April 14, 2010
2:30 a.m.
Rush Copley Hospital

My eyes fluttered open only to see a blurred figure standing over me. I blinked a few times to clear my vision, realizing that it was a doctor. “Mrs. Mongolia?” he repeated.
“Huh?” I said, sounding all groggy and disoriented.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Avery. The police brought you here about an hour ago with your husband and your friend, Valerie. Both of them were stabbed by Michael McKnight. Do you remember any of this?” he replied.
That was when it hit me. All the memories of what had happened came rushing back to me at once. The date with Michael. Dumping the boiling water into his face. Valerie calling the cops. Michael slitting Valerie’s throat…stabbing Ash in the chest. Fear overwhelmed me as I realized why I was here.
“Is Ash ok?” I cried, rising to my feet. “He’s not dead, is he? Please tell me he’s not dead!”
“Just try to calm down,” Dr. Avery said to me, placing his hands on my shoulders. He tried to sit me back down in my seat, but I locked my knees, refusing to sit.
“I need to know if Ash is ok.” I stated, looking him straight in the eye.
His eyes glazed over with sympathy and he bit his lip. Definitely not a good sign. “Well I can assure you that he’s alive,” he started off.
“Oh, thank God!” I said, letting out a deep sigh of relief. “So can I go see him then?”
“You can, but he won’t be able to see you.”
“What do you mean?” I was confused now.
“Your husband is in a coma,” he informed me.
“What?” I demanded. It was like the situation that had happened with Lori all over again. I wasn’t so sure if I could deal with that again.
“I’m very sorry,” he said. I didn’t want an apology though. I wanted Ash. Conscious, healthy, non-coma Ash.
“Do you know when he’ll wake up?” I asked.
“As of right now, we’re not sure. It could range anywhere from two days to two weeks…or possibly longer. You see, his reticular activating system is not functioning properly…” He continued speaking about all of Ash’s health issues, using lots of large medical terms that I didn’t understand. I tuned him out though, focusing on my own thoughts instead.
What if Ash never woke up? What if he remained in a coma for the rest of his life, until finally, he died? Would I be able to live with myself knowing that I’d gotten a second chance with Ash and blown it? After all, this was all my fault. If I’d just done the smart thing and kept as far away from Michael as possible in the first place, I would’ve never been in this situation.
“Do you understand what I’m saying, Mrs. Mongolia?” Dr. Avery asked, bringing me back to reality.
“Um, yeah, sure,” I lied.
“Alright, well would you still like to go see him then?” he inquired.
I sucked in a deep breath, knowing that once I saw Ash the reality of this situation would hit me. But I nodded anyways.
Dr. Avery guided me down a hallway, coming to a stop outside of the room labeled 213. He opened up the door, stepping aside to let me in. “I’ll give you a moment,” he said, shutting the door behind me.
I bit my lip as I took in the sight before me. Ash was lying there in the hospital bed, completely lifeless. He was hooked up to a bunch of machines and his eyelids looked dark and lucid. His body looked limp just lying there like that. He looked so…dead.
“Ash,” I murmured, mostly to myself. I remembered reading somewhere that coma patients could still hear people talking to them even if they weren’t conscious. Maybe if I talked to Ash, he’d be able to hear me. “Um, Ash,” I started over. “It’s Evalynne. I just want you to know how sorry I am for dragging you into this mess. I feel awful. If you don’t wake up, I don’t know what I’ll do. So please, wake up for me, ok? Please,”
I stared down at him, waiting for some type of reaction. But he remained the same, unresponsive. I felt tears flooding my eyes as I watched him lie there. Thoughts of him never waking up continued to linger in my mind. I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he ended up dying like this. Because I knew that this was all my fault.
“Mrs. Mongolia,” Dr. Avery said, peeking his head in through the door.
“Yeah,” I replied, turning to face him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, but there’s a girl named Addison here to see you,” he informed me.
“Really?” I said in return, my shock obvious by the tone of my voice. Last time I checked, Addison completely hated me for getting back together with Ash behind her back. Did it really take a near death experience to get her to forgive me?
“Yes, she’s in the waiting room,” he said.
I took one last look at Ash, biting down on my lip as did so, before following Dr. Avery out to the waiting room. When we got there, I saw Addison pacing back and forth, looking nervous. Once she spotted me, her face lit up and she rushed over, wrapping me up in a hug.
“Oh, thank God you’re ok!” she cried. She placed her hands on my shoulders and pulled me away from her so that she could see my face. “What on earth were you thinking, going over to Michael’s apartment? Have you completely lost your mind?” she demanded, shaking me a bit as she did so.
I squirmed out of her grasp and took a step back from her. “It was stupid, I know.” I confessed. “But me and Michael made this bet, and–”
“You made a bet with Michael?” she interrupted me. “That’s like making a bet with the devil, Evalynne! Why would you do that?”
“Well Ash was mad at me so he left and I didn’t know where he was. I wanted to talk to him so we could try to fix things. I was desperate. And Michael was the only person that could figure out where he’d gone. So I told him that if he figured out where Ash was for me, I’d go on a date with him. But it backfired on me.” I explained. When I said it out loud, it actually sounded pretty stupid. Addison was right. What was I thinking?
“Evalynne, do you realize that you could’ve been killed?” she asked me, her green eyes wide.
I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “I know. He killed Valerie after all…and put Ash in a coma.”
“Ash is in a coma?” Her voice was filled with shock when she spoke. “Do they know when he’s going to wake up?”
“No,” I told her, my lower lip quivering. I took in a shaky breath, feeling more tears welling up in my eyes. I was surprised that I hadn’t run out of tears by now.
“Oh, Evalynne,” she murmured, hugging me once again. I couldn’t believe she was being so nice to me after what I’d done to her. I’d pretty much stabbed her in the back. Instead of being straight up and honest with her about the situation with Ash, I’d gone behind her back. I had let her stay completely oblivious.
“I’m so sorry about what I did to you,” I whimpered into the soft fabric of her shirt. My face was resting against her shoulder and my entire body was trembling. “I should’ve told you as soon as I found out that it was Ash. I feel so awful.”
“It’s alright, I forgive you,” she said to me. “He’s your husband. You two belong together. I was just overreacting.”
I couldn’t have been more grateful for how understanding she was being about all of this. I was so happy to have such a great friend. “Thank you,” I told her sincerely.
“Don’t even mention it,” she replied. She pulled away from me, flashing me a warm smile. “And don’t worry. Ash is going to wake up, and you two are going to spend the rest of your lives together. Everything’s going to be just fine,” she assured me.
I nodded, trying my best to believe her. “I hope you’re right.” I stated.
At that moment, one of the most gorgeous girls I’d ever seen walked in. She had long, chocolate brown hair that fell perfectly straight down her back, reaching just below her chest. Her piercing eyes were extremely dark and her full lips were glossy and pink. She was so poise as her tall, lithe figure strode towards Addison and I.
“Are you Evalynne Mongolia?” she asked me.
“Um, yes,” I replied, confused as to how she knew who I was.
“Hi, my name’s Elizabeth, but you can just call me Liz. I’m a journalist for New York Times. We’d like to do a story on your experience with Michael McKnight. Would you mind maybe sitting down for an interview?” she asked me.
I looked back at her, staring into her eyes for a moment. Something about them looked so familiar to me. I felt like I’d seen those eyes before, I just couldn’t figure out where. I knew it was going to drive me crazy until I remembered though.
“Sure, I guess so,” I agreed a bit hesitantly. I didn’t see what harm could come of it.
“Awesome,” she replied, grinning back at me. So we sat down in the waiting room chairs and began our interview.

Author's Note: I know it took me FORREEEVVVEEERR to upload this haha, but here it finally is. Enjoy(: