⚠️TW: i don't mean to spoil anything but mentions of suicide⚠️
Chapter forty
•Morgan•
My slumber is disrupted by my phone constantly vibrating from the nightstand. Lazily, I untangle myself from Romeo's arms, crawling over to grab it. I see an unknown number has been trying to call me for an hour, and a message from Parker.
Parker: It's his mother. Come to the hospital now
My heart begins to beat rapidly in my chest, unsure of what's going on. I shoot out of bed, switching my pyjama pants for some sweatpants, however leaving Romeo's hoodie on. I contemplate waking him up, but when he groggily mumbles, "babe?" And tries to reach out for me, I decide against it, leaving him to sleep. "Where are you?" He mumbles, again.
"Go back to sleep, baby", I run my fingers through his hair for a second before pulling the blanket further up his body.
"What are you doing?" He asks as I go back to his closet, trying to find a pair of socks in the dark.
"I was getting a little cold so I got an extra sweater", I lie. "Do you want one?"
"Mm, yes please", I take a grey one, throwing it over to him. I see him not make any effort to put it on, so I walk over to do it for him.
"Give me your other arm", I tell him once I put it over his head and one arm through. He rolls from his stomach to his back, holding his other arm out for me to put it on, pulling it down his torso once I'm done.
"Thank you", he puts his arm out again, to see if I've layed back down, but when he feels nothing, he whines; I throw him my pillow. He wraps his arms around it, pressing his face to the top. I'm pretty sure he's smelling it.
"I'm going to get some water. Go back to sleep", I whisper as I watch him fall back to sleep. My voice shakes, involuntarily.
As I walk out the door, I start to think I should've woken him up, but as I check the time, I realise he'll have to wake up in a few hours for work, anyway.
Parker's mom didn't specify what hospital, so I drive straight to the closest, and largest, hospital in town. And luckily, he's there. "Parker Jones", I tell the receptionist after she asks who I'm looking for.
"May I ask your relation to him?"
"Aunt", I answer, a little too quickly.
"You're his—".
"Yeah", I nod, cutting her off.
"Alright, then. He's in room 227, upstairs and straight down the hall", I rush to his room, finally reaching his room, out of breath.
"What's going on?" I ask the doctor, writing on a clipboard, right outside Parker's room.
"Are you his mother?" I furrow my eyebrows, shaking my head.
"Is she not here?"
"I've not seen her since he was admitted".
"What? She was the one who told me to come here", I mutter, more to myself. "But, I'm his aunt".
"Right. We noticed that he has scars down his wrists, and he overdosed on co-proxamol", tears drop down my cheeks as I listen to the doctor.
"S—so you're saying he—he tried to—", I put a hand over my mouth to hold back my sobs as the doctor nods his head before I can finish my sentence. "Can I see him?" The doctor nods once again, following me into his room.
"We gave him naloxone, which should wake him up sometime soon. I'll leave you two alone", I watch as the doctor leaves.
"Parker", my voice cracks as I walk over to him. "Why? Parker, why—why would you do this? Why didn't you come to me? Do you remember what I told you? I tried the exact same thing when I was your age; at fifteen I was sat in a hospital bed, with the same tubes and wires sticking out of me, and then again a year later. But look at me now. I got through this, and so can you, because we're in this together", I chuckle as I wipe my tears, knowing he can't hear me.
I sit there for hours, talking to him, scrolling through my phone, admiring the sunrise through the large, glass window across the wall.
My phone buzzes.
Romeo: Where are you?
Morgan: parker's in the hospital
Romeo: What? I'm on my way
I smile internally, happy that Romeo's coming here.
I still can't believe his own mother isn't here.
It doesn't take long for Romeo to get here. He rushes through the door in the hoodie I gave him earlier and the same grey sweatpants. He takes a look at Parker laying across the bed before looking back at me. Here come the tears.
He sees my eyes beginning to water and opens his arms for me. I walk over to him, returning his action to wrap my arms around him. "Your hair's messy", I chuckle slightly, trying to lighten the mood as I ruffle it.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" He mumbles into my hair.
"It was just a few hours before you had to go to work, I didn't want to wake you; you would've been tired".
"You know I wouldn't care", he pulls away, gesturing for me to sit next to him on the small, leather couch. "What did the doctor say?"
"He said that—that Parker tried to—", I fiddle with Romeo's fingers as I speak. "He tried to kill himself", I murmur. "He took co—co-prom—".
"Co-proxamol?"
"Yeah. And they gave him n—noxalone?"
"Naloxone", he corrects, wrapping his arm around me and kissing my cheek.
"How long does it usually take for them to wake up?" I lean my head on his shoulder, taking his hand in mine.
"It's hard to say; it's different for every person. It shouldn't be too long, though", he tells me. "How long have you been here?"
"Since four, so", I check my phone. "Four hours. Aren't you going to work?"
"I'm not leaving you here", he rubs his thumb over my hand. "That reminds me, I need to call Max", he shifts to grab his phone out of his pocket, dialling Max's number. "I'll only be a minute", he whispers, kissing my head before walking out of the hospital room.
"All good?" I ask him once he walks back in.
"Yeah. Megan started to freak out but he calmed her down and I said she can come here after she finishes school", I nod. We both turn our heads toward Parker's bed as the heart rate monitor starts beeping faster.
"Get the doctor", I tell Romeo as I rush over to Parker's bedside. No longer than a minute later, Romeo comes back in with a doctor on his tail. "What's happening?" I whimper as Romeo wraps his arms around me, steering me away from the bed to give the doctors some space. More nurses come rushing in, ushering us out of the room. "What? No, I want to stay", I try to get out of Romeo's hold.
"I'm sorry, babe. We have to give the doctors their space so they can help him", he tells me once were out of the room.
"You know what's fucked up?" I sit in one of the chairs against the wall, opposite the room. "Parker's mom isn't even here. She texted me to get to the hospital, but she's not even here herself", I wipe my eyes.
"I—".
"How can she give her own child up for adoption, then claim she wants him back just to ignore him?" I ramble.
"Ba—".
"You know what I'm saying, right? That she's just fucked up. She's a therapist, you know? And what does she do when her own child tries to commit suicide, she leaves. What kind of mother is that?" By now the tears are streaming down my face like a waterfall.
"Babe—babe, calm down", Romeo says, softly. He takes a seat next to me, letting me cry into his hoodie.
"Sorry", I lift my head up after I calm down. He puts his hands on either side of my face, wiping my tears away with his thumbs. I stare into his eyes, flashbacks of last night come back to me.
I told him I loved him.
I open my mouth to say something but one of the doctors exit Parker's room. "Is he okay?" I stand, immediately.
He sighs. "He had a negative reaction to the Naloxone, we were forced to put him into an induced coma".
"Is... is—is he going to be okay?"
"It's hard to tell at this point", he looks between the both of us. "We weren't given any information on when he took the pills, so we'll have to run a few tests to see whether he'll be okay, or if we were too late".
"T—too late, but—", Romeo wraps an arm around me, stroking my hair in a calming manor.
"Thank you, doctor", the doctor nods, walking away. "It's okay, baby", he steers me back to sit on the chairs, again.
"But what if it was too late?" I sniff before yawning.
"Don't think like that. He'll be okay", he assures me, however I still hear the slight uncertainty in his voice. "You need to sleep. You should go home, I'll stay here", I shake my head.
"I need to stay here".
"How about you go take a nap in the car?" He suggests, I shake my head again. "Let's at least go and sit in the waiting room, the chairs are comfier", I think about it for a second before agreeing. "And this way, you can lay down", he gestures to two seats together, without the arm rest in between. I sit on the chair with my legs up, leaning into Romeo's side. His warm hand entwined with mine as my eyes slowly droop shut.
Some time later, I'm pulled out of sleep by Romeo shifting beneath me. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you".
"What?" I rub my eyes. "What happened?"
"I was just going to grab some food. I didn't know whether to wake you or not".
"What's the time?" I mumble.
"Uhh, lunchtime", I stretch and sit up.
"Did the doctor say anything?"
"They only said that we should go home because they don't know when he will wake up. It should take a day, but sometimes people take up to a week to wake up from a medically induced coma", he tells me. "We should go and get some food", I nod. "Where do you want to go?"
"Subway", I stand up. "But we should go home and get changed", I gesture to our hoodies and sweatpants. He chuckles, taking my hand and walking out with me.
"You want me to go get it and bring it back home?" He asks, seeing as we both have our cars here.
"Yes, please", I look up at him, wrapping my arms around his waist.
"Okay", he pecks my lips. "I'll see you in a bit. You want the same as usual, right?" I nod as he walks off toward his car.
My drive back was silent. There was no music, but the space was filled with my thoughts. It doesn't take me long to get back to the house, so I quickly make my way up to my room.
I haven't been in here in a while.
I feel my phone vibrate in my back pocket.
Dad: Morgan, just a reminder.
Your mission doesn't have a deadline but
it's taking too long.
It needs to happen soon.
Kill him.
I turn my phone off, ignoring the message. I'm stood in the middle of my room, feeling disorientated. The weight of Parker being in a coma and my mission are weighing down on me. My breathing gets heavy and I start to feel dizzy; my hands get all clammy and I try to wipe them on my sweatpants, despite the fact that they're shaking rapidly. It feels like the walls are closing in and I'm struggling to breathe.
No. Not again.
I haven't felt like this in so long. I carefully take slow steps toward my bed, sliding down beside it.
Five things I can see.
I look around but everything is a blur, my eyes shielded by my tears, so I close my eyes. I see Romeo; I see Parker, Max, Hayley and Hayden.
Four things I can touch.
I hold my hand out. I can feel the floor, the bed, the nightstand, and my book.
Three things I can hear.
I hear myself breathing, the ticking of my alarm clock and the wind outside.
Two things I can smell.
I can smell Romeo; I smell his cologne. I also smell the sickening scent of the hospital on my clothes.
One thing I can taste.
Romeo.
I focus on my breathing until I'm okay and breathing normally, again. My eyes go over to my book on my nightstand as I pick it up, standing to sit on my bed, flicking to a random page.
October 12th 2015
17 years old
You haven't travelled the world yet.
March 4th 2016
18 years old
Taking over the Rivero's.
Who knew that would be the reason I've come back to this book.
December 31st 2016
19 years old
Your soulmate would be lonely.
Every page I read smudges slightly because of my tears.
Romeo will be back soon.
I search for a pen until I find one, quickly scribbling down something after that page.
November 17th 2020
23 years old.
Romeo.
well.
uan:
hm. im sorry if this chapter was triggering to anyone. i just wanted to say that, if you ever feel like this, talk to someone. talk to your friends, or even text me, my socials are all the same as my username here. there's just something about talking about things to someone you don't know, they can't judge you for anything.
:)