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Three Years in a Coma—They Moved On Without Me
Novelix
Completed
"The day before my wedding, I got into a car accident trying to save my fiancé, Ethan, and fell into a coma. Three years later, I wake up expecting the life I left behind. Instead, I find Ethan married to my sister, Emma. My family knew the truth all along. They watched me make wedding plans with Emma, never telling me she had already taken my place. Then I discover the truth about the day of my accident—and realize that while I was fighting to survive, the people I loved were already building a new life without me."
Chapters (3)
第1章
The day before my wedding, I got into a car accident saving my fiancé, Ethan.
I ended up in a vegetative state.
Before I lost consciousness, Ethan held my hand, tears streaming down his face.
“Claire, you have to wake up. I’m still waiting for you to be my wife.”
Mom and my best friend, Sophie, were crying too, begging me to get better.
Three years later, I finally wake up. But instead, everyone falls silent.
Mom just says, “Well, at least you’re awake.”
Sophie secretly pulls the doctor aside.
“I thought you said the chances of her waking up were really low?”
Only Ethan grits his teeth and says he’ll keep his promise to marry me.
I’m thrilled.
Right there in the hospital room, I get my little sister, Emma, to help me pick out a wedding dress, look at hotels, and plan our honeymoon.
Emma’s face goes pale, but she forces a smile.
“How about Bali? It’s beautiful. Perfect for a honeymoon.”
That’s when I notice the wedding ring on her ring finger.
“Emma, when did you get married? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her expression changes, and she quickly pulls her hand back.
But I’ve already seen the letters on the ring.
E.C.
Ethan Carter's initials.
And then I understand.
In the three years I was asleep, my fiancé had already married my little sister.
……
The sunlight in my hospital room is painfully bright.
I stare blankly at what’s in front of me.
Mom has red-rimmed eyes. Sophie is silent.
And Ethan stands behind them, tightly holding and protecting Emma.
That’s when I notice her baby bump. She’s clearly pregnant.
Ethan and I had a baby once, too.
When I first got pregnant, he was like any other first-time dad, awkwardly learning how to take care of a baby.
He bought tons of baby toys ahead of time. He even had an expensive crib specially made overseas.
Then our baby died.
He held my hand, tears streaming down his face, and told me we’d have another baby someday.
Now he’s finally going to be a father again. But the mother is my little sister.
My best friend, Sophie, and I went to college together.
Then we started working together.
We even promised to be each other’s bridesmaids.
And now she clears her throat, finally breaking the silence.
“Claire, don’t blame them.”
“The doctors said the chances of you waking up were really low. Your mom’s getting older and needs someone to look after her. And Ethan… he had his reasons.”
When Mom first met Ethan, she had tears in her eyes and made him swear he would treat me well.
But now she carefully reaches for my hand.
“Emma didn’t mean to hurt you. She took care of you every day while you were in a coma. You should be grateful to her.”
I pull my hand away without thinking.
I can’t process any of it.
I just stare at Ethan and Emma, their fingers tightly intertwined.
My mind flashes back to three years ago.
Ethan was down on one knee, his eyes shining.
“Claire, I’ll wait for you. I swear I’ll marry you. Three years, thirty years, my whole life. I’ll wait.”
His promise still seems to echo in my ears.
Outside the window, the leaves turn green, then yellow, then fall, only to grow back again.
Three whole years.
Everyone has moved on. Everyone except me.
I’m still trapped in this hospital room. Trapped three years in the past.
My chest aches so badly I can barely breathe.
Seeing that I still haven’t said a word, Emma suddenly drops to her knees.
“Claire, I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”
But next second, she grabs her stomach, her face going pale.
Ethan reacts instantly. He picks her up and rushes out.
“Emma! Are you okay? Somebody get a doctor!”
Mom and Sophie hurry after them.
The way Ethan rushes away looks exactly like it did three years ago, on the day I got hurt.
Back then, he held me in his arms in the ambulance, trembling as he kept calling my name.
“Claire, wake up. Don’t go to sleep…”
“Once you’re better, we’ll get married. Please don’t leave me…”
I bury my face in my knees. My eyes sting.
Even when I was in a coma, I could still sense things.
During those long three years, his words became the reason I kept fighting to wake up.
I thought I’d wake up to a happy ending.
But it turns out our story had already ended three years ago.
第2章
I keep waiting in my hospital room.
By the time it gets dark, no one has come back.
My phone is still the same model I had three years ago. It stopped working a long time ago.
I struggle out of bed and make my way home from memory.
Our front door has been changed to a fingerprint lock.
I hesitantly press my finger against it.
A harsh beep sounds, and a red light flashes.
“Wrong password.”
The cold voice seems to remind me that I’m the one who doesn’t belong here anymore.
I jump and quickly pull my hand back.
With nowhere else to go, I crouch down outside the door.
I don’t know how long I wait.
My legs are already numb from crouching.
Finally, I see them.
Sophie is talking nonstop.
Mom is carrying a bag of nutritional supplements.
Ethan is helping Emma walk, leaning down to say something to her. Her cheeks turn red.
The moment they see me, everyone freezes.
“What are you doing here?”
Ethan frowns.
There’s concern in his voice, the same familiar concern I remember.
“You just woke up and ran out of the hospital? What were you thinking?”
Then he enters Emma’s birthday into the lock.
The door unlocks.
We walk inside.
Everything is completely different from what I remember.
A huge wedding photo of Ethan and Emma hangs on the wall.
The master bedroom has been redecorated in Emma’s favorite pink.
Even the family photo has changed. I’m not in it anymore.
There’s nothing left of me in this house.
Sophie sighs and takes my hand.
“Claire, please don’t take this the wrong way.”
“None of us thought you’d ever wake up…”
Her voice gets quieter. But I understand exactly what she means.
They assumed I was never coming back. So they erased everything that belonged to me and started a new life.
Mom quickly tries to smooth things over.
“Claire, come eat. You haven’t had Mom’s cooking in years. Come on, try some.”
The table is covered with spicy food and seafood.
Emma loves spicy food.
I’m allergic to seafood.
Mom used to remember that.
But three years is a long time.
I don’t touch my food. I watch Mom put food onto Emma’s plate.
“Eat more. Look how thin you’ve gotten.”
Ethan peels shrimp for her.
He removes the bones from her fish and gently wipes the food from the corner of her mouth.
Sophie eats while sharing all the latest news.
And suddenly, I feel like a complete stranger at someone else’s table.
I mechanically take a few bites and silently think about three years ago.
Back then, Ethan was staying up late working on a proposal for a promotion. He told me that once he got a raise, he’d buy me my favorite bag.
Emma had just gotten into grad school. Mom was so happy that she invited relatives and friends over for dinner.
She was so happy she could probably smile in her sleep.
Sophie was always coming over to eat at our house.
At night, she and I would lie in the same bed and talk until midnight.
They used to be the people closest to me.
Why did I wake up to find them all so distant?
A pair of chopsticks places a piece of fish in my bowl.
It’s Emma.
“Claire, eat something.”
I’m a little lost. I quietly answer, “I don’t feel like eating.”
Mom suddenly drops her chopsticks.
“Ever since you woke up, you’ve had that look on your face! We’ve done everything we can to make you comfortable. If you’re unhappy about something, just say it. Stop acting like we all owe you something!”
Emma turns away and quietly wipes the corner of her eye.
Ethan pulls her into his arms and comforts her. Then he looks at me coldly.
My chest tightens so badly I can barely breathe.
I don’t know what to say.
Am I supposed to hate Emma?
She’s my little sister. I practically raised her.
When she was three, she had a fever of 104 degrees. I carried her through the rain for two miles to the hospital.
When she was in high school and some troublemakers followed her, I stood in front of them and told her to run. They beat me so badly I ended up with a split head.
When her first breakup left her depressed, I quit my job and took her on trips. I held her and told her she still had me.
I know she didn’t mean to hurt me.
But who’s going to pay for the three years they left me behind?
Dinner ends in silence.
Afterward, Mom gives me an awkward look.
“Emma and Ethan sleep in the master bedroom now. I use one of the spare rooms, and Sophie uses the other. So… maybe you can sleep on the couch for now?”
Ethan looks at me and frowns slightly.
“The living room gets cold at night.”
He brings out a blanket and makes up the couch for me.
I awkwardly thank him. The bitterness inside me only grows.
I never thought we could go from being so close to being this distant.
That night, I can’t sleep.
Then I hear muffled moans coming from the master bedroom.
The bed creaks rhythmically. It’s Ethan and Emma having sex.
“Ethan, slow down. Don’t hurt the baby…”
My whole body goes rigid. That’s the bed Ethan and I picked out together.
Back then, he told me, “We need a big one. When we have kids, the three of us can all fit.”
Then he paused and gave me a wicked smile.
“And it better be soft. And sturdy.”
I playfully punched him on the shoulder.
Now the memory cuts straight through me.
I curl up under the blanket and break down, crying silently.
第3章
I don’t finally drift off until morning.
My sleep is restless, filled with dreams. In them, Ethan is still the same man he was three years ago.
When I wake up again, Mom is dragging a few boxes out of the storage room to throw away.
She sees me and looks a little awkward.
“They’re just things we don’t need anymore. Keeping them would only take up space.”
Inside are my college textbooks, clothes from three years ago, and gifts I bought for them with my own paycheck.
They’re memories from my entire life, proof that I was once part of this family.
And now, they’re nothing but junk taking up space.
A dull ache settles in my chest. Then I see the small urn in Emma’s hand, and I freeze.
Ethan wipes the sweat from her forehead. “You’re pregnant. Don’t handle dirty things. What if something happens to the baby?”
My heart sinks. I stare at him in disbelief.
Three years ago, I went into premature labor when I was seven months pregnant. The baby didn’t survive.
Ethan had the baby cremated and put the ashes into this urn.
He held me and promised we’d have another baby someday.
But now, there’s no future for the two of us.
Even this little urn has been forgotten, treated like some useless piece of trash.
“That’s mine! Give it back!” I scream.
I lunge forward and snatch the urn from her hands.
Emma is startled and falls.
A large hand shoves me to the ground. The urn breaks, and shards cut my palm.
Ignoring the pain, I scramble to gather the ashes from the floor.
Ethan grabs my arm, his jaw tight with anger.
“Are you done? It’s just a broken urn! Emma’s pregnant, and you’re willing to hurt her over this?”
Mom helps Emma to her feet, then immediately turns on me.
“You only think about yourself. Did you ever think about your sister?”
Sophie frowns too, her expression cold.
“Your coma wasn’t our fault. Stop guilt-tripping everyone around you!”
I stare at them in shock. My chest feels hollow, and I’m shaking so badly I can barely stand.
Everything I’ve been holding back finally explodes.
Tears stream down my face as I scream at them.
“My own sister slept with my fiancé. Why did nobody think about what that would do to me?”
“You two got together while I was in a vegetative state. Did any of you ever think about how I’d feel?”
The slap leaves me frozen in place.
My cheek swells instantly, and the corner of my mouth burns.
I clutch my cheek and stare at Mom in disbelief.
She looks at me with nothing but disappointment.
“Emma didn’t do anything wrong! They were already together three years ago. We all knew!”
“The day you got hurt, Ethan was going to tell you everything!”
Emma quickly grabs Mom’s hand and shakes her head.
“Mom, didn’t we agree not to tell Claire?”
Sophie sighs, pulls out her laptop, and opens a folder of videos.
“Here. These are videos from the year they got together, three years ago.”
“You thought Emma stole your happiness, but you were the one who didn’t belong.”
I stare at the dates on the videos, my whole body trembling.
The first was from Valentine’s Day. Ethan and Emma were at Mount Fuji.
He told me he had a work trip and sent roses.
The second was from New Year’s Eve. They were setting off fireworks on a beach in Miami.
He told me he was going home with his parents and sent me a two-second voice message wishing me a happy New Year.
The third video showed Ethan on one knee in a sea of roses, proposing to Emma with Mom and Sophie watching.
He carefully slipped a diamond ring onto her finger, and she happily said yes.
I stare at the date, my nails digging hard into my palm.
It’s the day I went into premature labor.
I called Ethan more than ten times, but he never answered. In the end, someone at the scene had to call 911.
He didn’t show up until I was being loaded into the ambulance.
He held me, tears streaming down his face, begging me to hold on.
I was barely conscious. I never noticed the rose petal on his shoulder.
How ridiculous.
I wish I could ask Ethan one thing.
Was he thinking about how to save me and our baby? Or was he thinking about where to hold his wedding to Emma?
I cover my mouth and watch the videos, feeling like every ounce of strength has been drained from me.
So even the happiness I remembered from three years ago had been a lie.
Sophie looks at me with pity.
“We’ve wanted to tell you for a long time. We were afraid you couldn’t handle it.”
Mom sighs and shakes her head.
“Emma is your own sister. Do you really want to destroy her happiness?”
I look at the people who used to be closest to me.
Now they’re all standing against me, telling me to let go.
I give a bitter little laugh.
“Fine. I’ll let go. I hope you’re all happy.”
Ethan freezes, about to say something.
But I turn and rush away.
