Hope in the Darkness

"Yes, Oliver, you told us that Amelia got into an accident, but you did not tell us how," Mrs. Emma added, her gaze fixed on Oliver.

Oliver glanced at Dr. Ethan, but Ethan looked away. Ethan knew it was childish to refuse to help Oliver because of his jealousy, but he couldn't help it.

Whenever he thought about how much his sleeping beauty loved this boy, he felt a thousand needles piercing his heart. And when he considered how this ungrateful boy broke her heart, he could barely restrain himself from wanting to beat him up. But, sadly, he couldn't do that. So, he decided to make him pay in another way: by leaving him to face Amelia's parents' anger on his own.

"Um... A... aunty, actually, we had an argument on the phone and we broke up with each other," Oliver said, fidgeting with his hands. He avoided looking at Amelia's parents.

"What? How can you do that, Oliver? You know better than anyone how sensitive she was when it comes to you," Mrs. Emma, Amelia's mother, shouted at him.

Oliver flinched, startled. It was the first time Amelia's mother, who had always treated him like her own son, Harry, had scolded him.

"Emma is right, Oliver. I am really disappointed with you," Mr. Kyle added, shaking his head in disapproval.

Dr. Ethan couldn't bear to see Oliver getting scolded anymore and decided to intervene. He cleared his throat to grab their attention.

"Oh, we're sorry, doctor. What was the second method you were talking about?" Mr. Kyle asked, looking at him. Oliver sighed in relief.

"I don't want to use the shock method because it’s quite risky. If anything goes wrong, we would pay a very heavy price for it," Ethan explained. All three of them seemed engrossed in the conversation.

"I will do anything for my daughter; I want her back to normal as soon as possible. Let's proceed with the plan," Mrs. Emma said with determination, looking more relaxed than before.

"That's my wife!" Mr. Kyle beamed with joy and patted his wife's shoulder. They both left the cabin, ready to embark on their mission.

"I like the doctor. He seems like such a nice guy; it feels like he has known our little princess for a long time," Emma remarked while walking towards Amelia's ward.

"Hmm... It seems so. Better ask our princess, don’t you think?" Mr. Kyle replied, smiling. Emma smiled back, and they continued towards Amelia's ward.

Ethan and Oliver stood in silence for a couple of minutes. Then, suddenly Oliver snapped out of the trance and turned towards Ishaan. He turned back again and breathed heavily before going towards the door. Ethan also accompanied him. Now all they needed was prayers and a hope that the plan would work.

They sprinted toward the direction where Amelia's parents headed, and caught up with them a couple of minutes later. This looked like a team for a mission, for a cause. The cause was to get Amelia out of her coma and see her smiling again.

All four of them came to a halt in front of the ward where Amelia was and looked at each other. There was hope, prayers, and uncertainty in all four pairs of eyes. Each one of them smiled and entered the ward with a prayer in their heart.

No matter how strong Amelia's parents thought they were, the moment they saw her lying in the hospital bed, pale and covered in needles; their hearts cried out for their little daughter. She deserved to be by their side, not in the sickly hospital bed. Oliver could not gather the courage to meet her parents' eyes, and he chose to look down at the floor to avoid more shame and despair. He could not see Amelia like this, and the sight would make him weaker than he already was feeling. No matter how strongly he wanted to be away from her, she was still his only best friend and he did love her.

Ethan was the most hopeful of all because he had medical science by his side. But the sight made him weak in the knees, he wanted to sit down and shout, to let Amelia and the world know how desperately he was waiting for her to be all right again. He wanted to see the one smile for which he had dreamt for so long, to look into the eyes of the girl he loved.

"Love", Ethan's heart did a flutter and skipped a beat at the mention of this word. Yes, he loves her. And she has to come to life for him. Ethan felt determined and looked at Amelia's parents and nodded for them to move forward. The plan has to work.

Meanwhile, Amelia was lying in a subconscious state most of the time. She couldn't really guess what time of day or night it usually was, except for the times when the nurse would come to wipe her clean or check her progress. At times, her angel, Dr. Ethan, would come and talk to her, and she couldn't care less about the time as long as he was by her side. Things seemed better when he talked to her; she admired his voice and couldn't wait to see what he looked like. Not that she was looking for a hunk or an overly dashing personality, but she believed that a person with such a good heart would be great-looking as well. He seemed more like an angel, she guessed.

"But does it really matter what he looks like?" her inner voice made its presence known.

"Ummm... I don't think it does, but I will have to see for myself and decide," she winked internally.

"Then get up, open your eyes, and let the world know you are alive too!" A sarcastic voice rose in her head.

"I choose to ignore you right now. I want some good rest," she retorted mentally.

Amelia could feel her inner goddess rolling her eyes at her, considering she'd been resting for, God knows how many days or months. Just as she was about to drift into a peaceful sleep, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching. She wondered who would come at this time, since the nurse had just left and Dr. Ethan had already visited.

"Might be my angel coming to visit me one more time. The nurse did make him leave abruptly when he was saying something," she thought happily.

The door burst open and the footsteps halted for a second, which seemed like an eternity to her. Not being able to see what was happening was already frustrating her.