3 months ago:

(Just after the incident)

James' POV:

"PIPER!" I yelled as she jumped. A scream was heard and then the sound of her hitting the water resonated everywhere.

There was a moment of silence as it began to sink in that my baby sister could be dead.

"This is all your fault! Why the heck would you say things like that to your own daughter?! You guys drove her to this point and if she dies... I'll never forgive you." I shouted at my dad and brothers as they looked down in guilt and shame.

As I was about to unleash all hell in another rant, Riley tugged on my arm. "Jay, look. There are steps over there! Let's go!" She said, giving my dad and brothers a dirty look, before grabbing onto me and dragging me off to the steps as I glared at them.

We sprinted down the steps onto a sandy area. "You stay here and look, I'll go in." I said, as Riley nodded and began to call Piper's name, walking up and down the sandy area. I took off my jacket and dived into the lake, as I swam around, looking for my sister.

Just as I was about to give up, I heard a weak splash and a gurgling sound. I swam around before finally seeing a small figure splashing around, struggling to keep their head above the water.

"Piper! Hold on, I'm coming for you!" I called out to her, as she let out a broken, strangled scream before disappearing, once again, under the water.

I held onto her, bridal style, and pulled her up to the surface, as she spluttered and coughed. She wriggled and writhed a lot in my hold and cried out in pain; every breath seemed to be absolute agony, and my heart broke for her.

As I was swimming back to the shore, she screamed out in pain once again, and squirmed around; I whispered words of comfort to her but on the inside I was crying at the sight of my sister in pain as I carried her, not able to do anything about it.

She twisted and jerked around a bit more, before the agony got to much for her and she began to lose consciousness.

"Pipes! Please, stay awake. Please!" I cried out, panicking but her eyes were already rolling back into her head and before I knew it, she passed out.

When we finally got back to the shore, an ambulance was already there, with a stretcher laid out, ready. Riley let out a broken cry at the sight of Piper who was already ghostly pale.

"We can't find a pulse." The paramedic called out to his colleagues, as they tried to do some more chest compressions. "It's there! Very faint but it's there!" He called out again, as Riley and I let out sighs of relief.

We weren't allowed to enter the ambulance with Piper but we rushed to our car and followed it all the way to the hospital. When we got there, Piper was rushed to the ER for an emergency surgery, as a doctor stayed behind to explain the extent of her injuries.

"What happened?" The doctor asked gently, as the tears I had been holding in, fell rapidly. "She... she tried t-to...um-" I stammered, not being able to say the words, but thankfully the doctor understood and nodded before writing something down.

"Well, she's in surgery right now due to her injuries. She has 7 broken ribs and 5 of them are fractured. Her wrist is broken and her arm has been fractured. She also fractured 3 of her vertebrae, luckily none were broken. And due to said broken ribs, her right lung has also been punctured." He stated as I held my head in my arms, the tears falling faster.

"However, you're really lucky because your girlfriend here, called the ambulance at the right time. If Piper had been brought in just 10 minutes later, due to the scale and severity of her injuries, I'm not sure she would've survived." The doctor added, patting my shoulder.

He soon left to go check on Piper and her surgery, and when he did, Riley crashed into me before sobbing. "My baby sister. My baby sister." She mumbled as she and I cried.

"We should probably tell A troupe." I said after a while, sniffling. "No need, I already told them after I called the ambulance." She replied, blowing her nose.

"Can you let us in already?" I heard an irritated yet familiar voice ask. It was Richelle. "Yeah, we need to see our best friend." I heard another voice, Amy, say.

Me and Riley looked up simultaneously and saw all of A troupe, including some new people that Piper told me about, standing impatiently at the registration desk.

All of them had red eyes and were constantly sniffling; a few of them were still crying, even Richelle, who I've never seen cry before.

They finally made it past the nurse at the reception, and when they made eye contact with us, they ran over.

"Tell me it's not true. Please, please tell me it isn't true!" Amy choked out, her eyes red and raw. I couldn't say anything so I just gave them a small nod, as some of them burst into tears. "She's not... sh-she's not dead, is she?" A new boy, who was probably Finn, asked, shakily as I shook my head.

"She's in surgery right now." Riley whispered as they all nodded and made themselves comfortable in the waiting room. Some were sitting in the seats next to us, some were standing in front of us and others were sitting on the floor.

Everyone was just devastated as we sat in silence, except for the sobs and sniffles that echoed around the room, as we waited for news on Piper.

What if she died during surgery? I could never live with myself. I wonder what my dad and brothers are doing. I wonder if they feel guilty. When we ran to the car to follow the ambulance, they were standing there with tears in their eyes, as I shook my head and glared at them.

"Here for Piper?" A different doctor asked, many hours later, as we all looked up to meet the doctor's eyes. "Yeah?" I croaked out, scared for what the doctor was about to say.

"The surgery is finished and it was a success." She said with a small smile as we all stood up in excitement to see Piper again.

"Um, it was a success as in she's in a stable condition." The doctor started as we all stopped moving to look at her again. "But..." I urged on as she sighed.

"But she's in a coma, and we don't know when she'll wake up or if she'll ever wake up."