One drunk night// Gallavich

13

IAN
When the house is quiet, or clean, or in order, there is only one thing that could come from that. Monica. She has only ever shown up twice in the Gallagher household. The first time she showed up, she tried to take Liam. The second time she showed up, she stole the money that we all contributed to pay the bills. No one ever really knows why she shows up and what she's gonna do.

So far, her visit had been nice, but it's always calm before the storm.

"How long you here for, Monica?" I asked as Fiona kept sleeping upstairs.

"I- I don't know. A while." Monica smiled.

"Nice." I didn't believe her. She doesn't stay long. The first visit lasted less than 5 days. The second visit lasted maybe 3 days at most. Who really knew how long she'd stay.

Something seemed off about Monica. Usually she was energetic, full of life, but this time, she was almost a completely different person. She barely spoke, and when she did, she sounded quiet, like she hadn't been herself for a while.

"You alright Mon?" Frank asked as he walked through the kitchen, a bag of random items in his hand.

"I- I'm fine..." She smiled again.

———

The house had been quiet since Monica came around, so to see no one in the downstairs part of the house, but hear the sink going, I was confused. Making my way toward the kitchen, I went to see what was going on, and I shouldn't have. Stopping right beside the fridge, I looked down to see Monica sitting in the corner of the kitchen, blood surrounding her body as her wrists ran red with blood. I dropped my bag, getting the attention of someone who had just entered the house.

"Holy fuck!" I heard someone behind me. It was Kevin.

"What?" I looked up at the staircase to see Steve walking down half naked. He gasped, seeing Monica. The first thing he did was run to her and try to stop the bleeding.

"Give me a phone. Give me a phone." Fiona panicked as Kevin picked her phone up and chucked it to her.

"Okay, uh, fuck! We're good. We're good. We're good. Don't worry. More towels. Shit!" Steve tried to remain calm. My eyes were glued to Monica. She must have been depressed. It explains her behaviour and why she didn't seem herself. But it meant that she was off her meds.

"There's been an accident. All right. 2119 North Wallace. She's bleeding badly. Yeah, she's awake." Fiona talked to someone on the phone, clearly unable to hold her tears back.

"Towels! Will somebody give me a fucking towel?" Steve panicked.

"Frank, they want to know if she took any pills. Dad! Dad?!" Fiona yelled, watching as Frank looked shocked, not wanting to deal with the situation.

"I'm not sure." Fiona started to cry, trying to stay on the phone.

"Can you see me? Can you see me?" Steve looked at Monica, who tried her best.

"Help me with her feet, Frank. Frank?" Steve yelled. I watched as Frank walked away from the kitchen, ending up outside the house.

"Get- Get over here!" Steve ushered Kevin over, who didn't hesitate to help Steve.

"You with me? You with me? Breathe. You're gonna be good, okay? Slow, slow. You're gonna be good. It's just... It's fine. You're fine. You're fine." Steve tried to calm down as he looked at Monica, holding towels around her wrists.

Unable to watch anymore, I walked upstairs, feeling the tears in my eyes as I laid down on my bed. I removed my shoes and my jacket, trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.

———

A few hours had passed before anyone came upstairs to talk to me. I hadn't moved from my position, as I was just trying to understand that what Monica did, she did because she was off her meds. I started to panic. If I got off my meds, would I do the same thing?

When I rolled over to check the time, I noticed that it was now in the afternoon. I heard my bedroom door open, seeing Fiona stand in the doorway.

"I'm so sorry, Ian. I'm so sorry that you had to see that..." Fiona sighed as she sat down on my bed, her hand landing on my leg.

"I- Is she okay?" I asked, worrying about Monica.

"She- Uh, had a lot of blood loss, and she was stable for a while. But then...she- uh, she didn't make it." Fiona cried.

I rolled over so I wasn't facing her. My heart broke. I might not have liked Monica, but she was still my mother, so hearing that she died, it hurt me.