The Vine

by C. A Ellis

  I, Lucas Castle, me who can get anything I want, can do anything I want, whenever I want and in this moment, I am helpless. My darling Lizzy needs me to fight for her and I can’t. I’m too weak, and I’ve let her down.

  The physical pain I’m in is so intense now. I am torn, I want so much to go to sleep so that the pain goes away, but at the same time, I know I’m more scared of going to sleep than of the pain, especially since I may never wake up again to see the face of my Angel.

  My phone is still ringing. I can feel the life draining out of me as I whisper a silent apology to Lizzy, my world. A tear slides down my cheek as I lose my choice and give in to unconsciousness; the last thing I’m aware of is the phone stops ringing and the name Angel no longer flashing on the display.

  And then there is silence.

  Chapter Eleven – Michael

  “Jesus bloody Christ, that’s Luke’s car!” I scream to Amber as I spot the carnage in front of us. I pull up on a verge and jump out. Oh, my God, I think as I get my phone out and dial 999. If anyone survived a crash like this, it would be a bloody miracle; all I can see is bent metal around a tree. Fortunately, I know exactly where we are to inform the Emergency services.

  Once I describe what I can see in front of me, and because of where we are, they say they are sending an air-ambulance, as it will be that much quicker. I can see Amber is still in the car shaking and crying, in shock at what she can see, and also the fact that this has happened to Lucas, who we both adore.

  It’s probably not even ten minutes later when the air ambulance arrives, but it seemed like hours. I couldn’t get to Lucas; I had cut my own hands trying to get the door that was partially hanging off open enough, but by the time I had managed it, I was being ushered out of the way. The police arrive as the Paramedics work on Lucas; I don’t know what’s going on. I am a complete mess, but if I go by the programmes I have watched on television, I’d say they are making sure he’s stable before moving him. Eventually, Lucas is in the helicopter and away. I tell the police and the paramedics that I will contact Lucas’s family so they can make their way to the hospital.

  I look around and can see the police talking to two young boys of about eighteen. They’re the cause of this nightmare, and they’re just kids. I can see they are both in shock, but they don’t seem particularly hurt, just the odd cut and bruise. No, their pain isn’t external, but I can tell they are feeling it. The outcome of this tragic situation will shape their lives forever; they will never be the same after tonight.

  The only contact number I have on my phone is Lucas’s brother, Cole’s, so I ring him and pray that he picks up. I hear Cole answer cheerily, and my throat goes dry as I think of the news I am about to deliver. “Hey, Michael! Long time, no speak. How are you and that young wife of yours?”

  “Cole, something terrible has happened. Lucas has been in a car accident and its bad, Cole. It’s really bad.” I rush the words out, and then I choke back a sob now that the adrenaline is wearing off.

  “Where is he?” Cole demands.

  “He’s being air-lifted to the Royal Free in London.” I had barely finished before Cole hung up.

  Chapter Twelve – Katy

  I’m sitting all comfy in my lounge-wear, enjoying a nice cup of tea when beside me, my mobile phone starts ringing. I look down at the display and see that it’s Cole Castle ringing me. That’s weird, I think to myself. Cole and I had a bit of a thing once, but it was a long time ago. Oh no, maybe now that Lizzy and Lucas are together, he might be thinking that we can pick up where we left off or something. Not likely, I think as I answer.

  “Hey, Cole,” I answer nonchalantly.

  “Katy,” he says frantically.

  “Are you okay, Cole? You sound upset.” I sit up, now concerned.

  “Lucas has been in a car accident,” Cole blurts out.

  “Is he okay?” I ask, willing the answer to be ‘yeah, just a few scratches’, but it isn’t.

  “No, Katy, he’s not all right. He’s been airlifted to the Royal Free.”

  “Oh, my God, poor Lucas,” I whimper, and then Cole and I both say the same thing at the same time, “Lizzy.”

  After a silence, with us both probably thinking about Lucas, Lizzy and this awful situation, Cole speaks. “I’ve called Mum and Dad, and they are on their way to the hospital. They’re distraught, obviously—Mum particularly, but Dad’s barely holding it together. I think he’s just trying to be strong for her, you know? Oh, and I’ve called Smyth and he’s on his way over there too.”

  “You haven’t called Lizzy?!” I shriek at him. “No one’s called her? The most important woman in Lucas’s life and no one has thought to call her?!” I’m screaming now.

  “I couldn’t, Katy. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.” I can hear that Cole is openly sobbing. I feel bad now; for all I know, Cole’s brother could have life-threatening injuries and I’m shouting at him. I know I’m just frightened, and plus, I also know what’s coming, and in Cole’s next breath, he confirms my fears.

  “You’ll have to go to her and tell her, and then take her to the hospital. It has to come from you, Katy. Don’t you see? Lizzy is not going to be able to take this; she’s too fragile. Can you imagine me, or anyone for that matter, ringing her and telling her? That would just be cruel.”

  I nod, not even thinking Cole can’t see me, and I hang up. I’m silently sobbing, and the only thought going through my head at this moment is that Cole is right—it has to be me to tell Lizzy, and it has to be now, so without even thinking about changing, I slip on my UGG boots, grab my keys and run out to my car, I jump and head over to Lucas’s to do the worst thing I’ve ever had to do. I can’t even ring my friend to let her know that I’m on my way. I’m sniffing from crying, and I can’t talk properly, so it would cause her to ask too many questions—questions that I can’t really answer. I just need to get to her and try to pull myself together on the way.

  Poor Lizzy, I think as I drive along, most definitely breaking the speed limit. She thinks that she’s experienced the worst day of her life already, hearing that her precious parents had been ripped from her life; little does she know what’s waiting for her around the corner. How does someone like that get two tragedies in their life? Lizzy is a good person, the best; she doesn’t deserve this.

  My phone rings, dragging me out of my thoughts. I press the answer button on the steering wheel, seeing it’s Cole again. “Are you there yet?” he asks.

  “No, I’m five minutes away.” Five minutes away from destroying someone’s life, I think to myself.

  “Well, I’m at the hospital, and I’ve got to tell you, Katy—it’s not looking good,” I hear Cole’s voice break. “Lucas is in surgery now and…let’s just say, the doctors are being less than positive. Seriously, Katy, from what they are saying, I think you should get Lizzy here as quickly as you can and prepare her for the worst, because every time the door swings open here, I’m expecting them to come in and tell me that he’s gone.” At this last statement, Cole totally breaks down.

  Shivers are running down my spine as I try to reassure him. “Look how strong Lucas is. Look how much he loves his family, and look how much he loves Lizzy. He won’t give up without a fight, Cole. It’s not in his nature; it’s not how Lucas is built.”

  Cole doesn’t say anything, but I can imagine that he’s nodding along to what I am saying. “I’m here now, Cole, so I’m going to go, but we’ll be with you as soon as we can, okay?”

  “Okay, Katy, see you soon. Hurry, please.” And with that, he hangs up. I roughly throw my car into a parking space outside Lucas’s house, knowing we’ll be back in it within minutes and on our way to the hospital to find out his fate.

  I knock on the door and Lizzy opens it.

  I see her smile broadly at me as she says, “Katy, what a surprise!” And then on seeing my face, her smile completely dissolves.

  “Lizzy, please keep calm. It’s Lucas,” I say stupidly, trying to prepare her for the
destructive news I’m about to give her. Before I can continue, Lizzy is shaking, and I don’t mean ‘it’s a bit chilly in here’ shaking; I mean, practically convulsing. I grab onto her, more from fear she’s going to collapse than to comfort her.

  “What’s happened, Katy? What’s happened to him?!” Lizzy screeches at me with a terrified frantic look in her eyes.

  In that moment, I say the worst thing I could ever say to Lizzy, “He’s been in a car accident.” I seem to whisper it, like somehow Lizzy won’t take it quite as badly than if I say it out loud.

  “No!” Lizzy’s scream sends shivers down my spine before she breaks down into huge, racking sobs.

  I cuddle her to me. “Lizzy, we have to go,” I say, not wanting to delay her anymore after what Cole said.

  “Is he…dead?” she manages to ask in-between her disturbing, gut-wrenching sobs, and watching her in that moment, my heart breaks for her.

  “No, he’s not dead, Lizzy.” Yet, I think to myself, but I don’t say that out loud. Although it could be the truth, it’s just too cruel.

  I grab Lizzy’s keys off of the side table and put my arm around her as I guide her out and help her into the car. I quickly lock up and jump into the car myself, and as we set off to the hospital, I pray when we get there, there’ll be some good news and a glimmer of hope. Throughout the drive, Lizzy and I say nothing; she hasn’t spoken, and I’m taking it as a sign that she is somewhere lost in painful thoughts.

  Lizzy is just sitting there, her feet pulled up onto her seat, and she is hugging her knees; her head is leaning on her passenger side window and she’s just staring out of it. There are spells of silence, and that silence is only being broken by bouts of sobbing. I keep looking over at her with pity in my eyes; she looks totally distraught and broken. I used to wonder what it meant when people would say someone is broken, but now I know—because now I’m seeing it first hand.

  The dictionary defines broken as something wrecked, damaged or destroyed, and that is exactly what I am seeing in front of me. The blissfully happy, lively, sparkling girl of earlier, who was excited for the coming weekend and being away with her man—the girl who had come full circle from this horrific place once before, and had dealt with what life had thrown at her—and the one who was now finally happy with her life and had a future, one she was looking forward to—that girl was now reduced to this broken shell, and the worst thing about it all was: we hadn’t even seen him yet. Lizzy still has that awful ordeal to come.

  As we pull up at the hospital, I see Cole out front making calls. I drop Lizzy off with him so he can take her to Lucas. I want to drive away, as far away from this nightmare as I can, but I know I can’t. Lizzy needs me, and I have never let her down before, and I’m sure as hell not about to start now.

  After I’ve parked the car, I head back to the hospital entrance, and as I get there, Cole is back outside. I can tell he’s crying but trying to hide it, just like a man would. As I approach him and catch his eye, he starts shaking his head and it stops me in my tracks, my blood running cold. My widening eyes must have made him realise what I was thinking.

  “Lucas is still with us, Katy,” Cole reassures me, “I’m just upset and shaking my head at this whole fucked-up situation.”

  “Has Lizzy gone in to see him?” I ask.

  “No, the surgeons are still operating on him,” Cole answers, “so I left her with my Mum, Dad and Smyth. I had to get out of there, get some fresh air, you know?”

  I nod at him in understanding. “Is there any news at all?” I venture.

  “We’ve been told to prepare for the worst—put it that way,” Cole states, his voice breaking. I walk up to him and embrace him, and that’s when he breaks down completely and sobs.

  After a few minutes, when the sobs become sniffs and then the sniffs finally subside, Cole pulls back. “I’m sorry,” he says.

  “No apology necessary,” I reply, giving him a slight smile at his obvious embarrassment.

  Jesus, an apology was not necessary when this poor guy was this close to losing his older brother, a brother I know Cole looks up to despite all the insults they hurl at each other. I used to think Cole was a bit of a dick to be honest, but now I’m starting to see that all that bravado is actually just a front. Cole probably acts that way because he’s the youngest Castle brother, and he obviously feels he has to prove himself.

  “Cole, do you want to go and sit on that bench over there and talk, or do you want to go back in?” I ask him. He doesn’t say anything; he just takes my hand and leads me to the bench, and I figure that’s my answer. “So what other news have they given you, bar preparing yourselves for the worst?” I ask as we sit down.

  I see Cole swallow back some more tears before he speaks. “All they are saying is that Lucas is in a really bad way and he’s been taken into surgery. All we know from Michael and the police is that he’s been in a massive car accident; the car had rolled and then hit a tree. I was hoping he’d just have a multitude of cuts and bruises, with a few fractures thrown in, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know,” I console. “Come on, Cole, we better go in. We need to try and get a better picture of everything; plus, I’m sure he’s going to be fine, but if anything bad were to happen, you’d rather be in there with him, wouldn’t you?”

  Cole nods, gets up and his shoulders slump as he walks dejectedly with me into the hospital. We meet up in a clinical family room with Lizzy and the rest of the Castle clan. Lizzy is just sitting on the floor; her back is up against the wall and she is hugging her knees that are pulled in to her chest—pretty much just like she was in the car, except now she isn’t staring into space. Her forehead is pressed to her knees, so I can’t actually see her face. It’s like she’s rolled her body into a balled-up, foetal position, trying to comfort herself. That might work if one were at home sick, but I’m not sure that’ll work at a time like this, but I suppose Lizzy has to do whatever she can to get her through this God-awful time.

  Smyth’s sitting next to her; his arm is around her back and his face pressed into her hair, and if you weren’t aware of the whole situation, it would probably look like he is smelling it. I want to smile to myself and would nervously chuckle in that moment if it wasn’t so inappropriate, but I suddenly envision Lucas walking out of the theatre, into the family room and knocking out Smyth for being in such an intimate embrace with Lizzy, his girl, his Angel. I see their dad approach as Cole walks straight into his mum’s arms.

  “Any news?” I ask. Their dad, who I really must find out what his name is, just shakes his head as he says, “We know he’s out of surgery for now, and that he is being taken to the Intensive Care Unit. The nurse who gave us that information couldn’t tell us any more, but she said the consultant would be along shortly to speak to us, and then we should be able to see him. Hopefully this consultant bloke will be able to shine a bit more light on my boy’s condition, eh?” He finishes with a forced, encouraging smile before dissolving into sobs. His wife and youngest son take him into their embrace, and they just stand like that, silently comforting each other.

  It really makes me realise the importance of family—you can see these guys are a tower of strength for each other, even at this distressing, painful time. I also know that although she can’t see it, these guys would be a tower of strength for Lizzy too, if only she would let them in.

  I class Lizzy as my only family, although she’s not blood. I realised long ago it sometimes takes more than blood to make people family, and I know she would do anything for me, and I would definitely go to the ends of the earth to help and protect that girl—at this time, and always—just as I have done in the past.

  I am brought out of my revelry by the door opening; I’m instantly relieved that the consultant’s here to finally give us some answers. When I see the look on his face though, that relief turns to blind panic, and my stomach somersaults and then plummets through the floor, along with probably everyone else’s in this room. We all look at him exce
pt for Lizzy, who doesn’t move and stays exactly as she was. There are no questions from anyone, just silence as we all wait for the consultant to speak.

  “Good evening, I’m Mr. Matlock, and I performed the surgery on Mr. Castle. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to come and inform you about Mr. Castle’s condition, but as you can appreciate, my patient is my priority in these situations.” We all nod, holding our breaths and waiting for Mr. Matlock to continue.

  “As you are probably aware, Mr. Castle suffered extremely severe injuries resulting from his accident…life threatening injuries.” We hear a whimper from down on the floor and we all turn to look at Lizzy, but she still hasn’t moved; she’s just making this noise, a noise like nothing I’ve ever heard from her before, a noise that tells us she’s already heard too much, so Smyth tightens his hold on her, trying but failing to reassure her. We all looked back to Mr. Matlock.

  “Mr. Castle’s legs and spine have managed to stay intact, which is a miracle considering the severity of the impact suffered during the collision. Our areas of concern are the pelvic fractures Mr. Castle has suffered, and subsequently, the excessive amount of blood loss incurred. Due to this blood loss, we have had to give Mr. Castle a blood transfusion. He also has some abdominal injuries, but our main area for concern now is the injury to his brain, as it is swelling at an alarming rate. This is not uncommon after a car accident of this magnitude, but we are concerned that the swelling and the issues associated with it could cause a dangerous amount of pressure, so we have put him in a medically-induced coma to protect his brain. The best way I can describe it is we’ve put the brain to rest so it can hopefully heal.