Demons The Series

Chapter 4: With my last breath

A week and a half prior to this all going down, Alberto was discharged from the hospital. They did the EEG before discharging him and it came back abnormal. The doctor told him that he put two and two together and by looking at the MRI he had done and the results of the video EEG, he was able to safely diagnose Alberto with epilepsy. This was upsetting for Alberto, but was just another diagnosis to add to his list of things wrong with him.

Luca was moved to another room in the hospital after Alberto was discharged. Alberto and Laurel got to stay with him which made things go better somehow.
As the days passed, Luca became more and more frail and unaware of his surroundings and with that there was very little time between being awake and asleep that Alberto could spend time with his best friend.
If he was lucky, ever so often, Luca would go outside and feel the fresh air and the grass under his feet; never knowing if this moment was his last.
The pain was worse as days passed and he couldn't stand for more than 1 minute without either being sick or passing out or both. Luca was becoming skeletal and had brown shadows around his eyes and appeared sunken in. His eyebrows were gone as well as his eyelashes and he was pale grey.
He sputtered and gasped when he slept and had to start wearing oxygen for assistance with breathing. Eventually, he got to the point where he could no longer walk or get out of bed as he had lost function of his legs. It was then that everyone knew he didn't have much time left.
Everyone made sure they made time for Luca every day, as he would sleep more and more until one day he was only awake for an hour before falling asleep. Awakening him was very hard and his breathing was beginning to become labored and he rattled when he breathed. Alberto would lay in bed beside Luca and wrap his arm around his weak friend, talking as if Luca was awake but just had his eyes closed.
Through it all, Alberto was there for Luca, while all the while on the side, he dealt with his own health issues.
Every moment he had with his friend awake made him happy and he felt honored to see Luca's eyes open slightly ever so often and then close again right after. Until one day, the cancer hit Luca's nerves and brain and he lapsed into a coma and never woke up again.
That was the day Laurel found Luca's parents and they came up to the hospital. The doctors then gave Luca 24 to 48 hrs to live if that.
Luca's parents had been talking to Laurel for a week now and had just moved to Canada a week prior to making it to Italy.
When they got the call from Laurel, they rushed to Edmonton to be by Luca's side. Everyone was there. Ian, Barley, who had managed to take off work to be there for Luca, Laurel's mom and dad, and the rest of the family. They gathered around Luca's bed just as Luca's parents rushed into the room.
Laurel patted Luca on the shoulder and then in a low voice said, "I made a promise to find your parents and reunite them to you and I did. They are here now honey. We all love you. It's okay to go now."
Daniella, Luca's mom, burst into tears when she came into the room. She picked up Luca and held him in her arms, his body limp and cold like a wet rag left in the freezer for too long and had become frozen. Dark splotches had covered his body from head to toe and his nails as well as his lips had started to become blue from lack of oxygen. He had a far off look and it tore Alberto up inside to see him like this.
The cancer was now in every part of Luca's small frail body, including his skin, leaving a patchy rash sporadically all over where the cancer ate away at his skin. His jaw was ajar and his mouth was wide open as he began to rattle as he breathed. He would pause for a minute or so before gasping for air and it was now down to seconds before he was gone and Alberto felt himself emotionally slip away slowly. Every bit of sanity he had left was leaving him and he felt so alone. So empty. So hopeless just like the time his dad left him as a child, only this time it wasn't his dad leaving, it was his closest friend in the whole world; someone who he felt could do no wrong and would always be there for him, right by his side. He felt he had nothing to live for now and all he could do was cry. Lorenzo, Luca's dad, tried his best to comfort his crying wife as he too shed tears of heartache and pain as well.
Alberto ran to Luca's side and held him tightly the best he could because Daniela was holding him. He bawled his head off and told his best friend good bye and that he loved him and it was okay to go. After a minute, Laurel picked up Alberto and held him in her arms. She held him tight, knowing by the look on her mother's face who was watching the silenced heart monitor that was going off that this was the end.
Alberto tried to break free from Laurel's grasp but she had him tightly held. She wouldn't let him look at the monitors that were rapidly going downhill.
"Let me go. I want to say goodbye again." Alberto said, struggling to break free.
Daniella looked up briefly at the monitor just as it flat-lined and then began to bawl along with her husband, Lorenzo, who had his arms around Luca and his wife and couldn't stop crying.
Luca's body remain cold and still in Daniela's arms; a motionless corpse of a sweet young boy that once held such potential now was hollow and empty inside. A lifeless shell of the shy, kind boy he once was.
Luca was gone and now Alberto and everyone else had to figure out how they were going to make it without Luca's smiling face every day; something they became so attached to.
Laurel slowly led Alberto out of the room and to the lobby, motioning for Daniella and Lorenzo to leave the hospital and the morgue to pick up Luca. When they made it to the lobby, Alberto began to shut down. He sat in a chair, his face blank like an emotionless slate.
"He's gone isn't he?" Alberto asked Laurel who looked into Alberto's eyes and said, "Yes sweetie. He is gone. Luca's parents are planning for his final rights. They said that they wanted to follow the Paguro family tradition to release the loved ones body back to the gods of the ocean for safe comfort of the spirit to the Underworld. However, due to the fact that Luca cannot be removed from the hospital unless by way of the funeral home, I am unsure if their plans for the ritual will go through."
Alberto buried his face into Laurel's shoulder as he cried. The tears flowed and he couldn't stop them, not even Laurel who tried her best.
Ian looked around for them and heard them both crying in the lobby and walked over towards them to console them the best he could.
"He went peacefully. He looked so calm, just like he was sleeping. I told his parents if they needed anything to let me know. The hospital gave the morgue clearance to leave with Luca's body. It's over now. They want you to sign the death certificate mom."
Laurel nodded and slowly stood up. Ian sat down next to Alberto who buried his head into Ian's chest and continued to cry, making Ian cry as well. He couldn't help but cry and it broke his heart to see Alberto this way. He held Alberto tightly in his arms and began to feel a strong need to comfort him the best he could. He tried to take Alberto's pain away but he couldn't. An intense wave of emotions flooded over both of them as they both poured their hearts out.
Soon, Barley as well as Laurel's mom and dad, came out of the room so housekeeping could clean the room. Barley and Laurel's parents were carrying the bags out with them as a hospice nurse placed an angel on the door and closed it behind them.

Barley tried to find where his brother and Alberto were and finally found them in the lobby huddled up together, holding each other and sobbing.
Barley walked over towards Ian and then said, "Mom wants us to carry this out to the car. She is almost finished signing the death certificate and then she will be heading out too. She says her parents have to head back home early because her dad has a doctors appointment tomorrow afternoon round 3 and they need to get some rest."
Ian stood up and helped Barley carry the bags out to the elevator and down to the parking lot where he unlocked the door and put the bags in the trunk. He closed the trunk and then opened the door for Alberto who climbed in and curled up in a ball in the back seat. Ian decided to sit next to him instead of the front seat like he normally did.
Alberto looked so lost, so heartbroken, so empty and Ian wanted nothing more than to take this pain away from him. If only he knew what to do to make things right again.

Soon, Laurel's parents were driving off as she came out to the car. She waved goodbye and then said she would meet Barley back at the house after she got dinner. She didn't emotionally feel like cooking that night. Everyone agreed on pizza and so it was pizza.
Barley gave Laurel a hug and then he got into his car and drove home. As she was driving, Laurel looked at Alberto in the rear-view mirror. He was curled up into a ball and crying. Ian was trying to comfort him but he didn't show any emotion whatsoever and it scared Laurel. She knew the reason but tried to understand where Alberto was coming from.

Minutes passed.
Laurel stopped at a pizza shop and bought two pizzas and some bread sticks and then drove home to find Barley was already there cleaning the house.
He cleared off a space on the couch for Alberto to sleep on and put a pillow and blanket there for him to use.
Alberto got out once Laurel stopped the car and locked the doors behind her. Alberto walked into the house and slumped over onto the couch. He grabbed the blanket and pulled it over his head as he rocked back and forth.
Laurel asked Barley to help her bring in the pizza and Barley said okay.
He helped Laurel dish the food and offered a piece of pizza to Alberto who shook his head and laid down on the couch, resting his head on the pillow and covering up with the blanket. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, hoping it would bring tomorrow here faster.
Laurel and Barley ate some and then everyone got ready for bed. Laurel managed to get Alberto to eat something small so he could take his medicine and then she kissed him goodnight and shit off the lights. Barley had to work the next day and Laurel did too. She would leave Alberto at home with Ian to watch after him and Ian would do his best to make Alberto happy, but he understood why Alberto was so distant and depressed. After all, who wouldn't be if they just lost a major part of their lives? Something that was so close and meant so much to them.

The next few hours were the hardest for Alberto. He was so deep in depression that everything seemed surreal and he felt as though he couldn't snap back into reality. He didn't want to be in reality so he slowly slipped into his own makeshift world and cried himself to sleep; knowing the next few hours leading into tomorrow would be the hardest he would ever have to witness besides when he was a child.

They say time heals the broken heart, but will it really heal Alberto's? All he had to live for was laying somewhere in a morgue freezer, dead, cold and not coming back.

Only time would tell if he truly would be able to function outside of the fantasy world in his head.