Don't Give Up On Me ✔

Chapter 67 ~ I love her

"Mom," Tyler's voice seems to echo in the deadly-silent waiting room. "Is she... is she okay?"

Hayden's POV

All of our eyes are bore into Tyler's mom as we wait for her to answer. "She is alive in and in stable, but critical condition."

"I want to see her." I blurt out.

"That's not possible at the moment, Hayden."

"Why can't we see her mom? Do you not understand how worried we all are?" Tyler hisses at his mom. "We thought our friend had died. You can't just say we can't see her." Tyler starts to argue.

His mom places a hand on his shoulder. "You can't see her because she is being transferred to Fairview Heights Regional Hospital as we speak. Your dad is riding with her in the ambulance and will perform surgery on her with one of his colleagues once they arrived." She then looks around until her eyes land on Nick. "Are you feeling better?"

Nick stands to his feet with the help of Sofia. "Yes, and I'm sorry for the way I acted, Mrs. Constable."

"Don't be, Nick. You were upset and hurt. We only had to sedate you because we were afraid, they were going to call security, and have you escorted out." Mrs. Constable says, giving him a gentle smile.

"Mrs. Constable." I say as my voice wobbles. "Is she going to make it?"

She gulps. "Kids, it's hard to know anything for sure. We are hoping for the best. They performed surgery here, but she was still having internal bleeding which started to constrict her heart. Mr. Constable and I were able to relieve the area around her heart of the blood, but she's going to need surgery to fix where her bleeding is coming from."

Mrs. Constable sighs. "It's a very complicated surgery, but if anyone can do it, it's Tyler's dad. If surgery goes well, I would say she has a good chance of making it and she will possibly wake up a few hours after surgery. There will be complications though. The first bullet shot may have caused damage to her reproductive organs. We won't know for sure until she tries to start a family in the future. I believe one of you said she already suffers from depression. Because of the depression, she stands a great chance of having PTSD now. There could be other things too, but only time will tell."

"But do you think she will live?" Nick asks with fear in his voice.

"I can't promise anything, but I think she has a much better chance now that she's being transferred. Also, Tyler's dad and I were able to pull some strings and she's being placed in a private wing of the hospital and you will all be allowed to stay with her. They are going to let the six of you use the three rooms near her."

Sofia has a huge smile on her as she says, "Really?"

"Yes." Mrs. Constable says. "Now come on, let's get out of here."

I ride with Nick and Sofia, while Luke and Killian ride with Tyler. It's a two and half-hour drive, but it's worth the travel if it gets Isla a better chance at surviving. When we finally arrive at the hospital, my heart is beating a million times a minute. This hospital is huge. Far bigger and fancier than I have ever seen.

There's a knock on the window when I realize everyone is out of their vehicles except for me, who is still staring at the hospital. "Are you okay?" Tyler asks.

"Yeah, just caught in my thoughts." I say, as unbuckle my seat belt and follow Tyler's mom into the hospital.

Several people greet Mrs. Constable as we walk right past the receptionist, not needing to check in. She takes us through a set of doors that say 'Hospital Personnel Only' until we reach a set of elevators. We all gather into the larger than normal elevator and it climbs to the eighth floor.