Wonder Lost

Waiting

“What?” Leo shouted. Beatrice grabbed a syringe and a reflex hammer. She tried Isabella’s reflexes, with no reaction. Beatrice nervously stuck the syringe into her elbow, hoping to simultaneously extract some blood and try to wake her up. Isabella sharply inhaled and her eyes opened, but her expression was blank. Her pupils didn’t move and her breathing went back to minimal.

“Leo, I’m really sorry but we haven’t had many comatose patients, and we’re really new to this. There isn’t much I can test or try, because I don’t want to make the coma deeper or worse.” Leo shut her eyes and took Isabella’s cold hand in his and raised it to his lips.

“I’ll just leave you two…” she said, stepping out. She closed the door and Leo stood up. He noticed a vase on the nightstand. He created a flower, much to his surprise, and put it in the vase. It was a light purple hydrangea, Isabella’s favorite flower. Leo, relieved that his Elm Valley powers still worked, summoned a bouquet of hydrangeas and added them to the vase. Leo kissed her lifeless lips before he left the room.

For the next few weeks, Leo visited her room everyday, patiently sitting by her bed. He could stay there for hours, talking to her about what had happened that day. Everyday, he brought a new vase of flowers to her room. Simon stayed locked up in his room and no one knew what he did to pass the time. Leo, after his daily visit at Isabella’s room, dropped off his breakfast or dinner by his door.

On the first of August, Leo visited Isabella’s room and saw just how many flowers he had brought. He counted 90 vases. After almost three months since the battle, Leo never forgot a single day. One of the reasons for this was because Liam had stopped attacking the Oasis. He had abandoned his wrecked car and continued to live peacefully with Ruby in his castle. Apparently, his main goal was to rid Duestro of Isabella, and the Oasis’ residents realized that his ‘escape’ had just been a distraction to kill off Isabella.

Leo proceeded down to the dining room, where everyone was discussing a ball.

“I don’t think he’s done with us,” Beatrice was saying. “He probably has another trick up his sleeve to eliminate all of us and this masquerade is probably it.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Leo said. He hadn’t spoken a syllable to any of them since Isabella entered her coma. Everyone stared at him. “Do you have to stare?” Leo said harshly. Each person went back to their meal except Beatrice, who hadn’t stared at Leo and had been kind to him for the past three months.

“Liam,” Beatrice started, “is hosting a masquerade ball and invited Tony and me. We aren’t sure if it’s a trap or not. What do you think?”

“Are there plus ones?”

“Yeah, Tony and I each have one.”

“I think,” Leo began, taking a seat, “that when Isa wakes up, we could go to the ball, all four of us, disguised with our masks, and Isa and I could try to find some info.” Beatrice swallowed and looked at Tony.

“Um… Leo…” Beatrice commenced. “When I was running the weekly tests on Isabella, I found that some data had changed.”

“That’s good, right?” Leo asked. “Tell me that’s a good thing.”

“I wish it were. The data shows that she has gone far deeper into the coma,” she said slowly. Leo stared at her.

“When did you find this?” Leo muttered. Beatrice hesitated.

“A month ago,” she muttered.

“You choose to tell me that my girlfriend is one step closer to death a month after it happened?” Leo cried, standing up.

“You were locked away! I didn’t want to bother you,” Beatrice said.

“I was locked away for the health and safety of Isa!” Leo shouted.

“Hey!” Tony shouted back. “Don’t yell at my girlfriend for something that happened to yours,” Tony said, also standing.

“She’s your cousin! You should care about her, too!”

“I do! What, you think I don’t care about her! At least I’m doing something to help her! You just send her flowers! As if that’ll help her condition.” Leo looked at Tony with such sudden hatred and stormed out of the room. He bolted upstairs and into Isabella’s room, slamming the door behind him.

Meanwhile, Beatrice and Tony sat back down at the table.

“Tony,” Beatrice said, placing a hand on his arm.

“B, please.”

“But Tony, I completely understand his reaction. Isn’t it what you would do? If I were in—”

“B,” Tony said. “Stop. Don’t talk like that.”

“Listen to me,” Beatrice said. “I would do the same thing. I would react in the same way. And anyway, Leo can’t help because he’s new to our technology. He doesn’t know how to read the machines. There’s nothing he can do. I don’t think he’s even worked with comatose patients. So can you just do me a favor and apologize or something? Make up with him. For me.” Beatrice smiled at him.

“Sure. I’ll try.”

Leo, in the meantime, plopped down into the chair next to the bed and took Isabella’s hand in his.

“Isa, I’m sorry,” he said. “I should’ve protected you. I should’ve ran faster. Then you wouldn’t have crashed into the street and you wouldn’t be in a coma right now.” Getting up, he added, “I miss you. Please come back if you can hear me.” He kissed her forehead and exited the room. Leo walked across the hall and knocked on Simon’s door.

“Simon? We have to talk. It’s about Isa,” he said. After a moment, the door opened.

“What happened?” he asked. Leo explained what Beatrice said and Simon sighed.

“Leo, don’t lose hope. I know Bella can get through this. She gets through everything.”

“Has she ever been in a coma?”

“Can’t you try to be positive?” Simon asked.

“Simon, I’ve been positive and hopeful for three months. What else can I do?” Leo said. He exited Simon’s room and walked to his. He sat on his gray bed and fell asleep shortly.

As all of this was happening in Liviette, Isabella got many dreams. During the first month of her coma, she had a conversation with Will. He appeared to her in his regular white clothes.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi, Will.” Isabella felt extreme pain in her arm, but when she looked down, her arm looked fine.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Is there any way that you can see what’s going on? In the real world, I mean?” Isabella asked, clutching her arm.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to do that since I got here.” Isabella explained what happened with the battle, and on Duestro, this took about a week to do, even though it seemed like only thirty minutes to Isabella. Will explained what went on in the afterlife, which took another 3 weeks.

“Have you visited Simon?” Isabella asked after their conversation. Will’s face reddened. “Why not?”

“I haven’t had the chance to. And I didn’t want to excite him while he was locked away. Liam might torture him for information.” Isabella sighed.

“Isabella, I have to go. I will try to visit Simon.. Love you,” Will said, his figure fading.

“Wait! Can you visit Leo and tell him I’m okay?” Isabella said. But Will had already disappeared. Isabella had no visits for 2 weeks, which felt like a very quick time period to her, for the next two weeks, but woke up as Azalea appeared in her dream. This conversation lasts 2 more weeks.

“Hello, Isabella. How are you feeling?” Azalea asked.

“Fine, I guess,” Isabella said. “Do you know where Rose is?”

“Well, of course I do! She’s with Liam’s partner.”

“Haha, very funny. I don’t suppose you could tell me who Liam’s partner is?” Azalea shook her head.

“I’m sorry, but if I did, the Cosmos would come after my sisters and me and punish us for messing with the way of the world.”

“So, is there a reason for your visit?” Isabella asked.

“Not really. Just wanted to stop by and say hello.” Azalea smiled. “Have you used any of your gifts from us?”

“I’ve only used the communication rose twice, I think. I don’t remember using any others.” Azalea mumbled something that sounded like, “that’s what I feared.”

“Sorry?” Isabella said.

“It’s nothing, never mind,” Azalea said. “I am going to let you go. Good luck.” Azalea also started to fade away.

“How long has it been?” Isabella asked, but Azalea, like Will, was already gone. Shortly after, Isabella drifted away into a month-long deep sleep.

On the second of August, Leo woke up in his room. He went downstairs after getting ready, and grabbed one of the many vases prepared for him by Beatrice. He filled it with water and created a bouquet of hydrangeas as he walked up the stairs. He passed Simon’s room and heard muttering. Leo knocked on his door.

“Who is it?” Simon muttered.

“Leo,” Leo replied. Simon opened his door and Leo stepped inside. It was much colder in Simon’s room than in the hallway.

“Leo, what day is today?” Simon asked.

“August 2nd, I think.”

“And the year?” Simon inquired.

“1966.”

“Bella missed her birthday,” Simon whispered. He clutched his head.

“When’s her birthday?” Leo asked. After all the time he had known her, Leo had never brought up the subject of birthdays to Isabella.

“May 17.” Leo nodded slowly.

“Okay, Simon, thanks. I’m going to go drop off my flowers.” Leo waved goodbye and closed his door.

Isabella opened her eyes for the first time in 3 months. She deeply inhaled the strong scent of hydrangeas. Isabella smiled. She sat up and looked around. The soft colors of hydrangeas flooded the room. Her arm was wrapped up in gauze bandages.

Leo hesitantly walked across the hallway, not wanting to see the corpse of his comatose girlfriend. When he got to the door, he took a deep breath, as he always did when entering.

Isabella noticed tubes connecting her body to various machines and removed them herself.

Leo opened the door and when he saw Isabella sitting up, froze and dropped the vase, letting it shatter to the floor. Isabella jumped.

“Isa,” he breathed. Running to her, he pulled her in for a long hug, but Isabella pushed him away.

“What are you doing?” Isabella exclaimed. Leo stared at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?” he said, wiping his eyes. “You’ve been in a coma for three months, I’m basically welcoming you back.”

“And who are you, exactly?”