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Chapter 54: Drastic changes
Yup, she was definitely moving out. Damon silently closed the door and doubled back inside. Until now, he did not know the name of that woman, but it looked like she was already out of his life.
Damon smiled. This worked out well. This way, he did not have to worry about her memories randomly getting triggered and her remembering something that she should not. Not to mention her grandfather, who seemed to be somewhat special.
It was best to stay as far away from them as possible. How did that guy even get his hands on mana? Damon wondered as he got ready and left the apartment.
He was once again on his way to the hospital to visit Mark and Kate. He had known both of them for a very long time, and he still couldn’t believe Kate had fallen sick. Hopefully, they knew more about her condition now, and hopefully, there was nothing terribly wrong with her.
The sun was gentle as Damon walked down the cracked pavement. He felt a little tired from being out in the sun, but it did not really affect him that much. Unlike the vampires they show in movies and stories, he was not going to combust instantaneously when exposed to sunlight and burst into flames.
He took the bus and soon arrived at the hospital. He had already messaged Mark before getting out of the apartment and still hadn’t received a response. This only made him more concerned. He quickened his steps and arrived at the hospital reception.
Damon thought about his last night’s encounter with the nurse, and his face twitched. Thankfully, there was a personnel change, and he didn’t have to face that middle-aged woman whom he had actually tried to flirt with. Just the thought of it made him queasy.
He shook it off and walked over to the elevator. 7th floor. Room number 715. That’s what Mark had told him.
As the elevator dinged softly and opened on the seventh floor, Damon stepped into the quiet corridor. Room 715. He approached, but his footsteps slowed as he noticed something unusual. The door was slightly ajar. 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝑝𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
He pushed the door open gently. Inside, Mark was sitting in a chair beside the hospital bed, hunched forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped so tightly they trembled. He didn’t look up when Damon entered. He didn’t say a word.
And on the bed, surrounded by a cocoon of wires, tubes, and softly blinking monitors, lay Kate.
Damon stopped cold. She was pale, too pale, and unnervingly still. Her chest rose and fell in slow, measured intervals—too perfect, too mechanical. Her eyes were closed. Her expression was peaceful. But it wasn’t sleep.
It was absence.
A nurse moved silently near the back of the room, checking the vitals. She looked up and met Damon’s gaze. There was no need for words—her expression said everything.
"She didn’t wake up from the surgery," Mark said finally, his voice hoarse, almost whispering. "Something went wrong. Brain damage. They revived her but... she’s not really here anymore."
Damon stared. The room spun slowly, then snapped back into focus. He walked closer and he looked down at Kate’s still form, her fragile hand resting atop the blanket.
Alive, but gone.
On life support.
He reached out, brushing her fingers with his own. Her skin was warm. Her heartbeat was steady, thanks to the machines. But the person he knew, the one who laughed like the world didn’t scare her, the one who always called him out on his bullshit—she wasn’t there.
Not anymore.
He didn’t speak. He didn’t rage. He didn’t cry.
He simply stood there, jaw clenched, and stared down at what had been taken from her. And slowly, without even realizing it, Damon’s hand curled into a fist.
"I am thinking too much, right?" Mark hurriedly blurted out. "I mean, people wake up from a coma all the time. This is nothing. She is not brain-dead. She is just healing. They also said that there was a high chance for her to wake up. Only after 5 years can they definitively say that she is gone. I am unnecessarily panicking. Right?" Mark looked up at Damon, eyes bloodshot, desperate, clinging to hope like a man drowning in the dark.
His friend was unraveling right in front of his eyes. How did everything come down to this in a single night? Just yesterday, they were both fine, and now, he has lost two people near and dear to him.
Damon didn’t answer immediately. He just stared at his friend, then at the pale girl in the bed who looked more like porcelain than flesh. The machines kept beeping, indifferent to the agony in the room.
"She will be fine. You wait and see. Tomorrow, she will wake up and call me a dunce like she always does. She will be fine." Mark listlessly continued speaking. "She always pulls through. You know her. She’s tough."
Damon couldn’t bear to see his friend like this anymore. He clutched Mark’s shoulder firmly and looked at him. Mark flinched. His eyes were wide and glassy, the kind of look Damon had only ever seen in people who’d lost something so dear, their minds were still playing catch-up.
"She is tough," Damon said, looking at him. "She will wake up soon. I am sure of it." If Mark had been more aware, he would have noticed the shade of crimson in Damon’s eyes. But the guy was barely a husk at the moment, and he just blankly nodded.
"I need you to go down to the cafeteria and get yourself some food. When Kate wakes up, she will chew me out if I let you be in this state."
Make smiled weakly. "Ya. She will do that for sure. She always scolds me for skipping meals." Mark rubbed at his face, fingers trembling, before nodding again. He rose like a man sleepwalking, pausing only to glance back at Kate, at the steady rhythm of machines and the still form beneath them.
Then he shuffled past Damon without another word, the door whispering shut behind him.
