The One after my Heart

Newyork, Brooklyn, Interfaith Medical Hospital

Mitch's bright warm eyes seemed to have grown dark circles around them.

The last two days were exhausting and nerve-wracking for Mitch as he felt the guilt wrap around his consciousness.

He kept passing back and forth on the floor of the room with his eyes on the silent sleeping patient. The beautiful face now had a face cannula under the nose to ease her breathing and was now sleeping on the hospital bed breathing steadily.

Next to the figure was a doctor and a thin young nurse who assisted him.

"How's she doing today, doctor? You keep saying everything's fine. Then why hasn't she woken up yet?" asked Mitch with a worried expression as he faced the spectacled middle aged-person who wore a white doctors coat.

"It's hard to say even for us, Mr Gaffer.", the doctor said with a sigh as he walked over. "Her vitals are stable and there's no concussion or any indication of brain injury. We've conducted repeated tests upon your insistence and we've found nothing. Yet she seems to be in some sort of a coma which is baffling. It's just one of those rare cases."

"How could you be so unsure being the doctor himself! Are you fucking kidding me!!? What the hell are you all doing!!?" said Mitch with his voice rising in anger and startling the young nurse next to the doctor who was worried if she'd to call out for help.

The doctor raised his hands to reassure Mitch. "Calm down Mitch. She's doing much better compared to the state she was when she came in and has recovered steadily. Although we're unsure of how she's gotten into a coma, I can positively say by looking at the medical reports and tests that it should be any time soon that she will wake up soon. Although as a doctor, I must warn you beforehand to be mentally prepared. Some comas can last from days to weeks while some severe cases have lasted several years."

Mitch nodded gravely as he apologised for raising his voice.

"It's alright, it's understandable. Personally, in my experience, I'm postive that she'll wake up anytime soon. It's going soon in just a matter of few days. All I ask from you is to be patient enough, and trust in us and pray to God for your friend to recover soon", said the doctor pushing his spectacles upwards on his nose and gesturing to his nurse to move on to the next patient.

Mitch thanked the doctor and apologised once again as he sent him off. He sat down on the chair next to Kyra's bed on her right side as he looked at her worriedly.

He really liked this woman and even had a secret crush on her for quite a while now, though he never had the courage to act upon it. Although Kyra was all smiles and friendly with people around her, he'd always feel there was a wall around her that kept others at a distance.

He had known Kyra was an orphan. Perhaps, she'd put a wall up between her and others in order to never get hurt.

What if she just looks at me like just some sort of a brotherly figure or just a good friend or just as her boss?' he thought. Hence he never did anything that would drive her away from him. He had always kept waiting for the right moment.

Although on the night of new year's eve, he'd definitely sensed something a little different from her this time when they shared a quick awkward kiss. He didn't know if it was his illusion, but he swore he could feel her lower her walls around him a little bit.

And then this had to happen. 

He rubbed his tired eyes and thought back to the events of the night that had occurred. Some of the things that had happened were quite confusing to him.

He remembered Kyra calling for help that night and himself running towards her.

He saw the three figures behind her and realised these were probably the same ones who tried making trouble at his bar today.

And then, like a scene from a slow-motion movie, he even caught sight of one of the men hitting Kyra's head from behind as Mitch ran towards them.

As he ran towards her, he felt his eyes get blinded for a brief moment, starling him and blinding his vision in his tears. Probably it was the alcohol he had drunk tonight during the celebration, he thought.

And then at the next moment, when Mitch regained his vision, he saw Kyra on the ground, knocked out with her situation unknown.

What followed later was an angry Mitch who grabbed and beat the hell out of the three scums with just his bare fists. He broke the lower jaw of the blonde-haired guy and cracked two of the persona ribs as he punched him mercilessly. And then in swift move somehow ducked out of instinct as he felt someone ambush him from behind and lunged at his attacker instead. He managed to pry the same metal rod from the person's hands. It was the same guy who hit Kyra from behind moments ago.

Mitch broke the latter's kneecaps with the metal rod, shattering it, with the man squealing out like a pig. After which, he knocked the third guy with the goatee on his face on the head with the same rod and proceeded to punch the daylights out of him with his bare fists.

By the time the cops arrived, there were four bodies on the ground, with one whose current situation was unknown. Luckily Mitch knew the local police authorities and even had managed to gain a little influence over the years. The three criminals would suffer and be sentenced on charges of assault and much more. Their fates were sealed. If on the off chance that they managed to get out of this, then Mitch swore to himself that he would hunt and kill them himself.

What actually stunned Mitch was, when he got into the ambulance with Kyra, he noticed the clothes on her was different from what she wore that night. She had some sort of long muddy green cloaked robes that seemed covered in dirt, along with few cuts here and there on the robes she wore . It was as though she had dressed for some Halloween event. In fact even the shoes she wore looked different from the usual fur boots he had seen her wearing.

Did she change her clothes around the block after she said goodbye? Mitch clearly remembered she wore her red jacket on her as she left after closing up.

'Or did I drink too much that night that my memory has got muddled up?' he wondered to himself. Perhaps Kyra had some sort of plans to attend a themed after-party or something?

As he was wrapped up in his thoughts, the doors to the room opened up with a red-haired fair young woman with frizzy hair and cute freckles walking in holding a duffle bag.

"Maggie", greeted Mitch as he nodded at her.

"A few cops outside want to have a word with you.", the red-haired woman pointed with her thumbs backwards at the door as she made her way it.

"I'm here to take over and send you home. I've taken the pets back home from Ky's apartment. Richard will be back home from his parents' tonight, so Lucy and Max are covered. Go get some sleep, Mitch. You've been here for a while now. Just look at yourself" Maggie said pointing at his haggard, tired appearance.

Before Mitch could open his mouth, she interrupted. "I won't be taking a no, so don't even waste your time arguing back. They need you there at the pub. Let Marcos know I won't be there to help out tonight. Besides, it'll just be like any other girl night out for me and my sister here."

As soon as she'd heard the news, Maggie had left everything at her in-laws and rushed back to Brooklyn in worry.

"Okay. Call me if you need anything."

"Yeah yeah, now buzz off, Boss."

Mitch shook his head inwardly but nodded at Maggie's orders. This assistant chef of his was quite nasty and scary, especially when she got angry. This warm red-haired beauty was quite fierce and protective when it came to Kyra. He knew they were as close as sisters by now over the years.

There was this one time when Kyra had just started working at Gaffer's pub that Maggie accidentally noticed two drunk customers trying to harass the latter in Mitch's absence.

A few customers from the nearby tables had noticed this, but none came forward to help.

Kyra was a new hire here back then didn't know how to deal with the two of them without making a scene at this fancy new place filled with people to the brim.

Before she could react appropriately, Maggie showed up with a cold look in her eyes, wearing a chef apron with a huge meat chopping knife in her hand. She walked over in front of the two drunk men. She struck the large sharp meat-chopping knife on the table, having the blade nearly pierce through the polished wood as it made a dent.

And then Maggie slowly turned towards the duo, with her red head slightly titled downwards as she looked at their faces and said in a low voice," We're out of chicken sausages. I...need to...cut... more..."

In an instant the whole noisy pub went silent, with the crowd acting like cicadas hibernating in winter.

Needless to say, the two men nearly pissed themselves as they scrambled away, but not before forgetting to generously tip Kyra as they ran on their way out.

Forget the crowd that night, as a matter of fact even Mitchell's staff were afraid of this woman. This included their main chef , Marcos ,who was scared to offend her especially after the one time when she'd threatened to fry his 'quail eggs' and nearly spilt hot oil in the kitchen over his pants just because he uttered an off-handed sexist comment about Kyra that evening as he looked at her from behind.

'Crazy Bandit' That's what the staff had nicknamed her.

If Maggie weren't engaged to some unlucky guy they eventually met when the couple got engaged, the staff would definitely have thought things the wrong way. That Kyra and Maggie were a thing.

"Alright, I'm off then. I'll come by later", Mitch said as he sighed and stood up with a weary body.

Maggie took the seat that he was sitting down on and held her friend's hand with a gentle look in her eyes as she gently brushed Kyra's forehead bangs.

"Wake up soon my sister. I miss you already."

"Hey Mitch", Maggie called out to the figure that was now leaving with a hunch.

"Yeah?" He turned around.

"Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. You did everything you could. It's going to be fine." nodded Maggie at her Boss, throwing a glance at his bruised fists, who now wore a guilty look on his face blaming himself.

Mitch nodded back gratefully and left, saying he'd drop by soon.

Maggie cast an affectionate glance with a smile at her best friend as she sat on Kyra's right side.

"I know you'll be awake soon girl,won't you? Now let's kill some time. Say, what do you think we should watch, Kyra?",

Still holding onto Kyra's right hand, she turned around in her chair to look for the remote so as to switch on the television in front of them.

The fingers on the young woman's left hand, who laid next to Maggie on the hospital bed in a paralysed state, twitched briefly as though in response to her question.