Chapter Eighteen: Tears and Hospital Gowns
"What?" Erika cried out in shock. "What do you mean she's in the hospital? Like...what happened to her?"
"She fell down the stairs." Mrs. Russo replied; her voice was grave and brimming with worry.
"Well do you know if she's okay?" Clark questioned, sounding genuinely concerned which only resulted in Erika to glare daggers at the back of his head some more.
She could not help but wonder who he thought he was. He had absolutely no relation to their family and this was the first time she'd ever seen him and yet here he was, acting as if he actually cared about her sister's wellness.
Mrs. Russo sighed and ran her fingers through her short, blonde hair. "I don't know," she admitted.
Erika turned over to find her brother silently looking out the window, not saying anything.
"So we're going to the hospital now?" Clark asked and Mrs. Russo's head quickly snapped over to him.
"Well obviously," she hissed in a quiet voice. "But first, I need to drop you off back at the office; you need to finish that project."
"Of course," he murmured and said nothing else.
Erika wondered how important that project must have been if her mother needed to return to the office before going to the hospital. But then again, it was for the better as Erika really didn't want her mother's co-worker to have to come along with them.
It wasn't long until they reached the sleek building that they worked at and Mrs. Russo stopped in front of it.
"Goodbye," Mrs. Russo said as Clark stepped out of the car.
"Bye," he replied and poked his head back into the car before shutting the door. "I guess I'll see you later then...and send my best wishes to your daughter. I offer you all my condolences."
Erika's eyes narrowed at how he was making it seem as if Diana had died as oppose to having simply fallen down the stairs. She looked over to see if her brother was catching any of this but, as always, he seemed to be in another world.
"Sure," Mrs. Russo tightly replied before Clark shut the door and she sped off past him.
"So what exactly did Bruce say, Mom?" Luka asked.
"Just that she'd fallen down the stairs and that they're in the hospital." She replied, tiredly.
"Oh."
After a few more minutes of silence, they finally reached the hospital and Mrs. Russo pulled into a park. There, they quickly piled out of the car and made their way to the large, brick building. Erika noted all the ambulances parked in front of the entrance they were to go through and thought about how it was a palpable indication that they were in the ER section.
With Mrs. Russo swiftly walking ahead, Erika and Luka briskly trailed behind her as she navigated her way to the emergency centre.
"Hello," Mrs. Russo said when she reached a desk with a nurse sitting behind it. "I need to see my daughter, Diana Russo."
The nurse’s eyes flickered up and she looked at the three of them.
"All right and when was she admitted? Oh and you’re sure that she’s in this section, right?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Mrs. Russo sighed exasperatedly and reached up to rub her forehead with her fingers. “And I don’t soon, not too long ago, I’d presume. Definitely today.”
“Okay,” the nurse murmured and turned to her computer. “So can you tell me why she’s in here?”
“Excuse me, but do you doubt me?” Mrs. Russo demanded and glared at the nurse in a terrifying manner. “I’m here to see my daughter and all I want you to do is your job. And your job is to direct me to my daughter. Are you capable of handling that?”
Erika and Luka exchanged looks then before turning back to the poor nurse whose face had turned beet red. Even Erika had to admit that her mother was a stone cold bitch when she wanted to be.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.” The nurse replied in a calm voice after briefly recovering. “But checking to see if you’re truly related to the patient is part of my job. Now, are these two are also part of the immediate family?"
"Yes, they're her siblings." Mrs. Russo snapped immediately. Erika could tell that she was holding herself back from saying something else.
The nurse kept her expression blank and typed something into her computer. She soon looked up again at them after a moment.
"She's in room 423 which is down the hall, to the right."
"Thanks," Mrs. Russo gave a tight smile before starting to walk towards Diana's room.
"You know what's weird?" Luka said to Erika as they followed their mother.
"What?"
"That it was only less than a week ago that we came to the hospital because of your alcohol poisoning. And yet now we're back again for Diana."
Erika gave him a funny look and they reached Diana's room.
"You didn't even come for me." she finally told him.
"I know," he replied, "But still."
Giving him a quick smile, Erika turned over and took in a plain and small room with a window at the farthest wall, one bed at each end of the room and a television fastened to the wall. One of the beds was vacant while the other one had Diana lying down on it with her fiancé sitting by her side and looking worried. Mr. Russo, it seemed, hadn't arrived yet.
"Oh baby!" Mrs. Russo cried out and made her way towards her daughter, who was looking fragile, broken and hurt as she lay on the hospital bed.
Erika tilted her head to the side, taken back by her mother's reaction. She had never thought that her mother, who was so strict, tough and prevailing, would ever coo "baby" at any of her children.
"Hey Mom," Diana replied in a frail voice and reached up to hug her mother weakly.
"What happened?" Erika gently asked as she walked towards a chair on the other side of the bed and took a seat. Luka quickly followed and sat down beside her. "Like, how badly did she fall that you guys ended up in the hospital?"
Bruce ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair and hesitantly looked up at Erika.
"She was bleeding."
"Bleeding?" she echoed. Erika felt slightly dazed as she looked over at her brother who was uncomfortably staring at his mother and Diana.
"What on earth do you mean by that?" Mrs. Russo demanded, looking back and forth between Diana and Bruce. "I mean, she obviously hasn't broken or fractured anything,"
"Oh Mom," Diana said weakly, and her voice cracked.
"What is it, sweetie?" Mrs. Russo quietly asked as she started running her fingers through Diana's silky and straight, blonde hair.
"Mom," she repeated, sounding as if she was holding back tears.
"What? Tell me, goddamn it!"
Diana, however, said nothing and instead started bawling.
"The baby," Bruce then whispered, and that said it all.
Mrs. Russo's eyes immediately softened and she looked down at her eldest child.
"Oh honey," she said quietly as Diana started crying even harder. "I am so sorry...so, so sorry."
"Erika," Mrs. Russo said without taking her eyes off of her crying child. "Can you grab me a Kleenex from my purse? It's there on the table by the door."
"Sure," Erika mumbled and steadily stood up.
However, her lack of eating lunch and the throwing up of her breakfast earlier on that day and the stress of having a sibling in the hospital really took a toll on Erika for she felt her head spinning and had to grab the chair to keep herself from falling.
"I'll get it," Luka quickly said and jumped up. He first helped Erika, who was on the verge of passing out, to sit back down on the chair before he went over to the purse. After rummaging through it, he emerged from it with his hands full.
He handed Diana the Kleenex and then sat down beside Erika.
"Here," he murmured and handed her a small package of mini shortbread cookies that he had found in the purse. He knew what she occasionally did to herself but still hadn't gotten around to having a chat with her about it.
Erika turned to him gratefully and started slowly eating them.
It was then that Mr. Russo appeared through the door, looking slightly frantic.
"What happened?" he asked, frazzled.
No one said anything. Mrs. Russo continued stroking the bawling Diana’s hair, Luka’s eyes were fixed on the ground and Erika and Bruce were looking at each other.
"She lost the baby." Erika finally stated when no one else made a move to speak.
Mr. Russo looked like he was in shock and proceeded to sit down beside Bruce.
"Where? How?” he asked faintly.
"We were at my place and she was coming down the stairs with some stuff in her hands." Bruce began to explain. "But then she lost her footing or something and ended up falling down the stairs. Naturally, I, none of my roommates were home, rushed to her and found her at the bottom of the stairs clutching her stomach."
"It hurt a lot." Diana gently added and Mrs. Russo nodded in a manner that suggested she knew exactly what she meant.
"Right," Bruce smiled at his fiancée, a gesture that Erika found to be rather sweet, before continuing. "At first it didn't seem too bad, I mean she clearly hadn't broken anything. But then we realized that she was bleeding and in a lot of pain. So I took her to the hospital and here we are.”
Erika exchanged a look with Luka and Mr. Russo piped up.
"So has the doctor examined her yet?"
"Well he just told us that there's a miscarriage," Bruce replied. "Like they did an ultrasound and confirmed it."
"Ah, and how are you feeling right now, Diana? Do you feel-"
"Can you just stop?" Mrs. Russo interjected, brushing her fingers against her forehead in stress and annoyance.
"Stop what?" Mr. Russo inquired.
"This! Trying to ask her how she is and see what was done," she snapped. "You're not a damn doctor so stop acting like one. I mean, it's bad enough that you come late when you find out that your daughter is in the hospital but the least you can do is, just for once, stop being so conceited."
The room got silent as they all turned to Mr. Russo to see his reaction. Erika herself could not believe what her mother had just said.
"Listen Sarah," Mr. Russo hissed. "I don't know what's up your ass, but the least you can do is act civilized when sitting up on your daughter's hospital bed instead of having a fit over nothing. And I got here as fast as I could. I was in the middle of something, actually."
Mrs. Russo laughed a bitter laugh as she turned to her husband. "Aren't you always?" she said without humour.
"Guys, please!" Diana cried out. She had pulled away from her mother’s arms and stopped crying but neither of her parents paid attention to her.
"Aren't I always what?" Mr. Russo demanded, his voice rising. Beside him, Bruce was looking very uncomfortable. This wasn't the first time that he was witnessing the Russo's fighting.
"In the middle of something!" Mrs. Russo exclaimed, glaring at him. "That's all you're ever doing...working! And the pathetic part is that you never even get anything done!"
Erika looked over at her brother, wanting to see what his reaction was to all this, but he was only staring out the window.
Mr. Russo's jaw clenched and he looked like he was going to say something else but the doctor walked in at that moment.
"Hello!" he said cheerfully as he marched in with a clipboard in hand. He was a young man with a head full of dark hair and wearing a white, lab coat.
"Hi," Mrs. Russo greeted him tiredly.
The doctor, sensing the tension in the room and the fragility and seriousness of the situation, cleared his throat, perhaps in an attempt to sound professional, before speaking.
"All right so we have a case of a miscarriage. However, since this is most definitely not spontaneous and the patient is well into the second trimester, the embryo is going to have to be fully removed."
Diana made a weird gasp sound and Erika noted how the doctor was referring to it as an embryo as oppose to baby.
"I understand how hard this may be," he gently told Diana. "But it must be done."
"Yes, we are fully aware of it," Mr. Russo spoke up; he just wanted the doctor to get to his point. "So what can be done about this?"
"Well there typically three methods to do this," the doctor began. "One is more drastic than the others. The first method is to perform a vacuum aspiration in which we surgically remove the baby. We don't recommend this as there may be complications with it."
Diana nodded her head and Bruce reached forward and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"We could also do this medically where we would prescribe a misoprostol to have everything come out. This will take a few days and we'll have to keep you here at the hospital to have you monitored. And, the last method is to do nothing."
Diana's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"Nothing?" she echoed.
"Yes, it avoids the side effects that come with surgically or medically removing the embryo. But it takes two to six weeks and may, although unlikely, result in incomplete abortion."
"Oh." Diana said, looking confused, and turned to Bruce.
"I think we should think about it," he said in a low voice.
"Could we have a moment to discuss this please?" Mrs. Russo then asked.
"Of course," the doctor nodded. "I will leave for now but will return shortly then."
"All right, thanks." Mrs. Russo said before turning to everyone else.
"First things first," she said when he left the room. "We should get Luka and Erika home."
Erika's head snapped up at the sound of her name.
"I can take them." Mr. Russo offered
"Good," Mrs. Russo said and then turned to Diana and Bruce.
"So what are you guys thinking?" she asked the couple as Mr. Russo went up to Luka and Erika.
"Come on guys," he ushered them to the door.
After quickly saying bye to everyone, the three then left the hospital and walked towards Mr. Russo's car.
"Gosh, I can't believe that just happened." Erika said as she slipped into the front seat.
"That what just happened?" Mr. Russo wasn't sure if she was referring to the miscarriage or to the fact that he'd just had a dispute with his wife.
"That Diana lost the baby!"
"Ah yes," Mr. Russo said as he started the engine. "It really is quite saddening."
"I know," Erika agreed. "Poor Diana!"
"So what'll happen to the wedding?" Luka asked quietly from the back seat and Erika's eyes widened, she had completely forgotten about the wedding and the motive behind it.
"I don't know," Mr. Russo replied as he stopped at a red light. "I really don't know if they're going to want to go on with it or not."
Mr. Russo then turned on the radio and they silently listened to some Celine Dion song that played.
"Are you going back?" Luka asked after a few more minutes, when they pulled the car into their driveway.
"I have to go deal with something at the firm first." Their father replied. "But then I'll go back after. You two will be fine, right?"
Erika chuckled, surprised that he was asking them that and replied with, “Of course, Dad."
Mr. Russo gave his children a wry smile before pulling out of the driveway and driving off.
"Come," Luka then said as he pulled out a key and the children stepped into their house.
"It's weird, isn't it?" he asked as he took off his shoes.
"What?"
"I don't know...I just didn't expect this to happen when I woke up this morning. It's strange."
Erika smiled as she reached up and ruffled her brother's hair.
"Life's unexpected," she told him.
"True..."
And as Erika made her way to the kitchen to grab something to eat, she thought about how strange life really was. That morning the most important thing on her mind was her popularity and how she was supposed to handle going back to school. Now, however, all that seemed very distant and subordinate. Instead Erika was thinking of her sister. It was strange how her priorities had suddenly shifted so abruptly and majorly.
Whilst she made herself a sandwich, Erika came to realize that high school and being social and whatnot were merely specks in life that would soon come to pass and be over. It was the important things such as the education received, the memories made and the close friends and family that would last.
"Hey, can you make me one?" Luka asked, startling her slightly.
"Of course," she easily replied and set more bread to get toasted.
As they waited for the bread to come, Erika glanced over at her brother who was leaning against the kitchen counter and concentrating on the game he was playing on the PSP he held in his hands. With his shaggy blonde curls and wire-rimmed glasses, she noted how Luka, who was three years younger, had already set her priorities straight and knew what he wanted.
This was something that she had yet to do.
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I don't know about you, but I kinda like this chapter and feel as if it plays a rather significant role in the story....plus it was pretty nice to write :p
Thanks so much for reading!!! :D And please do vote and/or comment as it would be much appreciated.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
And for those of you living in Canada....Happy Canada Day!! I can actually hear the fireworks going right now from outside as I type this in my room :p