She's With the Band

Best Friends Talking 'Til the Daylight

"Good morning," a nurse chirpily walked in to check Dana's charts. Valerie looked up from a magazine with distracted eyes and mumbled back a greeting. She was attempting to read an article with little success; she had been reading the same page for the past hour. The words got lost in the relays of her nerves.

Sighing with defeat, Valerie threw the magazine on the night table and turned her attention towards the phone in her lap. She flicked through her social media accounts, sullenly observing everyone she ever knew living their life. She was lifeless, as still as her own bed-ridden sister, while scrolling through announcements of engagement and promotions. Everyone was carrying on with their life as if Valerie's crises haven't disrupted the balance of the universe. Her own life was at a standstill; having just ended a long relationship, given up her decent-paying job at the hotel, and praying for a miracle for Dana. All the while, everyone carried on with their life.

She never asked much from god for she wasn't exactly as religious as she'd like. She liked to think that god was watching over her, with his omnipotent presence—which was enough to keep her from committing any follies. Her family was moderately religious; they prayed and helped the poor. Now, Valerie was channelling all of her family's good deeds into the request she was asking from god, now: a miracle.

She got up from her seat to lean at the foot of Dana's bed. Her fingers trailed down her sister's pale complexion as if hoping she might wake up from this familiar touch. She sat on her knees and held her sister's hand tightly before she began to talk to her.

"Dana," Valerie choked on her syllables, "please wake up, you can't leave me." A stray tear fell down onto her cast.

"I don't know what to do," she paused, trying to formulate the thoughts firing through her brain, "I'm lost right now, my whole life is falling apart in front of my eyes. You're in this coma, Xavier cheated on me, and... it's all going wrong. I can't handle this."

The steady rhythm of Valerie's tears dripping on her cast kept her company in the quiet room. She was intent on talking to her sister, despite how futile her attempt may prove.

"I know you want me to go to London, and I've been thinking... well, I couldn't get any sleep last night, so I couldn't help but wonder how London would be. But, ... I can't leave you like this, especially now." Valerie paused, as if expecting an answer from her sister.

"I think I'll stay here, in Dublin, for a while," she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I think the change will do me good, you know, away from the entire industry and all. Maybe I could even start searching for an HR job soon." Suddenly, the notion of the third choice didn't seem so ridiculous after all. In fact, Dublin seemed like the most logical solution for Valerie—she wouldn't have to leave Dana, and she wouldn't have to work in a place that constantly reminded her that she wasn't enough for her ex. No, Dublin was her only choice; even if that meant starting a whole new job and a new life.

Her biggest asset had always been her capability to love another fiercely. Yet it was considered her biggest weakness, as well. Valerie's ferocious love was the veil that blinded her to signs of Xavier's infidelity time and time again. Her fierce love for her family was up to the test by fate, and that too didn't disappoint. In circumstances like these, it was Valerie's love that drove her to make the decision that would alter the balance of her life completely. She didn't know what a life in Dublin entailed, if it was joyful glee or miserable sorrow.

"I know you won't like it," she laughed weakly at her own words, "but it's the only thing that makes sense to me, now. It's like, ... I'm going through a quarter-life crisis and I need something familiar, right now." Valerie took her sister's hands to her lips and kissed them softly.

She let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding back. The weight of the revelation liberated her from the constant worry which presents itself in the form of anxiety. Although she didn't know if she'll come to regret the decision to let London dissipate in the mist, she was finally at ease with her decision.

That evening, the family sat silently in Dana's room, trying to come to terms with Valerie's decision. She could feel the heavy air of disapproval from her father; despite all his futile attempts to mask it. His facial expressions spoke volumes, as if its features betrayed his calm composure in an effort to tell the truth. This feature imprinted itself on Valerie; like her father, she was an open book. Her face mirrored her emotions and recorded her feelings. At the moment, it featured a brief glimpse of hope that came only from the joy of the unknown.

Suzanne caught the fleeting look of hope about her daughter. She recognized the need to keep Valerie's hope alive for Dana's sake as well as everyone's—even if it was floating on a holed sailboat. It was all she could offer her daughter at the moment, besides prayer.

"It's your decision to make," Suzanne's face was composed, a stark contrast to her husband's, "but you'll need to start looking for a job, soon."