Chapter 1

18 September 2018

~ ~ ~

"I told you to pack earlier" Kevin scolded, as Lydia hurriedly packed her bags. Kevin and Lydia were the best of friends. They knew everything about each other, which meant that Kevin knew that Lydia was going to leave packing for their annual camping trip, to the last minute. She always did.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I was just...busy?" Kevin shot her a pointed look. "Well, I'm doing it now!" Lydia cried, stomping her foot on the ground like she was a child and not 16 – almost 17.

For a 16-year-old, Lydia was quite tall, as she was almost 5'10. She had brown, almost black, hair, a fair complexion, sparkling blue eyes and a slim figure. Most girls envied her, as did the guys. Girls wished they had her figure and guys wished they had the height. Even Kevin was shorter than her, standing at about 5'8. He had black hair, dark skin, dark eyes and a bright smile. No one could stay mad at him.

"Welp. Hurry up! We leave in a few hours and I wanna get there before the sun sets." Kevin whined, putting on his best fake frowny face. He could never really get upset or be angry. He was always happy. The times he did get angry, it was scary.

"Chill. I'm coming. Just go downstairs, eat my mom's cookies and I'll be right there." Kevin smiled and happily bounced out the door, while Lydia let out an exasperated sigh.

Lydia continued packing, as she thought about her camping trip with Kevin. It was their last camping trip before Lydia went to Stanford. She was only 16, but she was extremely smart. She graduated high school early, just like her brother, and applied to Stanford, Cambridge, Brown and the St. Catherine University in Minnesota. It was closer to home than the first three. She got accepted in all but was set on Stanford. That's where she was supposed to go. Lydia wasn't going to take a break. She was going to learn.

Her thoughts drifted to her family, friends and school. Her life seemed to be perfect. She had parents who loved her, a brother who protected her and would do anything for her, and a best friend who knew everything about her. Even her school life seemed ideal, as she was the captain of the track team, was an honour roll student, and was loved by everyone. Some could even say she was popular, but she didn't like using that word. Everyone knew her, not because she wore fancy clothes or makeup, drove a nice car around, but because she was known to make people smile. She would do anything to protect the people close to her. Anything to make sure they were happy.

Lydia smiled. Thinking about her family and friends made her happy. Suddenly, her smile was replaced with a frown. She appeared to be flawless, but looks could be deceiving. Everyone had troubles. So did Lydia, but she just didn't display them out in the open for everyone to see. However, in her head, those troubles consumed her. And no one knew.

A knock at her bedroom door interrupted Lydia's thoughts. She turned around to see a tall, smiling figure, leaning against her doorframe. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"DREW!" She exclaimed. She ran and jumped up into her brother, Andrew's, arms. He caught her and spun her around, before hugging her tightly. They both let go, but Lydia held onto his arms and grinned widely. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming until Thanksgiving. You do know you're two months early, right?" Lydia questioned, cheerfully, looking up into her brother's icy blue eyes.

Lydia and Drew looked exactly alike, and they behaved the same way too. Some even thought they were twins, as they certainly acted like it. They both had the blue eyes, black hair, and sharp jaw. They both were also really tall. Drew was almost 6'3. The only difference between the two was that Andrew was a year older, and he was starting his second year at MIT.

Drew let out a silent chuckle, while shaking his head. "Uni cancelled classes for a week because they had to finish remodelling some of the dorms. So, I thought I'd come to surprise you! And... come with you on your camping trip!" He said, unsure whether Lydia would be okay with him tagging along or not.

"Seriously?!" Lydia asked, incredulously while shaking her brother by his shoulders. Drew smiled and nodded. "Yes! I cannot wait. I am so glad you're here. I missed you. And don't you dare say that you didn't miss me, because I know you did."

"I did miss you, Lyds. I'm man enough to admit it." Drew said, crossing his arms. Lydia raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Man? You're still 17, you idiot."

"Shut up, liquorice," Drew said, using his nickname for her and smacking the back of Lydia's head. "Oh, and don't worry. I'll teach you how to set up a tent. It's really not that hard. We wouldn't want another incident like last time, now would we?" Drew stated rather sarcastically. He was talking about the time Lydia managed to set a tent on fire while setting it up. She vowed to never speak of it and made Kevin and Drew do the same.

Lydia gasped and pushed him out her door. "Ugh, get out!" Lydia snapped. Andrew snorted loudly, walking away. Lydia was about to close the door, when Drew called out, "Lyds! Be ready in 15!"

"You know I'll be out in less, big bro. Unlike you, I can actually dress myself." Lydia yelled back at him, before slamming the door, and muffling his response. The sarcasm seemed to run in the family. She was talking about how Andrew always took forever getting ready, and that constantly made him late. Kevin and Lydia knew it was because he was more of a girl than Lydia. That was his only flaw. Not being on time.

Although, Lydia loved Andrew to death, she couldn't help but be a bit jealous of him sometimes. They were both really smart and were scarily alike, but anything that they could both do, Andrew could do it a bit better. Lydia had learned to accept it but always tried to push herself harder, just to try and be better than Drew. It never worked, though.

Lydia quickly pushed aside all her thoughts and focused on packing. As she picked up her clothes from the floor and stuffed them in her bag, she started trembling. It wasn't cold, and she wasn't anxious or anything. It just happened. It was slow at first, but then quickened. Her vision blurred, a heavy weight sinking onto her chest. She moved towards her bed, but before she could sit down, she fell. Hard. Lydia slipped into unconsciousness and nothing woke her up.

~ ~ ~

"Lydia, honey, wake up. Wake up!" Lydia's mom cried, shaking her daughter's shoulders, as they moved her unconscious body to the stretcher. Lydia was carried to the ambulance and was placed inside, carefully. Her parents and Andrew got in too, sitting beside her.

"I'll be right behind you guys. Okay?" Kevin assured with a shaky voice. Andrew replied with a simple nod, as his long fingers, grasped his sister's hand tightly.

They closed the ambulance doors and seconds later, the vehicle was moving. "Come on, Lyds. Please wake up. Please. For me, Drew.... your big brother." Andrew muttered under his breath, his blue eyes glistening with tears. When it came to Lydia, Andrew would do anything. "Please. I love you." He was practically whispering.

About 10 minutes later, the ambulance halted to a stop, and the doors opened. Lydia was taken out and placed onto a hospital bed. They wheeled her in, with Andrew and her mom right behind them.

"I'm sorry. You can't go in. You have to stay out here." one of the nurses said to Andrew and his mom, not allowing them to go any further, once they reached the examination room of the hospital. At this point, Andrew was breathing heavily and was mumbling incoherently, under his breath. He couldn't take it. But he had to stay strong and calm. For his sister.

"Wh-when will we, um, get to, uh, see her?" Mrs. Marshall asked, on the verge of tears. The nurse shook her head while saying, "I'm not sure. I'm sorry, but please take a seat and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

Just as she left, Kevin and Mr. Marshall, Andrew and Lydia's father, came running towards Andrew and Mrs. Marshall, asking questions.

"Where is she? Is she alright? What the hell even happened?!" Kevin cried, worried about his best friend. She was his un-biological sister and he would do anything for her. Not knowing how she was, was tearing him apart.

"We-we don't know yet. They said they'll let us know, soon." Drew spoke. He took in deep breaths and went to sit down. His knee started bouncing up and down, showing that not knowing anything about Lydia's condition was hurting him.

"Is she with my dad?" Kevin asked. His father was a doctor and he loved Lydia like she was his own. Dr. Keith James was also an excellent doctor. He'd helped the Marshalls on more than one occasion.

Mrs. Marshall nodded in reply, just as Kevin's father, Dr. Keith James, walked towards them. Andrew got up from his seat and everyone moved towards him.

"She's okay." Dr. James said and Drew let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in. But then Dr. James continued to speak. "She's okay, but she's not waking up. She's in a coma. We've done everything we could to wake her, but nothing's worked. We'll just have to wait now."

"Dad, when is she going to wake up?" Kevin asked, softly. His dad shook his head and continued talking, but Andrew wasn't listening. All he could think about was Lydia. She was okay, but she wouldn't wake up. It's like she was gone. Andrew stumbled backwards into a chair and sat down, his eyes gleaming with tears. He took a deep breath, before looking up at his parents, Kevin and his father. "Um. Uh, Keith?" Drew said, calling Kevin's father by his first name, as Dr. James had instructed him and Lydia to do so many times. "Can, uh, - Can we see her?" Andrew finished his question. Keith looked at him sadly and slowly nodded, before walking to Lydia's door and opening it.

Kevin and Drew walked in, while Mr. and Mrs. Marshall hung back to talk to Dr. James. Drew and Kevin sat by Lydia's bed. Drew could hear his parents and Keith's hushed voices. He could tell they were arguing, but he only heard bit and pieces of his conversation.

"Keith, what happened? You said it wouldn't happen to her!" Drew's father whispered, angrily. *What wouldn't happen?* Drew thought.

"I don't know. I thought it wouldn't. I analysed both their brain scans, like I always do, and nothing came up!" Keith shot back. They kept going back and forth like this, but Drew couldn't hear the rest of it because they had become even quieter. He focused his attention onto Lydia, and took her hand into his. He looked up to see Kevin in the bed with her.

"Kev, that might be dangerous. You might break something. You know how clumsy you are." Andrew jokingly scolded. Kevin smiled, grateful for Andrew's ephemeral distraction. Usually, it would be Kevin doing the cheering-up, but he was extremely worried about Lydia, and that kind of dampened his happy side. "Are you sure you're not mixing Lydia and me up, Mr I'm-cool-but-I'm-secretly-a-girl?" Kevin fired at Drew. They both ended up laughing. Once their laughter died down, Drew looked down at Lydia on the bed. She looked at peace. He kept staring at her, silently wishing for her to wake up. He could hear the faint beeping of the monitor behind him, and the hushed voices of his parents outside the room, but all he could think about was his sister.

"Remember that time," Kevin started, and Andrew's head snapped up to meet his eyes. "We had Lydia's 9th birthday party in your treehouse?" Kevin chuckled softly, and the corners of Andrew's mouth turned up, as he remembered that day.

"We thought it was big enough for the five of us." Kevin went on, referring to himself, Andrew, Lydia, Reagan, Andrew's long-time crush, and Lea, Andrew and Lydia's cousin. "But it wasn't. We climbed in, holding all the food, but it ended up on the walls instead of in our stomachs."

Andrew let out a quiet laugh. "Yeah, and so we ended up in our garage, trying to get the food off of us, and eating it at the same time. Then we brought out the cake and the infamous cake smashing tradition was born!"

He didn't know when she would wake up, or if she even would wake up. He was beyond worried. Lydia was the only one who understood him. Drew was scared. He hoped that Lydia would wake up soon, but all he could think of was:

*What am I going to do without her?*