𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

My time in this weird, confusing universe is just that - weird and confusing. It feels like we've been here for years, when in reality it hasn't been that long. I'm still trying to discover my whole purpose for being placed here, but nothing really comes up. Why would the universe want this to happen to me? I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, not even Kyle.

Speaking of Kyle, I wonder if any of Hunter's old friends heard about what happened to me. Not just them, but my entire town. I never had many friends in school, I was always the shy one who simply shadowed her cool big brother.

Does anybody care? If I could actually feel my body, I know damn well that my head would be pounding against my skull. I'm always over thinking, my brain never shuts off.

"Your brain is going crazy right now." My brother's voice startles me.

I lightly gasp, turning my body to see him standing by the glass door. I'm currently on the living room couch, while Grayson went to take a walk.

"I'm trying to figure this all out, I really am." I sigh and look at him.

He watches me carefully, something he usually does when he's deep in thought.

"I have a surprise for you." He walks closer to where I'm sitting.

"A surprise? That's surprising." I shake my head at my lame choice of words.

"I know the exact thing to help you get through your time here."

Out of complete thin air, a white journal appears in Hunter's hand. My eyes widen at the sight of it.

"My journal." My jaw hangs low.

"Not yours specifically, but an exact replica of it."

I slowly pick it up, feeling the lightness of it pressing against my palm.

"I figured you would want to write out all of your thoughts." He nods.

"It would help me a lot." I exhale a breath while opening up to the first blank page.

"I can only imagine what you would write."

"Something along the lines of 'dear diary, help me I'm dead.'" I give him a pointed look.

"Stop saying you're dead." He rolls his eyes.

"It's the only way to describe it."

"Oh, and you're probably going to need this." He hands me a blank ink pen.

"That would be helpful, yes." I let out a laugh.

"Enjoy." He grins while continuing to stare my way. "So, where's Grayson?"

"He went for a walk." I shrug, keeping my eyes down.

"And you didn't go with him?" He has a smug smile on his face.

"Why would I?"

He stays completely silent, his eyes still scanning my face. I finally look back at him. "What?"

"What's in your hair?"

"My hair?" I slowly place my hand on my head, wishing I could feel the long, silky texture of it.

"The sunflower." He points to it with a grin.

"Oh, yeah." I forgot it was there simply because I can't feel it sitting between my hair.

"Didn't know you would make it a fashion statement."

"I wasn't trying to." I shrug.

"Did Grayson tell you to do that?" He muses, folding his hands together.

"What's it to you?" I get defensive.

"He totally did, how cute." The heavy smirk across his lips makes me scoff.

"What are you trying to imply?" I question.

"That kid is so into you."

"He is not, stop being ridiculous." I shake my head to disagree.

"Trust me, I see the way he acts around you."

"What, do you spy on us or something?" I roll my eyes.

"No need, it's the way he always acts. He likes you." Hunter begins to smirk, and I wish I could wipe it off of his face.

"Yeah, right. Why would he like me?"

"See, that's the one thing I hate about you. You don't give yourself enough credit, especially around guys."

My mind flashes back to Grayson calling me beautiful. The way he was looking at me did make me nervous, but that's how I always am around guys. I never know what to say or do.

"We're just friends." I mutter.

"Maybe it could be more." He shrugs.

"We're still getting to know each other."

"You guys go on walks a lot." He points out.

"What else are we supposed to do? As beautiful as this place is, it's kind of boring."

"It's not supposed to be Disney World." He rolls his eyes.

"Yeah but you could give us something fun to do." I can't help but laugh.

"I'll keep that in mind." His voice lowers as he looks toward the back door. "I didn't just come here to give you the journal. I actually need to see Grayson, it's important."

His voice turns serious, which is a rare occurrence for Hunter. My eyebrows furrow as I shift my body on the couch.

"Is everything all right?"

"His parents are at the hospital. They got here today."

"Oh." I lowly whisper, my body suddenly feeling heavier than normal.

"Yeah, it's still rough in that room."

"What's the update on mom and dad? Do they still want to kill me?" The sentence sounds outrageous, something straight out of a horror movie, but that's what my real life has come to. A horror movie.

"You make it sound so morbid."

"Because it is, Hunter. That's exactly what it is." I rise to my feet and cross my arms over my chest.

The back door suddenly opens, and Grayson is stepping into the cottage. Once he sees us standing so close to each other, he flashes a concerned look.

"Oh, hey guys. Is everything okay?" He mostly says to my brother.

"Not really." Hunter awkwardly scratches the back of his neck. "I need to take you to the hospital."

Grayson's entire face falls. "What happened? Are we okay?"

"Yeah, you're still in a coma. It's just, uh, your parents flew in from Jersey." You can tell Hunter feels uncomfortable telling him this.

"My parents are in Washington?" Grayson immediately whispers.

"Yes." Hunter nods.

We're transported to the hospital room in the blink of an eye. I exhale a breath as my eyes latch onto my body still lying helplessly on the bed. Seeing the oxygen machine hooked up to me will always scare me.

"Holy fucking shit." Grayson whispers.

I turn my head, seeing a man and a woman standing over his broken body. His mother is holding his hand and his father is sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Mom." Grayson gulps while standing next to her.

"We shouldn't have sent them here." She says in between her loud sobs.

"Lisa, we never knew this was going to happen." Her husband says with a heavy sigh.

"God, when he left I was so upset with him." His mother whispers while stroking Grayson's hand.

"You can't blame yourself, you need to stay positive."

"It's hard, Sean. You know how much we were fighting with him. Now he might never wake up."

"No, no no. Shit." Grayson runs his hands through his hair, angrily pulling on it. "I'm going to wake up, mom. I'm going to, I swear it."

Coming to this hospital often and seeing Grayson fall apart every time completely breaks me. I hate to see him so weak, so vulnerable. The happy smile that I occasionally get to see is completely demolished by pain and agony.

"What if we never get to tell him we love him?" Lisa wipes her eyes.

"Don't say that." The man says in a strong tone.

"Ethan can't survive without his brother, what is he going to do?" She continues.

"He's not going to do anything because I'm coming back." Grayson begins to panic. His entire facial expression is shifting.

I look to my side of the room, seeing how empty it is. The door suddenly opens, and a nurse walks in. Sean and Lisa barely budge. The woman begins adjusting my body on the pillow, trying to get me comfortable.

"Do you know how much longer they'll stay like this?" Sean asks her.

"Usually, comas last two to four weeks."

"It's already been two weeks." Lisa points out.

"I know, ma'am. We have done all of the surgeries we can. They're bodies are slowly healing, but their minds are still gone."

"What are the chances of them waking up with no brain injuries?" Grayson's father asks.

"They might have some issues, but we can't know until they wake up." The nurse looks down at my body.

"Wait, if we wake up, we might have brain problems?" Grayson gulps.

"You might." Hunter sighs.

"Fuck." Grayson looks back at me.

"What are the chances of them surviving this?" Sean asks again.

"I would say that they truly need a miracle." The nurse says before exiting the room.

"Grayson, sweetheart, you have to wake up. Mom and dad miss you." His mom runs her fingers through his hair.

"I miss you guys too." Grayson rushes to their side.

I stand frozen, watching him call out their names. I've seen him do it with Ethan, but this is even worse. You can see the guilt in his eyes, the pain he feels for not being able to talk to them.

"Hunter." I whisper, grabbing my brother's attention. He turns his head to look at me, indicating to go on. "Put him back."

"What?" He furrows his eyebrows.

"Put him back, please." I gulp while looking back at Grayson.

"I can't, you know that."

"Well, can't you do something?"

"It's not time yet."

"Well, when will it be time?" I let out a sigh.

"The two of you haven't served your purpose yet. Once that is fulfilled, you are able to go back."

Nervously gulping, I look at Grayson sitting on the bed with his parents. It breaks my nonexistent heart to see him look so devastated.

His parents are begging for him to wake up, while my parents want to take me off of life support. They're never here. I saw how they simply gave up on Hunter and they're doing the same to me.

Suddenly, I feel small. There's a galaxy of people, yet I have a void of loneliness sweeping through me. Nobody cares, they never did and they never will.

I don't know what my purpose is in this random universe, but all I know is, now I'm not ready to figure it out.