by J. Sterling
“Jesus, Kat, you’re freezing.” He wrapped as much of his muscular body as he could around her small frame.
“Do you hear that?” They both stilled.
“Is that…crying?” Cooper tilted his head in the direction of the sound.
“It sounds like it, but where is it coming from?” Katherine ran from room to room, trying to get closer to the sound.
A faint beeping sound could also be heard. “What is that?”
“What’s going on? I’m scared.” She looked at Cooper and his face was chalky. “Cooper, your face. It’s so pale.”
“What do you mean?” He lifted his hand to touch his face, and collapsed to the floor.
Katherine screamed. She knelt next to his lifeless body and tried to shake him awake, but he wouldn’t come to. With her head resting on his chest, she sobbed, “Cooper, please wake up. Wake up.”
“He’s dying.” The voice cut through her cries like a knife. Her heart flipped out of her chest as she turned to see Austen standing above her. His usual joyful demeanor had shifted into a more serious, worried one. And the expression on his face was anything but happy.
“Austen. What’s going on? What’s wrong with Cooper?” She looked down to see Cooper again, but he was gone.
“Where’d he go?” Her hands swept the ground where he had fallen as she screamed out his name. “Cooper? Cooper!”
“He’s dying, Katherine. And so are you.” Austen spoke the words carefully and slowly.
“What? What do you mean? We survived the fall in the ice,” she said as she struggled to recall. “Didn’t we?”
“At first, yes. But something happened to you both last night. Taylor and Danny drove you to the hospital.”
“But I felt fine.” She tried to put the pieces together, replaying the events of the night and the day. Some thoughts were a blur, but others were crystal clear. “What about everything else then? Was it all a dream or did it really happen?”
“You mean, did you really tell me good-bye?”
She looked down at her feet before answering. “Yes. Was that real?”
“It was. But everything else…well, let’s just say you’re not awake right now.”
“What do you mean…not awake?”
“You’re unconscious, Katherine.” Austen spoke slowly, each word deliberate, as if he were speaking to a child.
“Unconscious? Like, in a coma?”
“Exactly.”
“Cooper too?” she asked, her voice rising as her mind raced.
“Cooper too.”
It was difficult for Katherine to see Austen and not be with him, but she had to force those thoughts from her mind. Her concern was more for Cooper than for herself and she had to focus on how to save him.
“Austen. We have to help him.”
“I’m not sure we can.”
His matter-of-fact tone irritated her. “Austen!” She balled her hands into fists before releasing a tense breath. “I’ve already lost you. I can’t lose Cooper too. I won’t be able to live through it!”
He took a step toward her. “You think I don’t know that? I do. I’m just not sure what I can do about it, but I’ll do whatever I can.”
The crying got louder. “What is that?” Katherine closed her eyes tightly and when she opened them, she was in a hospital room looking down at her own body. Taylor sobbed as she held Katherine’s limp hand. “Oh, Tay. I’m right here. Taylor!” Katherine yelled at her friend, but Taylor remained unmoved.
“She can’t hear you.” Austen appeared at her side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Where did Cooper go? What happened to him? He was with me and now he’s gone.” Katherine knew what she and Cooper had shared was real. Even if it was only in a dream, it still happened. She had to find him. She ran out of her room and yelled for him down the hospital corridor.
“Cooper! Cooper, where are you?” She clumsily crashed through every door in the hallway, looking for his body.
“Katherine?” She heard Cooper yell her name, but he sounded so far away.
Austen stopped following her and stood at a distance to watch. “Katherine!” Cooper continued to yell until he was close enough for her to respond. He rounded a corner and practically ran into her. “There you are! How did we get here? Did something happen?”
“Cooper.” Katherine searched for the words to explain it to him. “We’re not okay.”
“What do you mean we’re not okay? You’re dumping me already?” He half smirked at her.
“No. I mean, we’re like, physically not okay. We’re in this hospital because you and I are here.”
“I know we’re here. I can see we’re here. But why are we here?”
Austen interjected. “She means that you’re both here, in comas.”
Cooper looked at Austen. “Austen?” He glanced at Katherine and then back at Austen.
“Yeah.” Austen’s voice sounded genuinely concerned.
“Well, this can’t be good. If I’m seeing a dead guy, then something’s definitely wrong with me.” Cooper attempted to laugh.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” Katherine took Cooper’s hand and walked him toward Austen. “It’s about time you two met.”
They shook hands and an odd look came over Cooper’s face, as if Austen were familiar to Cooper. “So, what’s going on? Why are we in comas?” Cooper directed his question toward Austen.
“You both had after-effects from being submerged in the freezing water. Katherine’s brain was affected from the lack of oxygen.” He looked at her and then turned back to Cooper. “Your condition is…different. The damage is in your chest, which wouldn’t normally put you into a coma, but it affected your heart and your ability to breathe properly. And voilà, here you are.”
“So, who found us? How did we end up here in the hospital?” Cooper frowned, obviously struggling to put the pieces of the puzzle together much like Katherine had.
“Taylor found you on the couch when she came down to get water from the kitchen. She wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but became concerned when she heard the way you were breathing—it was like each breath took all of your effort. And you were both so pale. She tried to wake you, but neither of you would come to, so she panicked. And rightly so.”
Katherine remembered the sound of the doors slamming and the car driving away.
“So, how do we wake up? I’m ready to get my body back,” Cooper asked.
“It doesn’t work like that. Trust me.” Austen suddenly looked lost in thought as his gaze drifted upward. “I wanted to hop back into my body so bad and wake up, but I couldn’t. I kept trying, but nothing worked. I guess sometimes life has other plans.”
“So, we just sit here forever?” Cooper looked at Katherine, whose hand he still held. “Not that I’d mind spending forever with you, Kat, it’s just that I’d rather do it alive.” He shot a glance toward Austen. “No offense.”
Austen smiled. “None taken. I’d rather be alive too. Especially if it meant one more day with her.” He gave Katherine a tender glance.
Katherine started to feel weak. “Guys, I don’t feel well.” Her knees buckled and Cooper grabbed her waist, suddenly holding up her weight.
****
“Something’s wrong with her!” Cooper panicked and looked at Austen. Katherine passed out in his arms and then disappeared, there one moment and gone the next.
“Come on!” They ran toward Katherine’s hospital room. Taylor still held her hand, but Katherine’s spirit was nowhere to be found.
“Where’d she go? Where is she?” Cooper was like a wild animal, his eyes wide and his neck craning in every direction.
Austen shook his head. “I don’t…I don’t know.”
The machines hooked to Katherine’s body suddenly started beeping and making noise. Taylor looked up at them in confusion as nurses rushed into the room, shouting instructions to each other as they quickly tended to Katherine. “You’ll need to
step out, please,” one nurse told Taylor in the midst of the chaos.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong with her?” Taylor cried out as the nurses pushed her aside. She stood outside the doorway, her arms wrapped tightly as she hugged her chest.
Cooper and Austen observed silently from the hallway, watching Taylor’s anguish as the nurses frantically worked to save Katherine.
“I hate hospitals.”
Cooper startled at the sound of Katherine’s voice, and turned to find her standing next to him. “Where’d you go?” he asked her.
“I don’t know. One minute I was with you and then suddenly I was gone. But I can’t remember where I went.”
“That happens sometimes,” Austen reassured her. “How do you feel now?”
She paused for a moment, as if searching for the right words. “Strong, like I want to fight.”
Austen smiled. “That’s good.”
Cooper frowned, unable keep up with the logic. “Sorry, but can someone explain to me what this all means?”
“Her body wants to fight and her spirit can feel that. The strength is a good thing. It means she hasn’t given up on living.” Austen looked at her with loving approval.
Cooper’s heart dropped at the reality of his own situation. “I don’t feel that way,” Cooper said quietly.
“What do you mean, you don’t feel that way?” Katherine asked anxiously. “How do you feel?”
“Weak,” he admitted. “And confused.”
Katherine’s eyes widened and her gaze darted between the boys. She clutched at Austen and pleaded, “Austen, what does that mean?”
“We need to find your body, Cooper. You’re losing the battle. Come on.” Cooper followed as Katherine and Austen ran down a long white corridor and into the room where Danny sat vigil at Cooper’s bedside. Cooper looked down at his lifeless body in the hospital bed and clutched at his stomach, overwhelmed with pain and worry.
“I don’t want to die, so why do I feel like this?”
“It’s your body, Cooper,” Austen explained. “It’s fighting with your mind. But you can win. You just can’t give up.”
At his words, Cooper glanced at Katherine and noticed that color came back to her face, and she appeared to glow.
He reached out to her, taking her hand as she said, “I feel weird, you guys. Like I’m being pulled away from here…”
“It’s your body, Katherine. It’s calling for you.”
“To die?” she asked, horrified.
Austen laughed. “No, my love. To live. It’s time for you to wake up.”
“But I don’t want to leave you!” Her face was frantic as her gaze swung between Cooper and Austen.
“You know I’ll always be here,” Austen reminded her.
Cooper grabbed her hands, desperate to reassure her. He looked in her eyes and said, “You have to go. Go wake up, Katherine. I’ll be right behind you.”
“But you said you feel weak. That’s a bad sign,” she pleaded. “I won’t leave you. I’m not waking up if you’re not waking up, Cooper.”
Cooper glanced over at Austen and noticed him shifting with agitation, his jaw working as his eyebrows pulled together. Austen’s worry for Katherine motivated him to do something he hated to do, but knew was necessary.
“I feel better now. Much stronger,” Cooper lied. “Now you go and open your eyes first. One of us has to wake up first.”
She shook her head violently, stubbornly refusing to move or let go of Cooper’s hands.
“Katherine,” Austen said firmly. “I’ll take care of him. I won’t leave his side.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
She walked to Austen and hugged him. “Thank you.”
“Now go,” he said, urging her with his eyes.
“I love you both so much,” were her last words before she disappeared again, and Cooper suddenly felt worse.
****
Taylor sat by Katherine’s bed after she had stabilized and the room had cleared. She stroked her hand, silently urging her friend to wake up as Katherine unexpectedly opened her eyes.
“Katherine! Oh, God!” Taylor threw her arms around her in a hug and yelled for the nurse.
“Cooper?” was the first word she muttered.
Taylor couldn’t hide the look on her face. “Katherine, Cooper’s—”
“He’s in a coma, I know.”
Taylor was shocked. “How did you know that?”
“It’s a long story, but listen.” Katherine moved to get up. “We have to go get him now. He should be waking up and I have to be there when he opens his eyes.”
Taylor held Katherine down in her bed. “What are you talking about? You can’t move, Katherine. You need to rest.”
“He told me to wake up first, and I did. Now it’s his turn to wake up. Let me go!”
Taylor fought to keep Katherine still when Danny walked into the room.
“Danny!” Katherine cried out. “He’s awake, right? I woke up first so he woke up too, right?”
Danny looked at both girls before shaking his head. “He hasn’t woken up yet, Kat. I’m sorry.”
“That can’t be right. They both said he’d wake up after me.” Taylor glanced at Danny in confusion and he shrugged, obviously not understanding Katherine’s words any more than she did.
“We’ll be right back,” Taylor said, grabbing Danny’s hand and stepping into the hallway outside of Katherine’s room.
“What’s the matter?” Taylor said in a low voice. She could see the bad news written all over Danny’s face, and it broke her heart.
“The doctor said he just fell even deeper into his coma.”
Taylor’s eyes welled up with tears. “What? Why?”
“They aren’t sure.”
“We can’t tell Katherine that, it will break her.” Taylor’s mind whirled as she struggled to find something worthwhile to do to help. “You should go back with Cooper and I’ll stay here with her.”
“Okay. I love you.” Danny kissed her cheek and walked away.
Chapter Eighteen
Austen exhaled when Katherine opened her eyes. “She actually listened.”
Cooper looked at him and smiled. “Thanks for your help. There’s no way I could have gotten her to do that without you.”
“Of course,” he said with understanding.
Cooper looked at Austen, his eyes narrowed. “Do we know each other? I know that sounds crazy, it’s just that you seem familiar to me.”
“It’s not crazy. We may have met once or twice before.” Austen thought back to a time and place long before now in when Cooper Donovan was his best friend.
“Yeah? Seems that way.” Cooper looked away, seeming distracted, and stopped asking questions.
Austen noticed his troubled face and prodded, “Now, tell me how you’re really feeling.”
Cooper looked at him. “Pretty weak, honestly. I don’t understand, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just that I’m a pretty strong guy, so for my body to give out on me so quickly…it doesn’t add up.”
Austen agreed that it made little sense. “I don’t have all the answers, Cooper. Sorry.”
“So what do we do?” Cooper asked, staring at Katherine’s bed.
“We sit here with her. For now.”
They watched Katherine cry for Cooper and talk out loud about Austen. Each time Katherine said something, Taylor would lean in, scrunch up her face, and then wave her hand like she was giving up. From time to time, Katherine would scream Cooper’s name and start crying. It caused Austen so much pain. He and Cooper would run to her side to calm her, but she couldn’t hear them or feel their presence.
“Does she know we’re here? How does it work when you do it? How does she hear you?” Cooper asked.
“For us, it only worked while she was sleeping—”
Cooper cut him off. “But that’s not true. She saw you once before when we were toget
her. Or maybe more than once, I can’t remember.”
“No, you’re right. That’s because her guard was down. When she’s not trying so hard to see or feel me, that’s when I can get in. Otherwise, she’s amazing at blocking me out.”
They both smiled. “So she can’t see us right now?” Cooper asked.
“No.”
“And you’re certain she can’t hear us?”
“I’d bet money on it,” Austen said.
Katherine continued to drift in and out of sleep. “Is she going to fall back into a coma?” Taylor asked the doctors as she wiped away her tears.
The male doctor placed Katherine’s chart back on the metal hook before responding, “This is normal sleep behavior after a trauma. We’re monitoring everything to make sure that doesn’t happen. She is stable.”
Austen noticed Cooper fidgeting and turned to find him staring. “Why don’t I hate you? I mean, shouldn’t we hate each other?” Cooper asked out loud with a slight laugh.
“I definitely shouldn’t hate you,” Austen said carefully. “I mean, I’m the one who’s dead, so how selfish would that be?” He thought about all the things he couldn’t explain to Cooper. Memories of their past lives, how Cooper was there, with Katherine.
Cooper nodded. “Pretty selfish. I thought I would want to punch you in the face or something, but I don’t.”
“Thanks for not busting up the goods.” Austen laughed as he grabbed at his chin.
“Weird.”
“What is?” Austen asked.
“This whole thing. I don’t know. How I feel. How I felt before I met you. The fact that I’m meeting you. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” Austen knew he had no right to feel anything but gratitude toward Cooper Donovan. After all, Cooper had saved the love of his life. He also knew that Cooper was the only guy he could see loving her after he was gone. It was just like the last time.
“Is it hard for you?” Cooper asked.
“To what? See you and Katherine together?”
“Yeah.”
Austen paused before answering. “Yes and no.” He took a breath. “I mean…I love her more than I can put into words, so all I want is for her to be happy. And if it’s not going to be me in her life, I’m really happy that it’s you.”
