Anna apparently has the patience of a child, and basically grabs Jason and starts making out with him while he's trying to talk. It doesn't seem like he minds, as I notice him grab her butt.

I roll my eyes and stumble to the elevator. I'm sure I'm fine to drive. Everything is fuzzy but I'm fine. I try to comprehend what just happened.

Anna is his new girlfriend.

I was stupid to think I meant anything to him.

That's all my brain can understand right now.

I walk through the parking lot and manage to find my car. I carelessly toss my bag in the backseat and start the car. I feel like a complete idiot. I embarrassed myself, I was delusional, I was pathetic. I fumble with my keys and start the engine. I see the look of pain and desperation in myself as I adjust the rear view mirror.

Was the road always this wavy?

Why are so many people honking?

Is that light green? Red?

I hear a loud honking, the lights to my left get really really bright, and I hear a smash.

Everything goes black.

"Hey Tina, I'm gonna wait out in the hall OK? I'll drive you home whenever you're ready," I say, lightly touching her back.

She smiles. "Thanks Lincoln." Her grandpa smiles and nods to me as well before I leave the room and quietly shut the door behind me.

I turn on my phone and scroll through Facebook, I mostly just see pictures of people on vacation, or with their families wearing cheesy holiday outfits. Something catches my eye though, I see a post from one of the news pages I follow.

"T-bone accident downtown, two drivers in critical condition"

There's a picture. One car is an SUV, the other is a mini cooper. The mini cooper looks totaled, makes sense I guess.

Wait.

What does that license plate say?

I zoom into the picture to get a better view of the mini cooper's license plate.

I read it.

I read it again.

That's Katie's car.

"...critical condition"

Katie.

No.

My heart stops. The room is spinning. I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack.

A nurse walking by stops.

"Are you OK hon?" she asks, crouching down a bit and looking concerned.

I can't answer, I feel like I'm hyperventilating. I can't breathe.

I burst into the room, Tina takes one look at me and rushes to my side.

"Lincoln? What's wrong?" she asks, holding my arm to steady me.

I hand her my phone. "It's...Katie's car," I whisper as I collapse into a chair.

Her eyes go wide. "Holy shit...shit shit shit...OK, OK, stay here, they probably brought her to this hospital, let me go ask around," she quickly says as she runs out of the room.

I rest my head in my hands. I never even told her the truth about her birthday. My eyes start to tear up.

"She must be a special friend," a gentle voice says. I look up, I had completely forgotten Tina's grandpa was in here.

"She is," I whisper, "we broke up months ago, but she doesn't even know I've still loved her this whole time." It feels like my world is crashing down around me, and there's nothing I can do to hold it up.

He gives me a sympathetic look and hands me a tissue. "I'm sure she'll be alright son."

"I'm worried," I stammer, "we have no idea where she is or what state she's in." I can't remember the last time I've felt this scared and vulnerable.

"Of course you're worried," he reassures me, gently reaching over and patting my hand, "life is so fragile and it can be gone in an instant."

I nod, trying to stay calm.

"I lost my wife in an accident. There are so many things I regret never saying to her," he says sadly before looking at me, "make sure you don't make the same mistake whenshe wakes up." I nod, looking at him appreciatively.

Tina comes rushing back in, her face is flushed and her hair is messy. I notice she's taken off her heels so she can run. "She's at this hospital in the ICU. Apparently they're still trying to control internal bleeding. The doctor wouldn't tell me much, but he didn't seem too optimistic," she sniffs, and her eyes start tearing up.

My heart sinks. I go over and hug Tina, I can feel her trembling as she starts to cry. I try to be strong to support her, but I want to break down just as much as her.

We both end up staying in the hospital much longer than we intended to. Tina's grandpa keeps us distracted with happy stories from his youth. I appreciate his effort but it doesn't make the sinking feeling in my stomach go away.

I call Stephanie and Ray, they're still on a plane so I leave a voicemail. I call Jason, he doesn't pick up so I text him. I manage to get a hold of Leena and Katie's parent's numbers, but they're not awake because of the time zone difference, so I leave them voicemails.

Tina checks her phone. "It's been 3 hours, I'm going to go check to see if there's any updates," she says, standing up.

She comes back with an expression that looks half happy and half sad. "So, they got her to a stable condition and she's out of the ICU. But she has a bunch of injuries and they're not sure when she'll wake up."

"Can we go see her?" I ask, feeling a tiny bit hopeful.

"Yeah, they told me she's in room 226," she says, "Grandpa?"

"Don't worry about me, go check on your friend," he nods with a kind smile.

We rush through the hospital, avoiding nurses and doctors, and getting yelled at a couple times for running in the halls. We stop at room 226, the blinds are drawn shut. "This is it," Tina whispers, her voice trembling. We slowly open the door and enter, shutting it behind us.

Katie is laying on the bed unconscious. She's hooked up to machines monitoring her vitals, there's an IV drip in her right arm, her left leg is in a cast, her left arm is in a cast, and she's covered in bruises and scratches.

"Oh Katie," Tina whimpers. I feel pretty much the same, as the sinking feeling in my heart grows heavier. I step closer to the bed, and very gently touch her hand. She feels soft and warm.

We sit in the chairs by her bed. Neither of us feel like speaking much. I look around at the cold, sterile looking room. The walls are painted a very light green, white tile floors, there's a small TV on the wall, two armchairs we're sitting in, and various hospital equipment. There's a melancholy tone to it - the ceiling lights are off, the only sources of light are the ones on the machines Katie is hooked up to, and the small dim table lamp next to us.

Tina ends up passing out on my shoulder. I check my phone for any replies, trying not to move my arm too much so I don't wake Tina. No one has replied, as expected. It's 5:30 am. Katie was admitted at the hospital around midnight. I sigh and look at her. She looks so fragile. I really hope she'll be OK. I don't know what I'd do without her in my life. The thought is unbearable.

My thoughts are interrupted by a soft knock on the door. It opens and Stephanie and Ray rush in. Stephanie pulls Tina and myself into a hug. Ray has a somber expression on his face.

"What are you guys doing here?" I ask. "I thought your plane was supposed to land in Ottawa like, half an hour ago."

"We had a layover in Winnipeg," Ray explains, "that's when we heard your message."

"We took the first flight back as soon as we heard," Stephanie says in a no nonsense voice, before letting go of us.

Tina stretches a bit, she fell asleep in a weird position. "Do you guys know what happened? All we know is that it was a car accident."

A look of intense anger I've never seen on Stephanie flashes across her face, "Oh we sure do!" she exclaims.

Ray strokes her back, "Steph, honey, stay calm or they won't be able to understand you."

"We were at the airport when Katie called us. She seemed very distraught and drunk, so we called Jason and asked him to watch over her," she says, struggling to stay cool headed, "Ray has a family friend who's a manager at the restaurant. We managed to get a hold of him and asked him to send us footage from the security cameras."

Ray hands us his phone, showing us the video of Jason making out with some girl and letting Katie leave.

I'm going to kill him.

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A new POV! Was a very stressful chapter to write 😭😭

Thank you for reading!