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“Do you want me to go check on her first?”
“No, it’s okay, Alex. I can handle it. Can you honey?”
Leighanne nodded her head, but in reality she wasn’t so sure.
Howie found the strength to open the door and go in first. Brian then heard the familiar sound of the machine that provided her body with oxygen, it made a deafening sound when everything else was so silent. Brian turned around and walked away from the door. He didn’t want to go in, he didn’t want to see her like that again. All helpless, all communication lost. He could talk to her, but she could not reply. They could bring Baylee, but she could not tell him fairytales that her father had told her so many times when she was a little girl. He could tell a joke, but she could not smile. It was too much for him right now, so he felt he had no other choice than to walk away. Leighanne watched her husband go, and walked up to him, after she mouthed “Go” to A.J. who was still standing there in the entrance. He nodded and walked into Wendy’s room, closing the door behind him.

“It’s almost as if she is asleep.” Howie whispered. He was sitting on the left side of her bed, his elbows resting on his knees. “That explains why you are whispering, D. But you’re right. I’d almost say she looks peaceful, as if nothing’s wrong.” If only we could be sure things will be alright eventually, he thought.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Leighanne softly asked as she touched Brian’s face. He immediately turned away from her. “What’s wrong? Don’t you think that’s kinda obvious?!” After he had heard the harsh tone of his own voice, he looked at her. Those words had been hurtful, he could tell by the look on her face.
“I’m sorry Leigh.. It’s just.. I feel her slipping away from us. We’re losing her..” Brian tried to get rid of the lump in his throat by swallowing a few times, but it didn’t work. Leighanne gently forced him to look at her as she held his face in her hands. “You don’t know that, honey. The doctors are not giving up on her. Why are you giving up on her right now? She needs you to believe in her, Brian. She’s a fighter, she has proven that already.”
“Even the toughest fighters lose at one point, Leigh. I don’t know, I can’t explain it, but I can feel her slipping away. She’s not going to win this fight.” Having said those dreadful words, he felt the tears stinging. Leighanne noticed and she put her arms around her husband, causing him to put his arms around her. He buried his face in her neck, let his emotions run free and cried. When he had calmed down, he somehow managed to whisper.
“I’m scared honey..I’m so scared..” Leighanne rubbed his back, not knowing what to say. There was nothing she could say to him to make him feel better at this point, but she had to try. “Honey, don’t give up on her..”
“Just hold me.. You don’t have to say anything..” he said as he held her tight. “Just hold me..”


”Who’s there?”
“....”
“Hello?”
“....”
“Alright,I’m not that scary that you can’t tell me who you are..”
“....”
“Okay, you’ve had your chance.”
Brian hang up the phone,then returned his attention to the tvshow he was watching, still somewhat wondering who had called his house and then remained silent.
Caller ID was handy for these things, but they didn’t have it. Again, the phone rang. He sighed and reached for it.
“Speak up, speak up, whoever you are..”
“Have you lost your mind again?” he heard a familair voice say.
“Hey cuz.. Did you call me, like two minutes ago?”
“No, why?”
“Well, the phone rang, so I picked it up...”
“So smart of you..” Kevin teased.
“Not funny Kev. But the other person never said anything, so I thought it could’ve been a bad connection or something. But shoot, why did you call?”
“I just called..”
“To say you looooooooooooove me.. Aww that’s so sweet of you.. I wuf you too..” Brian chuckled.
”Alright, somebody forgot their pills today..” Kevin chuckled. “No, I called to ask if you are still coming over to our house tonight with the rest of the guys.
If so, me and mom have some major grocery-shopping to do, since you always eat as if you haven’t had anything in days.”
“Yeah, I’ll be there. And I know you love to do grocery-shopping so I just made your day.”
“Yeah right, cuz. I’ll see you tonight. And please do me a favor..”
“Anything.”
“TRY to act normal tonight.”
“I’ll try, but no promises,cousin Kevy..” Brian replied in a Donald Duck voice. He heard his cousin laugh right before he hang up the phone.
For the second time, he turned his attention to the tv, but the show he had been watching had already ended, so he turned the tv off
and got up to get a drink from the kitchen. He grabbed a Coke from the fridge and walked towards the stairs, when the phone rang again.
“What am I? The Litrell’s House Secretary?”He softly mumbled while he walked over to the phone.

“Hello?”
“....”
“Hello, this is Brian Littrell. May I help you?”
“....”
“Hello??”He was getting irritated with the caller on the other end. He had better things to do than just talking to someone who wouldn’t say a word.
“Bri...” he heard a girl’s voice say, so softly that he could barely hear her.
”Who’s this?”
“It’s me..” He heard her say a bit louder, and now he recognized her voice.
”Hey girl.. Did you catch a cold or something? You sound a bit strange..”
“No..Can.. Can you come over?”
Brian looked at the clock, seeing that he still had a few hours before he was expected at Kevin’s.
“Sure, I’ll be right there. Give me a few minutes.”
“....”
“Wendy?”
“Okay..”
Brian hang up the phone, grabbed his jacket and keys, put on his shoes, wrote a note to let his mom know where he was and then headed for the door.

Ten minutes later he arrived at her house and knocked on the front door. It was cold outside for the time of year.
With these temperatures, Brian wasn’t so patient, so he knocked again. He heard someone on the inside unlock the door and then it opened a few inches.
At first he waited for anyone to open it even more, so he could step in, but nothing happened, so he pushed it open further and then stepped in,
watching her walk back to the couch.
“What a warm welcome.” He said sarcastically.
Wendy didn’t reply, she just sat down on the couch without even looking at him.
”Hello?? You asked me to come over, so here I am and now you ignore me. Nice..”
He didn’t even take off his jacket and walked towards her, determined to find out why she was acting like this.
He sat down next to her, but she didn’t move a muscle, just kept staring at her hands. “So, why did you ask me to come over?”
When she remained silent, he got irritated with her idiotic behavior. “Alright, I guess I’ll be going then.”
He shook his head and got up on his feet and started walking towards the door.
”They’re dead Bri.”she whispered.
At first he thought he had misheard what she said, so he turned around and asked her to repeat herself.
”They’re dead..”
He walked back and kneeled before her, gently forcing her to look at him. “Who?”
She closed her eyes and tried to free herself from his grasp, but he was stronger than her. “Mom and dad.”
Brian’s jaw dropped, not sure he had heard it right. “That can’t be..”
Wendy slowly nodded her head. “Ca..Car accident...”
“But how..” He couldn’t believe this was happening.
“They just told me..”
“Who?”
“Police.”
“Where are the officers now?”
“Station, I guess..”
“They just left you on your own?!!” Brian thought this was too crazy to be true.
How in the world could they leave a teenager alone after delivering such message and without making sure she wouldn’t be alone?
Again, she nodded her head. “They said they would be back.”
Brian got up and sat down next to her, put his arms around her and pulled her close. It was as if his touch brought her back to reality, for she totally broke down in his arms. She cried hysterically for over an hour with her head resting on his chest. Brian had no idea of what he should do. All he knew that he had to be there for her, because he was her closest friend in the world. He knew he had to call his cousin, he was counting on him to show up, but there was no way he would leave her alone right now. She had made him promise not to call and tell anyone else just yet, because she didn’t want to see anyone else. At this point, all she needed was his support, his love and his arms around her. “Sweetie, I have to call Kev for a moment, alright.”
“Don’t..” She lifted her head from his chest and looked at him.
“I won’t tell him, no, I promised remember. I just need to tell him that I can’t make it tonight.”
Wendy nodded her head and sat up so Brian could grab the phone.
He grabbed it, dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up the phone at Kevin’s place.
When his cousin himself answered, Brian firmly said: “Kev? I can’t make it tonight.... I’ll explain it later, okay?”
Brian looked at her, as she was biting her nails, he wondered what was going through her head.
“I have my reasons. Right now, I am needed somewhere else.”


“Bri, you should go home, take a shower, get some rest. The hospital has our numbers, so they will call if anything changes. Play with Baylee, spend some quality time with Leighanne, just try not to think of this place, even if it’s for five minutes.”
“But..”
“Go home, Rok.” Alex said as he pulled Brian into a hug. “She’s in good hands.”
Brian let go of A.J., looked at him and nodded. He then turned around and sat down on Wendy’s bed. He once again took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. He leaned over and kissed her on her forehead, trying not to hear the machine or to see the tube. “Love you.. Don’t give up, you can win this fight.” But the words convinced nobody in the room. He stood up, walked up to his wife and kissed her. “Let’s go home.” Leighanne nodded. She hugged A.J. and Howie, and placed her hand on Wendy’s chest. She could feel her heart beating strongly, as if she was trying to convince Leighanne she was not planning on giving up.
“You’ll be in our prayers, sweetheart. We’ll help you win this fight.”
Brian grabbed her hand and they slowly walked out, closing the door behind them.

“We have to tell him, D. In person.” A.J. said as he sat down on Wendy’s bed, stroking her hair.
“I know. But how are we going to? It’s not as if he’d just open the door and let one of us in.”
They both sat there silent for a minute, trying to come up with a plan.
“I have an idea! Last time I was there, he didn’t open the door at first, but then I yelled I had a message from Wendy, and then he finally opened the door. You could say the same thing.”
“Not bad, Alex. But I can’t yell I have a message from her, and when he asks what it is, tell him she’s in a coma. I can yell that there’s something he should knew about her condition though. That could work. I just wish he’d answer his phone, so I don’t have to stand out there yelling for his attention.”
“Wouldn’t count on it, bro.”
“I don’t. Listen, I wanna go over right now, can I borrow your car? I’ll drop you off first, go to Kev’s and return your car after that.”
“Sure.. Don’t you want me to go with you?”
Howie shook his head.
“I’d rather go by myself. It will be hard enough to talk to him then, it could be impossible to get him to open the door when he sees the two of us outside.”
“Makes sense. Let’s go then.”

~~~~

Nick waited outside her door for a moment to find out if anyone was still there. When he didn’t hear any voices, he opened the door to find her alone. The only sound he heard was the machine he knew far too well. When he got home the night she was admitted to this hospital, all he dreamed about was the machine getting damaged and her suffocating because of the lack of oxygen. He hated the sound of it. It made her seem helpless, which in fact she was at this time. He walked up to the bed and sat down on it, looking at her. This was heartbreaking, he could actually feel the pain.
“They’ll find a cure, Wendy. I promise you they will. We’ll get you back, just like last time. They can have everything I own to pay for whatever it is they need, they will find a way to bring you back to us. That is a promise. They will bring you back..” Having said those words, he knew he was only trying to convince himself. He slowly put her right hand in his left, then placed his right hand on top of hers. He closed his eyes and began to pray for the first time in weeks. ”Heavenly Father..”

~~~~

This was going way too fast. Maybe he didn’t even know yet. She got carried away, which is always stupid. Only amateurs get carried away when their goal is about to be reached. And she sure as hell was no amateur. The good thing was that it wasn’t too late to correct her mistake. She hadn’t given her too much, thankfully. Ofcourse she would eventually die after all, but not now, now was just too soon. First she had to make Kevin hers.
Debra grinned at her reflection, before she walked out of the restroom, pleased with herself. Making Kevin hers, would not be a problem whatsoever if he’d just show up. She could always give him another reason to rush over to St. Joseph’s.. Brian... She could always hurt Brian. She knew he was the vulnerable one who had had heart problems in the past. Just a bit of Zolaxide would cause enough damage to get him admitted to the ICU. One injection would do the trick, causing heartfailure and possibly even brain damage. Debra tried to wipe the grin of her face, but she couldn’t help herself. As she walked towards to the nurses’station, she could picture Kevin en her getting married, exchanging vows. That would be the happiest day of their lives, especially since Wendy wouldn’t be around to ruin the celebration. Before she walked into the nurses’station, she whispered.
“Life is so good when you know what destiny has in store for you..”