Chapter Sixteen - Nick

I sit in the chair next to Oasis’s bed, I hold her small hand between my hands and rub it trying to warm it up. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes and quickly wipe them away.

“Please, Oasis, wake up,” I say to her hoping she can hear me. “The doctor told us that you can hear us and that talking to you should help.”

Just then the curtain opens and one of the nurses comes in to check Oasis’s vital signs. She moves around quickly and efficiently. She puts her hand on my back for a second before she leaves and closes the curtain behind her.

“Please Oasis, your family wants to see you wake up. I want you to wake up,” I tell her. “Marina was hurt and she had to be put down. Please, Oasis, wake up.”

I go silent and sit there looking for any sign that she can hear me. I feel more tears welling up in my eyes just as there is a knock on the wall next to the curtain. I look over and see Elliot standing in the just inside the room.

“I’m going to take the girls home. Would you like me to take you home too?” Elliot says quietly like he is trying not to wake Oasis up.

“No, it's fine,” I say and swallow back my tears. “Actually, if it’s okay with you I’d like to stay here with Oasis for the night.”

“That's fine, I will tell the nurses that you have permission to stay with her,” Elliot says and tosses me the keys to Oasis’s truck. “So you can get home in the morning,” He tells me before ducking out through the curtain.

I turn back to Oasis and grab her hand again. I hold it between my hands, carefully so that I don’t jostle the cords around her. I sit there for hours murmuring things to Oasis about her family and how brave her sisters are. When I’m not murmuring things to her, I sit there quietly praying and watching for signs that she is going to wake up. I eventually doze off with my head near her hand on the bed.

Eventually, a nurse bustling around the room wakes me up. I sit up with a yawn, check my watch and see that it is ten o’clock. I look over and see that Oasis is still in her coma.

“Is there any news?” I ask the nurse as she checks Oasis’s vitals.

“Nothing new but they are moving her to a hospital closer to her house today,” The nurse tells me before she leaves the room.

I leave shortly after the nurse finishes her rounds. I slowly make my way out of the hospital. I get lost once or twice before I find my way out to the carpark where Oasis’s truck is parked.

Over the next week I go and visit Oasis at the hospital after school, I make sure to talk to her and let her know what was happening at school. I sit there for an hour before I head home to do some homework before I go to work. By the time, Saturday comes around I am feeling tired and have some homework to finish for Monday and know that I am going to have to study all day tomorrow to get it done. I quietly make my way up to Oasis’s room to visit her. I sit quietly for a couple of minutes.

“Oasis, please wake up,” I say after a couple of minutes of silence. “I miss seeing your smile.”

I sit there for a couple hours talking quietly holding her hand letting her know what is going on and I eventually doze off.

I am stirred awake by a hand playing with my hair. I quickly sit up and see Oasis looking at me.

“Nick,” Oasis says, her voice croaky with disuse.