Dancing with Darkness

Chapter 11

For two weeks Eloise spends all her days in the hospital, hoping and praying for her father to, against better judgment, get better. She knew there was no getting better, but somewhere deep down she had excepted everything to work out.

"I could have a bed prepared for you here, you need to get some sleep." Doctor Leonard had finished his last check-up of the day. "The stress of everything right now isn't doing you any good."

Eloise let out something between a chuckle and a scoff. "Are you telling me that I look like crap?"

"I would never suggest something like that. You know that I think you're one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, even as a baby you were undeniably beautiful. You look so much like you're mother."

"No one likes a woman who climbed the ranks with beauty."

Doctor Leonard smiled. "No they don't, but it's not just your looks that make you so beautiful. It's that look in your eyes that is purely Castles, it's the look of determination driven by ambition. Some say that ambition is a fault, but I think it's the most attractive trade in a woman."

"Then I guess it's a good thing you like men."

He laughed full and bright, just the way Eloise loved. "I suppose it is." He took Eloise's hand. "what I'm trying to say is that you'll make it. I've called some friends from the Hopkins's pre-med program and asked them to give you an early acceptance."

"An early acceptance?" Eloise couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I haven't heard back yet, but your father doesn't have much time and I believe everyone here knows how important it is to him. To know you'll be alright, even though deep down he already knows you will."

Eloise nodded sadly. "yeah, I know how important he thinks it to be."

"I think he considers it so important because you do. If you wanted to get into art school, we would be talking about the Yale MFA program."

Eloise chuckled and sniffled at the same time, making it sound more like the sound of a pig. "It means a lot to me that you did that."

Doctor Leonard opened his arms for a hug and Eloise gratefully accepted. "Your happiness means a lot to a lot of people here." He whispered.

She hugged him tightly, imagining her father embracing her. He had hardly had the strength to sit up lately, leave alone hug her. He was waiting to be accepted into a clinical trial somewhere in Europe, but his health was declining more rapidly than they had anticipated.

"Get some sleep, it'd be good for you. The acceptance letter should be arriving shortly." He kissed her on the crown of her head and then left the room.

Eloise was so tired that she didn't even ask for an extra bed to be made. Going home wasn't in the cards for her either, so the chair beside her father's bed it was.

She swore she only closed her eyes for a second.

Voices shouting and people rushing through the room rudely woke Eloise up. She had curled herself up in the chair and had fallen asleep almost instantly. She had slept so tightly that she hadn't noticed it when her father had started seizing.

The panic that overtook her woke her up immediately. She jumped out of the chair, ready to help if needed, but was overwhelmed by the crowd of people trying to help her father. She recognized some morning shift nurses but some she didn't know.

The drowsiness and the panic made everything happen in a haze like she was looking through water. Slowly she got shoved against the back wall. She heard orders for shots of lorazepam at least three times, but nothing made her father stop seizing. Then his heart started fibrillating, chest compressions started and the paddles were ordered. His body stood stiff from the electricity coursing through his body as they shocked him.