Someone Like Hugh -Draft Complete And EDITING-

Chapter Twenty Five

Amelia's POV:

"Amelia, are you still in there?" he asked worriedly, trying the door but it remained locked.  "Amelia?"

I wiped my face with the back of my arm. I carefully tried to move and readjust, but I slipped and fell.

"Amelia!" he called out. I heard him fumbling around the door, probably looking for a spare key as he had seen James do with my bathroom.

The door flew open. I was laying on the floor, dizzy, but conscious. "Amelia!" he called out rushing to my side. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I called out sitting up and flushing the toilet, but not before he could see the dark red blood dying my vomit. 

"How can you claim to be fine when you have all of that coming out of you?" he asked worriedly. Using the bathtub I pulled myself to my feet and staggered to the sink. 

"Hugh, I am fine. Please, don't worry," I spoke tiredly, rinsing my face and gripping the sides of the sink for support. "Please, don't let me keep you from dinner."

"How can you be like that?" he asked incredulously. 

"What do you mean?" I asked truly confused. 

"Your family treats you so horribly, they work you to the bone all at the word of your "Mother".  Yet you do everything for them, running yourself into the ground, insisting all the while that you are fine when you clearly are not. You deserve so much better," he spoke, approaching me again, rubbing my back reassuringly. 

"Don't presume to know me, Hugh, you know nothing about me. You've only known me for a short time, and you know nothing of my pain and my struggles, our family's struggles. I'm not the kind of person that gets the ideal happy ending or gets to experience the better things in life. I am the kind of person who spends their whole life working because they don't have the means to do anything else. Besides, I will spend any time I can with my family. We may not have much left," I spoke ominously. 

Hugh assumed I meant with my mother's condition deteriorating her mind. I was actually referencing my own. I had a rare genetic (from my father's side) disease and needed an organ transplant, but it wasn't coming any time soon, and I was running out of time. My family didn't know, and I wouldn't tell them, they had too much to worry about. I kept my head low to stop the spinning and reached out toward the door frame to steady myself as I walked through it.  

"Amelia, let me help you," he spoke worriedly reaching out to me.

"Please don't," I spoke pulling gently away. 

He followed me as I staggered to my room as if worried I wouldn't make it on my own. I opened the door and shuffled to my bed. I flopped down onto it, face down, not even having the energy to care anymore that Hugh still lingered. 

As I carefully rolled over, he closed the door behind me. "What is wrong, Amelia?" he asked worriedly stepping closer. 

"I'm dying," I said dramatically with a smile, using a last little burst of energy.

"No, but seriously," he said with a soft chuckle. 

"I am serious, Hugh, I'm dying and my family has no clue. I don't want them to," I reiterated morbidly. 

Shock spread over his features as he started to replay different interactions we had had in the past thought his mind. 

I forced myself to look up at him. He was the only person I had told besides my mother, She accused me of being an attention-seeking liar, and then promptly forgot the interaction shortly after due to her dementia. I braced myself for the screaming and the name-calling that I was used to. 

I lowered my head back onto the bed, the room beginning to spin again. "Please tell me that's some sort of sarcastic joke," he spoke shocked, laying on his side next to me. 

"I truly wish it was," I mumbled, my eyes closed. 

"Is there anything that the doctors or someone can do for you?"

"It's complicated," I spoke. 

"How much time do you have?"

"A few weeks," I replied tiredly. Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Weakly, I pulled it out and gazed at the screen. It was a text from my mother. 

"Come clean this up you spoiled useless brat or I will throw you out. Stop distracting Hugh from the family," the text read. 

"Break time is over," I chuckled cynically, sitting up.

"You can't be serious," he spoke, resting his hand on my forearm. 

"Please, pretend you know nothing, say nothing," I spoke. "I'm trusting you, don't make me regret it."

I stood shakily, taking a moment to gain my composure, and left the room. 

As I entered the kitchen I peered up at the clock. It was 9:34 Pm. My family had just finished their dinner. They preferred to eat around 8 so that everyone could be home from work to eat together. I pulled my hair back in a messy bun and started clearing the table. 

Only mother remained, everyone else returned to their rooms.