Coma

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that it could all end in a split second. One week before finals, two weeks before graduation,#3's childhood friend, a senior in the same Uni, fell off a roof and is lying in an Oakland hospital in a coma.
A beautiful young man, all of 22 years in a coma. #3's world has come to a complete stop.
It didn't seem right to tell her that she has to study for her final exams so I didn't. She has maintained a bedside vigil since the accident, her heart torn, her head heavy. This is not one of those occassions when one can trot out that old mantra 'This too shall pass', because it won't do here. So many others have joined her at his bedside, this is how comfort is delivered.

I don't have any words for her. I am not familiar with the language of this horrific circumstance, so I just ask her if she has eaten or rested. #3 tends to carry the world on her back, with all its barbs and ensuing blisters. She feels everything and for everyone. Rail thin already, she can't afford to not eat.