Evening rolled on, but Ella had yet to come round from her coma.

Mia looked at Zoe’s reddened eyes and said softly, “I’ll watch over her. You should go home, take a bath and get changed. Grab some shut-eye too. How long are you going to last if you keep white-knuckling it? Your dad’s worried sick about you too.”

Zoe responded with a simple “Okay.” Before she left, she took Ella’s hands and said, “Wake up soon, Ella.”

That made Mia feel sad again.

Walking over to Zoe, she asked softly, “I w