Stardom

Destruction

Ross didn't return that night, or by the following morning, my only visitors being the police, Crystal and Charlie. I couldn't bring myself to speak to Charlie, knowing that it was him who'd inadvertently outed me to Ross, so feined sleep instead, hearing him shuffling around behind me before placing something on the table and leaving me with a few whispered kind words on the way out.

Being stuck in the hospital, unable to see or speak to him was torture. When I'd finally been reunited with my phone, I tried to call him... but there was no answer. Each hour went by agonisingly slowly without him, without any idea what or how he was doing.

The sun rose after a sleepless night, and I was quick to summon a doctor, unable to bear being confined to that bed any longer. The same stern man from before arrived, consulting my chart and scolding me for being too eager to discharge myself. Aside from some continuous aches and pains though, I felt physically fine, which was much better than my emotional state.

"I need to go home," I said impatiently.

"We would really rather you stayed another few hours, maybe the night," He replied curtly, crossing his arms and clipping his pen onto the front of his scrubs.

"But I'm fine."

I could see him fighting not to show his exasperation at my petulance.

"With all due respect Miss McCall, you are not fine. You are recovering from a head injury. There are possible complications with such injuries that don't always manifest immediately."

"I understand," I replied as calmly as I could manage, "But I still want to leave."

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders, holding out the clipboard and passing me his pen.

"If you wish to leave, I can't stop you, but as it is against medical advice, I'll need you to sign these forms."

I nodded in agreement, regretting it instantly as my head throbbed slightly and I felt suddenly dizzy.

"Are you okay?" He asked as I failed to grasp the pen, closing my eyes, waiting for the dizziness to subside.

"Yeah, just not wise to nod so much," I muttered, successfully gripping the pen and quickly scrawling my signature on the pages before he could revoke the chance of me leaving. "Okay, all done," I added with a flourish, thrusting the forms back at him and carefully moving to get up.

He went on to inform me of potential risks and enforce upon me the importance of going straight to a doctor should any symptoms arise that could indicate a complication. When he finally left me alone, I dressed as quickly as I dared and then left, my mind racing a mile a minute even in its delicate state.

When I arrived back home, I couldn't see Ross's car anywhere. Sure that he'd probably had more than a few to drink after the news last night, I wasn't surprised though and headed upstairs to our apartment, intent on talking to him properly. But as soon as I walked in, I knew in my bones that he wasn't there. It was too still, too quiet. I walked through to the bedroom, calling his name in case. But to no avail. I tried to call him but only reached his voicemail again. Hanging up, I took a seat at the kitchen table, wanting to be there to see him the moment that he walked through the door.

The minutes ticked on, turning to hours. The blue sky grew gradually darker, the sun sinking toward the horizon, and still, he didn't return. Tiredness began to set in from the combination of waiting and emotional and physical exhaustion, and I rested my head on my hand as it grew steadily heavier in the darkening room.

The sound of a key in the door was the first thing I registered, and I jolted awake, unable to even remember when my eyes had grown too heavy to keep open. I flicked on the light and faced the front door, holding my breath as it opened and Ross's face came into view. It was shocking to see how defeated he looked. His hair was messy, eyes still reddened and now bearing dark circles underneath. It didn't look like he'd slept a wink, and as they caught sight of me, he stilled, hand remaining on the door handle whilst he appeared at a loss of how to react.