16 - unconscious
I've managed to go out of Billie's house without waking her up, or anyone noticing.
As I entered the house, I was met by my dad laying unconsciously on the floor, and my mom panicking.
We called the ambulance, and he was immediately sent to the hospital.
Right now, here I am again — sitting near my dad in a hospital room; hoping things would get better.
"What happened?" I ask my mom, worriedly.
"He woke up in the middle of the night, and he was coughing really bad; he said he couldn't breathe," she sadly looks at me as she explains. "Of course, it woke me up."
She sighs as she looks at dad, "When I tried helping him, he suddenly fell, unconscious."
I frown at her, and look at my dad.
I hold his hand as I quietly say, "Please be okay, dad."
A nurse enters the room, and frowns at us, "Suddenly quitting smoking didn't do him good."
Mom gapes at the nurse in shock.
"What do you mean?" I ask the nurse as I caress my dad's hand.
"The best thing to do when you decide to quit smoking, is to reduce," she looks at dad, then at us. "What I mean by this, is that for example, he takes 5 cigarettes a day. If he wants to stop smoking, the best thing to do is to take 4 the next day."
She sighs sadly as she looks at dad, "But, what happened is that he suddenly stopped, without even reducing, am I right?"
My mom looks at the nurse in shock as I purse my lips, looking at the nurse, nodding worriedly.
"His body got too shocked because of the sudden loss of nicotine," she explains.
"Isn't that a good thing?" I ask. "Nicotine is bad for the body, isn't it?"
"Actually, none of the chemicals in a cigarette are good for you, but they are primarily designed to act as a delivery service for the star of the show, nicotine, which is absorbed within seconds and heads straight for your brain," the nurse explains.
She pauses as she grits her teeth, "There, the nicotine mimics acetylcholine, the most prevalent neurotransmitter in the brain."
"What's acetylcholine?" mom asks the nurse with worried eyes.
"Acetylcholine assists in basic muscle functions, hand-eye-coordination, and complex neurological reactions such as the release of another neurotransmitter, dopamine, which in turn stimulates the body to feel pleasure," she explains. "It's a substance manufactured in the brain and its release is strictly regulated."
"So?" I furrow my eyebrows at her. "Point is?"
"Thing is, nicotine is not regulated by the brain," she shrugs, "meaning the amount that you consume is the amount that stimulates the acetylcholine receptors."
"And?" I ask her, confused on what she's trying to say.
"While your nicotine is fooling your brain into thinking it is acetylcholine, it is also doing something else..." she tells us, worriedly.
"And, what is that?" mom asks, afraid.
"Nicotine minimizes the growth of parasites and fungus, but does not prevent them from spreading their infectious offspring all over the body," the nurse explains.
She shakes her head at us, "When a smoker stops consuming the nicotine, suddenly all of these disease-causing elements that have been scattered throughout the body begin to proliferate, creating an infested body in a very short amount of time."
My mom gasps, "Infested body?"
The nurse frowns as she nods at us, "He is prone to sickness."
I bite my lip, "So, what's with him now?"
The nurse looks at me sadly, then looks at my mom.
"Why'd he fall unconscious?" mom asks her.
The nurse looks at my mom with sadness, "Your husband has fallen into a coma."
"Oh my God," my mom covers her mouth in shock.
I freeze as I look at my dad in shock.
"No," I whisper as I hold his hand tighter.
"It can't be!" mom explains to the nurse. "How did this happen?!"
"Nicotine poisoning," the nurse tells her. "And lack of oxygen in the brain."
I shake my head slowly as I look at the nurse, "When will he wake up?"
The nurse looks at me sadly, "We don't know, yet, but hopefully he does."
"What do you mean hopefully he does?!" I ask pointedly.
Mom starts to quietly sob.
"I'm sorry, but there's a chance he won't wake up," the nurse tells me.
My mom sobs more.
I shake my dad with fear in my eyes, "Dad, wake up."
"I'm sorry," the nurse tells us as she goes out of the room.
• • •
Now, we're back in my grandparents' old house, and I'm lying on the bed, covering my face.
I sob as tears fall down my face.
The doorbell suddenly rings.
I ignore it as I continue weeping.
The doorbell rings again.
I softly sigh as I wipe my tears, and go out of my room to open the door.
"Mason?" I ask, trying to hide my sadness as he enters the house.
"Bea, are you okay?" he asks.
The doorbell rings again.
I shake my head lightly at him, forcing a small smile, as I open the door again.
To my surprise, in front of my door is a Billie Eilish, sadly smiling at me.
"Can I come in?" she quietly asks, looking at Mason and I.
"Sure," I tell her as I lead her into the house.
The three of us sit in the couch of our living room.
"B, what happened?" Billie asks me, concern laced in her voice.
"My–"
"Her dad's in a coma," Mason interrupts me.
Billie gapes at him as she looks at him in disgust, "Sorry, but I wasn't talking to you."
She grabs my hand, looking down at it, then starts tracing circles on my palm with her thumb, making me feel a lot better.
"She has a boyfriend," Mason tells her.
"Sheesh, bro," Billie tells him as she stops circling my palm for a moment, but still not letting go of my hand. "I know that; I'm not trying to steal your girlfriend."
"Hey, it's gonna be okay," Billie looks at me with those shining, blue eyes. "He'll wake up."
"I hope so," I tell her as a tear slides down my face.
Mason wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him, causing Billie to let go of my hand.
I look up to Mason's concerned, hazel eyes.
He looks lovingly at me as he wipes away the tears from my eyes, "Please don't cry; crying doesn't look good on you."
Billie purses her lips as she looks down the ground, murmuring to herself, thinking no one could hear her, "It still does, though."
"What?" I look away from Mason, and look at Billie; clarifying what she's just said.
Billie suddenly looks at us, "Huh?"
I look at her, confused, as I continue to look at Mason.
He repositions his arm, and wraps it around my shoulders, comforting me.
"Bea, it's gonna get better," he smiles at me.
He grabs his phone, and opens his camera.
"Show me a smile," he softly smiles at me as he positions the camera to the both of us.
"Mason..." I drawl, not wanting to take a picture.
"Come on," he tells me. "I just wanna see you smile again, Bea."
I softly smile at him, then look at Billie, whom Mason didn't ask to be in the picture.
"Bil, come on," I tell her as she hesitantly scoots closer to us.
Mason discreetly looks at her, rolling his eyes.
We smile for the camera.
As soon as he took the picture, I look over to Mason's phone to see the outcome.
I see Billie giving a sarcastic smile.
Mason's phone rings.
He checks his phone messages, and his eyes widen in shock.
"I got to go now, Bea," he says as he nears his face towards mine, but I look at Billie.
"Where you going?" Billie asks him with a raised eyebrow.
"Family matters," he tells us, as he gets up the couch.
He waves goodbye to us, as he exits the house.
Family matters? That can't be, since his family is perfectly fine...
Where could he be going?
• • •
A/N:
✨ ⚠️ PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE!!! VERY IMPORTANT!!! ⚠️ ✨
SORRY FOR THE REALLY REALLY LATE UPDATE!!!!
⚠️🛑 Anyways, school starts for us in 2 DAYS, so I will be posting chapters ONCE A WEEK or EVERY OTHER WEEK instead of everyday or every other day !!!! 🛑 ⚠️
I know, it sucks! I thought I could finish this story in a month lmfaoooooo but NO it couldn't happen!!!!
You know how much I hate rushing stories!!!
THATS ALL FOR THE IMPORTANT NEWS. The schedule of my chapter updates changed.
Well, for the fun news... I WENT VIRAL ON BILLIE EILISH'S INSTAGRAM COMMENTS LMFAOOOO
And my comment was the second most popular comment there 😂😂😂 it was literally ON THE TOP OF THE COMMENTS, SO THERES A HUGE POSSIBILITY BILLIE SAW MY COMMENT!! (hopefully my wife knows I exist now)
If you were the few lucky ones, then you must've seen my VEGAN BURRITO COMMENT LMAO (comment here if you've seen it lmao)
UNFORTUNATELY!!! BILLIE DELETED HER POST!!!!!!!!!!!!! smh
AGHHHH so frustrating, but anyway!
Happy birthday to Zoe yesterday!! 🖤🖤🖤
(And have y'all seen bil's new Instagram story? She's indirectly telling us not to attack the Bell Twins lol)
Anyways!!!! THATS ALL FOR MY AUTORS NOTE I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN MY NEXT UPDATE WILL BE BUT HOPEFULLY I CAN UPDATE LATER (Yay 2 updates in a day!!)
Love you all thank you for giving my story a shot bye!!! 🖤✨ THANK YOU FOR 6K!!!!!!!
(wow that is one, big run-on sentence ^)
Cheers! 🥂