Knowing that they could do nothing but wait, the Coons family just sat and waited. Waited for anything, anything that would tell them how she was or even what happened. When Deb received the phone call, all the man had said was she was being treated in the ER at Hollywood Community Hospital. No details, no time frame. They had no choice...waiting was all there was to do.
He didn't know how long it had been since they arrived, was it five minutes that seemed to drag on for hours, or had it been longer? All he knew was that the love of his life was fighting for her own somewhere behind those large wooden doors. And he knew nothing was ever going to be the same. If she didn't pull through and fight off whatever it was causing this nightmare, he would die. She was too big a part of his life now. And if she did make it through the darkness, this would weigh on their shoulders for a long time to come. He knew this was not going to be something that was easily covered up and forgotten. Raleigh was fighting for her life, and they were all fighting not to break down and cry.
Finally, a doctor, clad in his lab coat, came out to speak with them. "Mr. And Mrs. Coons? I'm doctor Richards." He shook their hands politely, but never offered them a smile. They knew whatever it was he had to tell them about their daughter, was not good news. "Raleigh is stable, we were able to get a response from her finally."
"Oh thank heavens." Deb breathed a large sigh of relief as she leaned against her husband, who wrapped his arms around her for comfort.
"Doctor, why is she here in this condition? What happened?"
"Mr. Coons, from what little information we were able to gather from the young man who brought her in, we found out your daughter was at a Christmas party tonight. She had a large amount of cocaine and ecstasy in her system so we had to pump her stomach and then her lungs gave out. We put her on a ventilator that will continue to breathe for her until she wakes up and begins to breathe on her own." Pausing, the Coons knew there was more to come, more that was probably much worse. "Her blood alcohol levels were well over the legal limit as well. And since she is underage and these drugs are highly illegal, we are under obligation to report this to the authorities. When she wakes up officer Jones will be here to take her statement."
Shaking her head, Deb finally let a tear fall freely down her cheek. What had they done wrong with her? What made her do the things she did? "Can we see her?"
Nodding, Doctor Richards turned and led them down the hallway to their daughter's room. Seeing the fragile looking girl laying motionless on the bed with all those wires hooked to her from various machines, Deb ran to her daughter's side and cried harder. She almost lost her baby girl. What had been happening at school that Raleigh wasn't telling? Why had she resorted to using drugs? Was it the pressure to fit in? Or had she been forced to do things she wouldn't normally do? The Raleigh they all knew would never do things like this.
But was she still really the Raleigh they all knew?
