Glass Castles

February 13th 2014

February 13th, 2014

 

The red light finally became green. Aris and Emily held their breaths as the doctor, dressed in a white coat, which had bloodstains, approached us.

“Doctor how is she?” Emily asked before he even stopped, “Please tell us she’s okay.”

“She lost a lot of blood”, the doctor said pensively, “And it was a close call. She could have died. The amount of blood she lost was insane.”

Emily inhaled sharply and all the while Aris kept rubbing circles in her back, “is she okay now though?”

“She’s awake. I don’t know for how long though. You can visit her, but please go one at a time.”

Emily immediately dashed for the door but Aris pulled her back. He said something barely audible to her and the both of them clenched their jaws and stayed back.

“What you’re not going?” Troy asked, slightly confused. Both of them shook their heads firmly and gestured for Troy to go in first. He looked at the two of them, who had matching looks of guilt, and Troy shook his head. Something really, really weird was going on. Emily nudged him, “Well aren’t you going in? You were here first and perhaps the most anxious to see her awake.”

Troy sighed and went inside the room. She was tinier than when he had last seen her smiling, her cheeks deflated and eyes shut tight, making the green vein lines visible. There were several wires connecting her to several display screens but he focused on the barely visible heartbeat on the heart monitor. He tried to make minimal noise as he sat down beside her on the metal stool.  

“Hey”, he said, though he knew she was unconscious, “It’s me.” He reached out for her hand from underneath the cover and gingerly held it, the visking tube and all.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve this”, he said in a soft whisper, “I don’t know what you were thinking but you don’t realize how much you’ve hurt me, Ella.”

The line on the heart monitor hitched a little but Troy didn’t notice it in the background. “I’m sorry”, he said, his voice coming out heavy and ragged. Unshed tears threatened to spill but he quickly let go of her hand and focused on the stream of sunshine coming in from the slightly ajar window. After a few more moments of sitting still and simply observing the room, he looked at her one last time, “I’ll see you soon. Don’t give up just yet.”

And then without another word, he left the room.