Chapter 35

Colson pov

After leaving the mall so frantically I felt so out of whack. I carried Casie to the parking lot and we kind of just stood there. I was thinking but Casie was looking up waiting for me to unlock the door. The news from the doctor made me question so much. Latoya had went to the center to get better, not to get worse. Last time I checked, the key part of getting better is being alive and healthy. Like if you get in a car accident, the whole point of going to the hospital is getting help from the doctors. Maybe I was just too blinded by ignorance and uneducated on those with psychological issues.

To be completely honest I was sick of how my life was turning out. Nothing seemed to go right and it seemed to be as if I was the main cause of it all. If I hadn't left Monica, she'd be fine, we may have even been able to makeup. If I would've known what would've happened to Latoya, I would have given her the support she needed. I would of made sure every chance that was thrown my way I would have taken Casie to go see her mom. Life was crazy how one day someone was in your life and the next moment they were snatched away from you. One day, I just want to settle down with a nice girl who understands what I do for a living and loves Casie the same as I do. Monica was my only chance at that and there was a huge chance I either ruined it for good or she would never come back.

While beating myself up I was interrupted by my phone vibrating in my pocket.

Oh god, not another phone call. Please say they didn't call back with more news, although it can't get worst then death. I thought.

I looked at my phone and let out a breath of relief. This time there was no creepy unknown number, but a friend.

"Hey Dub!" I said as I answered the phone.

"Aye wassup man!" He responded.

"Nothing really, just being crazy ole me!"

"Oh okay, just wanted to see if you could possibly come pick me up from the airport. I wanted to call a cab and surprise you but the Wood's called me informing me that you weren't there and that you may have gotten out to get your mind straight. Something about you may have gotten some upsetting news."

"Yeah, nothing is seeming to go right, but I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Alright, see you later man! I actually have a lot of good news to tell you maybe it'll lighten the mood."

I hung up the phone feeling a little more at ease than I did before the call. I'm glad that I'd be home with a good hometown friend. At a time like this, having someone to talk to was a blessing.

"You ready to go Casie?" I asked.

"Uh huh, I want to go home and play with my new dolls!" She said ecstatic.

"Well first we're going to go pick up uncle Dub from the airport and then we're going home! Sound like a plan?"

"Yep!"

I pressed the button on the keychain to unlock the doors. Casie jumped in her usual seat in the back as I walked to the trunk to make sure there was room for Dub's bag. After moving some stuff out of the way, I walked back to the front of the car and got into the drivers seat.

As I drove to the airport I played a Kidz Bop album that I found in the glove compartment. I couldn't believe the Wood's didn't have an aux cord or a better album in here. Though the music was terrible, I couldn't knock it because Casie was happily singing along in the back. Her happiness is all I wanted right now because later she would soon have to hear about her mother's death. Telling her about Monica was one thing, but how do you tell a child that their mother died? Either way it seemed so brutal, whether I was being delicate or not.

We finally arrived at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to go pick up Dub. Casie had fell asleep against the window with her new dolls in her hand. I laughed at the site and took a picture of my baby girl. I decided to upload it to Instagram with that caption "Rockstars play with dolls too!😂💯" Within seconds the fans were going crazy and I had 800 likes and over 300 comments. I guess I left my fans waiting too long as it had been awhile since I posted a picture.

After I was done scrolling through my feed and comments I shoved my phone in my pocket and grabbed Casie. I carried her into the airport as I scoped out the perimeter in search for Dub.

"Aye! Kells, I'm over here man!" Dub said from the other side of the airport.

He slowly approached us with two suitcases and a backpack.

"What's up man?" I finally said.

"Nothing much but let's get out of here, I got a lot to inform you on and if I tell you here you might want to fly back to Cali." Dub answered.

"I could use some good news, I'll tell you what's going on when I explain it to sleeping beauty over here." I said as I motioned my head to Casie.

I started to walk and Dub followed along with his belongings. We occasionally got stopped by awesome fans who had fan art to give us and share their EST tattoos with us. I posed for a few pictures and Dub showcased a few bars before we officially left.

When we got to the car I put Casie in her car seat and then helped Dub put his stuff in the trunk. We both hopped in the car and lucky enough Dub passed me an aux cord he had in his backpack.

"You are a lifesaver bro! I was getting tired of this Kidz Bop, it is downright horrible!" I said.

"Man, if I was you I would've just listened to the radio." Dub responded.

"I forget the numbers of all the good radio stations!"

"That's true, but aye! You want the news now or later?"

"I want to hear it now maybe it'll help me not think too much about this whole Latoya situation."

"Well the good news is yesterday, right after you left Monica had a spike in brain activity. At first we were like this doesn't really explain anything. This was until the doctors had told us that they have noticed her eyes are moving and she gaining back motor control. This could mean that there is a high chance that Monica will be waking up really really soon!"

Could this possibly be true, if it is I am the most excited that I've been in awhile. Monica waking up is what I've been waiting for and the fact that I'll get to see her glowing skin that was once pale from the lack of life was too amazing to be true.

"I really need to get this off my chest and just ask. Why did all of you agree that I needed to come home?" I asked though I didn't want to ruin the happy moment.

"To be honest, we didn't want you to do anything that would bring attention to yourself and potentially hurt your career." He said.

"Why couldn't you guys just say that, I would've listened. I wanted to come home but not feeling like this. I still feel like I should be there and now that she's progressing that's where I.. We belong."

"Yeah, I understand that now but you know how you are. Sometimes you get a little carried away and we need to make sure you stay sane."

We finally pulled up to the Latoya's parents' home. It was around five o'clock so I knew they were probably starting on dinner. I got out of the car and popped the trunk for Dub before grabbing Casie to taking her inside. Since I needed to talk to her about her mother I laid her on the couch in the living room.

At the sight of my face I could tell that Shirley had something to say.

"You got the news this morning, I'm guessing." She said as I was tucking Casie in her favorite blanket.

"Yeah, I can't believe she's gone. We weren't on the best of terms but she still was loved by her family and Casie." I said.

"I know, it seems like yesterday she was calling home saying how she was feeling better."

"Wait, how did you guys find out? The doctor said I was the only name and number on her forms."

"We went up there, right before we picked you up from the airport. We wanted to visit her because it had been a couple days. When we got there they said that they had just cleaned up her room. Then one of the nurses came in crying, said that Latoya was dead. Casie already knows, she's just in shock but I believe when she gets older she'll realize what happened."

"I can't believe she knows already, she's so happy and it seems as if nothing has happened."

"She said that mommy was in heaven now and that she would no longer have to hurt herself or other people."

"Wow, I hate how these things keep happening."

The fact that Casie knew about her mother kept me in high spirits. I wasn't going to have to break her heart by telling her about it. I felt like she shouldn't have heard it from me anyway, I didn't truly love her and cherish her like her own parents did.

Dub made a sound due to the rustling of his suitcase and at that moment I realized that he had been here the whole time. He looked hurt but that's what it seemed like we had been going through all of our lives, losing people. From friends going to jail to the ones who lost their lives to the hard streets of Cleveland.

***5 Days later***

Monica pov

Dream: "Please stop following me! Can't you see, my life hasn't been this complicated till I met you." Colson looked so destroyed, why did I tell him that. I should've told him that I like him so much and all I wanted was for him to feel the same. For him to be the man that I want him to be, a man that is loyal enough to be called a good boyfriend. The last thing I told him was that he needed a therapist and even though that's what I felt at the time I'm not sure how he took that.

I imagine myself turning around for the last time waiting for Trevante to hit me with the rock before then I woke up from a loud pop that sounded like a gunshot.

I jumped due to the scary noise and I saw my arm with in IV attached to it and a hospital bed. Slim, Rook, and Ash were all asleep with their heads on the bed I was in. Dre was enjoying a bag a chips that I assumed was the cause of the popping noise.

"What's going on?" I ask voice filled with concern.

Dre jumps at the sound of my voice before turning around to face me. He looked at me skeptically as if I was a talking animal and he couldn't believe that words were actually coming out of my mouth.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! This isn't real, man! Slim told me I smoked to much!" He said.

I giggled and then straightened my face.

"I'm serious Dre, what's going on? Why am I here? How long have I been here? Where is Dub and Colson?" I asked.

"Monica, you've been in a coma for a month or so. Slim found you in the back of the club and your clothes had been messed with and loads of blood was coming out of the back of your head. We thought we were going to lose you!" Dre said getting closer to me and examining my face.

I began to cry, I wasn't truly sure why I was crying but my brain was just overflown with thoughts.

"I'm sorry Monica, I didn't mean to say anything I shouldn't of." Dre said as he hugged me.

I continued to sob as there was so much to truly be sad about. I had missed a whole month, that was time that could've been used to be setting goals and making things right. I know I wasn't the only one who was missing out because of this. If everyone was laying right here who knows what opportunities they must've gave up to be at my bed side.

"I guess Colson couldn't put his life on hold for me." I said through a fake laugh still obviously sad.

"Actually, he would've given everything to be here." Dre said.

"Yeah, everything but his career."

"That's not why he's not here Monica. He's not here because we made him go back to Cleveland! He was the only one without a doubt who had even a sliver of hope that you'd make it out alive! He was up here every single second of the day praying that you'd wake up! Now I don't know what happened between y'all before that night but Kells loves you girl! He'd do anything for you and you should know that!"

I started to feel more and more tears come as I came to the realization that Dre was right. It was Colson who came and saved me from Trevante when I was pinned against that wall. It was him who punched David in the face when he thought that he had broken my heart. Time after time, Colson had went out of his way for me and it went unnoticed.

Slim woke up from the shaking of the bed due to my crying and trembling, it was extremely cold in this hospital. When he looked at me his jaw dropped and eyes widened. I could tell that this was going to be the happiest moment that he's probably had in weeks. He rubbed his eyes one good time before looking at me again. After I guess he realized his eyes were deceiving him he woke up Ashley and Rook. They both also looked at me in shock and exchanged looks at each other.

"You guys do know I can see, right?" I say through a fit of giggles.

God it felt great to laugh, speak, see the world around me. I feel like I've been trapped in my motionless body for way too long. They all began to laugh and then took turns hugging me.

"This is amazing! I should go get a doctor!! I'll see you in a minute Monica!" Ashley said before leaving the room.

"How does it feel to be like alive again?" Rook asked.

"I was in a coma not dead, but I don't know. At times I felt like I was aware of the life that was going on around me but then there were time where everything was black." I answered.

"I'm glad to have you back lil sis, it's been way too long. I was beginning to feel like it wasn't worth it anymore." Slim said hugging me again for a second time.

"I'm glad to be back, I honestly just want to go back to boring ole Cleveland and just see from there."

"Don't worry as soon as you're in the clear we are taking you on a one way trip out of here!"

"Sounds like a plan!"

Ashley and a man in a white coat with dark green scrubs enter the room. He looks at me just as shocked as everyone did earlier. Me surviving must've been a real miracle by the looks of everyone's reaction.

"Monica, it is good to see that you are awake, we would like to do some further testing and if everything checks out you can go home." The doctor said.

Everyone cheered with excitement and they all thanked the doctor.

"We should tell Dub and Kells the good news!" Dre says.

"No, I have a better idea." I said with a smirk.

"We're listening." They all said in unison.

"When we all fly home we should stop by and surprise them."

"That's a good idea, I'm down with that!" Dre said.

"Wow, you just woke up and you're already back to plotting!" Ash said.

We all bursted out in laughter. A nurse in turquoise scrubs came in and adjusted my bed and unplugged it out of the wall. She had brought in a wheel chair that I was assuming that was for me since she was leveling out my bed, so I sat up.

"How are you feeling Monica?" She asked, she was so polite and her eyes were soft and kind.

"I'm doing extremely well, thank you!" I said.

"That's great to hear, we are going to take you to go get some scans to see if there is any brain trauma we should be aware of."

"Alrighty! Bye guys, I'll see you in a little bit."

I got up and sat in the wheel chair. They all waved goodbye to me and the nurse began to push me in the chair that she had brought with her. She wheeled me into the elevator where this old couple were debating about how long they had been together. I was on the old woman's side, we're always right. When we got to the right floor she wheeled me to this very small room with a tube thing that I figured I was going to have to lay in.

"You are going to lay in here and the doctor and I are going to tell you to get in a series of position so we can see your brain. After that you are going to sit back in the chair and we are going to get x-rays of your brain to make sure there are no skull fractures." The nurse said.

"Okay, sounds good!" I said with a smile before getting into the scanning machine.

This was a pretty weird experience, I wasn't usually scared to be in tight spaces but this made me feel uncomfortable. The doctor told me to turn a total of four times before I was ordered to sit back in the wheel chair.

"Your scans came out clean! No disease such as cancer or Alzheimer's or anything for that matter were found in the images. You have a very healthy brain, this was a miracle. I am very happy for you, now nurse Johnson will be doing your x-rays and you will be free to go home." The doctor said.

"Thank you so much, for everything. I know you probably lost your hope and plus this was just another case for you but I'm glad you continued doing your job." I said.

"You're welcome, you take care now!" He said before leaving.

The nurse took ten x-rays before she started rolling me back to my room. Oddly the old couple were still arguing in the elevator. Maybe they were confused and didn't know which floor they were on.

"Lauren I'm telling you, it's been 47 years." The old man says.

"We got married in '68 Harold! It's been 50 years."

I didn't mean to laugh but for some reason I did. I asked the nurse if she had her phone so I could use her calculator and solve this feud. When she handed me her phone I punched in 2015-1968 and I got 47. The old man was actually right!

"Lauren of you don't mind, I'd like to tell you that Harold is right. I did the math and you guys have been married for 47 years. I have it right here if you'd like to see it." I said holding up the phone.

"God bless you." Harold said to me before the elevator opened.

I thanked him and wish that him and Lauren have a long and safe blessed lives. They both thanked me in return and wished me to get well. The nurse laughed as I handed her back her phone.

"You really have an effect on people." She said.

"Thank you, I actually wasn't trying! I just wanted them to stop arguing." I said as I laughed.

"Well, it was a joy working on your case and I really hope everything works out for you at home! Would you like to try to walk to your room from here?"

"Thank you and I would love to, actually. See if these legs are as strong as they used to be!"

I got up and started to walk when I turned around to wave the nurse goodbye she was gone. I felt like I owed her so much for being so generous to me! I walked to my room and my belongings were packed up and Slim and Dre were the only ones in the room.

"If we're going straight to the airport from here, I'd like to change first. This isn't exactly public material." I said looking down at my hospital gown.

"That's fair!" Slim said before hugging me again.

"Rook and Ashley went to the hotel to go pack all of our things so we can meet them at the airport." Dre said.

I nodded okay as I was searching through my clothes for something to wear. I put on a black and white maxi dress with sleeves. I got changed in the bathroom across the hall from my room and couldn't believe my eyes. This was the first time I was looking through a mirror since I guess the night this all happened. I adjusted my dress and washed my face in the sink before leaving.

"I'm ready to go!" I told Slim and Dre with so much excitement.

We headed out and when we reached the front desk I signed my name out and there was a cab waiting for us when we got outside. Yes! The sight of nature! Trees, squirrels, concrete, the blue sky! I was alive and there was no other feeling like this.

We got to the airport in what seemed like five minutes and like Dre said, Ash and Rook were waiting for us.

"I got the tickets, we need to start heading over the plane takes off in 35 minutes." Ashley says.

We all nod our heads and start walking towards the designated area. Oh how excited I am to be on my way to Cleveland soil! I just want to be home and relax and see my friends.

****8 hours later****

"Aye Slim, you wouldn't happen to still have a tracker on Monica's phone?" Dre said from the front of the van.

"You had a tracker on my phone?" I said calmly, I had just got out of coma there was no need to be anything but happy.

"Yeah, it was a long time ago." Slim said.

"Oh, I just asked because if this whole surprise thing going to work we going to have to find out where they at without asking them. When Dub came down here he brought the other half of her stuff and her phone was in one of the bags." Dre said.

"Alright." Slim said before checking his phone.

When he found and address he told Dre, the place was very close to the airport so we didn't have to ride far after such a long plane ride. We pulled up to a very nice two story house that looked very well kept. In the driveway was an SUV so we pulled up beside it. We all filed out of the car, ready to surprise both Dub and Colson.

"Okay, so Monica you're going to ring the doorbell, when they see you they're going to think they're tripping." Rook said.

When I got to the door I felt nervous, this is the first time I'm seeing Colson since I woke up. I rung the doorbell then knocked just in case it didn't work. An older looking man that I had never seen before answered the door.

Uh oh this isn't good! This was not apart of the plan! I thought.

"You must be Monica." The man whispered with a nice smile.

"Um.. Uh. Yes sir, I am Monica. How did you know?" I answered shyly.

"You match the description very well, would you like to come in? He asked.

"Yes please, but it's a surprise we kind of all planned to come here and surprise Colson."

"That's okay and who is we?"

"Oh, my friends and I! You all can come in, I guess we can all walk in together." I said turning around.

The man opened the door wider, I was the first one to walk in then Rook, Dre, Slim, and finally Ashley. We walked into the living room where there was an older women watching some cartoon and a child on her lap. As I got closer I realized it was Casie but she was out like a light.

"Colson, there's a package for you downstairs!" The man says.

Colson came down the stairs like a lightning bolt and when he made it down he looked straight at me. I felt my body freeze and my mind wondered as I didn't know what to do. This was the first time I had looked at him since that night and I had so many things to say to him.

"That's our cue to exit." Ashley said.

The man who opened the door led them all out to a screened in patio and that only left the both of us in the house alone. Colson and I were still frozen in place wondering who would make the first move. He eventually started walking towards me and we were now face to face. I felt like in any second I was just going to melt away. Colson lifted my face and kissed my cheek, I blushed so hard and smiled at the ground.

"I've missed you like crazy, you don't even know." He said.

"I'm sorry, I should've stayed with you. You were only trying to help and I just..." I started before Colson interrupted.

"That's in the past now, we're in the future and as long as you're healthy we'll be fine." He said as he grabbed my hand.

"I can't wait for this future, you have planned!"

I leaped into Colson's arm, he held me tight and then pecked my lips before putting me down.

"I can't wait either!"