Page 99 of The Fighter
“Yes, there’s no good way to tell you this, but I’m afraid both your legs were amputated in the crash. Normally, we can reattach limbs, but unfortunately, yours were too crushed to work.
“Nooo!”
Everyone was quiet in the room, listening to Magni’s sounds of despair. Out in the hallway, Leo, the guards, and I all had our heads down as we suffered with Magni at that moment.
“It’s a shock, we know.” Erika’s voice was soft. “You’ve been in a coma for six days. We’ve been praying night and day that you’d make it through.”
“We love you, Dad. You don’t know how happy we are that you’re still here. You just need to rest and focus on getting healthy again.” Mila’s words were swallowed in her crying.
Magni turned his head and closed his eye.
“It’s okay, brother, you can go back to sleep. One of us will stay by your side and be here when you wake up. From now on things will get better.”
A few minutes later, Khan exited the room with the doctor. “How long do you think he’ll sleep?”
“I can’t say, Lord. He’ll drift in and out of sleep over the next days but he didn’t seem in pain, so the medication is working.”
“That’s good. Thank you.”
The two men exchanged a firm handshake before the doctor walked away and Khan faced us. “Leo, Magni was asking about you. I think he remembered that you were in the drone.”
“That’s good right? That means he still has his memories.”
“It’s too early to say if he has all of them, but he remembered the crash.” Signaling to his guards that it was time to go, Khan gave us a nod. “I’ll see you later.”
Mila came out and talked to us about her father’s few minutes awake. “I’m going to stay here in case he wakes up again. My mom and grandma need a break. They’ve been here more or less non-stop for the past six days.
“Whatever you need, Mila. Just give me a call and I’ll bring it to you. Company, a book, music, food… anything.”
“Thank you, Raven. You’re the best friend anyone can ask for. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, sweetie.” After hugging me and saying goodbye to Leo, she went back in and closed the door.
For a moment, Leo and I sat in silence before I sucked in a deep inhalation. “At least he’s awake now.”
“I know.”
“Do you wanna leave?”
“Yeah.”
This time we didn’t run or laugh as we left the hospital. We were quiet as we flew back to Leo’s place, and when we got there, he held on to my shoulder and jumped on one foot to get from the drone, inside his house, and onto his couch.
“Are you comfortable?”
Leo was sitting with his back against the armrest and his feet stretched out in front of him. “Do you have to go?”
We had just witnessed something both miraculous and incredibly sad at the hospital. Normally, I would have been eager to see my parents and talk to them about it, but my feet felt like they were glued to the floor. I wanted to stay here with Leo.
“I can stay a while.” Sitting down on the other end of the couch, I curled my legs up and called my mom. “I know I promised, Mom, but I can’t make it tonight. Magni woke up.”
“I know. Your dad has been speaking to Khan for twenty minutes now, I’m dying for him to finish and update me.”
“Leo and I were outside the room but we heard most of what happened. The sounds Magni made when he found out about his legs were soul-wrenching, Mom. I’ve never heard anything like it.”
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” My mom’s voice was like a warm embrace of empathy. “He’ll be in shock for a while but at least his expressing sorrow means that he understands. Remember how afraid we were that he would be brain damaged?”
“Yes, I get that, but it’s Magni; his whole identity is to be the strongest warrior and now he’s literally been cut down.”
