Affliction | ✓

x | her | 2

january 1st, 2017

everyone bursts through the ICU door, she's running with his stretcher, her hand resting on the side of the canvas. she glances down and almost bawls all over again because bones are not supposed to jut out that way and he's lost so much blood already.

it's around 1 am. andrea, elio and matt were the only ones sober enough to come along and she can see andrea in a similar state of unease.

the wait is chilling. elio continues pacing up and down. andrea and her just keep their heads low, quiet sobs. matt, not really that close just glances at the end of the corridor waiting for the doctor's verdict.

elio comes to a stop next to her, crouches low. "what happened?" he asks, it's gentle. she was the one who discovered his body, the last one to see him alive.

"i don't know," she cries, sniffling. "we...we kissed again." elio's face twists but he merely nods, she continues, "i pushed him away, called him disgusting, I..." she shakes her head, it's violent. elio wraps his arms around her smaller body mumbling that it's ok, she didn't need to speak but she shakes again and continues, "I realised my mistake and I went to find him again. someone told me they saw him climbing up to the terrace, I ...rushed there and he was standing on the ledge. just looking down. just...sticking his foot out and looking down. I scream, he turns...he falls...he falls, elio and I'm too late." she cries, tears rolling down her cheeks. "i'm too late."

before elio can reply, the doctor comes out with a grim expression on his face. andrea, elio, matt and her immediately leap up, eyes expectant.

"doctor?" andrea asks, her voice was strangled.

the doctor looks at all of them once before he nods. "he'll make it." he says and there's a sigh of relief from everyone. "not with all of him healed, though."

she tunes out, her breathing still ragged and she can see elio asking questions, nodding along to what the doctor's saying. she slips her hand in with his.

"when can i see him, doctor?" she asks, interrupts.

"soon." the doctor claims. "as I was explaining to your friend, his vital organs are functioning but he's physically ...not good, he's had a rather severe lumbar injury in his spine and sustained bad epidural hematona," even though she didn't ask or care, knows it sounds deadly, the doctor gestures with his hands as he explains, "blood accumulated between the brain and the skull."

she nods because okay, whatever but shes burning with the intensity, the need to see him, "that doesn't answer my question, doc. when are we allowed to see him?"

"in a couple of hours, yes. you're lucky he survived." the doctor gives a stern look to whoever was present. "not many people can fall from four floors up and live to tell the tale."

***

the minutes tick by painfully slow. elio's still pacing up and down, rapidly blinking, stress evident on his features because even if elio had hated him, had despised him, he had wormed his way into the man's heart. matt's asleep after desperately trying to stay awake, a frown etched on his sleeping face...she doesn't mind, matt doesn't know him too well.

andrea and her are sitting right next to each other, breathing heavily, just waiting, just staring. finally, doctor stevenson steps out and nods at them, a silent indicator that the worst was over, he was safe.