Lost Daughter

Chapter 19

"How do you know that? What makes you think Victoria will pull through?" I questioned him. "For all I know, she's lying on her deathbed and on the verge of death."

Tony shrugged at looked at me. "I don't know just how bad her condition really is, but what I do know that is we have to stay strong for her. Victoria wouldn't want us to get hurt." I mentally scoffed at that. It's funny how he said that Victoria wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, when in reality, that's what's actually happening. How ironic.

We all waited in the waiting lounge for a good two hours. After waiting for so long, doctor  walked in and glanced at his clipboard. "Victoria Fuentes," he called out. My heart stopped and I looked at everyone before walking up to him. "I'm her uncle. How bad is it, doctor?"

"Good news first or bad news?"

"Good news."

"Victoria will be fine. We were able to flush out the pills before any severe damage was caused and stitched her self-harm scars."

I silently thanked God. She was going to live. "What's the bad news?" I asked. The doctor sighed and brushed his hair back. "The bad news is that for a girl of Victoria's age and height, she's extremely underweight," he explained. "I'm afraid that Miss Fuentes has developed Anorexia."

And just like that, my heart and soul just shattered. I couldn't believe what he just said to me. I didn't want to believe it, but I did. Not wanting to break down into tears in front of him, I asked, "May we see her?"

"Room 213," he said to me.

I watched him walk away, probably to go check on another patient in need. I turned at everyone and saw Danielle crying into her eyes, Jaime and Tony were trying to calm down Jessica and Erin from hysterics.  We all got up and walked over to her hospital. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

The sight was heart shattering. If no one was crying then, they would be crying now. Victoria lied down on the bed, her skin extremely pale to an unhealthy extent, dark circles hung underneath her eyes, her bones protruding from beneath the skin so the world can see her, and stitches sealed her scars shut on both arms. Victoria slowly picked up her head and looked at us with her dull, lifeless eyes. It no longer glistened with that adorable innocence that I've grown to adore.

"Hey, munchkin. How do you feel?" I asked.

Victoria looked at me and held up her stitched up arm for me to see, not saying anything. "Right. Of course," I muttered. "Sorry. Didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Victoria turned her attention to her bony fingers, playing with them absentmindedly. "Please don't ever scare us like that again, munchkin. We thought something bad happening to you."

Victoria stayed silent, not saying anything to any of us. "I'm tired," she finally spoke up, her voice raspy. "I'm tired of waking up and smiling when I really want to cry. I'm tired of singing and dancing to music when all I really want to do is hide and cry. I'm tired of forcing myself to think that's life is some Disney fantasy come true when it's really a fucked up pit of fire. I'm tired of tricking people into thinking that I love my life and I'm nothing but a cute, happy-go-lucky, innocent baby girl," she ranted. She looked up at us, revealing the tears rapidly pouring out of eyes. "When in all reality, I am nothing more than a broken, lost little girl who's been a victim of a war I cannot win. I lost to my demons years ago. What's left for me now is to die and to leave all of you in peace."

"You don't mean that, Victoria," Tony said to her. "We can help you. We can fix you."

Victoria shook her head in disagreement. "I already told you, Tony. You can't fix what's already broken. Believe me, I've tried. No matter how many times you super glue the fragile pieces together, you will end up watching the fragments cave in and lay there, even more broken than before. Why fight against something that's more powerful than you?" A small smile graced her face, but even I could see the pain etched inside deeply. "I can't do it anymore. They're too strong. They were right about me, this entire time."