Diana’s head dropped and the sobbing began. She broke away from her friend’s mother. She strode over to the couch falling into it and slowly curled into a ball, her body shaking relentlessly with each round of tears. Her world as she had known it for all of her life was at an end, never to be the same again.
Marianne held onto her daughter now fearing if she left go she would somehow disappear. The color drained out of her face and the look of desolation was in her eyes. "They’re gone." Mrs. Gryphon shook her head in disbelief as she clutched on to her own daughter even tighter than before. Her eyes closed in thanksgiving that it was not Kristen living through this tragedy. She looked to Alex, "What is going to happen to Diana now?" Biting at her lower lip she pondered the thought. "She doesn’t have any living relatives, at least that we know of." She looked at her daughter for reassurance. Kristen’s reply was a slow shake of her head.
Garrett sat down again next to the grief-stricken girl. Pulling a tissue from her pocket, she offered it to Diana and waited for the sobbing to diminish. The girl pulled away further into the corner of the couch, not wanting to have any physical connection with the surgeon. In Garrett’s own mind, scenes from her life tugged at her emotions as she remembered how things were, so many years ago.
The small antiseptic smelling room where the lighting had been just as harsh as the words that the doctor had said to her, "They’re dead," engulfed her senses. The words echoing in her brain over and over again. Everywhere she turned, they all had the same somnolent faces. No one offered her any reasons or causes, not even an excuse, just nothing but the stark fact that they were gone forever.
She found herself leaning in toward the teen to speak, "Would you like to see your brother?" Her words were kind as her eyes searched for an answer in the red swollen orbs that peered up at her, the hate evident toward her. "He has a tube in his mouth that goes down his throat to breathe for him. There will be a lot of intravenous lines that are giving him fluids and medicine. The electrical devices that enable us to monitor his body functions will take up the better part of the room." Garrett attempted to paint a reasonable picture of what the girl would see. The last thing that she wanted was to frighten her even more or to give her any false hope of his condition.
The young girl wiped her eyes, "Could I, please?" Her voice was shaky and weak.
"Dr. Kreger, would you call into the ICU and tell them that Diana would like to visit her brother?"
Rob set about to his task of clearing the way for the entourage to enter the ICU, without being subjected to any undue strain from viewing the other patients or procedures that might be going on. When everything was set, he called into the Family Room on the dedicated phone line, informing the social worker of the time available for visitation.
The group made their way into the unit. Stopping at the nurse’s desk right inside the door, Dr. Trivoli reviewed Bradley Morgan’s chart. His condition remained the same. There were no voluntary movements or responses to deep painful stimulus. The extent of his injuries was quite clear in her mind. She would be talking to the neurosurgeon after Diana was done visiting, and ask that a brain death protocol be ordered. Putting the chart down, she motioned for them to follow her to his bedside.
The young girl walked over to the tall surgeon who held out a gown for her to put on. Donning her own gown quickly, she accompanied her across the room to the cubicle where her brother’s body lay, supported by a multitude of machines. The roaming eyes of the teen took in every detail of the room, her eyes darting from one noise to another as the machines did their job.
Garrett watched as the teen finally settled in on her brother’s face, a tear rolling down her own cheek. "You can talk to him if you’d like, Diana."
Her voice was barely above a whisper, "Could I touch his hand?" She looked up to the surgeon, her eyes pleading for approval.
"I think he would like that." Her head motioned to the body laying in repose. She watched as Diana made her way to the bedside. She hesitated as she reached out for his hand, looking over her shoulder for encouragement. Garrett nodded in approval. The young girl stroked his small hand with her own and soon was leaning over to talk ever so softly into his ear.
The surgeon studied the scene intently looking for any sign of recognition on Brad’s part. His eyes never fluttered, the muscles in his face never twitched, the hand remained still as if it had never been touched. Her keen sense of hearing listened for any change in the rhythm of the beeping noise emitted from the heart monitor, but there was none. In essence, the body before her was nothing more than an empty shell devoid of all the nuances that denote life.
After several minutes, she bent over and kissed her brother’s forehead. Slowly she backed away from the bed until she was standing next to the tall woman. Her eyes never wavered from watching him; "He looks so peaceful."
A minute or two passed by before the silence was broken. "Does he feel anything?" Diana looked up at Garrett, "He’s not in pain, I mean?"
"No, we’re giving him some medication to make sure of that," she responded.
"So, what’s next?" Her young voice had vagueness about it. "Does he just go on like this forever?"
The surgeon thought about what to say. "There is a group of tests that we will do on your brother that will tell us whether or not there is any activity going on in his brain. If they result in showing no brain activity then we can declare him brain dead and remove the ventilator. After a few minutes, his heart will stop beating and his other organs will cease to function." She tried to lessen the impact as much as she could.
"When?" She stuttered, "When will that happen?"
"We should know by tomorrow around noon," Garrett projected. "If you would like, you could be here with him, if that is what we need to do."
The girl nodded her head in agreement. Sighing, she hung her head and muttered. "Will you be here too? Yeah, I bet you like seeing people die."
Her eyes flashed at the surgeon with all the hatred that she could muster. "I bet you just love to see people’s whole lives get thrown right in the toilet before your eyes. It makes you feel all high and mighty, doesn’t it? You all think that you’re gods."
The surgeon grasped tightly onto the bed rail with both her hands. She really wanted to lash out at this for her taunting ways but knew that it would only provoke more of the same. "I will but only because I have to be. He’s my patient, Diana, not some experiment."
Diana turned to face her. "Well, at least you realize that he’s my brother and I’m not going to just throw him away." She saw her friend off in the distance behind the doctor. "I better get back with my friend now. I have some things that I need to sort out." She turned to look at her brother for a moment, then turning back to the surgeon she glared. The two stood that way for a moment before Diana slowly walked in the direction of Kristen and her mother, continuing to pass them on her way out of the door.
Garrett watched her leave with the Gryphons following right behind her. Cursing to herself for not being able to save the girl from the pain and anguish she was going through, she ran her fingers through her long raven hair in desperation. ‘Danni, why couldn’t you have been here?’