Fever Dream ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 41

2018

My parents and Marina's dad arrived a little while later, the anxiety and worry in their faces breaking my heart. Telling Marina's dad what had happened, was one of the worst things I'd ever done in my life, even if it wasn't the first time I was in that position.

Things moved pretty fast after that.

Marina's father made arrangements for the transportation of the body back to the US for the funeral. Romy was discharged the same day and Demis woke up, the first words out of his mouth, a question about his friends. Seeing him learn the news about Marina, silently sobbing, when he couldn't even move, was another knife into an already open and bleeding wound.

Both he and my brother would need rehab and my brother's future as a football player hang in the balance. Neymar once again stepped up and arranged to bring Michael to a private hospital in Paris, while we waited for him to wake up. My parents, who had only even seen him on videocalls, the last of which when we told them we were engaged two years ago, could not believe his kindness. They thanked him for everything he did for Michael and also for taking care of me through it all.

So, two days after the accident, my family, Neymar and I flew back to Paris, while everyone else flew to the US. Only Sam and Demis remained in Switzerland because Demis still needed a few days before he could be discharged.

When we arrived in Paris, David had already arranged accommodation for my family as well as helped with logistics for bringing Michael to Paris. When I returned to our house, he was there to greet me, to help any way possible and I appreciated that so much. The same was true for Xavi, Lorenzo and Lauren. Lauren even apologized to me for what she told me when she left and I realized, I didn't even remember. Because the Olivia that came back to Paris, she wasn't the same Olivia that had left in a hurry, four days ago. I was a different person now. Inevitably.

I also realized the amount of press this accident had received, worldwide. All in all, 9 people were dead and it was they said, the deadliest accident of that kind in history. The headlines showed pictures of the crash and ran stories about the victims, focusing mostly on the Everton player that almost died and his girlfriend that did.

But in Paris, the press focused on the story of a holiday gone wrong for Neymar, David Luiz and Olivia Miller, one that resulted in the near death of her brother and the death of her best friend. They had pictures to compliment the story. The pictures from before the accident, that all of us had happily posted, from the ski slopes, the ski club and the party in the cabin at Christmas Eve.

And then there were pictures of me crying my eyes out and Neymar holding me, while we waited for news. Because even in my worst moment, there were people that had recognized Neymar and had filmed us. I couldn't believe they actually had the audacity to post these online. There was outrage also, for the invasion of privacy, but it became more of a debate on social media than an actual extension of compassion. It was like a Greek tragedy what had happened. The kind that you can't pull your eyes away from.

As a result, PSG gave Neymar and David leave for an extra week and told me I could take as long as I needed. Marina's funeral was going to be held in four days' time from the time we arrived in Paris but my brother hadn't even woken up yet. The doctors kept him under sedation, wanting his body to heal enough first before they woke him up. I dreaded the moment I'd have to tell him of what had happened. Telling him about Marina but also about what had happened to him and the possible consequences to the rest of his life.

Until the day of the funeral me and my parents would spend our days at the hospital. It didn't matter that except for my mom, we were not allowed to go in but once a day. It felt like time had stopped and we couldn't do anything other than wait at the hospital. Friends came by, David and Xavi were there every day, Lorenzo and Lauren, Thiago and Belle, my teammates, Dani also visited. They tried to be supportive, even take my mind off things, but it wasn't possible.