo us all frohts I watch as he pulls it out of his pocket and reads the screen

"Jace, rabbed a taxi She should be here soon," he announces

"We’re pushing our limit of visitors You should head home, Audrey," Jace says in a lifeless voice

"I want to stay with you, babe I need to be here for you," I whisper

"Please, just leave I don’t want the dra here With my mom and my brother I can’t deal with any of it," he replies coldly

"Jace, I’m sure it’ll be fine that she’s here," Elance in our direction, just continues staring at the closed door

"While I was playing in the ocean,in an ambulance To the hospital, Audrey! I’d rather just be with h ht here for all of our friends to see "Playing? Is that ere doing?" I ask quietly

"Don’t twistyour words, Jace I’ them" I stand up and look down at where he sits on the floor He’s hurting I can understand that, but this is just cruel

Instantly, his ars back and he slams his closed fist into the wall behind hi roolance in his direction, I push through the door and launch myself out into the cold, di way you could have handled that?" Cole bellows out behind the closed door

"I can’t believe you just did that," I hear Quinn stammer

When there’s no answer, Cole continues, "I had no idea there was so on between the two of you, but she didn’t deserve that I don’t even knoho the hell you are right now"

"If Jaxon doesn’t h this, I won’t even knoho the hell I arowls back

"Shut up, Jace!" I hear Eain WHEN Jaxon h this, WHEN There’s no IF That’s not an option," she says in an angry tone Before she can even finish, I hear a loud thud against the wall and a frustrated groan follows I decide to leave now before Jace punches holes in every wall of this hospital As I quickly stride down the hallway, the nurse we met before steps out of a room and props the door open so she can wheel a cart out

Inside, I can see Jaxon lying on a bed He has cords, tubes, wires, and machines hooked up to him He looks perfectly healthy, al room down the hall is anxious to see him and little do they know he’s only two doors away

Quinn pushes through the door and looks around frantically When she spots me, she quickly advances in my direction A second later, Cole pops his head out of the door and calls out to Quinn