Memories of Rain ❀ Calum Hood

twelfth; dead flowers

The only reason Bailey got any sleep that night was a tall boy with brown hair and dark eyes called Calum. He found her in the hallway, staring at the closed door to Lily's room. With a frown on his lips he picked her up, and carried her back to her room.

She must've been heavy, she though. She went limp the second Calum touched her, and she let him carry her back without a word. All she did was hide her face in his shoulder so he wouldn't see her cry.

She felt the familiar embrace of her hospital bed, soon followed by Calum's strong arms around her. If Lily hadn't been dying just down the hall, she probably would've pushed him away.

But it hurt too much.

She let him wrap his arms around her, burying her face in his chest. Closing her eyes, she breathed in his now-familiar scent.

Sleep came too easy. The memory and Lily's worsening condition must've taken too much of a toll on her, because within a few minutes she was breathing heavily, letting out an occasional snore.

-

Bailey woke up to the sound of a flustered Calum. His voice was muffled, and she couldn't feel his warmth against her body. She reached out for him, but he wasn't there.

She opened her eyes. Her room looked the same as always. White walls, white floor, white bed, white table, white chair, red roses in the window. 

Through the half-opened door she could see Calum walking back and forth down the hallway. She got out of the bed, just to realize she wasn't wearing any clothes aside from an overized shirt.

She blushed at the thought of how she got into that t-shirt. Calum must've undressed her, and although she knew they had been close, she couldn't remember anything like that happening.

She tugged on the t-shirt, pulling it down over her bare knees and edged her way towards the door.

She pushed it open with her hand, and stuck out her head to look down the hallway. Calum had his back turned towards her. He was walking briskly down the hallway. He turned at the corner leading to Lily's room.

Lily.

He must have been checking on her for her sake. He knew how much Bailey loved the sick little girl. She would have been doing the same, if she had woken up any earlier.

Walking over to the window, she pulled out her bag of clothes. She wanted to know what was going on. The doctors had said that if Lily made it through the night, then she would survive for a few months longer.

God, Bailey thought. Please don't take her away just yet.

Bailey pulled on a pair of blue jeans, but decided to keep the shirt on. It was comfortable and smelled nice - which she would never say out loud in fear of Calum's joking remarks.

She ran down the hall in her bare feet, turning the corner towards Lily's room. There were a lot of people gathered, but Bailey chose to ignore that. A lot of patients had rooms in that hallway, they could be visiting someone else.

Somewhere, deep within the mass of people, a hand waved her way. She recognized the hand as Calum's, seeing as nobody other than him would be wearing a blink-182 wristband to a hospital visit. 

Bailey made her way towards him, pushing people away with her elbows and hands. 

After one look at him she knew. His brown eyes lacked the usual childish joy and warmth, and his smile didn't even get close to touching his eyes.

"No," she murmured. "Calum, no."

Calum put his arms around her, and pulled her into a tight embrace. She was tempted to let him, but something inside of her told her no. 

She pushed him away. "I need to see for myself."

The door to Lily's room was wide open. People were leaving the room faster than they were entering. Bailey pushed her way through the door, and quickly found herself next to a crying woman.

Lily's bed was empty. There was nothing personal in the room. No flowers on the table or in the window, no change of clothes. They had probably even removed her toothbrush from the bathroom.

Right, the hospital had other patients who needed a room.

The woman next to her put a hand on her shoulder and let out a heart-wrenching sob.

"Were you a friend of Lily's?" she asked. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she was wiping away the tears every few seconds. She looked a lot like Lily, but without the characteristics of the cancer-disease. She must've been her mother.

Bailey nodded. They hadn't known each other for long, but Bailey had thought of her as a friend. She was sure the feeling was mutual.

"They say she wasn't in any pain," Lily's mother sobbed. She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself, than try to ease the pain Bailey was feeling.

"Because of the drugs," Bailey said through gritted teeth. The whole "no pain" thing was just something they said to cover up the fact that they had probably pumped her full of medicin the moment they realized she wasn't going to live through the night.

Lily's mom nodded, and put her arms around Bailey. Her lip was quivering and the tears were falling steadily. Her back was shaking, and although she was trying to drown her sobs, she didn't quite succeed.

Bailey let her hug her. Her child had just died, she probably needed it. Human contact played an important role in the healing of a breaking heart.

The only thing was, Bailey didn't know what to do, other than put her arms around the crying woman. 

After a few minutes of crying and Bailey trying to save Calum's shirt from being drenched, Lily's mother finally pulled away. She wiped her eyes, and smiled at Bailey.

"Thank you, I really needed that. I'm Lily's mother, Charlotte," she told her.

Bailey nodded. She had already guessed that she was Lily's mother. They looked very much alike.

Her hair was long and red, waves framing her tiny face. She had the same huge brown eyes as Lily, only these were red nd puffy and they refused to look Bailey in the eye. She looked like an older, redheaded version of Lily.

Charlotte handed her a piece of paper. There was a single drop of water on it, probably a tear. 

"It's an invitation to the funeral. It's in two days, we'd like her to have an open coffin," she said.

Bailey nodded. That would be nice. An open coffin, with Lily in her orange funeral dress, orange daylilies everywhere.

Maybe with a white flower bouqet in her hands, a peaceful expression on her face.

Yes, Bailey thought. That would be nice.