The heart monitor attached to him still beats. His heart didn’t stop.
His heart didn’t stop.
That means he still has a chance.
Raiden still has a chance. Even when the Doctor didn’t believe he would ever recover, even when Josh wanted to end Raiden’s life. Against all odds he still can wake up.
If he can breathe on his own, that’ll clear one of the hurdles. The next thing would be him opening his eyes.
He can do it.
I believe in him. He’s the most stubborn man I know, and he would not want to go out like this. Someone else choosing his destiny for him.
“Now what?” Josh asks the Doctor. The Doctor glances at me sitting beside Ema and Rodney, the three of us clinging onto each other as our hope grows the longer that Raiden breathes on his own.
“Now, we wait.” The Doctor says, matter of factly. “We’re going to keep a nurse in here to watch his vitals, but we’re hoping for the best right now.”
Josh’s face burns red and the scathing look he sends me has me hiding a smile through my tears. He thought he won. He thought he would have the last laugh.
Now, all we have to do is exactly what the Doctor said.
Wait.
37
JERICHO
“He’s breathing on his own, and his vitals are stable. There’s nothing else we can do until he wakes up.” The Doctor says two days later, slinging his stethoscope back around his neck and smiling tiredly at us.
Ema’s choked breath fills the room as the truth sinks in.
Raiden didn’t die. He didn’t. He’s still breathing on his own.
I knew it. I knew Raiden was strong enough.
But Josh left already so I can’t gloat in his face. He thought he could take Raiden away from me, but Raiden is a force to be reckoned with. He’s so much stronger than anyone gives him credit for.
“Thank you, thank you,” Ema’s whispered words of praise are muffled by her burying her face in Raiden’s blanket. Rodney stands behind her, soothing her as she lets the tears flow. We came prepared for the worst, and the worst didn’t happen. The seeds of hope have bloomed and the daisies that Raiden loves are growing. Waiting for him.
“What do we do now, Doctor?” I ask when he goes to step out of the room, my whispered question gives him pause as he looks at me. Before, his eyes were filled with sympathy, nowthey’re filled with something else. Something I can’t name, but resembles… Contentment, maybe?
“Take care of him.”
I nod, understanding.Take care of him.Not only physically, but mentally as well.Whenhe wakes up, it’ll be a dramatic shift, and I’m not sure what we’ll encounter, but we’ll overcome it together.
I’m sitting in my parent’s living room, waiting for my mom to come home from the library. She doesn’t know I’m here, but I wanted to give the good news to her in person. To tell her that her future son-in-law is going to make it.
I don’t believe in god, or some other high power, not after all the shit I’ve seen and experienced. But even so, I send up a silent thanks towhatever or whoeverit is that kept Raiden alive. They knew he was too good to lose yet.
The door knob wiggles and I stand up from my spot, my leg twinging in pain when I finally get adjusted. I’ve been pushing myself too hard with it here lately, and I need to back off. Lest my doctor hear about it, then I’ll have to start back up quarterly check-ins.
My mom comes in giggling and I freeze in my steps because ew. I don’t need to see whatever is going on that has her like that, especially when I hear my dad’s voice as well.
“Child in the house, please do not traumatize me any further,” I call out when it’s clear they have no desire to stop whatever they’re doing.
“Oh shit!” My dad swears and my mom’s giggles turn into a screech.
“What the hell! Why didn’t you call?” My dad says when he comes into the living room.
