Chapter 58

Too many POV's in this chapter.

**

It was silent for a few seconds, before the gun dropped from my hand. Dad's eyes widen in horror as I fell on my knees, a sticky liquid sweeping out of my stomach. I placed a hand on the wound to see blood on them.

"Gwen!" Dad screamed, as he ran towards me.

"Told you only 5 seconds." Mr. Black shrugged, almost innocently.

Dad was by my side in an instant. I leaned against him and smiled at him with my drowsy eyes as tears fell from his eyes. "I told you to shoot me." He cried.

"You know, I-I couldn't." I choked on my breath. "It's okay. It'll be fine."

I saw Mr. Black come and kneeled beside us. "Now, I won't kill you, Richard. You will live with a dead daughter." He said, laughing.

"Don't listen to him. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be a pain in your ass." I said, in between my heavy breathing, laughing along. Both of us knew it was a lie.

Suddenly, we heard voices from outside. They were here. A little too late. I may not be able to make it in time to say goodbye to all of them. I couldn't imagine the look on Will's face as I broke the promises of keeping myself safe. I couldn't look at Ashton to see him cry. I can't look at my twin to see him look at me in this state. I can't look at my brothers to see them broken. I can't see my Mom crying. My friends crying for me. Tyler blaming himself.

"Dad." I called him.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"I love you, okay? Tell my brothers, I love them too and also Ashton. Tell him, I'm sorry." My voice ended in a whisper. My stomach was hurting a lot. It was like my whole body was on fire. Black spots were invading in front of my eyes.

"No, you're not going anywhere. The ambulance will be here. You will be fine." Dad cried, trying to reassure me. I smiled at him. A sad smile. Maybe.

"Dad! Gwen!" We heard a shouting. I looked up to see Will and Ashton running towards us. But stopped short at the scene in front of them. I didn't want them to see me like this.

"No!" Will whispered. "This is not happening." He stepped back, shaking his head. "This is bloody not happening again!"

Ashton was by my side. "Gwen.." he whispered.

"I love you." I said, pulling him down to kiss me. I just couldn't stop myself. We pulled back and I smiled at him.

"Gwen!" Will cried. Tears were streaming down his eyes. The strongest man, I know, was on his knees crying for me.

"Don't cry." I whispered. "It's going to fine." He was by my side, sobbing.

"You can't leave me. I can't live without you. You are my baby sister, my everything. You can't go! Open your eyes, Gwen." He said in an urgent tone as my eyes were closing on its own. "Think about Ashton, Ryan and everyone. Mom will be heartbroken, Gwen. You can fight this, sister. I know you can. Please don't go!"

Before my mind could register, I was pulled into darkness where there was no fight, no crying, no pain. Just peace.

**

Ashton

"Gwen!" Will shouted as Gwen went limp in his arms.

My eyes stared at Gwen's lifeless body. She left me. She left the glimpse of her smile. I won't be able to see her smile. I won't be able to see her eyes wrinkle as she laughs, her beautiful laugh. Her sparkling eyes which shines with excitement. Her bossy behaviour. I lost her. I lost Gwen. Just like that. It was all my fault. If only I was by her side. If only I could have figured out the plan. If only, she trusted me to tell me this. If only, I was by her side. She would have been with me. I lost her because of me.

"She's breathing." Someone said. "Ashton!" I felt someone shaking me. "Ashton! She's breathing."

I looked up to see Ryan looking at me in concern. In a distance, I see Will carrying Gwen to the paramedics that came. He placed her on the stretcher and moved to sit in the van with her.

"Ashton," Ryan shakes me again. "She's breathing. There's a hope. You can't break now. We have to be strong for her."

There's a hope. She is breathing. My girl will be fine. She promised. You better be fine, Gwen. Or I'll never forgive you. With that, I got up and rushed to the car with the others and drove to the hospital where they were taking Gwen.

**

Will

"Sir, I'm afraid, I can't let you come with us. You can follow in your car," one of the paramedics said.

My head snapped towards him. I glared at him which caused him to flinch. "She's my sister and I'm not leaving her alone." I said, through my gritted teeth.

"But," he began.

"I said I won't leave her, means I won't leave. Rather than wasting time here, take her to the hospital!" I shouted, before turning around and focusing my attention back on Gwen who was lying on the stretcher in the ambulance. I squeezed her hand which was in my hand, crying softly.

I let my sister down again. My job was to protect her and I failed to do so. If only I wasn't so angry, I would have seen Gwen sneaking out and if only, I had caught her and gave her an earful about doing something this reckless. When she closed her eyes, I thought I lost her, forever. But she was breathing, she was unconscious. I won't let anything happen to her.

I pulled out my phone and called Sophia. She knows what was going on and will be able to help me. "Hello?"

"William? Is everything okay? Is everyone okay?" She asked, frantically. I heard Mom firing question from behind. I forgot that Sophia was with Mom. She doesn't know about Gwen.

"No." I sighed in regret. "Gwen is shot. We are taking her to the hospital."

There was silence before I heard a loud thud. My mind was on full alert. "Stephanie!" Sophia yelled. I heard a loud crying from behind. I'm sorry, I couldn't keep Gwen safe, Mom.

"Sophia, listen to me." I called her attention.

"Will, your mom-" she began.

"I know. But this is more important. I want to you call Aunt Benny and make sure she is ready by the time we reach the hospital. Do it now." I ordered and ended the call. I saw the paramedics were putting the breathing mask on Gwen since her breathing was slowing down. "What's wrong?"

"Her breathing rate is falling." He said, as he and one of them starting fussing around. Trying to stop the blood and also were trying to bring Gwen's breathing to normal. "We have to reach the hospital faster."

A steak of fear passed through my heart, but I remembered I have to be strong. Strong for Gwen and everyone else. Nothing will happen to her.

We reached the hospital soon after that and Gwen's breathing was falling and rising, it was difficult to comprehend anything. The doctors took her in the operation theatre and the rest of us were waiting outside. Sophia had called Aunt Benny for operation as I requested. Mom was crying as Dad tried to comfort her. Dad looked a little rough too, so Ethan request him to be checked once by the doctor which he refused, but after some begging from Mom to make sure he was okay, he agreed, but not before ordering to call him as soon as we get news about Gwen's condition. We agreed and Dad and Mom along with Ethan and Blake went to get him checked.

Ashton was pacing outside Gwen's room, mumbling to himself. The kid was beating himself up for this and blaming himself. I'm glad Gwen found someone to be there for her in her bad times. Ryan was silently crying and Max was trying to reassure him. Max, himself looked troubled, all of us were, but we had to be strong.

As for Nate, he was with the police and was doing the required things. I asked Amber to leave since she didn't look in a state to be here, but she threw a fit when I asked her to leave and was here with her boyfriend Chris, who was clueless, but he knew something was not right, but stayed quiet. Tyler came as soon as he heard about it and has been blaming himself for what his father had done. Ashton's sister was here too.

Two hours passed and there was no information on Gwen. Nate and the others returned with Mom and were waiting. Suddenly, the door to the operation door opened and the Aunt Benny walked out, looking grim. A dread passed through me.

"How is she, doctor?" Ashton questioned in concern.

"I'm afraid, it's not looking good." There was dead silent as we waiting for her to continue. "There is bad news and good news." All of us looked at Aunt Benny who looked sad, herself.

"What's the good news?" I asked, breathless, trying to think positively.

"The gun shot did nothing major damage to her organs and we successfully removed the bullet without any complications. And the injuries that's inflicted is also soon recoverable-"

"What other injuries?" Nate asked, in surprise.

"He beat her up," Dad began, looking away. "Like he did six years ago."

"What!? That shit is going down!" Ashton yelled in anger.

"Relax, son. The injuries didn't do anything major to her." Aunt Benny said.

"What's the bad news?" Max asked, quietly.

"I'm afraid, the injury she received on her head was the major problem. Because of that her body system has shut down and," she stopped, looking grim.

"And?" I urged.

"She's in coma."

**

It's been three weeks since Gwen was in coma. Ashton hasn't left her side and it was now really looking up. He had dark circles under his eyes and had lost weight along the way. It was hard to convince him to eat. He would just sit by her bed and stare at her.

As for the others, they would come every day to meet her and talk to her. Leslie came with Alex and Zach. No one was smiling or laughing. Without Gwen, it all felt empty. I had refused to leave her side and I was here the whole day. My work was piling up, since I didn't go to office the first week, but that needed my attention now. Dad convinced me to work and said if Gwen wakes up and finds that I've been lagging, she'll go ballistic on me. So I brought my laptop here and worked my office work from hospital.

I always prayed for her to wake up. It's been too long since I listened to her talk. "Hey, baby girl." I greeted as I took a sit on the bed. "Wake up, please. Everyone is sad without you. I need you. I want to hear your voice, I miss your smile. Always nagging me for something. If you wake up, I'll listen to you. I'll get you everything you want. You say the word, and that's yours. Just wake up, please." By now, I felt tears falling from my eyes. I kissed her hand and got up. If only, I was there to protect her.

The door to the hospital opened and Ashton walked. "Hey. How are you doing?"

He just shrugged and took his place near her bed. He took her hands in his and kissed it, before staring at her. I knew I had to distract him. This was unhealthy for him.

"Ashton, how is school going?" I tried to start a conversation with this kid. He just shrugged and didn't reply. I sighed and took my place on the couch and started working on the laptop. The day went by followed by few more days without any response from Gwen. The doctors were starting to lose hope. They think the more she is in coma, the less chances are for her to wake up. I lost it completely and beat the other doctor up until Ethan stopped me.

How can he say that there's no hope? Gwen can't die. She can't die on me. Not on us.

Mom cried everyday when she came to meet her along with Dad. For Dad, it was like someone has switched off his buttons. He wouldn't talk to anyone, not even Mom. He threw himself in work and it was not good. Nate told me that all he is doing is shouting in the office.

Max and Blake tried cheering everyone. They cracked jokes around everyone. They use to argue with each other when they came to meet Gwen in hopes that she'll respond. But that try went down the hill.

Ryan was worst too. He took drinking to stop the pain. We didn't find out first about it, but when he came home drunk and was shouting in anger and crying too, we knew he was losing it. It's not easy to lose your twin.

There were quite a few holes in the walls outside Gwen's room caused by Ashton. As the days were passing, everyone grew dark. The clouds seem dark. Almost as if storm was to come. Through this storm only Amber was the one who was like sunlight. She was optimistic of us all. Her words were, "She's going wake up soon and when she comes to know what you guys were up too, she'll go all head girl on you." Even with a tough exterior, I could see the sadness in her eyes, the regret and the pain.

The hope for us was for Gwen to wake the bloody hell up. She was bright sun in everyone's life. All we needed was her to wake up.

**

Gwen

I felt it. I saw the darkness that was surrounding me. There wasn't a single light and I was all alone. It was like I was trapped in this darkness. I tried to comprehend what was going on, but came up with nothing. I don't remember how I came in this darkness. All I wanted was to run from here. It felt like days I've been in this darkness and when I was losing hope, I saw the light. I ran towards the light and suddenly it was bright, too bright.

I felt the pain. I could feel the surrounding. But I felt paralyzed. I couldn't feel my hands, legs. Fear gripped my heart. I felt my heartbeat picking up as I tried to move, but no avail. That's when I heard voices.

"Will, call the doctor. Her heart rate is picking up." I heard a voice yell. I felt someone touch my hand. I felt my hand. I tried to move my hand and felt a little twitch. "She's waking up."

I suddenly heard a lot of noise around me. My eyes felt like they were glued together and my throat was dry like a sandpaper. I tried to open my eyes. It was difficult at first, but then it happened. It was opening with great efforts. As soon as my eyes opened, I was met with a bright light. I closed my eyes to shield from the light and tried opening them again. As soon as I was able to adjust, I looked around me. I blinked a few times to clear my sight.

There were many people standing near my bed. All looking worst. First I was confused. I looked around to see that I was in a hospital. Hospital with so many people. Fear gripped my heart as I muttered. 

"Who are you?"

**

I'm sorry for late update. I know most of you might be tired of waiting for an update and want to leave the story too, but sometime it takes time to write and update. And now I'm really busy and stressed. Most of your comments make me happy, but I request you guys to wait. I never update late, or at least try not to. I just want your cooperation. Also, I started writing the next chapter and hopefully within 10 days or so I'll be able to update the next chapter. But till than I'm sorry for this late update.

Also a twist in the story. She lost her memory. Memory loss! Her family is going to be so sad and what will happen to Ashton.

There's a bad news and bad news. Bad news that the story is going to end soon and the second bad news is that it might, highlighting the word might, be my last book. I haven't decided, but it might be. Until then.

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