Chapter Six: The doctor's harsh truth

CHLOE POV

The drive to St. Matthew Medical Center was a blur of flashing traffic lights, the hum of the engine, and the deafening sound of my own erratic heartbeat.

Seventeen years.

For seventeen long, agonizing years, my mother had been trapped in a state between life and death. Seventeen years of sitting by a cold metal bed, holding a limp hand, praying to a God I wasn’t even sure was listening. And now, the miracle I had begged for every single night had finally arrived. She was awake. She was asking for me.

The moment the car screeched to a halt in front of the hospital doors, I scrambled out, almost tripping over my own feet. I sprinted through the automatic glass doors, the sharp scent of antiseptic filling my lungs as I rushed toward the intensive care unit on the third floor.

My chest heaved as I burst through the double doors of the quiet corridor.

"Dad!" I called out, my voice raspy and breathless.

I stopped abruptly in my tracks.

Standing right outside my mother’s room was my father, Richard, alongside Vivian and Elena. But there were no smiles. There were no tears of joy.

Instead, all three of them stood in a tight circle, their faces heavy and grim. They looked like a panel of judges waiting to hand down a death sentence.

A cold dread pooled in the pit of my stomach, suffocating the brief spark of hope I had carried all the way here.

"Dad?" I stepped forward, my voice trembling as I looked between the three of them. "What’s wrong? What’s going on? Where is Mom?"

My father slowly lifted his head. His eyes were bloodshot, his shoulders slumping beneath his tailored suit jacket. He didn't look at me directly. He looked at the floor just past my shoes.

"You came too late, Chloe," Richard said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. "She went back into a coma."

The world seemed to tilt on its axis.

"What?" The word tore out of my throat, raw and fractured. "What do you mean, too late? I got here as fast as I could! You said she opened her eyes! You said she was asking for me!"

"She did," Vivian chimed in smoothly, stepping up to rest a comforting hand on my father’s shoulder. Her tone was laced with exaggerated pity, the kind she always used whenever she wanted to look like a saint in front of my father. "But her body was just too weak, darling. The effort of waking up was too much for her. By the time you got here, she had already slipped back under."

"No... no, that can't be," I stammered, shaking my head violently. Tears burned behind my eyelids. "Let me see her. I need to see her!"

Before I could push past them to reach the door, the heavy oak door of the private room swung open, and Dr. Evans, my mother's primary physician, stepped out. He looked exhausted, holding a digital clipboard against his chest.

"Mr. Hayes," Dr. Evans said, addressing my father. "I need to discuss Mrs. Lillian’s latest test results with you privately."

"No, please!" I rushed up to the doctor, grabbing the sleeve of his white coat. "Please, Doctor, let me see her. I’m her daughter. Just let me go inside!"

Dr. Evans looked at me with deep sympathy, then glanced at my father. Richard sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"It's fine, Doctor," Richard said coldly. "We can all step into the consultation room. Chloe needs to hear this anyway."

We filed into the quiet office. The air inside felt heavy, suffocatingly quiet. Dr. Evans sat behind his wide mahogany desk while the four of us stood opposite him. I couldn't bring myself to sit. My entire body was vibrating with anxiety.

"Doctor, please tell me what happened," I begged, leaning against the edge of the desk. "My dad said she woke up!"

Dr. Evans sighed, pulling up a series of brain scans on the wall-mounted monitor. "Mrs. Lillian did experience a brief period of consciousness this morning. Her brain activity spiked, and her eyelids flickered open. It was a remarkable moment, given her condition over the last seventeen years."

"Then why is she back in a coma?" I demanded, tears spilling over my eyelashes. "Why isn't she awake now?"

Dr. Evans shook his head solemnly. "I'm afraid the sudden spike in neural activity was not a sign of recovery, Chloe. It was... more like a final flare of electrical activity. Right after she lost consciousness again, her brain functions dropped drastically. Lower than they have ever been."

"What are you saying?" My voice cracked.

"I’m saying that Mrs. Lillian’s overall health has taken a severe turn for the worse," Dr. Evans explained gently. "Her vital signs are failing rapidly. At this point, medically speaking, it would take a complete miracle for her to ever wake up again. We need to prepare ourselves for the reality that she may never open her eyes again."

The doctor’s words hit me like a physical blow to the chest. I staggered back a step, grabbing the back of a chair to keep from falling.

"No!" I shouted, my voice echoing in the small office. "That’s impossible! You're wrong! How could she wake up after seventeen years just to get worse five minutes later? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Chloe, calm down," Richard snapped, his stern voice cutting through the air. "Shouting at the doctor isn't going to fix anything."

"I will not calm down!" I screamed, turning on my father, my chest heaving with rage and agony. "Don't you see what's happening? This hospital is being irresponsible! They aren't taking proper care of her! They did something wrong, Dad! Move her to another hospital! Hire better doctors! You have the money, so why aren't you fighting for her?!"

"Chloe, please, don't yell at your father," Vivian said, stepping forward with an apologetic expression directed at the doctor. "He is hurting just as much as you are. We all are."

"Don't talk to me, Vivian!" I snapped, pulling away from her.

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind. It was Elena.

"Oh, Chloe, I'm so, so sorry," Elena whispered into my ear, pulling me into a tight, suffocating embrace. Her voice sounded soft and caring to anyone listening, but as she held me, I felt her lips brush against the side of my face.

She leaned in closer, and in a low voice meant only for me, she whispered, "It's fine, Chloe. Even if your pathetic mother doesn't make it... at least you still have us."

I stiffened.

I pulled back slightly to look at her face. Elena was looking down at me with a soft, comforting smile, but her eyes were cold, mocking, and full of cruel amusement. She was enjoying this. She was thrilled that my mother was dying.

A wave of pure disgust and fury surged through my veins. I violently shoved Elena away from me.

"Get your hands off me!" I yelled.

Elena stumbled back into her mother's arms, putting on a shocked, tearful expression. "Chloe! I was just trying to comfort you!"

"Elena!" Richard barked, stepping between us and glaring at me with deep disappointment. "She is your sister, Chloe! She is trying to be there for you, and you are acting like a wild animal!"

I clamped my mouth shut, refusing to waste another breath arguing with them about Elena’s fake sympathy. They would never believe me anyway. They never did.

I closed my eyes, took a deep, trembling breath, and forced myself to focus on the only person who had the power to change things right now.

"Dad," I said, my voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "I need to speak to you. Privately. Right now."

Richard stared at me for a long moment, seeing the absolute desperation and dead seriousness in my eyes. He let out a long, weary sigh.

"Fine," Richard said quietly. "Doctor, give us a moment."

Richard turned to walk out of the office with me, but before we could take two steps toward the door, Vivian reached out and caught his arm.

"Richard, honey," Vivian said softly, stepping in front of him. She reached up, placing a hand on his chest, and leaned in to press a lingering, affectionate kiss directly onto his lips right in front of me.

My stomach churned at the sickening display. My mother was fading away in a room just down the hall, and Vivian was marking her territory on my father.

Vivian pulled back from the kiss, giving Richard a sweet, devotion-filled smile. "Why don't you let me talk to Chloe for a few minutes first? You look completely drained, darling. Take a second to breathe. I'll handle her."

"No," I interjected immediately, my eyes flashing with anger. "I said I want to talk to my father first."

Richard looked down at Vivian, his gaze softening completely under her touch. He pulled out his buzzing smartphone from his coat pocket, checking the caller ID.

"Vivian is right," Richard said, dismissing my protest without a second thought. "I have an urgent business call I need to take from the main office anyway. Go talk to Vivian, Chloe. Whatever you have to say to me can wait until I'm finished."

"Dad! Please—"

"That's enough, Chloe!" Richard barked sternly, turning his back on me and walking out down the hallway, pressing his phone to his ear as he walked away.

I stood there, paralyzed. The moment Richard’s figure disappeared around the corner of the hallway, the soft, loving expression on Vivian’s face vanished instantly.

Her face hardened into a mask of cold, sharp malice. Without saying a single word, she grabbed my wrist in a vice-like grip and violently dragged me down the corridor toward a dark, isolated stairwell.

"Let go of me!" I struggled against her grip, but she yanked open the heavy fire door and shoved me into the quiet, dimly lit concrete stairwell, slamming the door shut behind us.

The heavy metal door clicked into place, cutting off all noise from the hospital main floor.

"What is wrong with you?!" I yelled, turning around to face her, my voice echoing off the concrete walls. "Why did you pull me in here—"

CLACK!

Before I could finish my sentence, Vivian raised her arm and struck. A sharp, brutal slap landed across my face.