Chapter 2 - Present:

I felt sick to my stomach. All I could do was sit here and watch. Listen to the beeping of the heart monitor. Stare at the emotionless face. Let my glazed eyes wander the still, badly hurt form. The doctors say to give him time. Mitch’s family came in for a visit. They were devastated. They’ve gone back to their hotel now. I’ve been here all day. The doctors don’t mind. They know we were close. They’re giving me the slip this time about being here after visiting hours. Tomorrow I’ll have to leave. I haven’t eaten all day. Seeing food makes me nauseous.

Mitch’s family has hope. They’re taking the doctors word for Mitch’s stable condition so far. They say he’ll be fine, and that it’s very likely that Mitch will wake up in the future. His mind and body just needs time to heal. The only thing that keeps lingering in my mind is that, what if Mitch doesn’t watch up? What if his family loses hope? It’s their choice. Mitch’s life after a certain period of time will rest in their hands if he doesn’t wake up. It sickens me to think they might let him… move on. Just the thought brings more tears to my eyes.

Car accidents can cause traumatic brain injury. Mitch is in a coma. While I got to walk away with nothing more than cuts, bruises, and a broken leg, it’s possible he could never open his eyes again. If he stays asleep for longer than the normal period of 4-6 weeks or so, they may come to the conclusion that he’s not in a coma. That he’s in a vegetative state. And if more time after that passes… They may determine he’s in a permanent one. The only thing to do at that point would be to let him… move on.

I’m probably over exaggerating. He’ll wake up. He’ll be alright. Mitch is always fine. He’s always been fine… My mind lingers back to what the doctors found. They found cuts all along his chest, some deeper than most, some longer than others. I can feel my throat closing up. A few of them needed stitches. Mitch was cutting and I didn’t notice. He’s underweight. He’d been eating fine, and sure, I’d caught him vomiting a few times earlier in the week, but he said he felt sick to his stomach. I left it at that- I didn’t suspect that he might be vomiting on purpose, but then again… I didn’t suspect the cuts either. He’s paler too. I didn’t notice until I got here this morning. They said he lost a lot of blood because of the accident. So much, in fact, that even though we crashed right near the hospital and were simple a minute away, he still could’ve died.

Folding my arms, I rest my head on top of them, crying silently into the chest of the man I grew up with. He’s been like this for about five day’s now- nearly a week and I’m broken. It’s all my fucking fault. When I first got home, to the house we shared, I went to check his room. Mitch was always so happy. He always smiled for me, for all of us, and he never seemed like the person to cut. But sure enough, I found a few razor blades in his medical cabinet, inside a plastic bag. I found a large pack of them inside the closet, well hidden to the point it scared me. I disposed of them immediately. He won’t do it again, not on my watch; I’ll keep a close eye on him- and on what he buys.

This is torture…

The only people that know Mitch is here is his family, Ryan, Kaila, Alanna, and I. We need to tell people though. Our other friends, definitely. His subscribers deserve to know. After all, he hasn’t posted content for 5 straight days, and Mitch never does that. I’ll have to make a video for him. Sighing, I sit up and wipe at my eyes, a yawn finding my lips as I began to grow tired. Taking a pillow from the empty bed inside this hospital room, I sat back down in my seat, propping my head up as I got comfortable. I fell asleep quickly.

The next morning, I was woken up by Ariel, Mitch’s night nurse. She wasn’t much older than me and was one of the sweetest girl’s I’d ever met. Her hair was a dark mocha brown, her eyes a gorgeous hazel, like Mitch’s eyes. Her skin seemed somewhat tan and she was always smiling.

“Good morning, I thought you’d like to wake up, I hope you don’t mind.” Ariel apologized.

“No, you’re fine.” I watched her check over Mitch for the last time, yawning softly.

“Alright, well my shifts over now, I hope you have a nice day Jerome.” I said goodbye, smiling weakly at her as she left. Damn, I hate Mitch’s day nurse. She doesn’t focus much on Mitch at all, she’d rather flirt with me, and despite the fact she very well knows I’m engaged, as I’ve told her many times before to stop because of it.

I stood, stretching as I glanced to the clock. 6:57am. I looked down at Mitch, sadly watching him, as if he’d miraculously wake up. He didn’t. I pulled out my phone, dialing Ryan’s number, seeing as I can’t drive with my broken leg and Alanna went to go visit her family, as she’d planned to do a while ago. After failing to reach him, the fifth time I called, he finally picked up.

“Hello…?” Ryan’s voice was groggy, so I’d woken him up.

“It’s Jerome; could you pick me up from the hospital?” I quietly asked with my flat voice, the only emotion present being the small traces of sorrow.

“Yeah, I’ll be there soon.” Ryan yawned. “I’ll text you when I’m in the parking lot.”

“Ok.” I hung up, sitting back down and continuing to stare at Mitch. His chest slowly rose with each breath he took, his body still and the beeping getting to me. “Please wake up…” I whispered under my breath. Nothing. I leaned over his body, bringing a hand to his rather cold face and fixing his dusty brown hair, working with the thick layer of bandages around his forehead and skull until it looked somewhat normal again. At least he can look somewhat like Mitch… Weakly smiling, I shakily exhaled, my stomach beginning to turn as I sat back down.

“What was it Mitch…? What did you want to tell me…?” My tears began to roll off my cheeks once more. “What did you want to say that the universe didn’t want me to hear…?” My voice was a mere whisper and nothing more, the beeping of the heart monitor seeming louder now in the silence. After waiting for about 10 minutes, just staring at Mitch’s seemingly lifeless form, my phone went off. It was Lachlan.

‘Hey, do you and Mitch want to play some lucky block mini games later? PS, sorry it’s so early.’

I stared at his text for a long time, eventually managing to figure out what I wanted to say.

‘I can, Mitch can’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘He’s in a coma.’

It said Lachlan read the text, but he never replied. He was probably shocked. Ryan texted me, saying he was here. I turned my phone off, slipping it in my pocket before getting up, giving Mitch one more glance before making my way from the room.

“Bye…” The hallways were silent, white, nothing but the sound of footsteps echoing off the walls. I informed the lady at the desk that I was leaving and left, quickly spotting Ryan’s car in the nearly empty parking lot. He waved, giving me a sleepy smile, but I didn’t smile back and just got into the car, muttering a greeting as he pulled out onto the street.

“Are you going to be ok?” Ryan eventually asked as we stopped at a red light. I nodded. “… What are you going to do in the meantime? I mean, you and Mitch moved in together to make more videos with each other-.”

“I’m recording with Lachlan later… I told him about Mitch, since he asked if we both wanted to record with him… Want to join us?” Ryan continued driving as the light turned green, but unlike 5 nights ago, a drunk driver didn’t hit us. The driver died. He deserved it. It’s his fault. Once we got to the house, Ryan parked the car and we both got out, heading inside the dead silent house. I immediately started for my bedroom, getting my camera and starting to record, no questions asked as Ryan entered the room.

“Hey guys, so this isn’t a very normal vlog, I’m just recording this to give you some updates. So, I bet you’re wondering where Mitch and I have been for the last 5 days. Well, 5 days ago, Mitch and I got in a car crash. I have a broken leg,” I turned the camera to my leg as Ryan sat down next to me, and then turned it back on us. “And Mitch… Mitch is in a coma. I’ll still be trying to record some videos, but don’t expect much for right now, because it’s really… It’s different; I don’t know how to explain it. I just thought I should tell everyone. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you all later. Bye.” I stopped recording after that with a sigh, standing and going to my computer. I uploaded the video to my computer, making sure the sound quality was alright and that the video wasn’t blurry or anything, but generally I didn’t care much.

I went onto YouTube, uploading the video and not giving it a description as I titled it, Updates. Then, while that was working its magic, I got up and went to Mitch’s room, repeating the process. Once the videos were uploaded, I exited chrome on both computers, letting the devices shut down as Ryan and I went back into the living room. I sat with a sigh, not sure when Lachlan wants to record or what I even wanted to do right now. Ryan sat down next to me.

“… Are you hungry? I could make us some breakfast.” Ryan offered.

“… No, thanks.” I mumbled, reaching for the TV remote and turning on the TV.